10. Ten

“No, really, I don’t need anything to drink.” Many times, I tried telling Ariel, the Ursid, but she refused to take no for an answer.

Ariel placed a tumbler in my hands as Chris eyed me suspiciously. It didn”t surprise me that he was wary about a Vampyr in his home. I was sure they”d heard plenty of exaggerated stories about my kind.

They were an odd couple, though. I appreciated how they looked at each other with love and admiration. I, too, had once held affection for someone in that way. Not anymore…

Ariel cleared her throat, snapping me out of my thoughts. She watched me expectantly, so I took a sip of the amber alcohol. Whiskey was not my favorite. I preferred red wine. I supposed it would have to do, and at least it wasn’t ale. The brownstone was not exceptionally decorated, but it had a certain charm. Adequate furnishings and necessities took up the living area and kitchen space.

Kitchens were unnecessary for Vampyrs, but we still knew our way around them.Phillipe often had guests over, and they required meals that did not come straight from the vein.

“How do you know Atreyis?” she asked, sipping from her tumbler.

“To be blunt, he spearheaded into my life and wrecked my plans.”

She grinned. A knowing smile. “Sounds like him.”

“He saved my ass the other night. Which I’m still not sure happened. Must’ve been a dream.” Chris pressed the cigarette between his lips, revealing a missing digit in his hand.

“Are you the reason he was going to the penitentiary?” She was a nosey woman.

“Fuck!” The half moan, half yell echoed down the stairs, followed by a violent thump.

She slapped her forehead and gestured. I moved from the immediate sound of reverberations. “He is… well, I’m sure you figured it out.”

Yes. I had. I could hear every heartbeat within the house, including Atreyis”. Judging by the moans, his heart”s rhythm, and the uncanny thumping, I deduced he was burying his cock in whoever was upstairs.

“Does he do this often?” I lowered myself on the worn sofa that sagged under my weight.

“Too often. It’s fucking gross,” Chris interjected as the moans increased.

The thuds now held a faster beat—for the love of the gods. I stiffened and downed the rest of my whiskey in one swallow. Ariel sat on Chris’ lap and sighed.

“So tell us about yourself, Vastian. I’ve never seen a Vampyr before. What’s it like?” Ariel said with a forced smile as if our conversation would dull the sound of skin slapping and lustful grunting.

“Do you really burn up in the sun like they say?” Chris asked with a sly smirk.

“How long is he going to be up there?”

“He said an hour. We have time.”

Of course, we did.

There wasn’t much I was willing to offer up to these shifters. I told them my name and explained the ins and outs of my kind. Their main fascination leaned toward the different blood types: purebloods and the halflings. Halflings were made, and purebloods were born. It wasn’t as complicated as they made it out to be, but that led to a rigorous marathon of questioning.

“So you have to fuck like everyone else then?” Chris had taken the reins on the subject. I suspect it was due to his unusual courtship with someone from a different subspecies.

“We do, but it isn’t just with anyone. For example, if I were to copulate with a halfling, the babe would die in utero. A pureblood can only mate successfully with another pureblood. And even then—it’s an ordeal.” I’ll admit I’d loosened up.

There was little I could do about Atreyis and whoever was up there. The noises churned my insides. I’d heard plenty of sexual antics in my lifetime, but none were as vocal as that man. Even when Phillipe would sneak in his lovers, I’d only occasionally hear a soft pant or the very edge of an orgasm. This was…unreal.

But I’d swallowed about five tumblers of whiskey, and it became an interesting song of sex and questions.

“That means you would have to mate with a pureblood. Do you have a lover then?” Ariel leaned closer to Chris and stroked his thigh.

I didn’t wish to divulge this subject. “I’m afraid that is rather private.”

“You have a thing for Atreyis—don’t you?” Ariel cooed and fluffed her black hair.

Straightening because I was unprepared for that, I cleared my throat and calmly said, “He is quite an unusual man. But no. I do not have a thing for him.”

“You followed him here, though.” Chris sparked another cigarette. ”Didn”t you say you were trying to stay at the penitentiary?”

My lips pursed. “He was in distress.”

But was it so? He was not the sort of man who required help or company in turmoil. I knew that just from observing him over the past day.

