“I’ll try. Getting in and out is always risky. This area is patrolled by DSA. They think we’re foolish enough to jump the wall.”
“How do you get in and out?”
“It’s best you don’t know.”
“I’ll be here. If it isn’t safe, don’t come.”
“If I’m not here at the stroke of midnight, go home. Like Reeni said, not all vampires are nice.”
“How can I reach you?”
“You can’t. Vampires don’t get mail or have Internet access. We communicate with the authorities via one dedicated phone connection. I don’t have access.”
Reeni tapped on the window.
Azza gave him a quick kiss on the lips and got out of the car. “Go, Jak. Don’t linger. Keep the UV wand handy. If anyone approaches you in this sector, they are looking for breakfast. Go fast.”
Jak pressed the accelerator and took off. He looked in his rearview mirror, but Azza and Reeni were already out of sight. He drove home wondering if Azza would show up the next night. If she didn’t, would he ever see her again?
“The human’s cute, but he’s dangerous,” Reeni said. “Aren’t you the one always cautioning me about making dumbass choices?”
“I know. I know,” Azza said.
Reeni was right. A relationship with a human was doomed from the start and a good way to get one’s ass thrown in prison. Her attraction to Jak was a powerful temptation. All that male heat and rich blood.
Just thinking about him agitated her, made her think about things she shouldn’t. She dreamed about him, fucking him and tasting his blood. Which was weird because once she’d been turned, Azza had stopped dreaming.
Her human memories were fading. She had to concentrate to remember her old life. Her parents were in their seventies and her little brothers were sliding into middle age.
Reeni was right about something else. Living in the Cemetery was getting boring. In the beginning, the dependable pattern helped Azza cope. Her job gave her life meaning, but lacked excitement. Sneaking off to the raves and having sex with humans offered a much needed adventure.
“There’s a vampire rave next weekend.”
“I thought the raves were once a month?”
“One of the guys I met last night told me all about it. This one is going to be the biggest yet, major party.”
“Did you make plans to meet him again?”
“Like I want to get stuck with one partner? You should forget Jak. You’ll find another guy. After all, they just need to be alive, be drunk enough to ignore our cold, pale skin, but not so drunk they can’t get it up.”
Azza didn’t want to go to another rave or fuck another human. She wanted Jak. “I like him, Reeni.”
“What’s so special about Jak?”
“He makes me warm.”
“Warm?”
Azza rubbed her arms. “When he touches me I feel warm.”
“That’s impossible. You’re imagining things.”
“Maybe, but I like the feeling. I’m going out tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow night at the stroke of midnight.”
“I knew there was a reason you were dressed like a ninja. Don’t do it. He’s a human. You can’t trust them.”
Azza had chosen a black knit turtle-necked top and black stretch pants. “I trust Jak and I want to see him. He saved our asses last night.”
“Fine.”
“Walk me down?”
“Okay, but I think you’re crazy.”
Reeni and Azza left their shared apartment and entered the stairwell at the end of the hallway. They walked down to the underground housing levels, preferred by the old vampires. At the far end of a narrow corridor was a steel door. Azza opened the door and stepped inside the tunnel beneath the Cemetery.
At the opposite end of the tunnel, Azza grasped the handle of the door and pulled. The steel door was heavy, requiring the strength of a vampire to move it. Azza stepped into an underground utility room beneath an abandoned apartment house. “I’ll be back in twenty-four hours.”
“Be careful. Don’t get your ass caught. I can’t handle forever alone.”
Azza hurried across the garage and entered a service elevator. The lift wasn’t operating, the car removed long ago, but the cables led to the roof. The street-level doors were boarded up and the vampires preferred to maintain the appearance of abandonment to protect the secret tunnel.
Azza grabbed onto a cable, climbed up the elevator shaft and out an emergency hatch onto the roof.
She walked to the edge of the six-story building that once had been government housing, then designated vampire housing. When the vampire population was forced into the Cemetery, the building had been abandoned. No human, not even the poor or the homeless, wanted to live near the Cemetery.
Azza spotted Jak’s car, parked in the same spot where he’d dropped her off. As promised, he was waiting for her.
