Pick Your Poison Read online

  “It’s all or nothing, sweetheart. So what will it be?” he challenged.

  “Hmmm... Alright, you can have your forever, sir, under one condition.” Holding a finger up to peer at him over it, I waited.

  Divit’s eyes darkened, his hand nudging my chin gently as his head dipped. “Name it and it’s yours. Just remember, you agreed to this.” Our lips met in the briefest, sweetest of kisses that left me hungry for more.

  “It’s just one little, eensie-weensie, tiny little thing,” I murmured sweetly, nipping his lips as I stole a few more quick pecks. “You won’t notice at all, twinkle buns.”

  Grimacing, my lover-mate grunted. “I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”

  “I wish I called you it more.” Fingers pinching together until it left only a small space between them, I held them up. “It really is such a tiny thing.”

  Giving me a look that begged to differ, though he was game, his dark brows arched. “Oh, and what’s that, sweetheart?”

  “Oh, nothin’... nothing really.” My fingers curled into his shirtfront. “You just have to take my last name.” Smiling brightly, I kissed those handsome, smiling lips, smooshing that curse word he wanted to blurt out so badly it probably hurt him with a determined smooch, eager hands, and a well-timed bite.

  I had no complaints from my vampire mate as I muffled him soundly—none at all.

  Wonder what he’ll do when he finds out his new, soon to be last name is Dobickney. Divit Dobickney... Kind of had a nice ring to it. The possessive streak in me reveled in it, but I doubted he would.

  Ah, whatever, he’ll get over it. He’s mine now—all mine.

  Fleshing it out

  It was early, too early, and the sun was out, beating on my newly blacked out basement windows. A leg brushed mine and I went to turn, laughing as he pinned me to my stomach. Strong hands gripped my hair, gently tugging on the short strands to pull my head to the side, exposing my neck.

  “Vampires don’t sleep. Wake up, sleepy head.”

  “Vampires don’t do this, vampires don’t do that. Supposedly, vampires can’t do a lot of things. Boners, sweating, ejaculation, sex, sleeping, migraines, and yet at some point you’ve laid claim to having experienced all of them, at some point or another either with me or while in my presence. Tell me, glitter-buns, are you something of an enigma, or simply lucky? I say fuck all this can’t do shit. It’s a new era. Let’s pave the way.”

  A long nose nuzzled through my hair, inhaling deeply as it ran through the colorful streaks I’d artfully put in. “Just lucky, I guess, but we don’t sleep, we rest. Weakened by the sun and all that—we’re sensitive to it—and before you argue, yes, there is a difference. Your body will adjust over time and you’ll grow used to things, become stronger and feel less restless as you get older, but it takes time. And there will be no paving of any ways.”

  “Sleep? Rest? Pfft. Hardly, spandy pants, and we’ll see about this no paving business. I’m turning over a new leaf, baby. I may be kind of dead, but I’m all about living,” I cut in, snorting when he tapped my ass to hush me.

  “And enough with the pet names already, sweetheart. It’s nauseating.”

  “Bite me, darling. I’ll do what I want.” Wiggling my backside against his throbbing manhood, a saucy smile tipped my lips as his fingers slipped along my seam.

  “I thought you couldn’t get a boner anymore once Callie’s curse wore off?”

  “Based on our recent activities, I think it’s safe to say you thought wrong,” Divit murmured huskily, his voice dipping low as he slid further along the bottom of the bed.

  My skin prickled and I shivered as his hand pressed along my spine.

  “Stay right there,” he ordered, his hands moving down lower to smooth over my ass and grip my hips. Fingers drifting along my skin teasingly in a light caress, he lifted my hips higher. “You wish to know why that’s so?” he asked quietly, a curious note in his voice.

  Propping myself up onto my elbows, I twisted right as his head was about to dip, his gaze aimed right for my sweet spot. Rolling away to leave him growling after me, I laughed and hopped off the bed.

  Stumbling to my feet, newly undead or not I still wasn’t the most balanced of creatures, nor would I ever be, and I was fine with that now.

  “You have to tell me now or you’re not getting any more,” I teased, improvising.

  Backing up, I made to duck away but Divit was still too fast, snatching my wrist to yank me back to him with a sharp jerk that sent me flying right into his arms.

