Delilah Devlin - My Immortal Knight 03 (2 page)

“Was the trauma centered around a love relationship?”

He drew a deep breath. The professor was determined to
hit every sensitive nerve he owned. “Yes.”

“A woman?”

He glowered at her and didn’t respond.

She did another of those little sweeps of her
eyelashes that left him feeling confused. “Woman,” she said softly and
annotated his answer. “Was it a sexual relationship?”

Every muscle in his body contracted. The memory of the
last time he’d seen Darcy, the last time he’d been inside her, had his cock
straining inside his jeans.

“Was it?” she insisted.

Joe nodded, feeling his face harden, knowing he looked
as dour as the Grim Reaper right about now.

“You say, you drink blood during sex.”

He felt like howling. “Sometimes.”

She looked up, her head canting to the side. “Why?”

“To give myself and my host greater pleasure. The
orgasms are worth dying for,” he said, hoping to give her a taste of his
discomfort.

“Oh.” Her face suffused in pink, and she cleared her
throat. “Do you use lancets to bleed your host?”

He didn’t understand her question and stared.

“Do you use something sharp to pierce your host’s
skin?”

“My teeth. I bite them.” He lifted his lips and let
her see the teeth he couldn’t convince to recede into his gums—he was just too
damn hungry.

“Oh.” Her expression remained professionally frozen,
but Joe had the feeling she wanted to roll her eyes. She reached into her
handbag and pulled out a silver cross, and then held it in front of him. “Do
you get a burning sensation when you see this object?”

“No.”

“Does this produce any sensation at all?” She touched
his hand with it.

Air hissed between his teeth at the first touch of her
hand. He was on fire. His hand curled beneath hers, curving into a fist.

Her eyebrows lifted and she quickly scribbled
something else on his survey. “Do you believe in Satan?”

“Yeah, if he’s the evil that lurks in a man’s heart.”

“Do you worship Satan?”

“Uh, no.”

She reached into her purse again and pulled out a tiny
bottle of water and a sharpened stick.

Joe stared at the items she stacked neatly in a row in
front of him and his blood began to boil. Silver crosses, holy water, and a
fucking stake. Shit! The woman had studied
Buffy 101
. She was a fraud.
She didn’t know the first thing about vampires—hell, she didn’t believe they
existed. “I don’t suppose, Professor, that in all your research you’ve ever
actually met a vampire?”

She blinked and pushed her glasses up her nose. “I’m
the one asking the questions here.”

“And I’m finished answering,” Joe said, his eyes
narrowing. “Have you ever met a real vampire?”

The little Professor sniffed and raised her chin. “No,
I haven’t.”

Joe slumped in the booth. His last hope dashed.

“Are you all right?” she asked, eyeing him with
suspicion.

“Just pissed and hungry.” He let his gaze fall to her
neck. “Want to know what it feels like?”

“What?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“To be sucked by a vampire.”

The Professor’s cheeks turned a fiery red. “Certainly
not.” But her words lacked true outrage.

Joe’s mouth stretched into a smile. The lady had a
dirty mind. Although, now that she had him thinking about it, the idea took
root. She might not be able to give him the information he needed, but she
could certainly share a little blood in exchange for the sweet release he’d
give her.

“Can I come home with you?” He hadn’t meant to blurt
it out quite like that, but she was too delectable to pass up—and she owed him.
He’d come halfway across the country just to speak to her.

Now, she looked truly alarmed. “I-I think that’s all
the questions. Thank you for coming.”

Joe smiled and settled his back against the seat,
stretching his arms across the top of the bench. He knew the action pulled his
T-shirt taut across his chest—a well-developed chest, or so he’d been told.

Her next nervous sweep indicated she’d noticed.

“Don’t you want to complete your research? Don’t you
want to know what it’s like to feel a vampire’s kiss?”

Her chin came up. “I think if there was truly any
merit to the legends, I’d have discovered that by now,” she said primly, her
hands clenched on the table. “Stop playing with me.”

