Chapter Thirty-One: High Tide

Evan

Helaine was still asleep when I awoke, our limbs woven together on the comfortable bed. It had been a long time since I’d slept without the walls of my coffin to protect me, and sleeping in the open like this unnerved me.

It had been a too long since I worried about slayers—Cardinal and Main was such a crime ridden street that a careful vampire could go entirely undetected. I had for decades.

But being out on the open road again was a risk. I knew that when I suggested it, but there wasn’t much choice.

Helaine’s father was the only person who might be able to shed some light on her true origins, and there was no way in hell she’d be able to let it go until she got some answers.

I couldn’t let her keep on suffering like that.

Unwinding myself from the warmth of her embrace, I sat up to stretch. The corner of my lip tugged into a smirk when she groaned in her sleep, inching her body closer to where mine had been.

She was so filled with life that I couldn’t help but admire her.

Anti-christ or no, Helaine Fairgrieve was adorable. I pressed a kiss to her forehead before sliding out of the bed, picking up the things we’d made use of last night and placing them in the bin for proper disposal.

She was always incredible, but last night was fantastic, experiencing her writhing in the throws of all consuming ecstasy. Biting her then would have been sheer bliss, for both of us, but it was too soon after the last time I drank from her for that.

I’d have to ask her what she wanted more often, instead of just introducing her to my favorite bondage gear. Now that she’d started getting the hang of the lifestyle and how to indulge safely, incorporating her own desires could only enhance our sessions.

Entering the bathroom adjoining our room, I inspected the over-sized massage tub in the center with a smile on my lips. It was easily built for two people to bathe comfortably, if not more.

We still had a couple of hours before the sun would go down enough for me to safely leave the hotel, and I knew just how I wanted to spend them.

“Evan?” Helaine called from the main room before walking in as she rubbed her eyes, still naked from the night before. “What time is it?”

“Almost four.” I switched on the hot water, letting the tub begin to fill before crossing behind it to pull her into my arms. “The sun won’t be going down for a couple more hours, so I figured we could indulge.”

I gestured toward the bath and her lips parted in quiet excitement. “I’ve never been in a massage tub before.”

The way her eyes lit up was like a drug to me. I made a mental note to pamper her more often. She deserved a little luxury after going through all the trauma she had.

“You’ll love it.” The corner of my lip tugged into a smirk, holding my hand up for her to take, and she did. “I’ll help you in.”

Her hand was warm against mine—every part of her was always so warm in a way that even other humans weren’t, like feeling the sun on my skin after being left in the cold dark night for too long.

In retrospect, I should have guessed that there was something different about her—that the warmth she exuded came from Hell itself—but I didn’t care so much about why she made me feel so alive again.

I only cared that she did.

Her eyes fluttered shut as she sank into the steamy water, her head rolling back against the edge of the tub in a state of utter relaxation. “This is amazing.”

The heat of the water warmed her blood, flushing her skin pink and intoxicating me with its sweet aroma. I longed to taste her, but she needed to recover from our last bite first.

“It gets better,” I promised, stepping out of the bathroom for a moment to check the mini fridge.

As I’d hoped, The Rose Garden still offered their signature miniature raspberry chocolate cake as a treat for guests. It was much better than having to break the scene to order room service, and it just so happened that it was best served chilled.

Helaine’s eyes glinted eagerly at the delicious confection as I set it on the bath’s side tray. She needed more sugars to build herself up after our session, and I was nothing if not a provider.

“It’s raspberry chocolate,” I explained, portioning off a small bite on the dessert fork—thankfully not made from real silver. “Their speciality.”

Her lips parted for me as I brought the cake to her mouth, and she sighed longingly when she took a bite. “Evan, you’re spoiling me.”

“Good.” A grin tugged a my lips, and I joined her in the bath before pressing one of the buttons on the control panel. “I’m trying to.”

Her eyes widened as she jolted up, surprised by a stream of water jetting against her lower back. “Oh my god!” She laughed, settling back down to enjoy the soothing pressure. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Relaxing into the warm bath, I raised a finger, spinning it around as I eyed her suggestively. “If you think that’s good, turn around.”

With a coy smile, she plucked the fork from my fingers, raising a brow at me. “You just brought me cake for breakfast, and you want me to just let it sit?”

“That’s a fair point.” I leaned in, enjoying the anticipation in her eyes before I stopped just short of a kiss. “You enjoy that cake, I’ve got something just as sweet to keep me entertained.”

She whimpered when I pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth, to her jaw, to the sensitive skin of her throat. I lingered there a moment, drinking in the powerful bouquet of her blood before submerging myself in the water.

There were a lot of perks that came from not needing to breathe, and this was one of them.

With the water over my ears and the jet pulsing behind her back I could barely hear her broken moan as I dragged my tongue across her clit, but it was enough to make my cock twitch.

Her body spasmed when I sucked her clit between my lips, and I grinned against her when I felt her fingers card through my hair.

I couldn’t tell if she was actually trying to eat the cake or not, but I was too enamored with the way her hips bucked against my face to care.

“Evan!” She cried, tugging my hard hard enough to make me come back up above the waterline. “Fuck the cake. I want you.”

“Then turn around,” I ordered, planting my palms firmly on the edge of the bath on either side of her, caging her against the tub’s wall.

She tried to obey without a moment’s hesitation, but before she could turn around fully, I caught her jaw in my hand, dragging her into a deep kiss and letting her taste her essence on my tongue.

Whimpering when I released her, she settled in place, letting out a gasp of pleasure when I grabbed her hips and lined the jet up with her sensitive bud.

I slid in beneath her so that she was sitting on my lap, my cock pressing against her.

“Fuck me, Evan,” she begged, leaning forward just a little as she held on to the edge of the tub. “Please!”

“With”—I entered her, my cock sliding deep into her cunt with one thrust—“Pleasure.”

She let out a strangled moan as I grabbed onto her hips, bobbing her up and down on my cock while keeping her clit positioned in the jet stream as much as possible.

Water sloshed over the edge of the tub as waves rocked with the movement of our bodies, but that was what the drains in the tile floor were for.

My breathing grew labored, my lips hovering over her neck as I rutted into her, absorbed in the music of her pleasured moans.

Her blood called to me like a siren’s song, and I could feel an inhuman growl building in my chest. Wrapping an arm around her to keep her positioned, I sunk my teeth into my other hand to keep myself from biting her, feeling my own flesh give way under my fangs.

She screamed my name as her cunt spasmed around me, and I followed her over that edge with my cock deep inside of her.

When she looked over her shoulder though, her lust-ruined expression twisted into shock when she saw my own dark blood dripping down my hand.

“Evan?”