Page 62 of Thorn Evermore
“You didn’t. Nothing matters to me as much as you do. Since the day Yves turned me, my life has been a never-ending party of excess. Pleasure, blood, and fun. My brothers kept my feet somewhat on the ground, but…”
He pauses, taking my hand in his. His skin is much cooler than normal.
“I was bored, Kyson. As vampires, we feel so much, but there is so much more we can’t feel anymore.”
“Like what?”
“Temperature, the taste of food, the effects of wine and drugs. I have to consume ten times what a mortal does to feelanything at all. I’ve wasted decades in drug dens just wanting tofeel. Sex, until you, has been meaningless, only a means to an end.”
“So you feel sexual pleasure?”
“Oh yes. Vampires are ruled by lust for blood and sex. Outside of my loyalty to my brothers and sisters, nothing else matters. That is, until I found you.”
“It feels different with me?”
He smiles, his fangs brushing against his bottom lip. Gah, I want to touch them.
“You will later,” he says.
“You… heard my thoughts?”
“Sort of. It was a strong impression.” His smile morphs into a much more sensual expression. His eyelids grow heavy, his lips turning pinker. “My darling, everything with you is heightened. Just the sound of your voice soothes me. Now that I’ve accepted what we are, all I need is your happiness.”
I stand, scratching my head as it all swirls in my mind. He’s a vampire. Oh god.
“Actually,” he says. “I need your happiness, but I need your body and your blood too.”
“Wow. Okay. Um, why did it take so long?” I ask.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been alive a long time. The whole time I’ve been alive. Why didn’t you find me twenty years ago when I was young? Why did I have to suffer for so long?”
His face falls and he’s on his feet. “Darling. Oh, Kyson.” He cups my face. “I can’t answer that. Fate is on her own timeline. Maybe we weren’t ready sooner.”
I huff but nod. “Now what?”
“Now we live. Enjoy each other.”
“No, Thorn. Come on. I’m a regular guy. I’m gonna age and stuff. You’re not. Please tell me Yves can turn me or you can.”
Surprise flashes across his features. “You want to be a vampire?”
“Duh. Who the hell wouldn’t want to be a vampire? Are you kidding me? Remember the exhibit I told you about at the oddities museum?”
“The vampire one?”
“Yes. I was afraid to tell you how much I wanted it to be real. I thought you might think I was weird.”
He smiles softly. “You like vampires?”
“Well, what I know about them, which is probably wrong since I’ve seen you in the daytime and you sleep in a bed.”
He chuckles. “There are different types of vampires. I’m a legacy vampire, so much of what affects others doesn’t affect me.”
“I want to know everything. I want to stay with you forever. I want to be what you are.”
“Kyson, my beauty, it is not a decision to make lightly.”