Until the Sun Falls From the Sky

Chapter Nine The Lesson

I woke for the first time since I’d been in my new bedroom knowing exactly where I was.

But something wasn’t right.

I opened my eyes and saw the big, wide bed empty in front of me.

Lucien wasn’t there.

Elation and disappointment crashed against each other and they caused a very strange sensation that I didn’t like one bit.

Then my mind traveled back to the night before.

I thought about The Feast and all I’d seen.

Then I thought about Lucien’s behavior and the conflicting emotions it made me feel. Most specifically that I liked being out with him. It wasn’t what I’d call a fun date but it was interesting and being on his arm was weirdly thrilling. He acted a complete gentleman (well, mostly) and I hadn’t had that in a long time (as in, never). Not to mention his possessive-protective streak, which made me feel safe and if that wasn’t enough to screw with my head, nothing was.

Lastly, I thought about falling asleep in the car after Lucien assured me he was the kind of vamp who didn’t…

I went solid and then whipped up the bedclothes and stared at my semi-naked body before pulling the covers back down.

I was wearing nothing but a pair of black, lace panties. I fell asleep in the car and that damn vampire carried me upstairs, took off my clothes and put me to bed.

In all that he’d done, and there was a lot that he’d done, taking off my clothes while I was asleep seemed like the worst (well, at that moment it did).

Only I was allowed to show my body to who I wanted to show it to when I was in the mood to show it.

Okay, so it could be argued that he’d had his tongue in my mouth (more than once), and his hand in my pants (again more than once), and he’d sucked my blood (also more than once), and he controlled my mind (way too many times, which meant twice, which was two times too many).

But this was taking it too far.

While my head was preparing to explode, the bedroom door opened and Lucien strode in.

When I saw him, I was so shocked, my fury vanished and I came up on a forearm to get a better look.

He was wearing faded, well-worn jeans and a tight-fitting, long-sleeved white t-shirt.

I’d never seen him in anything but a suit (and his pajamas, of course). And, I’d never seen him in anything but dark colors.

I didn’t think he was the type of guy to wear something as everyday normal as jeans and a tee.

And he looked good in them. No, great.

Even better than the suit.

Phenomenal.

My mouth started watering.

His eyes went lazy and he grinned.

My heart skipped a beat at seeing that look I liked way too damn much about one second before I remembered I hated him and he’d taken my clothes off me the night before.

“You’re awake,” he commented, walking around the bed while I watched him.

I remembered my plan and Obedient Leah kicked in instantly.

The game was afoot.

“Yes,” I answered, clutching the covers to my chest.

He stopped at my side and in a flash he’d plucked me out of the bed, sat on the edge and had me settled in his lap.

Seeing as I still wasn’t used to his incomprehensible speed, not to mention I was mostly naked, this freaked me out.

Luckily, his arms were around me and he was pressing my torso to his chest, hiding my nudity.

“Did you sleep well, pet?” he asked softly in my ear.

I nodded.

His lips went to my neck where he muttered, “Good.”

Then they slid around to my throat.

His mouth felt nice, too nice. So nice, I couldn’t control my tremble.

“I like that,” he muttered against my throat.

“What?”

His lips came to mine, his eyes open and watching me as he answered, “When you tremble in my arms.”

What did you say to that?

I didn’t know so I just mumbled, “Oh.”

I felt his mouth smile against mine.

With him in his gentle mood I was losing my will to play games. My will preferred to throw itself bodily at him and rip his fantastic looking jeans and tee off his equally fantastic looking body and have my way with him.

In an effort at control, I asked, “Did you sleep well?”

His head moved back a couple of inches and one hand came up, fingers sifting through my hair at my temple and back, pulling it away from my face while his eyes watched.

When his fingers had glided the length of my hair down my back, his arm curled around me again and he said, “My first good night’s sleep in the last week.”

This admission surprised me. I couldn’t imagine anything causing the Mighty Lucien to lose sleep.

It surprised me so much my head tilted to the side and I enquired with genuine curiosity, “Why haven’t you been sleeping well?”

His arms grew tighter before he answered, “At first it was anticipation for your Bloodletting. After your initiation, it was concern because the wound wasn’t healing swiftly. Then, my pet, I found it difficult sleeping beside you.”

My heart lurched even though my brain reminded it that it should be rejoicing. Another collision of sensations that wasn’t exactly pleasurable.

“You have difficulty sleeping with me?” My question was a whisper.

His hand slid up my naked back to capture a lock of hair and I felt him start twisting. This felt nice too.

It always did when he did that.

“It’s your scent, Leah. It’s intoxicating.” His mouth came to mine and brushed my lips before he pulled back again, a grin tugging the corners of his mouth as he continued, “Especially when you’re aroused. Your natural scent mixed with the scent of your sex is overpowering.” My body went stiff and his arms gave me a squeeze before he finished, losing the fight with his smile, “In a good way.”

I examined his arrogant, self-satisfied smile while briefly considering karate chopping him on the shoulder.

However, this would probably be as effective as a gnat landing on him.

Instead, I asked solicitously, “Would you prefer if I bathed before going to bed, darling?”

I saw his eyes flash, I wasn’t certain if it was anger or amusement, before his head bent to the side and his mouth was again at my neck.

“Only if I’m bathing with you,” he answered.

Damn. That was a good comeback.

“Whatever you want,” I replied dutifully.

