Longing for You, стр. 3
“Slaine, the Dreds are turning humans at will to boost their bootson the ground, threatening to expose our world to humans, the witches arebaying for blood, and the whole paranormal world is on a knife-edge. No one istaking the threat seriously,” Alexis said.
“Look at everyone dancing and having a good time. Vampires,wolves, shifters, fae, witches, all in the same room, and not killing eachother.” Slaine pointed over to the small number of witches sitting together ina corner of the room. “At the moment the witches are baying for vampire blood,but because of this wedding, the British covens have sent representatives hereand are enjoying a drink with vampires, who they probably trust as far as theycould throw them. That’s an achievement that only love can bring.”
“Love?” Alexis snorted. “Please, love brings pain, not happiness.”
Alexis’s eyes flitted to a young blond woman, dancing not far fromthe Principe and Principessa—Katie Brekman, the Debrek head housekeeper, whowas dancing with a female shifter. She felt her stomach twist with tension.
Katie’s family had worked for the Debreks for generations, and hermother and father had headed up the Debrek household for years. When Katie cameback from university to work for Byron, she’d joined the blood rota, as all thehumans in the household did.
Alexis remembered every millisecond of her first encounter in theblood room with Katie. Katie offered her neck and Alexis groaned at the firstscent of it.
For a vampire, going to feed in the blood room should be likeeating a meal for a human—nice, but just a fuel stop to keep their vampirebodies going. Unless you were feeding from a lover. Alexis closed her eyes andshe was back there, recalling the memory like a movie in her mind.
Alexis had a long morning and needed to feed badly. Sheunlocked her phone and opened the Debrek app. The app had been developedunder Byron’s leadership and modernized the Debrek way of life and business.She clicked on the icon to summon a blood host—a little like ordering an Uber—andmade her way down to the blood room.
When she arrived at the old wooden door, she looked into the eyescanner to gain access. The security scanner released the lock, and she openedthe heavy oak door.
She walked in and was surprised to see not one of the regularblood hosts, but young Katie Brekman, the daughter of the Debrek housekeeperand butler. Alexis knew that she had returned from university but didn’t knowshe had started work.
“Duca?” Katie said in surprise. “I…I didn’t know it would be you.”
Alexis looked at the young woman silently. She appeared nervous,and Alexis’s exceptional hearing could make out Katie’s heart hammering in herchest.
Katie wasn’t handling Alexis’s silence very well and started totalk nervously. “This is my first time giving blood—well, I did give blood atuniversity for the Red Cross, but that’s a bit different—”
As she rambled on Alexis sighed internally. A blood virgin.Brilliant, that was just what she needed. Alexis wasn’t like some vampires wholiked to stop and chat, pass the time of day with their blood hosts. She didn’tmuch like to pass the day with anyone. She had clan business to take care of,things to do, and people to organize within the clan.
She was clearly the wrong person to guide Katie through her firsttime and would just have to tell her so.
“I’m jabbering, aren’t I?” Katie said, her cheeks blushing withembarrassment. “I do that when I’m nervous.”
Katie’s innocence and bashfulness lit an unexpected hunger insideof Alexis. Some vampires got off feeding from a blood virgin, to have the firsttaste of them, to be the one who would always be the human’s first, but theidea never appealed to Alexis. So why this twisting of need in her stomach now?
Katie’s mother and father were well-loved and extremely importantto the Debreks, and Katie had grown up amongst them all. Usually, Alexis wasbarely aware of the human staff’s children, unless they were getting in theway. But she had noticed Katie when she left for university as a young woman,and since she had returned. It was clearly a bad idea to indulge such a strongdesire and satisfy an urge with someone so important to the family, so she wasdoubly sure to turn down this particular host.
“Katie—” Alexis was just about to turn her down when Katieinterrupted.
“You want a more experienced host, don’t you?” Katie’s shouldersslumped, and she sighed. “You’re the fourth vampire to ask for someone else.”
“Oh, why is that?” Alexis said.
Katie popped her phone into her pocket, preparing to leave.“They’re frightened of giving me a bad experience, I suppose, because of whoMum and Dad are. They probably think the Principe will be mad at them if it’snot a perfect experience or something. I mean, I know Mum and Dad are close tothe Debreks, but I’m still a human like everyone else here.”
Alexis immediately felt guilty at the thought of turning Katiedown, even if the vampire in her was a little too interested in drinking fromher. She couldn’t do that to Katie and supposed it her duty as Duca to guideher through this first time if no one else was brave enough to.
She caught Katie’s arm as she started to walk away. “I’d behonoured to drink from you.”
“What? Really?” Katie said.
“Yes.”
The door to the blood room opened as another vampire came in readyto feed. Alexis turned around and gave them a hard stare. “Leave.”
“Yes, Duca,” the vampire said quickly.
The last thing Katie needed was an audience for her first time.Alexis locked the door with the key. “So we won’t be disturbed.”
Katie started to undo the first few buttons on her blouse. Alexiswalked up to her and stilled her hand. “You do know you have thechoice of wrist or neck?”
“Yes, Duca.”
“The most important thing to remember is that in here, you are incharge. Don’t let any vampire influence you about where to feed, or whether tofeed at all. You always have the right to change your mind, at any point.”
Katie nodded.
“And if any vampire in our clan does not respect your rights, ortries to influence you, report it to me, or your mother and father,understand?”
“Yes,