He dropped his voice to a purr. “Don’t you want it to
be true?”

She stared at him, her face growing solemn and her
gaze haunted. “I’ve wanted that more than you could ever know.”

Joe tired of baiting her. He reached across the table
and grabbed her hand.

She tugged it back, but he turned her hand and brought
her wrist to his nose. He inhaled deeply. “Not perfume. You.” He licked her
delicate wrist, his breath deepening when he felt her heart rate increase.

“What are you doing? Unhand me!”

“I’m going to give you a kiss,” he said, never letting
his gaze leave hers. “Here.” He slid his lips on her wrist. “I’ll show you what
a vampire can do without ever being inside you.”

Her mouth fell open and her cheeks paled. She drew her
hand back, again.

“Just a taste,” he whispered, not letting go.

“You’re going to bite me?” she asked, her tone
incredulous. “What about shots? Blood tests? There’s a pamphlet on the table
that describes safe bloodletting techniques—
biting isn’t one of them!
Christ, think of the bacteria!”

Joe’s eyes narrowed and he sank his teeth into a vein
that trembled just under her skin.

“Ow!” she gasped, her eyes rounding.

Then he sucked, and she gasped again, only this time
her body fell back against the upholstered seat. Her eyes closed for a moment
and her lips formed around an astonished ‘O’. “That’s…incredible!” she moaned,
her back arching.

He mouthed her skin while he continued to feed,
drawing her rich blood across his tongue, down his throat, pulling her scent
into his nostrils—as overcome with sensation and rising passion as his shocked
little host
ess
.

“Please,” she said, her voice quavering. “Please,
stop.”

Joe withdrew his teeth immediately, though it damn
near killed him. His body was wound tight as a spring. Then he looked at her.
Her eyes were wary and wide, like a doe’s caught in the crosshairs. Wild color
flooded her cheeks.

The poor Professor had enjoyed her lesson a little too
much!

Satisfied he’d planted a seed of sensual curiosity, he
dropped his gaze to her wrist and the blood dotting her pale skin. He licked
her until the small wounds closed, and then he laid her hand on the table. “Do
you see now?” he asked softly, feeling not the least ashamed he’d used his
persuasive “powers” to excite her.

She drew a long shaky breath. “I see that my research
needs to be expanded. I should make a point to appeal to the Sanguinarians for
input. Of course,” she said, looking at her wrist under the lamplight and
frowning, “I should probably make sure my tetanus is up to date, first.”

Joe stared at her, wondering what it was going to take
to prove he was a vampire. Morphing wasn’t an option—it tended to kill his
victim’s sexual interest. “Jesus, you still don’t get it!”

Surprise at his outburst caused her face to pale. “What’s
to get? Other than you think you’re a vampire?”

Joe stood, and then leaned over the table, crowding
the professor into the corner of the booth. “Lady, you wouldn’t know a vampire
if he bit you in the ass!”

“I beg your pardon,” she said, a frown drawing her
eyebrows together.

“You don’t know a damn thing about vampires. Hell, you
can’t even tell when one’s fed off you!”

“Now look here, I’ve studied all the texts, from every
country with vampire traditions—China to Transylvania.” She folded her arms
over her chest. “I’ve also read quite a bit about blood-drinking behavioral
disorders and blood fetishists.”

“Tell me you didn’t feel it, too.” His gaze fell to
her tweed-covered chest. “Did your studies tell you that a vampire’s bloodlust
is linked to sexual lust?”

“Th-there is an erotic allure to vampirism,” she said,
reaching to tuck a strand of hair into her bun. “After all, blood is the source
of life and passion—which is what I’m assuming you’re experiencing now. The
clinical term is haematodipsia—a sexual thirst for blood.”

“You’re babbling,” Joe said, leaning close enough now
that he could look into the cleavage at the top of her beige blouse and draw in
her heated scent. “Tell me why your pulse is elevated and you’re perspiring.”