“Mm,” he murmured effectively, so effectively the timbre slid across my skin, making me shiver. “I like that idea. Maybe I’ll only allow you to bathe when you’re with me.”

Oh my God.

Now what had I done?

I had no choice. I had to go with it.

Trying to keep my voice even, I enquired, “Do you want to do that now?”

I felt his tongue touch my neck and that made me shiver too.

Then he said, “Not now. I’m hungry.”

A sudden bolt of electricity slammed between my legs giving me an off the charts happy tingle.

He wanted to feed. And I wanted him to feed. I despised that I did but I also couldn’t deny it.

“You’re hungry?”

“Yes,” he said against my neck and then lifted his head to look at me. “Your choice today, Leah, in here or in the kitchen.”

He wanted to feed in the kitchen?

Really?

That was crazy! What if Edwina walked in?

“If we do it in the kitchen, what if Edwina walks in?”

His brows drew together. “She’ll have to be there, unless you intend to cook for me.”

“Cook for you?” I parroted stupidly, finding that idea both intriguing and terrifying.

I mean, I know how to cook. And the idea of cooking for Lucien was kind of nice even though that admission further proved my insanity. But what if I messed it up? This I did a lot, especially when I tried something fancy and I doubted Lucien ate non-fancy food.

And anyway, why were we talking about cooking?

He studied me while these thoughts chased themselves through my head before saying, “You can cook, Leah. You can do what you like. It’s your house, not Edwina’s. Are you saying you want to cook?”

Oh. I got it.

“You’re talking about breakfast,” I breathed in a voice that denoted my mental heel of hand to head slap.

He smiled another arrogant, self-satisfied, now even so far as smug smile before he said, “You thought I wanted to feed.”

“Erm…” I wriggled in his lap then remembered I was mostly naked so getting away from him would expose my upper body and I wasn’t ready for that so I stilled.

His large hands slid to my hips and tensed. “I can’t feed, pet. Not until tonight.”

That was news to me.

“You can’t?”

He shook his head saying, “You aren’t used to me yet.”

This further confused me.

“I’m not?”

The smug smile came back before his face disappeared in my neck again. “We could try.”

Oh my.

“But you’d be weak all day and it’s Saturday. I have plans for you today.”

He had plans for me. Plans that required me not being weak.

I didn’t know if that was good or not.

“Plans?”

One of his hands came up to cup the back of my head and he looked at me again. “First up, another lesson, this time about feeding.”

“Okay,” I breathed trying but not quite achieving the feat of not sounding disappointed.

He grinned.

Damn the vampire!

I tried to look dutiful. It was hard.

He studied my face then burst out laughing while he stood, putting me on my feet.

He began to set me away from him and, panicked at the idea of baring myself, I latched onto his shoulders and pressed my body against his.

His head tilted down to look at me.

“Leah?”

“Close your eyes,” I whispered before I could stop myself

“Pardon?”

“Um…” How to do this and be submissive? “Would you please close your eyes, darling?”

His hands at my waist gave me an impatient squeeze.

“Why?”

“I’m nearly naked,” I explained softly and, I thought, unnecessarily.

His hands gave me another squeeze, this time also pulling me even deeper into his body as his head dipped closer.

“I saw you last night, pet.”

“I know.”

His face came even closer.

“You have a beautiful body, Leah.”

My eyes slid to the side.

“Look at me,” he demanded.

My eyes slid back to his.

“I don’t want you hiding yourself from me,” he ordered.

“Is that an order?” I asked just to confirm.

“Not unless you make it one,” he answered.

What the hell did that mean?

“So, what you’re saying is, you’re not going to close your eyes?”

“No.”

Really, he was a jerk.

He must have read my thoughts or, since he couldn’t do that unless I was speaking to him in my thoughts, he must have read my face.

Therefore he kept talking, “I’d like to understand why this is an issue.”

“I’m naked,” I explained, again unnecessarily.

“And I saw you last night,” he repeated, his tone stating clearly he thought this was unnecessary too.

“It isn’t last night anymore. It’s this morning.”

“And?”

“The sun is shining,” I went on.

“The sun?” he asked

“Yes. And I’m awake,” I continued.

His hands slid around to my back as he murmured, “I see.”

“You see what?”

Instead of answering, he said patiently, “I’ve had my tongue in your mouth.”

“Yes, but –”

“And your blood has filled my mouth.”

“Yes, but –”

“And I’ve had my hand in your pants.”

This was all sounding familiar.

Still.

“Yes, but –”

“And my finger in your –”

“Yes!” I snapped, cutting him off. “But this is different!”

“How?”

“It just is.”

“Explain it to me.”

“I can’t!”

He sighed before stating, “You’re standing mostly naked in my arms. I can feel your skin, smell your scent, touch your hair. You’re pressed against me and you’re saying the thought of me seeing your breasts makes you uncomfortable even though I’ve seen them before?”

That made it sound stupid.

I dropped my eyes and looked at his throat.

“That makes it sound stupid,” I said in a small voice.

“Show yourself to me, Leah.”

My eyes snapped back to his. “What?” I breathed.

“Do it,” he ordered and it was definitely an order. I could see it in the hard set of his jaw and the intensity of his eyes.

I really had to make certain lighter fluid was on Edwina’s grocery list.

Doing my best to be Obedient Leah, I pushed against his arms at my waist to take a step back. He didn’t let me go. He kept his arms around me so I was forced to arch my back.

