“If you want to remain as identical as possible, I could turn you too, Miss Pierce,” he teased.
She chuckled. “I’m not quite ready. I’m not sure why, but it just doesn’t feel like the right time.”
“Because you enjoy Nikko biting you while you fuck,” he said.
“Paris!” she blurted.
“Am I wrong?”
This place really wasn’t as soundproof as anyone wanted it to be, so he avoided the residential hall as much as possible in those twilight hours.
Her heart thumped noisily, but she shook her head. “I’m just not ready. And my sex life is none of your business.”
“As long as your sex life is keeping you and Nicolas happy, I don’t care what you do,” he said, nudging her lightly. “And it’s all right to want to stay human.”
She nodded. “Still, I can’t help thinking about what Dani said. What if they get to us? If you guys… Well, I guess we’ll have bigger problems then.”
They watched in fraught silence for a while longer. Finally, he shouted, “Danielle, come down! We have work to do!”
“This is so much fun!” she squealed, bounding across the lawn, then clambering up the side of one of the buildings. “Oh, shit!” Her foot slipped on a ledge. She flailed wildly and landed flat on her back. “Ouch. The others make that look easy.”
“Dani,” he said. His mischievous Vessel was gazing up at the stars and giggling like a punch-drunk teenager. When she didn’t respond, he glanced at Olivia and said, “Want to see a magic trick?” Feeling for the pulsing bond that connected a Maker and their Vessel, he tugged lightly and said, “Danielle, come here.”
She lurched to her feet and hurried to him, scowling. “Did you just make me come over here?”
“I did,” he said, tapping her nose lightly. “That’s the price for asking me to turn you. Just be glad it’s not your sister who’s turned you.”
“Hey!” they both protested.
He nudged Danielle and said, “You need to eat.”
Her eyes lit up. “I get to bite someone?”
“If you’re nice about it,” he said sternly. He’d arranged for sweet Anita, one of their most loyal veravin, to come in for Danielle’s first feeding.
When they returned inside, they went to the small lounge in the administrative building. The room’s meager appearance was a far cry from the luxurious spaces at Infinity, but it would have to do. Anita was already waiting inside with a broad smile. “Congratulations,” she said warmly.
Danielle stiffened as the woman hugged her, but then he saw the moment the tantalizing scent hit her, her nose going straight to Anita’s neck. He’d suspected Dani wouldn’t take issue with the blood aspect of being a vampire, though he was apprehensive about how she’d handle biting after all that she’d gone through at Lilah and Kieran’s hands.
But Dani gently took Anita’s hands and said, “Are you really okay with being bitten?”
She nodded and said, “I am. I’ve worked for this court for almost ten years. Well, I suppose for Mr. Alazan, and then Mr. Alcott.”
Dani looked at Paris with a question in her eyes, and he nodded in return. “It’s all right,” he said. He sat next to Anita on the unevenly stuffed couch, gently brushing her blonde hair away from her neck, which was dotted with tiny pinprick scars.
Many of the Auberon veravin eventually asked to be turned, and were often granted that request after a certain period of serving the court. Anita was one of their longest serving donors, and Paris had finally asked her once why she had never asked to become a vampire. With a blush, she’d told him that she had considered it, but when her oldest daughter had a child, she’d decided she wanted to grow old and be a grandmother. Sometimes, he wondered if she wasn’t smarter than the rest of them, living a natural life. The court had taken good care of her, including pulling a few strings to cover college tuition for all her children.
Paris gently took Danielle’s hand. “You’re new, so you’re not going to bite her neck,” he said. Her lips pursed into a hint of a pout, but he ignored it. “One of the first things you need to learn is self-control. When you’re hungry, it’s easy to drink too much and cause damage. You know that.”
Her eyes darkened. “Yes,” she said.
Without being asked, Anita extended her arm and tapped the crook of her elbow.
Dani opened her mouth, but Paris said, “Wait. Put your thumb on her wrist and feel her pulse.”
“I’m hungry,” she muttered.
“And you can eat from a bag if you don’t want to mind your manners,” he said mildly. Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded slightly. “Do you feel it?”
