Venice Vampyr (Venice Vampyr #1)

considered Isabella’s house his private domain. “We’ll just have to be patient.” Raphael glanced at the clock over the mantle. “I have to get back before she wakes.”
    Dante tsk ed. “I think you should leave her. We don’t need her to get to Massimo. Now that we know his name and whereabouts, you shackling yourself to her isn’t necessary. She’ll only become a liability and put you in danger.”
    Raphael snarled. “She’s mine. And she’ll remain mine.”
     



Chapter Seventeen
     
    Knowing he had to feed again, Raphael peeled himself out of the arms of his sleeping wife and slid out of bed. Maybe he should have accepted her offer to take Giovanni’s bedchamber, but he couldn’t bring himself to sleep without her and only visit her to make love. He liked having her in his arms at night when she slept. It soothed him.
    Trying to be as quiet as possible, he snatched his clothes from the chair and left the chamber, closing the door behind him without a sound. He felt like a thief as he got dressed in the corridor, but he knew if he didn’t leave now, he was liable to attack his wife.
    Lorenzo’s offer to feed from his female victim the night before had had a certain appeal, but the thought of putting his hands on another woman had actually disgusted him. It was better to sink his fang into a man. It felt less like a betrayal. The fact that he was thinking in these terms scared him. He’d never been a one-woman man, but it was important to him to be faithful to Isabella. She deserved it. He wanted this marriage to work.
    Raphael was quiet when he left the house and pulled the side door shut behind him. He looked up at the full moon, which flooded the narrow alleys with light. Too much light for his liking. He preferred it darker so it was easier for him to hide. But he didn’t have much choice. His hunger dictated his actions.
    He’d fed the night after Isabella, and had stayed at his own house.  Over the last three days, his hunger had been building. More than usual. The fact that he was making love to his passionate wife several times a day or night was one of the reasons for it. She was draining his energy, but he didn’t mind. He couldn’t stop himself from cornering her whenever the urge overcame him. Throwing her skirts up in the study had been just the beginning.
    During the day, he fucked her fast and frantic, but at night, when they were cocooned in her chamber, he took his time and made sweet love to her, with words, caressing hands, and soft kisses. He couldn’t tell what Isabella liked more, the way he ravished her in every conceivable place in her house, or when he worshipped her body at night.
    Sometimes she glanced at him with the look of a frightened doe, but the moment he laid his hands on her, that look always vanished and was replaced by a sparkle in her eyes that he’d come to love. Once he’d fed, he’d return home instantly and wake Isabella by making love to her.
    Raphael sighed and trained his eyes on a movement ahead of him.   It was a man, who staggered along the alley. The scent emanating from him confirmed that he was drunk. That would make it even easier. He wouldn’t even have to enthrall him to approach and feed from him. The drunk would never remember. And the alcohol swimming in the man’s blood wouldn’t make him drunk .
    Raphael approached the man. “Good evening, my fellow.”
    The man turned his head, his eyes barely focusing, his mouth tilted up in a stupid grin. “Huh?”
    The time for conversation being at an end, Raphael put his arm around the drunk’s shoulder, then turned him into his chest before his fangs descended and drove into his neck. There was barely a shudder by the man. His fangs were coated with a substance that dulled all pain, thus making it possible to feed from a human without causing screams of pain.
    As the rich, alcohol-infused blood coated his tongue and ran down his throat, Raphael let his senses relax. He closed his eyes and only listened to the demands of his body. He drew on the vein, long and hard, taking the life-sustaining liquid into him. His only thought was how much he wanted this neck to be Isabella’s. To drink from her, nourish himself with her fragrant blood, gorge himself on her essence, while he drove his insatiable cock into—
    A scream pierced the silence of the alley.
    ***
    Isabella only realized she’d screamed when she saw Raphael’s head snap in her direction, releasing the neck of the man