She hadn’t been outside the Cemetery for more than a few hours at a time, but tonight she’d committed to twenty-four hours in human territory. If she were caught she’d be thrown in prison, forced into hard labor and given just enough blood to survive. Was Jak worth the risk?
Hell yes.
Moving silently, Azza climbed down the fire escape and jumped to the street. In a flash she was opening the passenger door.
“How long have you been waiting?”
“Just a few minutes.”
She noticed the UV wand was tucked between the seats, but Jak would be no match for a vampire. “That’s too long. Arrive at the appointed time. Not a minute before. Got it?”
“So this is more than a one-night stand?”
“Not if you end up being someone’s midnight snack.”
Smiling, Jak grabbed her and kissed her. The heated rush of having his blood rich tongue inside her mouth made the risk worthwhile. Desire surged. She wanted him inside her, making her feel alive again. She needed to feel the warmth of his skin and the musical thumping of his heart. She pushed him away before things got out of hand.
“Drive.”
Jak hit the accelerator and the vehicle’s wheels squealed. Once they’d driven out of the sector surrounding the Cemetery, Jak slowed down.
“I’m glad you came.” He reached out and took her hand. “The apartment is ready. I’ve covered the windows. You’ll be safe.”
A few minutes later they were inside his apartment, pulling off one another’s clothing. By the time Azza’s back hit the mattress, they were both naked and Jak was hard as stone.
She placed her hands on his heaving chest. Beneath her palms his skin was warm and his heart was pounding. “I love the feel of your skin. Your heat.”
His cock lay against her thigh, burning hot.
He slid his hand along her hip, then cupped her breast. His thumb raked across her nipple. “You’re so firm.”
The upside of being a vampire was her muscles were sleek and strong, her breasts were firmer than implants and her ass would never droop. The downside was her lack of warmth and softness.
Jak lowered his head and sucked her nipple into his mouth.
His mouth was hot and moist, each lick and suck making her tremble. He released her breast. “I love your nipples,” he whispered, then latched onto her other breast.
He suckled, his mouth hot, his lips and tongue pulling and tugging.
Azza cupped his head, letting her fingers drift down to his neck. She shivered at the feel of his pounding veins and rushing arteries.
He groaned and lifted his head. “I’ve been hard all day, just thinking about you.”
“Fuck me, Jak.”
Another upside of being a vampire was having an eternal sex drive. Azza liked fucking and she loved cock, big human blood-filled cock.
He pushed up on his arms and seated his thighs between hers. He nudged her pussy with the thick head of his cock and pumped his hips.
She gasped at the blood-rich male heat stretching her, filling her.
His cock was searing hot, hard and thick. She clamped down on him, holding him so tight he groaned.
“You’re so fucking tight,” he said, his voice strangled.
She grasped his shoulders. “Fuck me hard. Make me so hot, I come.”
Jak thrust his hips, driving his cock deep, pounding her pussy.
No male, human or vampire made her feel the way Jak did. She wanted his heat, needed to feel the pounding of his heart and flush of blood to his skin.
Heat poured off his chest, bathing her in his warmth.
He thrust, riding her with passion. Skin slapped skin. Sweat trickled down his temples and dewed at the small of his back.
Jak shuddered and Azza sensed the onset of his climax. She clamped her hands on his taut ass and squeezed down on his cock.
He came, spurting hot, human essence.
Her pussy quivering and her fangs tingling, Azza joined him.
Warmth spread over her, a blanket of sensual heat. Azza felt alive again, felt like a woman, not a creature of the night.
He collapsed on top of her, his skin slick with perspiration and his body emitting waves of heat. Azza hugged him, loving his hot skin pressed to hers.
Nothing was better than fucking Jak.
Jak lifted his head. “I’m not crushing you, am I?”
“I can handle your weight,” Azza said.
He loved being sprawled over Azza, feeling the lush curves of her amazing body. But after the flush of hot sex, his skin had cooled and Jak became aware of her lack of natural body warmth. The temperature had soared in the afternoon. With the windows closed, the apartment was as hot and airless as an oven. He stroked her arm. “Your skin is so cool.”
Azza pushed him off of her, handling him as if he weighed a few pounds. “I’m making you cold.” She rose from the bed, a pale ethereal shadow in the darkened room.
