The bite

why wont you stay for my bite mave?” she said for the hundredth time this week. Seven days and she had begged, pleaded, threatened, cried, thrown things all of it falling on deaf ears, her sister kept packing ignoring her until she hissed in her ear

“you will never trust him if i stay during that” mavery said for the hundredth time herself, annoyance clear she ignored it because she was terrified and her sister was the only thing that had stopped that fear right up until this second, she had met some of the vampires, specifically the ones that would feed from her at first, even though dius had said they would bleed her, and they would feed from the bag of her blood she kept thinking someone would go crazy and hurt her, it just wasn’t possible for a vampire to control themselves around her blood, her first day here had to be a fluke she was sure of it, and even if they did what if she pushed the handsome giant too far in their first feeding

“but its not just him i dont trust its myself. What if i...” she stopped heat making her face red

“what? Seduce him?” her sister said causing her to stop and stare as mavery laughed. Hard. So hard in fact she was tempted to fuck the giant just to prove her point.

“stop laughing” she said crossing her arms as she pouted falling on top of her sister’s and now her lavishly big bed. The mattress was feather down apparently and too soft for her liking but sleeping next to her sister had given her the best sleep she had ever had in a hundred years

“my dear sister, pet, it took me almost thirty years to seduce dius and even then it took a lot to get him to do it, he is overcautious you see, because the last woman before me was addicted to the bite, and she died as a result” mavery said making her get up in panic

“what!?” she said

“relax she died because she let the group over feed not because he killed her, which is why everyone most of all him takes feeding very seriously, he will not only check the feeding schedule he will make sure you are not fed on for more than an x amount of time depending on your addiction level, it will probably be once for you for like two minutes until you can separate sex from the bite, in fact if he just scratches you and drinks from that i would not be surprised” mavery explained

She blinked in surprise “really? Do you think he will do that?” she asked, she hadn’t even thought a vampire could do something like that let alone let that be an option

“yeah he’s done it. There was a human here when i first became his familiar who only wanted to be bitten, he let the others give that human the bite but he only scratched and drank that way, by the end the human was able to let him feed without feeling a thing from him, it had been why i knew when it was my turn to be part of his people that i would call you to help me and them, they are so careful pet i had no choice but to trust them” mave said she had stopped packing looking her in the eyes. She sighed

“i still don’t want you to go mave, I’ve missed you” she whispered

“i know pet but i need to do this before i cant feel anything and by the time i come back you will have given my brother and sisters the power to feel even if its only through dius” mave said letting out a breath “i really wish i could stay pet but ive seen it if i stay you wont trust them to feed on you, i have to go so you can learn and grow, and even be a bit happy or at least at peace” mavery said picking up clothes even though tears were streaming in that weird mix of blood and water

“oh mave....” she said tears filling her own eyes “i promise to do my best” she said

“i know you will pet, now go you know im terrible at goodbyes” mave said

“but....”

“no pet you must go and i will be gone by the time you come back from your meeting with dius, go... i love you” mave said letting the pile of clothes in her arms drop to the bed and pulling her in for a hug

She huged back “i love you too” she whispered

“go!” mave said pushing her to the door and out of it closing it with a decisive bang

She sighed, and then cursed but she turned dragging her feet to dius’s room she knocked when a quick “ come in” followed she walked in stopping at the sight of the giant in just a towel that chest bare, water dripping everywhere including that brown hair making it look black red eyes attractive in that open face. She had noticed he was quite open when it came to expressing himself although mave had said, dius had always been a mystery to her she couldn’t see it he seemed transparent to her

“oh little tank your a bit early for our meeting” he said stopping she gawked unable to do anything else as she took in the picture of all of him almost naked, jesus he was magnificent. She had a need to lick all those droplets as he grabbed her wrist and fed. She blinked a couple of times to erase the picture of it as he stared waiting. He hadnt moved but he hadnt expressed anything either, she knew for a fact vampires could smell arousel but for some reason it never seemed to bother him when she got turned on, in fact it was starting to become insulting. Finally she let out the breath she had been holding and smiled

“sorry my sister kicked me out of her room and commanded me to come see you for our meeting” she said trying to keep the huskiness out of her mouth which only made her sound breathless

He smiled “no worries ill get dressed and come right out” he said heading towards a wall then pressing forward the wall swung open to reveal a huge walk in closet from her vantage point she saw shirts and suits before the door closed

“wow” she whispered this guy was loaded, she had known vampires who didnt have two pennies to rub together but he seemed to have an endless stream of income, according to mave he was a genius in the stock market among other things. As a result he spend the beginning of the morning in his office making money the rest of the day was spent helping the people around him, from the smallest request to the biggest she had seen him never turn anyone away, in fact a human had come to feed one of the vampires and quite rudely told him to get her a sandwich and he had done it with a smile on his face then he had asked her to leave and only told his second in command, a man almost as big as him dark skinned no hair and gray shining eyes named of all things barry to never invite her again. Thats it no violence no ripping throats no kill her this instant just make sure she forgets who we are and never invite her again. She had just stared and mave had laughed so hard she had fallen off her chair. When both dius and barry asked mavery why she was laughing she had laughed harder

“im sorry... its my fault i... expected you to kill her” she had said making everyone who had been in the room at the time laugh just as hard as mave had. After she had crossed her arms in anger they had finally stopped

