The bloodlust had taken me over entirely.

- 12 -

I had my hand on Jack’s chest, and the next thing I knew, I was racing down the hall, to Milo’s room in the turret. I awoke in the moment with Jack’s hand tightly clamped on my arm. He stopped me from getting very far, but it was disturbing that I had blacked out for a second and had no control over myself. I’d been in a trance, and I wasn’t completely out of it yet. At least now I was aware of what was happening, but my desire to feed didn’t lessen.

“You need to eat,” Jack said.

“Yeah, no kidding.” I went towards Milo’s room again, but he stopped me.

“No, not him.”

He pulled me in the opposite direction, away from the blood. The rational part of me understood what he was doing, that I did not want to feed on my brother’s boyfriend. But my thirst made me irate that he would take me away from the blood.

“Come on, Alice. There’s food downstairs.”

“Not good food!” I protested.

I’d never had fresh blood as a vampire, so I didn’t have anything to compare with it. But fresh blood smelled so much better than bag blood. My body craved it far more intensely, making it almost impossible to resist.

Jack was stronger than me, and at least some of me knew he was right, so I let him drag me away.

Mae was just coming up from the basement when we got downstairs, her arms overflowing with cold bags of blood. Apparently, Ezra was eating more than normal too. She saw the look on my face and gave me a bag before I changed my mind about sparing Bobby.

As I gulped it down, loving the exotic rush of pleasure that ran through me, I overheard her talking to Jack. Ezra was still weak and required lots of rest and food, and Peter had left to do something. She was vague on the details, but I’m not sure if that was for Jack’s sake or because she really didn’t know.

By the time I finished my bag, she disappeared back into her bedroom to tend to Ezra, and that deep wooziness hit me. I’d just woken up, and I was preparing to pass out again.

I grabbed onto Jack, hoping that hanging onto him would make me more alert. He laughed at my struggle against sleep, and it resounded through me. He kissed my forehead and held me in his arms, and that was too comfortable for me to fight to stay awake anymore.

I was curled up in the crook of his arm when I woke up, and the faint sounds of Depeche Mode filled the bedroom. Jack had one arm around me, and the other one held a graphic novel, The Killing Joke. It was one of his favorites, so it was battered and beaten. He was so into it that he didn’t even notice when I opened my eyes.

“Hey,” I smiled up at him. He pulled his head back so he could look down at me, already setting the book aside. “Sorry I just passed out like that.”

“No, it’s cool. I understand,” he grinned.

“I missed you.” I snuggled closer to him, pressing my body against his, and his heart sped up.

“For awhile there, I wasn’t sure if you’d ever come back.” When he pushed a strand of hair from my eyes, his face went stormy, re-imagining all the horrible things he had thought happened to me in Finland.

“But here we are!” I hurried to erase his dark thoughts, rubbing my hand over his chest. “In your room, in your bed, alone.” My expression faltered, and his face fell with concern. “We are alone, aren’t we?”

“What do you mean?” His arm tensed up around me, and his voice had an edge to it. He incorrectly assumed that I was thinking of Peter, but he was the furthest thing from my mind.

“Milo and his new ‘friend.’” I nodded to the thin wall that separated our rooms.

Listening to Milo and Bobby fool around earlier had been rather nauseating, and I didn’t like the idea of them overhearing me messing around with Jack. I was really, really hoping to finally take things to next level with Jack, and I wanted it to be as intimate and private as possible.

“Oh, no, they’re long gone,” Jack smiled and relaxed next to me. “They went to a club a few hours ago.”

“A club?” I arched my eyebrow and knew I was ruining the mood, but I couldn’t shake my concern. “Is that safe?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “Milo is a vampire. He can handle himself.”

“What about Bobby?” I didn’t really care much for his safety, but Milo would, and if other vampires moved on him, I wasn’t sure how wisely Milo would respond.

“They’re okay,” he said. “And if they weren’t, they have cell phones, which they know how to use. Unlike some people.” So he hadn’t entirely forgiven me for not calling him from Finland, but that was okay. I planned on making up for it.

“So what you’re saying is that Milo is gone, Peter is gone, and Mae and Ezra are too preoccupied to notice anything? And we are completely, entirely, alone?” I said, sliding my leg up over his.

“It would appear that way,” Jack smiled wickedly.

I tilted my head up towards him and his mouth pressed softly against mine. The kiss was only gentle for a minute, though. As soon as I felt his lips searching mine, this frantic need took over me.

Throwing one leg over him, I moved so I was sitting on top of him, straddling him between my legs. Jack moaned, but it was barely audible through our kisses. His hands searched my body, and his skin was already smoldering. My temperature would soon match his, and I felt the warmth racing through me.

I pulled away long enough to tear off my shirt, and he smiled appreciatively at me. He looked like he wanted to say something, so I silenced him with kisses. I loved talking to him, but right now, words weren’t enough.

We’d been forbidden from being together almost since day one, and even after I turned into a vampire, we’d been forced to stay at arms length.

After he slipped off his shirt, I took a moment to take him in. His skin was tan and soft over the smooth muscles of his chest and stomach. Jack was completely perfect. A painful happiness spread over me as I thought about how lucky I was that he wanted me. I leaned over, peppering him with kisses, on his mouth, cheeks, chest, everywhere.

When my lips came to his neck, a delicious heat surged through me. I could feel and smell and taste his blood through his skin, and I remembered how wonderful it felt when I drank it to turn. All of his love and pleasure had coursed through me, filling me with the most intense heat. Every other emotion paled in comparison.