VET Vampire Romance 01 - Covet

ears. “I just need a moment for the room to stop spinning.”
    He smiled and pressed kisses to her shoulder, relieved that he hadn’t gone too far. It was hard to keep control when he was inside her.
    Javier withdrew from her, turned her in his arms and lay her back down on the bed. He lay next to her, covered her with the blanket, and held her close to him, waiting for her to fall asleep again. It didn’t take long for her breathing to turn soft and slow and her heartbeat to settle, telling him that she had drifted off. He didn’t want to scare her by leaving her alone while she was awake and he had to see Antoine. The temptation to remain with her was overwhelming but he fought it. He would lock the door to his apartment and would find Antoine as quickly as possible and return before she woke.
    He waited a few minutes longer, struggling to convince himself to leave, telling himself that he had to be sure that she was asleep before he moved.
    With a sigh, he gently lifted her head, pulled his arm out from beneath her, and laid it back down on the dark blue pillow. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips, covered her with the blanket, and slipped from the bed.
    Javier had put his black boxers and his tailored trousers on before he remembered that they had used his belt as a restraint. He glanced across at the bed. It wasn’t there. It must have fallen down behind the bed when he had broken free. He crossed the wooden floor to the built in wardrobes that lined one wall of his blue bedroom and opened the sliding doors. He took down a fresh black shirt and put it on, tucking it into his trousers, and then chose a black leather belt and threaded it through the loops and fastened it.
    He went barefoot from his apartment, locking the door behind him and pocketing the keys, and was silent as he passed Snow’s room. The last thing he needed was Snow questioning him. Javier didn’t doubt that the old vampire would have heard Lilah and him. Snow didn’t like the presence of humans in this area of the theatre. It tended to awaken his bloodlust and make him frenzied with hunger to tear into them and drain them to death.
    Javier knocked lightly on the mahogany panelled door of Antoine’s room and listened closely. It was still dark out so Antoine should have been awake. No sound came from the room on the other side of the door though. He moved on, heading down the stairs to the offices. Antoine’s door was open and his voice drifted out, a one sided conversation. He was on the phone.
    Javier knocked on the open door, waited for the aristocrat vampire seated behind the huge oak desk in the darkly decorated office to acknowledge him with a wave of his hand, and then entered. He took the seat opposite Antoine and waited.
    Antoine’s pale blue eyes shifted to him and he ended his call, setting his mobile phone down on the table. The aristocrat vampire swept the lengths of his brown hair back, leaned into his black leather chair and loosed a long sigh.
    “Did you see the show tonight?” Antoine said, his deep voice a mixture of accents that made his nationality hard to place. Javier had never asked what family he and Snow belonged to. When they had started Vampirerotique, Antoine had told him and Callum that their family were all dead and that was that. Antoine and Snow were connected in society though, and it was their names on the theatre licence that drew the aristocrats to the shows.
    Javier nodded. “I saw some of it.”
    “Victor seemed unusually relaxed during the final act.” Antoine’s icy blue eyes penetrated Javier’s. “It wouldn’t have had anything to do with what happened with Lord Ashville’s ward, would it?”
    “Lilah confirmed that she hit Victor, but only because Victor had been trying to tear Nia’s throat open. The man lost control, Antoine. He deserved what he got.”
    Antoine sighed, tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling. “I suppose you are right... it is policy that our performers don’t interact with the staff... it is odd though, Javier... I recall having a similar policy regarding the owners and staff.”
    Javier tensed when Antoine’s gaze slowly drifted down to settle on him.
    “She is an owned human, Javier. I had hoped that Snow was wrong and he did not smell her outside his room, and he did not smell you on her... but you reek of woman and sex.”
    Javier swallowed, fear crushing his chest. Antoine could easily kill him. At over one thousand years old and of pure blood,