I looked away the minute his eyes dropped down. It was only a second before I was again pressed against him, his hand in my hair, cupping my head and putting pressure there so my cheek was against his chest.

He bent so he was talking into the hair on top of my head when he spoke again softly, “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Actually, it wasn’t.

But I’d never give him that.

So instead, in my most obvious, well-behaved voice, I agreed, “No, darling. It wasn’t.”

I felt his body go solid and his hand in my hair twisted before he noted, “You try me, pet.”

Good, I thought.

His hand tugged back, taking my head with it so I was looking up at him.

“You’re lucky I enjoy it.” His voice was a warning.

Great. He enjoyed it.

Boy, I was lucky.

“Put on a robe, meet me downstairs. We’ll have breakfast in the kitchen,” he commanded before he touched his lips to mine and let me go.

I nearly flew to the bathroom and it took all my effort not to slam the door.

“Is there something particular you want for breakfast?” he called through the closed door as I slid on my robe.

“Whatever you want,” I called back and then stuck my tongue out at the door.

“I saw that, Leah.” I heard him say and he didn’t sound like I was trying him anymore. He sounded amused.

I didn’t care if he sounded amused.

My mind and body froze.

“What?” I called between stiff lips.

The door opened, I jumped and Lucien crossed his arms on his chest and leaned against its frame.

“I saw it,” he repeated.

“But… I thought,” I stammered then breathed, “you can see through doors?”

“No, I can’t see through doors. You were speaking to me.”

“I was gesturing to you.”

He grinned. “Same thing.”

I stayed silent.

This was not good news.

“This new game is fun,” he noted, freaking me way the hell out. “Almost better than the other one.”

I tried innocence. “What game?”

He shook his head, his hand shot out, curled around the back of my neck and he pulled me in so he could kiss the top of my head.

When he let me go he said, “Time for your lesson. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Without another word, he turned and was gone.

I stared at the still open door of the bedroom.

Then I screamed.

But only in my mind.

And since I was screaming because of Lucien, I really hoped he couldn’t hear.

I took my sweet time doing my morning business and sauntered downstairs to the kitchen.

Edwina was at the stove. Lucien was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, Edwina,” I called.

“Hello, dear.” Edwina threw a smile over her shoulder. “Did you have fun last night?”

I wrinkled my nose.

She smiled then shook her head, muttering with distaste, “Feasts.”

She turned back to whatever she was doing and I strolled to the coffeepot.

“You want a refresh?” I asked, reaching for her empty mug.

“Please.”

“I’ll take one too, Leah,” Lucien said, striding into the kitchen and I just barely controlled my glare.

“Of course, darling,” I murmured to the cabinet with the coffee mugs, taking two down.

“Black, three sugars,” Lucien continued.

He took three sugars?

It really was too bad that vampires didn’t get diabetes and at that moment I didn’t care how unkind that thought was.

I measured three, gargantuan, heaping teaspoons of sugar into Lucien’s coffee, splashed mine with milk, asked Edwina her preference and then passed them around.

I took my mug and went to sit on one of the stools.

“Lucien’s ordered poached eggs on toast, Leah. What would you like?” Edwina asked.

I avoided looking at Lucien and replied, “I’ll have whatever Lucien’s having.”

I felt Lucien turn to me but I continued to ignore him.

Edwina stayed busy at the huge, stainless steel, restaurant quality stove and offered, “It’s no bother. I’ll make whatever you like.”

Finally I turned to Lucien, “What would you like me to eat, darling?”

Lucien’s gaze locked with mine but he didn’t speak. I tried to keep my face attentive and expectant like his decision on my morning meal was the reason for my being.

Finally he enquired, “Do you like poached eggs?”

“Do you want me to like poached eggs?” I returned on a breathy exhale.

“I want you to tell me if you like poached eggs,” he retorted.

We had a short staring contest but his black eyes were too much for me and I turned away.

“I like poached eggs,” I replied demurely.

Lucien looked at Edwina. “She’ll have poached eggs.”

Edwina’s gaze was drifting back and forth between Lucien and me. Then she bit her lip (and I could swear it was to hide a smile) and turned back to the stove.

Lucien took a sip of his coffee. I watched him under my lashes as I took a sip from mine.

“The grocery list is on the counter, dear, right in front of you.” Edwina was saying. “I have Saturday and Sunday afternoons off as well as all day Monday. So anything you want to cook or have in the house, write it down. I’m going to the store after breakfast.”

I was wondering if they sold gallon jugs of gasoline at the grocery store (or flame throwers) when Lucien walked to the sink, poured out his coffee and walked to the coffeemaker.

I just stopped myself from grinning.

Edwina stared at him in horror, a stainless steel spoon any television chef would give one of their kidneys for held aloft. “Is it too weak?”

Lucien poured himself another cup. “It’s fine. But Leah has a heavy hand with the sugar.”

“Oh dear, I didn’t do it right?” I chirped, sounding devastated, like someone ran over the beloved cat that I’d had since childhood.

Lucien turned to me. “Do you remember what your behavior bought you when you disobeyed me?”

Oh I remembered all right.

Boy did I remember.

I clenched my teeth and nodded my head once.

“You could get more of that before breakfast,” Lucien went on. “Would you like that?”

Lucien turning me on to the point my body screamed for release and then leaving me wanting?

No. I didn’t want that.

I shook my head.

He calmly took a sip of his coffee.

Edwina thankfully pretended she hadn’t heard a thing.

I pulled the grocery list to me and started to read it.