Her hand fluttered on her chest, and she closed the
collar of her shirt. “There’s no doubt a term. I just can’t think—”

“Well, I’m not talking about sexual disorders. I’m
talking about lust that grows in proportion to the amount of blood shared by a
host.”

She blinked. “That happens?”

“You don’t know a lot of things, do you?” He drew back
and glowered. “You don’t know how fast a vampire can drain a human dry. And do
you have any clue how dangerous this is?” He raised the survey and crushed it
into a ball, unaccountably angry with her. “You could have drawn a bloodthirsty
bastard with a nasty sense of humor. Someone who wouldn’t have a qualm about
taking your head off to get at your blood.”

Her small pointed chin lifted. “I took precautions
against being accosted by unhinged characters,” she said, glaring pointedly at
him. “I’m in a public place with people around me.”

“Do you know a vampire’s strength and speed is many
times that of a man? You wouldn’t stand a chance against one.”

“I’ll concede that—
if—
you were a vampire,” she
said her voice rising, “I might indeed be in trouble.”

He leaned closer, his hands clutching the table and
the top of the bench seat. “Don’t you want to know for sure, Professor?”

“Short of you taking a bite out of my neck—yes! But
biting me with capped teeth won’t prove a thing. Hell, I have a mirror here
somewhere—” she dug into her purse again, “we’ll just check your reflection.”

Joe shook his head. The woman watched way too much
Buffy
.
“If I’m telling you the truth, will you take me home? Feed me?”

Her breath hitched, and she licked her lips. “If you’re
telling the truth, shouldn’t I be afraid of you?”

“Lady, you haven’t a thing to fear from me. I need
you.”

“To feed from?”

“No. To make me human.”

“Y-you want to be human?” Lily stammered. Again.
Something about this obnoxious man made her witless. Something besides all the
muscles and the dark, brooding looks—oh, and the delusional behavior.

“Yes,” he said, the word clipped.

“Well, I’m not sure I can help you there.” She had a
hard time concentrating when he loomed so close. Her unfortunate
condition
made it impossible not to notice how masculine he was. How large his chest and
thighs were. Or how well he filled out the front of his jeans…

Her pussy pulsed.
Damn! Not again.
“I’ve only
ever seen it depicted on television—Dark Shadows re-runs, I think.” Inwardly,
she cringed at the nonsense spouting out of her mouth. But his
testosterone-packed “package” was making it hard for her to concentrate. “Of
course, Spike and Angel regained their souls, but no, I’ve never read anything
about vampires transforming into humans. I think once you’re ‘awakened’, you’re
st—”

“Doomed.” His mouth thinned into a straight line.

Her gaze followed the unhappy curve of his lips, and
she caught herself just before she leaned forward to drag his masculine scent
into her nostrils.

Enough of his hovering. He made her so sexually aware
she’d sunk to blathering. She scooted toward the end of her seat, forcing him
to step back to let her stand. Unfortunately that didn’t diminish his dangerous
appeal. His size intimidated while at the same time sending her heart skipping.
Even in her heels, the top of her head only reached his collarbone. His endless
chest clothed in a tight, black T-shirt was lip-level. If she took one deep
breath her boobs would graze those rock-hard abs. She cringed at the thought.
Her nipples were so damn sensitive these days.

And caveman that he was, he didn’t seem inclined to
budge another inch. She heard him sniff. His nose was next to her hair.

Oh, yeah! Now, I don’t feel so intimidated.
She had to get rid of him. “Well, I’m sorry I couldn’t
be of more help…with your problem, that is. If you’ll excuse me…” He didn’t
take the hint. Lily looked past his broad shoulder to Cissy and tilted her head
toward Tall, Dark and Toothsome.

Cissy’s warm brown eyes widened and she hurried over.

With reinforcements coming, Lily gave him a
challenging stare.