  “Now you’ll have to wait, I’m afraid, until I’ve had my fill,” he shot back, wrestling me beneath him as he tucked my arms and rolled.

  “You’ve had your fill? I’m afraid to ask, but fill of what? Blood or sex?”

  “Both. Guess you’re good and fucked. Come here.”

  I burst out laughing as he grinned, the smile that touched his eyes a rarity that was starting to become a comforting familiarity between us. Reaching up to brush my fingers along his jawline, reveling in the freshly shaven feel of his skin, I found myself smiling back.

  A strange sensation filled my chest then as we stared at each other, spreading, buzzing around my brain in a sort of happy hum, making its way across my extremities until my fingers itched and my toes curled. I started at it, sucking in a sharp gasp, but Divit never looked away.

  Taking my hand in his, he kissed the tips of my fingers, bending down to take my lips with his in a deep, sensual kiss. “You feel it, don’t you?”

  I nodded, which just made his smile widen even more.

  “And you want to know why we can make love?” Leaning in close, so close our lips were a hair’s breadth apart, it was hard to think.

  “Uhm... yup,” I mumbled, basking in the spicy scent of my vampire and his delicious, iron rich blood. “Yes, I-I do.”

  Tilting his neck, he tapped a vein. “I claimed you. We share a bond, you can feel it—we share life blood. Don’t dare try to deny it either, I can tell. Life blood is everything to a vampire. It’s the ultimate price one can pay, and alternately the ultimate gift. Sweetheart, I gave you everything, all of me. You own my ass as much as I own yours, it’s as simple as that. Now get over here and bite me.”

  Dazed, I gave a short nod, my tongue sneaking out for a taste of him as I licked my lips. “Well, when you put it that way...”

  Muscled thighs sliding along mine as his hands slipped along my legs, I instinctively wrapped them around his waist. Gripping my ass as my fingers curled around his neck, he hitched us up until we were in a sitting position.

  Fangs dropping, a low growl rattling my chest as my grip tightened, my fingers threaded through his hair to hold him still.

  “God, yes.” A low moan slipping past my vampire lover’s throat, he closed his eyes as his hips thrust, his shaft sliding along my wet slit.

  My fangs struck and we both moaned aloud, euphoria sweeping through me as Divit’s grip grew almost painful.

  Writhing underneath me, his eyes snapped open wide as my hips swiveled and I lifted, the head of his cock bumping the entrance to my sex. Gaze filled with crimson, he bared his fangs at me as he thrust up, forcing me to take all of him at once.

  Crying out, I threw my head back, blood dribbling down past my chin as rivulets ran down his chest. My nails clawed at his back as my tongue snuck out to lick his blood from my lips.

  Waiting for Divit’s bite, anticipation thrumming through me, his teeth scraped my neck as he nipped and licked his way down to my breast.

  “Mine.” He snarled and then struck, suckling the meaty part of the flesh of my breast into his mouth as his teeth sank deep.

  Cradling his head to my chest as he suckled hard, his hips rocking steadily as he pumped in and out of me, I slid up and down on his shaft, gyrating my hips, rubbing my clit into the top of his pelvic bone as he brought us both to completion.

  My sex clenched as I came, my orgasm rushing over me with a force I’d yet to experience with anyone
but him as my sheath squeezed his cock, trying to wring every last bit of his climax from him.

  Letting my breast go with one last, long kiss to my distended nipple, Divit lifted himself from his pretzeled position to take my lips softly.

  Still deep inside me, his shaft pulsing heavily, he groaned when I clamped my inner muscles down around him. “More,” I murmured against his lips, licking my blood from his mouth.

  Divit growled and rolled us, gripping my hip to toss my leg over his shoulder and lean in close.

  Something made itself known then and I arched a brow. “You ejaculated.”

  “Yes.” Divit shivered, a full body shiver as he thrust back home. “God, yes I did.” Our bodies made loud squelching sounds that had me trying to push him back to eye our place of joining dubiously as his hips swiveled, pressing forward a few more times.

  “Uhm... a lot.”

  “Yes,” he confirmed, as if very smug by the fact.

  “I mean, I thought you couldn’t. You know, if only then because of the potion, or whatever.” Biting my lip, I stared up at him.