All of a sudden I felt Lucien behind me, the heat from his chest against my back as he leaned over me.

I detested a lot of things about him. His recent behavior was one shining example. When he went all nearly breaking the sound barrier vampire was another.

“Tonight, I want you to make your fried chicken for me,” he ordered. My mind cleared of the latest Humiliating Lucien Encounter and I twisted my neck to look up at him, dumbfounded.

“What?”

His eyes caught mine. “Your fried chicken.”

My fried chicken?

I did, of course, make great fried chicken. The best. It was one of my only real talents.

But how the hell would he know that?

A weird chill ran up my spine.

“How do you know about my fried chicken?” I whispered.

His chin motioned to the pad of paper on the table and he didn’t answer my question.

Instead he commanded, “Put the ingredients down.”

“How do you –?”

“Just write down the ingredients, Leah.”

I gaped at him.

Then I considered my recipe, which required at least overnight marinating of the chicken in my famous buttermilk marinade.

It wouldn’t be near as good without time to marinade.

“I can’t,” I told him.

His eyes narrowed.

“No, really, I can’t. It’s the marinade. It needs at least…” I looked at the clock on the microwave, it was nearly ten, “eight hours of marinading!” My voice was rising dramatically but what could I say? I had a fried chicken reputation to keep up. Every woman knew how important that was. “And even that isn’t optimal. Anything less just isn’t worth it. I don’t even have eight hours!”

He grinned, I caught it close up and my heart skipped.

But he was relentless. “Put the ingredients down.”

“Lucien!”

“You can make it for me tomorrow night.”

Oh. Right.

Tomorrow night would give me plenty of time. I could do that.

I wrote the ingredients down.

Edwina served up poached eggs on toast with crisp fried bacon. Lucien had three eggs. I had only two. I wanted to ask for another egg (or two), seeing as I was still on course to gain as much weight as possible to turn Lucien off my “beautiful body” but I felt I’d tried his patience enough for one morning.

He sat beside me and we ate while Edwina tidied the kitchen and I wrote stuff down on the grocery list. I omitted the flame thrower. When the laptop in the bedroom had broadband, something I discovered the day before it didn’t, I’d see if I could order one online.

Edwina whisked the plates out from under us when we were done, rinsed them, put them in the dishwasher and did a rub down of all the countertops while Lucien and I sipped at our final drops of coffee.

It was weird having a housekeeper.

It was even weirder living in a rambling mansion in the middle of nowhere.

In my ex-life I lived in a two bedroom condo in the city and although I didn’t do too badly career-wise, I didn’t have a housekeeper. I had been a Media Specialist, a field in which I’d never get a job again considering I gave them two whole days notice. Though I didn’t have to worry about that since Lucien would be taking care of me for the rest of my natural born life, something else that sucked.

My condo was excellently situated. I could walk anywhere to get anything I needed. Bars, takeaway pizza, movie theaters, grocery stores. My condo had enough room not to feel like I lived in a cave but not too much where it would take all weekend to clean or I could accumulate too much stuff which I had a habit of doing.

Luckily, although Edwina was a bit strange, I liked her and her living with me made the big house seem less monstrous.

Still, I missed my little place. I’d lived there for ten years. I’d made every inch of it mine.

I liked it.

On that thought, I heard the backdoor close heralding Edwina’s departure (further heralded by her calling out “good-bye”), and I came back to the room.

“Time for your lesson, pet.”

I looked at Lucien in time for him to take my hand. He pulled me off the stool and walked me to the comfy seating area. With me standing in front of him, he sat on the big, fluffy couch then grabbed my hips, pulling me off my feet. He fell to the side, twisted to his back with me on top, partially falling off his side, my back to the back of the couch.

Why we needed to be lying pressed together on the couch for my lesson, I didn’t know.

Obedient Leah also didn’t ask even though she wanted to.

I just looked at him expectantly like whatever wisdom he was about to share would soothe my savaged soul.

His eyes roamed my face.

Then he whispered, “You’re adorable.”

Not that again. I was trying to be annoying. It just wasn’t working.

“My lesson?” I prompted.

He smiled.

My heart skipped another beat.

His smile grew arrogant.

With effort I contained my frustrated growl.

He burst out laughing, his arms closed around me and he hugged me close.

“Are we going to hug or are you going to teach me vampire knowledge?” I asked, trying not to sound as annoyed as I was.

“We’re going to do both,” he replied, his arms loosening but not letting go.

Whatever.

I lifted my head again and looked at him. His eyes caught mine.

“Feeding,” he started and my ears perked up because I was interested in spite of myself. “Do you remember the other night when I kissed you and your mouth tingled?”

I nodded.

“That was the anesthesia,” he explained. “It releases when my body prepares to feed. If I’d kissed you harder, longer, more frequently, your mouth would have gone numb.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. He was a good kisser and if my mouth was numb I’d miss all the fun.

He kept talking. “Also, when my body prepares to feed, the healing properties in my saliva release. They permeate your skin when I prepare it for the wound and they infiltrate the wound while I’m feeding so it’s healing even as I feed.”

As with all things vampire, this made sense so I nodded again.

Lucien continued, “Those healing properties stay in your bloodstream. They help your blood regenerate. Even after your first bloodletting, they were working. No mortal could have lost that much blood without a transfusion but after a couple of days rest, you were back to normal. The longer I feed, the more healing agents are released into your bloodstream, the quicker you recover. In a week, I can feed once a day. In two, I can feed more than once a day. In three weeks, I can feed whenever I like.”