“I’m not cold.” Jak turned on the bedside lamp. A soft glow illuminated the room. “It’s hotter than hell in here. Your skin feels nice. I don’t know a lot about vampires, but you’re like ice cream on a summer afternoon.”
“I’ve been compared to a lot of things since I was turned, but never ice cream.”
Azza stood at the foot of his bed. Her muscles were sleek, her breasts high and round with lush, long nipples. Her belly was flat and her legs were long.
“You’re staring, Jak.”
His gaze slid to her face. She was smiling and the look in her eyes told him she didn’t mind being admired. And admire he did. Azza was so damn beautiful, so perfect, she stole his breath. “I like what I see.”
“I don’t disgust you?”
He rose from the bed and reached for her, drawing her close. “I like being with you. I like having sex with you. I like the coolness of your skin. I thought you liked my heat?”
“I do. You have no idea how good your cock feels inside me.”
He grinned. “Yeah, I do. Give me a few minutes to recover and I’ll show you.”
“What shall we do in the meantime?”
“I’d like a cold beer. Can I get you one?” Azza’s right eyebrow shot up and Jak realized what he’d said. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. You don’t treat me like a thing.”
He cupped her face and brushed his lips against hers. “You’re not a thing, you’re a beautiful woman. You’re so damn beautiful, what the fuck are you doing with the likes of me?”
“I like you, Jak. More than I should.”
“I know I’m not a great catch, but I’m hoping to improve my prospects. I finally won a slot in the government employment lottery. My scores were good. Monday morning, I’m meeting with a personnel placement officer. If I get a good job, I’ll move out of this dump.”
“Jak, your financial situation is the least of my concern. I like you too much. I want to be with you, but the scent of your blood drives me crazy. Spending time with you and being unable to feed is a test of will.”
“You’re afraid you’ll bite me?”
“You compared me to ice cream. You’re steak, the finest rare cut. I loved steak.”
Jak had read about steak, but he’d never eaten it. The starving masses slaughtered most of the cattle before he was born. “You’ve eaten steak?”
“In human years, I’m fifty-four. A hiccup in vampire time.”
“You don’t look it.”
“I was twenty-four when I was turned. I’ll stay this way for centuries.”
“You experienced the big crash?”
“I was fourteen. By the time I was twenty-one the country was in crisis. Things were different when I was a kid. Life was good. People were happy.”
“You make my life good. We can’t change the past. It’s now that counts.” He took her slender hand in his. Jak grabbed a beer and sat down on the sofa. “Come sit with me while I have my beer.”
When Azza sat next to him, Jak put his arm around her and pulled her against his chest. He liked the skin-to-skin contact, the way her long, silky hair tickled his chest. “Yesterday, I was thinking about you,” he said. “I realized I didn’t know your last name.”
“It was Landon.”
“Was?”
“Vampires don’t use last names unless your name is the same as an older vampire. Only then does the younger vampire go by first and last name.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, Azza Landon. I’m Jak Ellis Walker.”
“Were you named after your father?”
Jak downed half of the beer. “Never met the man. My mother died when I was five. I don’t remember much about her.”
Except the scent of lavender
. Whenever Jak smelled lavender a vague image rose from the recesses of his mind, a fuzzy childhood memory of soft laughter, dark curly hair and gentle hands.
“I’m sorry, Jak.”
He squeezed her shoulder. “It was a long time ago.”
“Who raised you?”
“I grew up in a foster home. Life wasn’t easy, but my foster parents treated me okay.”
“Okay?”
Jak kissed her on the head. “I wasn’t loved, but I wasn’t mistreated. I was good for a monthly food ration ticket until I was sixteen, then I was on my own.”
“What did you do?”
“I lived with friends. Four of us shared an apartment, working every odd job we could find to survive.” He took a drink of beer. “We did okay, but never found permanent employment. It was ten years before I won a slot in the government job lottery, but I had to move to the city. There are no jobs in the small town where I was raised.”
“What kind of job did you get?”
“I don’t know yet, but it’s a full time government job. I don’t care if they want me to clean toilets, I need the work. I packed everything I had into my old car and moved here a couple of months ago.” Jak finished the beer. “I’ve been finding part-time work, enough to pay the rent while waiting for my placement interview.”