“we have lived here for a hundred years little tank we do so because we keep our food supply living, she may not come back but if she ever marries and has kids when they grow they might have a better disposition and they will be allowed to feed my people there is no need for killing in fact i abhor it and i have made it a law among our people that unless there is a village riot on our doorstep they are not to harm anyone in the town below” he had explained, the house was conveniently just far enough from the small town to get to the humans for feeding but far enough that no one paid any mind to who owned it, in fact all they really did was switch who went to the door when there was a delivery every five to ten years and the townspeople were none the wiser and since they only fed, no one died so no one was ever suspicious. It was a good system, so good she had asked dius why others haven’t adopted this system and he said

“they have little tank, all of us in big enough groups have, the reason you dont know about it is because you have been attacked by lone vampires, probably starved and at the end of their rope, unfortunately some of us still hunt like the old old days, but more and more of us are doing things like this which is why vampires have become the stuff of horror movies” dius had said

“or romance” she said shaking her head

“romance?” he asked looking her way

“um twilight? Underworld? Dracula untold? Queen of the damned? Any of this ring a bell?” she had asked he had stared wide eyed shaking his head

“there are romances about us now? Thats amazing” dius had said making everyone nod, including her own sister this had made her laugh so hard her ribs had hurt for the rest of the day

he came out of the closet in another white shirt fully buttoned and tucked in to his dark blue slacks black belt and shiny shoes even though he was once again rolling his sleeves

“why do you do that?” she asked making him stop and smile her way

“my mavery likes it” he said shrugging

“mmm” she sounded out as he came over to her, putting his hands in his pockets when he was done rolling the sleeves, coming to stand close enough for her to smell the wonderful cologne he had put on but not close enough to make her nervous in fact it felt like everything he did, he did it to maintain distance which only made her want to chase him, it was aggravating to say the least she had known him all of a week and every single second he did the exact opposite of what she thought he would do, making her feel like if she had lost her mind which only made her more aggravated

“please sit” he said softly making her want to scream at him to stop with the gentle act so she could tell her sister see i was right... she stopped her thoughts as she realized it was true she kept expecting him to turn into some form of a monster and when he didn’t it made her feel stupid which in turn made her angry

“i want you to do something crazy!” she said not moving making him blink those red eyes at her

“why?” he asked softly

“so i can stop calling myself crazy” she said

“you are not crazy little tank, there is no doubt that the vampires you have met are and were evil but the reason i seem to be making you question everything is because you have lumped us all into the same category which i find surprising. I mean, how exactly is it you think we get half breeds like yourself? If we raped and pilaged all the time we would have been extinct by now, in this day and age where even fankensteins monster can find someone to love in the movies why cant we? It was you who made us realize even vampires are romantic now after all” he said

“you make me feel crazy” was all she said as she walked over to the chair by a roaring fire he followed sitting across from her a shiny wood table in between them with coffee and cakes. She smiled and reached before he could offer making him smile as she did so, and she realized this was the first time she had helped herself without his express okay. She was getting comfortable. She didn’t like the implication

“I’m quite sure i don’t like you” she said snidely to cover her embarrassment at feeling uncomfortable for being comfortable here

“im quite sure thats not true but i will let it slide since you have made me extremely happy” he said

“how did i do that?” she asked as she took a bite out of the best coffee cake she had ever tasted it practically melted in her mouth and she took a sip of what she was becoming to understand was the best coffee she had ever tasted, when he finally went crazy and she was able to leave she would miss this coffee the most she was sure of it, well maybe if she went to the kitchen and stole a big bag of it she could hold out.

“your finally trusting me” he said watching her as she ate with a concentration that made her think she had something on her face and he was too polite to say it. She reached up wiping this way and that but her hand came back empty making that annoying smile spread wider “there is nothing on your face little ava i just like watching you eat, you have a real enjoyment of it, its nice to see, humans are so obsessed with their weight and so on its been a while since i saw someone enjoy the food in front of them” he explained

She blinked “seriously cant you like growl or something” she said

Making him laugh “i have never growled in my nine hundred and something years of existence” he said

“Nine hundred...!” she stared wide eyed

“yes thats why your hypnotism doesn’t work on me, im going to go out on a limb and say you’ve never met anyone over two fifty” he said chuckling as he said it

She thought about it besides the asshole that had taken her she hadn’t really asked for ages but, yes the vampire that had held her and mavery had been about two fifty

“i guess not” she grumbled making him chuckle again, she let herself smile at his amusement he was quite charming. She wiped the smile letting out a hiss in annoyance

“you called me for something?” she said almost pouting she stopped herself reminding herself he was not mave she would not open up to him damn it, he shook his head but obliged her

“ i was thinking tonight for your biting ceremony, would you like a crowd or just us” he said

The food she had just shoved in her mouth turned to ash as fear filled her, he might not need to bite her later but for her to be his familiar he was going to have to bite the first time otherwise she wouldn’t be his officially.

“i...” she stopped as her eyes filled with the black spots again as she realized she wasn’t getting enough air into her lungs again, she stood the plate crashing to the floor as she did it

“ava? Ava...” dius kept calling her name but she heard it as if from a tunnel far far away, he was going to bite her and her sister would be nowhere near to help if it went sideways. Her brain filling with the image of her dying with a huge smile on her face as he kept gorging himself on her blood, a sharp smack brought her back to herself, she put her hand on her cheek as she looked up realizing it had been a girl who had smacked her. She stared realizing dius was nowhere in the room when had he left?

“are you alright?” the girl asked brown eyes warm as she looked on at her in concern

“your not one of them?” she asked as she grabbed the woman’s shoulders hard when she stood letting her eyes roam the room to make sure no vampire was close

“no I’m sorry I’m bethany i am the physician here” she said

“what... physician?” she asked

“yes I’m the doctor who watches over the humans being fed, and the half breeds who are turned familiars on their first night” bethany said