This also made sense.

However, I was stuck on the idea of him feeding whenever he liked.

“How much do you need to feed?” I asked.

“The same as anyone. Three times a day.”

I felt my eyes grow wide and my lips part. Through my shock, I also saw his gaze scan my face and for some reason his face gentled when he caught sight of my expression.

“Food, the food you eat, gives me nourishment,” he went on to explain. “Just as it does for you, and my body needs it, just as yours does. However, the nutrients in mortal’s food aren’t near enough to sustain my body’s energy, to keep it functioning. Therefore, I need something more.”

“But you’re feeding every other day,” I whispered.

“Yes.”

“Are you saying that, right now, you’re fasting for more than a day?”

“Yes.”

Oh my God!

I’d tried fasting when I was on some crazy diet years ago. I couldn’t last until dinner. I couldn’t imagine going for more than a day!

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

“Not as much as when I fasted for a week but yes, I am.”

I couldn’t believe this. “I don’t understand. Why would the rules do this to vampires when they change concubines?”

“The rules only state I can’t feed between the release of one and the initiation of another. Once you’re initiated, I’m free to attend Feasts.”

I felt my stomach twist at the idea of Lucien going to A Feast. Feeding on some random mortal. Touching her. Making her feel what he made me feel. Giving her what he gave me (before he took it away).

But last night at The Feast, he didn’t feed.

I swallowed hard before asking, “Are you going to Feasts, um, in between –?”

“Normally, I would, however, with you I haven’t.”

“Why?”

His arms gave me a squeeze. “If you taste the finest wine, Leah, you want another glass and if it takes a while to get it you’re content to wait. You don’t switch to lemonade no matter how sweet that lemonade might be or how thirsty you may get.”

It was the weirdest compliment I’d ever been given.

It was also, somehow, the most profound.

I really didn’t know how to respond so I said, “Oh.”

His hand slid up my back and started to play with my hair. “There’s more.”

I tilted my head to the side, trying not to dislodge his hand from my hair. I knew I shouldn’t like him playing with my hair but I did.

He went on, “As time passes and the healing properties stay in your bloodstream, they do other things to you as well.”

I felt my body tense. “Like what?”

“It takes a while, years, but they’ll start regenerating your body, your organs, your skin, your hair, everything. They help you fight off infection. They help any injury you should sustain to heal swiftly. They even ward off disease. It’s more but, to put it simply, in essence, you’ll be aging backward.”

At his words, I gasped. Finally, a bonus for being a concubine!

“You’re joking,” I breathed but I hoped he wasn’t.

“No. For it to happen, a vampire has to keep his concubine for some time and feed regularly. It takes at least a year before this process begins, sometimes two or even three.” His eyes locked on mine and he asked, “Didn’t you ever wonder why your mother and aunts look so much younger than they really are?”

I just thought it was the strict skincare regime they forced on my sister and me and all the cousins. I had no idea it was vampire saliva regeneration.

How weird.

How cool!

He must have read my face because he chuckled. “I see you like that.”

I couldn’t hide my exuberant response. “What’s not to like?”

His chuckle stopped but his handsome grin stayed in place as his hand twisted possessively in my hair.

“Nothing. There’s absolutely nothing not to like,” he murmured.

I didn’t know for certain what he was referring to but I felt it essential to stay on target. I was liking this lesson, liking it a lot.

“How much age will I lose?”

“That depends on how long our Arrangement lasts, how much I feed. It’s important to note the healing heals. It doesn’t start a regression to childhood. It doesn’t undo growth or mental capacity. You’ll lose years of cell and organ aging, maybe more. But you’ll always be an adult.”

This was getting better and better. I didn’t exactly want to go back to my teen years. They sucked enough the first time.

He slid out from under me and to his side so we were face-to-face. I caught his expression and it had grown serious.

“Before The Revolution,” he paused and asked, “Did you at least learn about The Revolution before you were expelled?”

I had. The Vampire Revolution was where this concubine business, and the rules and laws that governed vampires, all started, which was pretty much where the Vampire Studies syllabus started.

In a nutshell, in 1665 the vampires revolted in a bloody, yearlong (and then some) battle which was almost fully contained in London. History knew it as The Great Plague which was a story Parliament, King Charles II and The Vampire Dominion agreed would be spread. It was, instead, vampires fighting their own, an offshoot vampire sect who had allied themselves with mortals. I was fuzzy on the details of why the vampires revolted but they did and it wasn’t a pretty scene.

The offshoot sect won.

The Great Fire of London didn’t herald the end of the plague. It was an enormous vampire execution that got out of hand and burned down a lot of London. It also heralded the official end of The Vampire Revolution and the beginning of the Terms of Agreement between Immortal and Mortal.

“Yes,” I answered Lucien’s question.

He pulled me closer and his voice dipped lower. “Before The Revolution, it wasn’t unusual for vampires to take mortal mates.”

This was shocking news as another thing I’d caught in the moments I paid attention in class was that vampires mated, as in pledged their troth, with vampires, period, dot, the end. Not mortals. Never.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“How did that work, considering vampires are immortal? I mean, it would stink to be forever young and your partner…” I trailed off and my eyes grew wide.

