Alexander-Fyn-Sanguinarian

voice so prim he smiled widely before obeying.
    All at once she was being drawn in and down with a slow steady pressure as if her life force was draining from her. She felt limp against him. Raven broke the kiss. “Oh no,” he groaned, lifting her and carrying her to the bed. He laid her down tenderly then laid his hand on her stomach. Suddenly and inexplicably weak, she watched him close his eyes as if focusing intently. Just as her strength had left her, it returned, seeping back into her a drop at a time.
    “What happened to me?” she asked.

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    “It was my fault, I wasn’t being careful.”
    “Not careful? What did you do?”
    He rubbed his forehead. “I have been honest with you, Evangeline, so I will continue in that vein. Excuse the pun. You saw me lapping Shipman’s blood?” She nodded. “I had no control over that, though I should have. The temptation was too great. We call it the beast or the hunger . An uncontrollable urge to drink blood. It comes of going without for too long. Imagine how you feel when you are so intensely hungry that you would eat anything at all, including foods you do not ordinarily like. That is how I feel when I need blood.”
    Evangeline gazed at him. “Did you do something to me?”
    “What I took just now when I kissed you was not your blood but your energy, the life force that surges within you. I did not mean to take it, it just happened, the same as when I could not control my urges when I saw Shipman’s blood. I’m sorry.”
    “Then you gave it back, my life energy? Because I am beginning to feel better again.”
    “Yes. I took it and I returned it. I should have better control over myself. I was taught better. I am unfocussed right now, forgive me.”
    “You saved my life,” she said.
    Regret was drawn in his weary face. He looked truly sorry for what she had been through. “From my own sister? Had I saved you from a pack of wolves in the wild I might find some pleasure in taking credit, but it was I who put you in danger in the first place by bringing you here, knowing what Dominica is like. Knowing that even if I could hide her from you, I could never hide you from her.
    Her senses are as acute as my own. She hears and smells everything, just as I do.”
    “I doubt a pack of wolves would have done more damage than she was about to do.”
    “No, probably not. Please forgive her, Evie, she is beyond help.”
    He smiled. “Shall I call you Evie?”

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    “If you like, and I do forgive her, but you are not beyond help, my lord. Are you very hungry for blood?”
    “I’m starving,” he whispered.
    “You need my help. Take my blood.”
    “No,” he started and drew back shaking his head. “You don’t know what you are offering.”
    “Will I be a vampire if you bite my neck?” she asked.
    Raven smiled gently. “Sweet child.” He stroked her cheek. “Look at my teeth.” He grinned widely for her.
    “They are very straight and white.”
    “No fangs,” he said.
    “No, that’s true. How do you take blood?”
    “By opening a vein with great care. As to your other question, we have already agreed how vampires are made.”
    “Ahhh yes,” she recalled their conversation of that morning and how he had laughed at her. “There is no loss to me if you take my blood, so take it. I offer it freely.” The longing in his eyes was almost pitiful. “You saved my life.”
    “I put you in danger. I lied to you.”
    “True,” she agreed. “I still offer.”
    “I am arrogant and selfish.”
    “That is also true. Do you want my blood or not?”
    His reply was a long and desperate. “Yes, I want it.”
    “Take.” She lay very still watching him.
    “I’ll be back,” he said and fled the room, returning so quickly she had no time to regret her decision.
    Raven removed a fine copper lancet from a case. The smell of alcohol was strong in the air as he cleaned it. Taking her arm reverently in his hands he pushed up her sleeve. The tip of the lancet touched the tender skin of the pulsing vein inside her elbow and she tensed against the pain. She thought he would proceed at once.
    Instead he leaned over her and kissed her long and softly on her lips.
    Fire flared within her, rushing down her belly. She felt a sharp prick Sanguinarian 223
    in her vein while his mouth played upon hers, the pain blending with the erotic pleasure of his kiss.
    Raven’s sensual lips moved down from her mouth and over the sensitive skin of