  “I can because it’s with you. I understand it about as much as why dragons breathe fire without burning their throats, or werewolves can handle the sound of their own ridiculous ululations but not something as simple as a whistle. Why is it demons steal souls and yet can’t do more than hold them, as opposed to possessing it for their own? Or possess a soul of their own to begin with, for that matter?” Pausing at the look on my face, he frowned, glowering down at me. “They’re dead. How many times do I have to tell you? I’m dead, so they’re dead.”

  “Jeesh. You don’t have to be an asshole about it. All I’m saying is you’re shooting soldiers, you jerk off.” Grunting, I elbowed him in the gut, offering the oaf a blackened stare.

  Divit rolled away, a snarl in his throat, his glistening cock equally as angry as it stood up in the air, all wet and shiny and ramrod straight, to glare at me, too.

  “You know, you’re such a dick about everything. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking! God, this is stupid!” Ignoring the sharp, stabbing pain my words created, I growled, hopping up and pacing angrily.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Divit barked, shooting up in bed.

  Throwing my hands up in the air, I screeched. “Hell if I freaking know!”

  Divit tracked my movements from the bed as I stomped around my basement apartment in a fit, his eyes never leaving me as I huffed and puffed until there was really nothing left in me. I was trembling, I was so worked up, no way to hide it as I stormed about, naked.

  Propped up on the pillows, an unreadable expression on his face, he waited until I’d settled somewhat and motioned me over.

  Turning my back on him, shoulders slumped, I walked over and pulled a chair out at my small kitchen table. Hesitating, I glared at it, growling low as I plopped down into it, shaking my head.

  Burying my face in my hands, I wanted to scream. A million things running through my head and it felt like the room was spinning. I just wanted it all to stop. Call it anxiety, stress, panic, I was wrecked. Just dammed wrecked, and I accepted it.

  I was so caught up in my own head I didn’t hear him approach. I knew the second he was behind me, however, sensed him, but he was almost directly behind me by then. “What good are sharpened senses if I don’t even know how to use them? My dad even got the jump on me the other day! My dad! He’s like the least discreet person I know.”

  “You’ll learn. These things take time.”

  Strong arms wrapped around me moments later and the smell of my mate, warm and spicy and wholly masculine—mine—filled my nose.

  The spinning in my head slipped away and I was left with the strange calmness my mate had to offer. Without question, I took it.

  My feelings for him frightened me, more than our bond or his feelings for me. The panic threatened to swallow me up again as it swelled, but his touch, his calm, reassuring presence, beat it back.

  “I’m not so bad, you know.” His chin rested atop my head and he pressed his chest into my back, enveloping me in his warmth. “Not all the time,” he amended. And then, clearing his throat, he gave my shoulder a gentle nudge. “Hey, look on the bright side, we live forever.”

  A soft chuckle escaped me and I groaned, allowing my eyes to slide shut.

  “Alright, so I’m a dick, but there will be lots of apology gifts, right?”

  “It’s not you,” I admitted quietly, “though you are a rather big dick, glitter-pants.”

  Bending down, Divit nipped my ear playfully. “I fancy myself a thoughtful fellow, so I’ll take the big dick comment to assume you mean Gus.”

  “Gus? Uhm...” Sputtering, I barked out a laugh, incredulous, my eyes straying to his naked hip. “You named your johnson Gus?”

  “Yes, Gus. Now, moving on. I’m a dick, you hate me, and...?”

  “You are a dick, I don’t hate you, and we will be returning to this whole Gus thing in a moment.”

  “Alright, I’m lost, then. I know you’re scared and upset, and don’t bother lying, sweetheart, I can feel it as well as smell it. I’m not going anywhere and neither are you, so... what did I do?”

  Wincing, I shook my head. “You didn’t do anything.”

  Divit’s hands smoothed over my shoulders and he hugged my waist, whispering in my ear, “Then what is it?”

  Feeling stupid for even admitting it, stupid for being a dramatic jerkhole, I came clean. “I’m scared. We’re moving really fast and a lot is going on all at once and I don’t know how to handle it and while some of it is good-”

  “Great,” he corrected. “Wonderful, splendiferous, excellent-”

  Reaching up and pinching his lips shut tight, I snorted. “Who’s annoying now?”