He noticed my dawning comprehension and pulled me even closer. “That’s right, Leah. Back then it wasn’t unusual for vampires to keep their mortal mates alive for centuries. The healing is strong and, if constant, meant a vastly elongated life for the mortal, even going so far as making a mortal immortal should it have continued indefinitely. If feeding ceased, it would take years before the properties were fully expunged from the mortal’s system, they wouldn’t age for some time. Once they did, their normal aging process would begin again as usual.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered, overwhelmed by this stunning news.

Lucien ignored my reaction and kept with his lesson. “After The Revolution, The Immortal and Mortal Agreement prohibited inter-cultural unions. All vampires who had them where ordered to release their mortal mates.”

I stared at him in renewed, now horrified, astonishment.

I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t imagine being with someone, maybe for centuries, and all of a sudden being forced to part.

Something about this made tears sting my eyes. “That’s terrible.”

“It was,” he murmured, his tone stating eloquently that he agreed. “It also didn’t go over very well. All of them refused. Thus began The Hunt, which is an ugly piece of our history they don’t teach you in class.”

I didn’t think I wanted to know.

Lucien told me anyway. “All vampires and their mortal mates were hunted. Every last one. When caught, they were tortured until they denounced the relationship. If they didn’t, which was most often the case, they were executed.”

I couldn’t process this. It was too hideous.

“Both of them?” I breathed.

He shook his head but answered, “Sometimes, yes. Sometimes it was just the vampire, other times, it was the mortal.”

The tears in my eyes clogged my throat and I forced them down in a painful swallow.

Lucien continued, “It has served for centuries as a powerful lesson to any vampire who might wish to cross that line.”

As it would!

“I don’t like this lesson,” I whispered.

“It isn’t a nice lesson, pet,” he agreed.

“I don’t understand why they did that!” I returned hotly. “Why would they do that?”

“Survival of the species, both mine and yours. We can’t survive without you. And a vampire and mortal cannot procreate. Further, at the time, vampires hunted for their food. Mortals were prey, literally, and vampires were feared greatly. For millennia, vampires lived underground, not out in the open, many mortals didn’t even believe in us. We were considered unreal monsters, too vile to allow the fragile mortal mind to believe existed. It was in a time where many fed without stopping, leaving their victims dead, so there was a great deal to fear. We were largely nocturnal. We were entirely predators and most were highly content with this life.”

Okay, it was safe to say he was freaking me out.

He either didn’t notice or didn’t care because he continued.

“Then there was a shift of sensibilities that led to The Revolution. There were vampires who were growing tired of living in the shadows, saw the advantages of eternal life and wished to exploit them. Those vampires over the centuries acquired great wealth, sophistication and started to move within the mortal world. They became vastly more civilized than the predatory vampire, even going so far as having what are now concubines, without contracts of course and without the limit of one at a time. Many of those vampires had several concubines, sometimes dozens.”

“Is this covered in class?” I interrupted and Lucien shook his head in answer to my question and kept telling his story.

“Other vampires preferred their life as hunters and felt this growing section of our culture who wished for something more was threatening their way of life. And they were correct. This was the reason for The Revolution. The vampires who wished more from life allied themselves with mortals and fought the predatory vampires. The Union of Vampires and Mortals, the one that orchestrated the Agreement after The Revolution, felt there needed to be strictures governing the interaction between our cultures. Their intentions were sound, even just. The priority was to protect our prey and protect our species by facilitating Vampire Claimings or, in mortal terms, marriage. Even vampires don’t often procreate, it’s difficult but it’s impossible with a mortal. For our species to thrive, they thrust these edicts on us.”

I had a million questions. Maybe even a million and two.

As was necessary, I started with one.

“Why do you need to procreate when you don’t die?”

“We die. Sometimes accidentally, a house fire, for example. But usually, it’s suicide. Eternal life isn’t for everyone.” I sucked in a shocked breath and Lucien continued softly, “It’s an honorable death, Leah. Not frowned upon in any way. Eternal life can get trying.” I nodded because that, too, made a weird kind of sense. “Then there are the executions for those who break the rules, mostly if they hunt. This doesn’t happen often. And lastly, there are the rights vampires have against their own. For instance, if a concubine is misused by another vampire, her vampire can exact retribution which can come in the form of assassination.”

I knew that last already. Stephanie told me, including the fact that Lucien had conducted two such assassinations himself.

Something occurred to me then. Something I knew but hadn’t thought about. Something that made me feel like my blood had turned to hot lava, an intensely uncomfortable sensation.

I didn’t want to ask, I really didn’t, but I found myself doing it anyway.

“Do you and your, er…” I tried not to choke on the word and luckily succeeded, “mate have any children?”

For some reason I hated thinking about him having a mate. Essentially a wife somewhere out there staking claim to him on a level I would never have. Why I felt this way, I had no clue and it scared me most of all.

He shook his head but I didn’t feel relief. His next words, spoken so casually they were careless, cemented this feeling further.

“Not with Katrina, no. From two separate unions long ago, I created a son, Julian, and a daughter, Isobel, both live in England.”

Oh my God!

Lucien was a father.

I couldn’t wrap my head around that concept at all.

My eyes shifted away from him when I queried, “Do you talk to them?”

“Frequently.”

I kept my eyes averted. “Are you close?”

“Very.”

“Do you, um… keep in touch with their mothers?”

Why was I asking these questions?

He didn’t hesitate with his reply. “Isobel’s mother took her life thirty years ago.”

My eyes snapped back to his face but there was no expression there, no sadness or remorse.

He continued, “I still speak with, and sometimes see, Cressida, Julian’s mother.”