Atreyis was a creature, unlike anything I’d ever encountered. His mouth spewed utter nonsense and vulgarities, but he possessed an undeniable charm. Why did I follow him? Nothing tied us together. After the massacre at Mr. Darcy’s, I was not only fed well past my limit, but he seemed keen on forgetting it ever happened.

To forget I ever happened.

“Uh-huh,” Ariel said, elongating the syllables before swiveling her face towards the stairs.

“I think I broke him,” Atreyis’ voice prompted me to follow her lead.

He was shirtless, tousled, and sweaty, and a cigarette pressed between his lips. I tried to ignore the reaction my body had while seeing him so…exposed like he was. He was beautiful. Far more than I”d ever thought possible for a human. Perhaps it was that air of arrogant confidence he wore like a fine suit. But then he reached into his pants, jostled his cock and balls, then sighed.

My eyes traveled up to the cigarette again.

Of course, he smoked.

He seemed to forget that I existed because he strolled down the stairs, grabbed the bottle of whiskey, and drank it like water, never once looking at me. Ariel gawked at him, and when he finally came up for air, his eyes didn’t land anywhere near mine. And… that bothered me.

“Who’s up for some prowling?” he asked blankly, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“You know, I think I have a headache,” Ariel said, looking at Chris.

“The… icebox needs a tune-up.”

Atreyis narrowed his eyes into slits. Then he finally panned them over to me. “What about you, Vampyr?” he said as he brought the bottle to his lips.

For the first time since we met, I felt… an urge. Much more distinct than just observing his physical form. It had to have been the alcohol because when he sensually placed his lips around the glass, creating the perfect circle, the crotch of my too-tight pants became even more so.

Then he brought his tongue up and over the top lip, showcasing his bright pink tongue.

The man quite literally just unleashed hell on someone else with his cock, and I found the movements utterly entrancing.

Shaking off my unwanted daze, I cleared my throat. “What does prowling entail?”

He shot me a look. Deviant. Mischievous. And unspoken promises of chaos only Atreyis could will forth.

“You’ll just have to find out.” Then he headed back for the stairs.

A naked man slept on Atreyis’ bed.

His bare rear was garnished with palm prints. Atreyis insisted I come up there to change and wash up. He rummaged through his wardrobe. Every so often, he’d say no and keep digging.

“Well,” he breathed and pulled out two hangers. “Looks like it’ll be floods or a skirt.”

Scrubbing my face, I said, “How about you find a shirt, and I’ll suffer in these for another night.” I pointed at my skin-tight pants.

His eyes lingered on my groin for a few moments. “Boring.” Then he went back to digging.

After some light arguing, we agreed on a black short-sleeved shirt and dress slacks. They were a bit short in length, but it wasn’t the worst thing I’d worn that night. He settled for the skirt and a flowy button-up that he left unbuttoned at the top. He threw on a black Trilby hat that he’d stuffed a feather through and completed his look—as he dubbed it—with a sash around his waist.

“Well?” He twirled around.

“It’s… fashionable?” I shrugged.The outfit prompted a few thoughts, but none of them were remarkably helpful.

He scoffed. “You can do better than that.”

He wanted better. Fine, I would do better. Taking the time to peruse his form slowly, I circled him. The hat made his hair fan out in wisps around his ears and neck and graced his jaw. The black strip of liner he drew under his lash line only intensified his green irises. The shirt was tapered in all the right ways to sharpen his adonis shape but not to the point it made him too angular. And the skirt completely hid his taut ass.

The skirt was not my favorite. But clearly, he enjoyed it.

Holding my hand level and parallel to the ground, I angled it at his waist. “From here on up—I enjoy. The skirt hides your…assets.” Then I brought my fingers up to his brow. “This draws the attention to your eyes, though. I enjoy that as well.”

Circling him once more, I stopped. “These should be rolled up to the elbows.” What possessed me to do it, I really can’t say, but I took the time to square up the sleeve and cuff it so it hung just below his elbow.Static pulses seemed to shoot up my fingers each time they brushed over the skin of his arms.

The entire time I spoke and touched him, he watched. Something unspoken between us had transpired then—a silent dance of more. A dangerous door was opened, and I was unsure if it should be shut.

His expression was unreadable, but his brain was searching for the most inappropriate thing to say. I could feel it in my bones. When I finished the other sleeve and stepped back, he still held my eyes.

“Better?” I said with a smirk.

He adjusted his hat instead of answering me. And for the first time since I met Atreyis, I won this battle.