  He shook my hold off and motioned for me to continue.

  “And while that’s all well and good,” I continued, pausing briefly while I waited for him to interrupt, “I don’t do well with change. I’m not scared, that’s too nice a word. I’m... Divit, I’m terrified.” Turning to face him, I knew if I still had a heartbeat it would be thumping frantically right now.

  Divit took a long time in answering as he studied my face. “Well, then,” a small smile curved his delicious lips and he kissed me slowly, “I can’t make any promises, I’m old and impatient, but I guess we’ll just have to try and take our time, won’t we?”

  “You’d do that for me?” I stood so fast my chair fell, whirling around to grip his shoulders tight.

  Divit frowned at the look on my face. “I said I’ll try, didn’t I? Now get over here and kiss me, woman.”

  He picked me up as our lips met, and I wrapped my arms around his neck as he hitched my thighs over his hips.

  “And you’ll get your sperm checked,” I mumbled against his delectable mouth.

  Divit almost dropped me, headed straight for the bed, stumbling at that little announcement. “They’re dead! What do I need to get them checked for?”

  “Because you care for me and it will put my mind at ease.” I wiggled out of my lover’s arms then, sliding down his torso to kneel at his feet.

  “Sweetheart, that is just... What are you doing?”

  Taking his cock in hand, a wicked smile on my face, I wrapped my fingers around his thick appendage and gave it a quick pump.

  Divit’s hips jerked and he grunted. “I still don’t see the- ung! Mm. Point. God, don’t stop. That feels good.” They jerked again as my head dipped and my tongue darted out for a taste. Grinning, I chuckled, my lips circling the head of his shaft.

  “You like that?” I teased, pulling back, my fingers cupping his balls to cradle them in my palm.

  “Yessss.” He hissed the word out, clutching at the back of my head as I leaned forward and my tongue rasped along his length. As his cock twitched, I grew bolder, swirling my tongue around the head to suckle gently. “More.” Divit groaned, his hips jerking as he fought not to thrust.

  At that I relaxed my
throat muscles, lips suctioning, and took as much of him as I could. A deep hiss echoed over my head and my vampire lover’s hips jerked as my throat worked, the need to come up for air not an issue as I worked his shaft.

  “Genie...” His fingers dug into my scalp as I let him have his way, pumping in and out of my mouth jerkily as his legs began to tremble. As he moaned my name, a low growl in his throat, my fingers clamped down around his thighs.

  As he drew close his scent grew stronger, making me delirious, positively wild with want. Pulling back, my fangs elongated as he slipped free from my mouth. I shuddered, licking my lips hungrily as his cock bobbed in front of my face. Nuzzling his inner thigh, licking and suckling the spot, I gripped his shaft to work it in my hands, sinking my fangs in deep before he could protest.

  “Shit! Fuck!” Divit howled, hot warmth bathing my tongue to trail down my fingertips as it dribbled down his thigh.

  Sucking hungrily, my lips sealed over the twin puncture marks I’d just made as blood filled my mouth. Fingers digging into my scalp, he gave my hair a sharp yank, dislodging my teeth from his leg.

  Tensing, I hissed, a low, angry sound as he spun me around. A vicious snarl ripped from his throat as one left mine, his heavy body pinning me down on the bed, face down, to mount me, but I loved every second of it. My mate. Mine.

  My hips arched as he kicked my legs apart, his blood still on my lips as my face pressed into the mattress, and then he was there, hot and hard, bumping my pussy lips and ramming home with one smooth thrust that had us both calling out.

  He was relentless as he claimed me, biting his way up the side of my upper back, his fangs sinking deep into my shoulder as my neck arched, his fingers clawing at my hips.

  “Mine.” His voice came out unnaturally deep and guttural.

  It was rough and demanding on both of our parts, my channel squeezing his dick as hard as he was hammering into it, but it felt strangely right. For us, our kind, this was how it was supposed to be, I knew instinctively—rough, dirty, and bloody—raw—and we liked it that way.

  Reaching between us, he teased along my slit, his thumb deftly slipping inside my hot, tight depths to fight for room with his cock as my legs spread wider and I gripped a pillow. It was a tight fit, the added pressure forcing his shaft to nudge just the right spot on every quick, sharp thrust as they grew erratic.