I didn’t want to be talking about this anymore. And in hopes of ending the discussion and my lesson which had started out great but took a turn for the worse, I asked no further questions and simply said, “Okay.”

For a moment, Lucien examined my face.

Then he asked quietly, “Have you had enough, pet?”

I’d had enough.

Boy, had I had enough.

I nodded.

“Do you have any questions?” he offered and I shook my head.

This was a lie. I still had a million questions none of which I wanted answers to at that moment. The top of the list was the existence of Katrina. Who she was. Where she was. What she thought about me. How long they’d been together and why Lucien was in my bed at night, his clothes in my dressing room, his body lying with me at this very moment on the couch he provided for me.

Though I knew I definitely didn’t want the answer to any of that.

As I was sorting through this new mess in my brain, his head lifted and his face disappeared in my neck. “All right, sweetheart. Lesson over.”

I shivered mainly because his deep voice sounded against the sensitive skin of my neck and that felt nice. Also because, after he stopped speaking, his tongue tasted me there and that felt nicer. Finally because he called me “sweetheart” and I liked it when he did that.

In an effort at self-preservation, to end my body’s betraying response and in an attempt to take some control of the situation, I asked, “Can I get dressed?”

“No.”

I blinked.

“No?” I queried and my voice sounded breathy.

His mouth traveled up my neck, over my jaw to meet my lips.

“No. I’ve decided you’ll be naked most of today.”

What? My mind screamed.

“What?” my mouth whispered.

I felt his smile against my lips. “You’ll be naked. Obviously you’ve learned your lesson and decided to mind me. That deserves a reward.” His voice dipped lower when he informed me, “And I’m going to spend all day giving you that reward.”

Oh my God.

Now what had I done?

The game I’d instigated had taken a nasty turn. And this was because he played it far better than me.

Damn the vampire!

“Lucien…” I started but his hand hit my bare thigh, roving upwards under my robe to cup my bottom.

He interrupted my concentration on the movement of his hand by demanding, “Kiss me, pet.”

“Kiss you?” I whispered.

“I want your tongue in my mouth.”

Oh my God.

“Lucien –” I started again but he cut me off.

“You intend to disobey me?” His tone sounded like a gentle threat or possibly a challenge.

What did I do now?

My choices were to be Obedient Leah and kiss him or be Real Leah and likely get punishment.

I was screwed!

“Can we –?” I began yet again only to be interrupted again.

“Kiss me, Leah.”

“Just give me two –”

His hand pressed my hips against his and I could feel he was hard. My body registered that I liked it that he was hard, that I could make him hard just by lying beside him and talking.

That may have been what my body registered but my mind registered complete and utter fear.

I watched his eyes grow dark and intense.

Then he growled, “Do what I say or –”

I cut him off this time and kissed him.

The minute my tongue touched his, per usual, I wondered why I’d struggled against it. Both our heads slanted to opposite sides. Our tongues dueled, both fighting for supremacy, taking, taking, taking, so hungry, at the same time giving so much I felt my body consumed with the gift of his kiss.

It was glorious.

My back arched, pressing my torso into his, seeking maximum contact but he pulled away. His hand moving between us, he yanked at the tie on my robe, shifting it aside. His hand slid across my waist, up my back, pressing in, my sensitive naked torso flattened against his massive, hard, tee-covered chest.

It felt great.

His mouth broke from mine and he demanded in a husky voice, “Wrap your leg around my waist. I want to smell you.”

His demand caused my belly to dip and a rush of heat to surge between my legs.

I did as I was told, biting my lip, feeling both desire and embarrassment all of this mingled with fear, of him, of what we were doing, of what it meant that I responded to him so strongly even though I despised him so thoroughly.

When my calf curled around his ass, his eyes grew unfocused.

“Fucking hell,” he muttered and his gaze caught mine, still fogged. “I can’t wait to have my mouth on you, to have the taste of you on my tongue, to have that scent take over my world.”

That was the second weirdest, yet most profound, compliment I’d ever had.

I had no time to let it sink in. He was kissing me, harder, more demanding, more beautiful than the last.

His hands moved on me, mine moved on him, yanking up his tee so they could move skin against skin.

His body felt amazing beneath my touch. Hard, silken, strong, massive, defined.

His mouth tore from mine but his lips slid down my cheek, scoring a delicious path over my jaw, neck, down, making me tremble.

“Offer your breast to me,” he ordered, mouth at my chest and I was so deep in my own sensual fog, his question confused me.

“Sorry?”

His lips moved away and he pulled up, his eyes locking with mine.

“I want you to offer me your breast.”

His command sliced through my arousal. I didn’t know what he meant. Was he going to feed on me there like I’d seen the vampire do last night? Or was he going to do something else?

Both of which I wanted. Both of which terrified me.

I swallowed.

His eyes scanned my face before he asked softly, “What’s this?”

I stared at him and it hit me that he looked strangely hopeful.

“Maybe this is going a little fast for me,” I tried.

And failed.

His expression shifted, not angry or impatient but pleased. Very pleased. Even, if it could be credited, relieved.

And stimulated. Or, more stimulated.

“You deny me?” he whispered sounding like he hoped I did.

“Um…”

“Offer me your breast, Leah,” he repeated.

“Er…”

“Cup it in your hand and offer it to me.”

“Couldn’t we just, you know, carry on like before, natural-like?” I suggested.

He shook his head and his arms stole around me, tensing fiercely, crushing me to him.

“Today, if it takes all day, if it takes into tomorrow, if it takes the next month, you’ll learn to submit to me. You’ll learn to give me what I want when I ask for it. You’ll learn to offer me what I desire when I demand it. You’ll learn to beg me for your own release when I require it.”

I felt my temper rise. Really, he was such a jerk.

“I don’t think –”

“Give me your breast, pet.”

“Lucien, seriously.”

“Do it!” he snarled, his voice turning dangerous, his patience waning.

Obedient Leah evaporated and Real Leah glared.

“You want it, take it! I’m not giving you anything,” I snarled back.

He rolled into me, his massive weight crushing me to the couch and, for some unhinged reason, regardless of the fact we were locked in our usual battle, I found I was wrong about his patience waning.

It had been a test. A test I failed. A battle he won.

And he looked triumphant.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he muttered.

Great!

Then it began, my punishment for disobeying – his hands on me, his mouth on me everywhere, hard, hot, ravenous, demanding my response and getting it in spades.

He lit me on fire. I fought it but I didn’t win. My defenses were puny and they collapsed within minutes.

I pulled up his tee and he took over, arching away from me, tearing it over his head and tossing it aside. With all his delicious skin exposed, a craving so intense it felt like it would shatter me tore through my system. My mouth sought anywhere it could touch, taste, lick, bite, suck and I liked the way he tasted.

No, I adored it.

When we kissed again, my fingers curled into his hair, holding him to me like I’d never let him go.

He broke our kiss and his mouth traveled the length of me, pushing the robe wide, exposing me to him and I didn’t try to hide. I kept my fingers in his hair as he explored, tempting, pressing for a reaction, taking it when it happened but not giving that first thing back. He blew against my nipples, they hardened, peaking with a beautiful pain. His tongue swept along my skin, under the swells of my breasts, across my midriff, circling my belly button, lower, until it teased the edge of my black lace panties.

Then his mouth was on me between my legs, sucking for an instant, hot and hard, over my panties.

The pleasure seared through me, rocking me to my soul and my hips surged upwards, an instinctive demand for more.

His mouth disappeared and all of a sudden his body was on mine again, his lips against my mouth, the flavor of me a hint on his.

“You want my mouth between your legs?” he growled, even his voice, rough with desire, trilled through my system, making me squirm.

I did. I wanted his mouth between my legs. I wanted him inside me, his tongue or anything else he choose to put there.

I didn’t answer, instead I panted against his mouth.

“Do you want me?” he pushed.

“Lucien –” My voice was a breathy plea for release.

“Beg me,” he demanded.

It would be so easy to give up, to give in, to take what I wanted knowing it would be, by far, the best I ever had. It would be so easy to humble myself and deal with the consequences later.

But I couldn’t. If I did, I knew I’d lose myself, all that was me. The mass of bad traits, stubbornness, impatience and sometimes fumbling idiocy and all the good traits too, my loyalty, sense of humor and compassion. I wouldn’t hold onto me anymore. I would be giving it to him and I didn’t trust him to take care of it.

And I knew that even if he kept it safe, he wouldn’t keep it long. He’d release me as he did Cecile and countless other concubines. By then, everything I was would be gone. He’d retain it for centuries, likely uncaring he held such a precious gift but, for me, all would be lost.

Instead of explaining any of that, or giving him the demand he asked for, I gave him another kind of entreaty. “Don’t make me do that.”

His face grew hard. “I have eternity, pet, to teach you this lesson.”

“You won’t last that long. You’ll give up,” I told him, my body still burning for his touch, wriggling underneath him.

At my words, he looked a mixture of amused and surprised.

His head cocked to the side and he asked, “Do you think that’s true?”

I nodded, being honest for once. “You’re a vampire but you’re also a man. You’ll need to get it elsewhere and you will. Eventually you’ll tire of me.”

He grinned and I didn’t like it. It was his smug grin and I reckoned it foretold very bad things for me.

I wasn’t wrong.

“Oh, I won’t tire of you, Leah. But, you’re right. If you force me, I will indeed get it elsewhere.”

At the thought of him getting anything elsewhere, a different kind of heat slashed through me, washing away my desire in a wave of pain. This was unexpected, not only the reaction but the excruciating intensity of it.

Before the razor-sharp edge of this sensation could subside, his head snapped up. He drew in a deep breath through his nostrils and his eyes narrowed, focusing on something but not me, not something close.

I sensed the danger instantly.

Our current situation forgotten, I whispered, “Lucien, something’s wrong.”

His eyes locked on mine.

For some reason communicating nonverbally, he replied straight into my brain, Yes, pet.

Without further reply, his body knifed off mine and he moved away. He was holding himself tense, his powerful musculature standing out, more defined. The way he held his body was menacing, even sinister. I could sense he wanted to move with vampire speed but was forcing himself to go slowly.

I heaved myself up and followed him, closing my robe, tying it tightly. The doorbell rang but he was already pulling the door open as the bell sounded. I stopped five feet away.

A woman stood there. Gleaming black hair, ice-blue eyes, her beauty so extraordinary, her sexuality so explicit, I couldn’t stop myself from sucking in a stunned breath at the sight of her.

This was a mistake.

When I gasped, her eyes, which were fastened on Lucien, sliced to me.

She, too, pulled in breath through her nostrils.

In an instant, her face contorted with primal rage.

In the next instant, she attacked.

Her target?

Me.