Brian’s POV I’d made quick time, my interest still focused on Justin, waiting for my return. Two kills within fifteen minutes, enough to quench my thirst and I was already heading back to the house, anticipating the evening. Justin was at the door before I made it inside, pulling my shirt from my body while trying to rid me of the rest of my clothes. “Did something happen…” he latched onto my lips, “while I was gone…” he kissed me fiercely, “that I should know about?” “Yes,” Justin answered, a pleading, desperate tone in his short answer. He dropped his pants, revealing his desire in all its beauty. “I thought of you.” I grinned imperiously, my hand stroking firmly once… twice around his hardness. “And this is what became of your thoughts?” “Mmm,” he choked out, his eyes fluttering shut. “They were… rather detailed.” “I do believe I’m rather impressed with the way your mind works.” He lifted his shirt and flung it aside, leaving me to stare at his naked body. “If it’s all the same to you, may we talk about my mind later?” He walked backward, pushing himself up against the edge of the dining table, giving me the same needy gaze I’d seen before I left. With quicker than human speed, I was on him with his feet locked behind my waist, laying him across the cold wood. “You have no idea what you do to me,” I growled, burying my face into his chest. His hands were in my hair, gripping tightly, trying to pull me higher. “Wait, Justin. Let me just…” get control. Luckily, he seemed to understand and eased his grip. I stared up at him with my chin resting against him. He smiled at me. “Your skin has a nice flush.” We both knew why and I couldn’t hide my shame. “That doesn’t bother you?” I inquired, nervously. He shook his head. “And you’re warm.” I nodded. “That’ll last for several hours.” He tilted his head and I waited. It seemed he was sidetracked, though laying this close with his body beneath mine, I didn’t mind. “Do you need blood every day?” “With you here, yes. But usually, every couple of days is enough.” He ran the back of his hand across my cheek. “Are you alright now?” And then I realized what he was doing. He wasn’t sidetracked and though I’m sure he was curious, he wasn’t really interested in talking. He was calming me. “You’re very smart,” I said, with a cheeky grin. “And very desperate,” he grinned back. “I need to feel you inside me, now.” I shook my head and moved up to kiss him. “If nothing else, I will teach you patience.” “I’ll be a student to patience another time.” “Oh, but I think I would like to begin now.” He sighed when I moved off of him and I was almost disappointed to lose his warmth. I held out my hand and he was anxious to take it. ~*~ An hour later, lying sated across my bed with Justin resting against my chest, I couldn’t have been more content. It was foolish to have deprived myself of human company for so long. Nothing could be more exhilarating than sliding into the heat of his body or listening to the sound of his pulse as his excitement rose to climax. “I never knew there could be such pleasure in something so wicked.” I found myself chuckling in his ear. “And which wicked thing would that be? I remember several.” And for all the things he was willing to do, his blush at mentioning any of them was quite endearing. “When you placed your tongue… there.” Smiling, I ran my hand through his hair. “Ah, yes. My favorite lesson. If your whimpers were any indication, I would say you quite enjoyed the teasing. More so when I opened your ass and tasted you from the inside.” He lifted his head to look at me and cringed. “Eww. That doesn’t sound so pleasant.” My brow rose. “Quite the contrary. I enjoyed it every bit as much as you.” He shook his head and returned to his previous position. We were silent for a while and were it not for his heavy heartbeat, I would have thought he was drifting into sleep. “How old are you?” I pulled him tighter. “And so the questioning continues.” “If it makes you uncomfortable…” “No. My comfort doesn’t matter. Yours, on the other hand…” “I want to know.” I took an unneeded breath. “Alright then. I was born in August 1785 but life as I know it began in my twenty ninth year. That is what I consider the year of my birth.” Justin shifted, sliding his leg over mine and pushed his head onto his elbow beside me. “So that means you’ve been a vampire for…” He stopped to figure it out. “Fifty one years.” His eyes expressed his surprise. “Do you miss it? Being human?” “How can you miss what you do not know?” “Surely you couldn’t have forgotten.” I shrugged. How could I explain this to him when I didn’t understand it myself? “I don’t know exactly how, but when you are turned… when you become a vampire, your life before ceases to hold any importance. Maybe for a short time, there are memories, things you long to hold on to, but those memories fade almost so fast that you’ve forgotten you cared to remember them anyway.” He looked away and I could not dismiss the sadness in his eyes. “What is it?” He pursed his lips and turned toward me. “I’d be happy to forget my life so easily.” “No, you wouldn’t,” I answered sternly. “For the alternative is much worse than any pain your human life brings with it.” “I’ve never told anyone, but I almost took my own life once. At the last possible moment, I remembered something I’d read about losing your soul to Satan and I wasn’t willing to risk it.” “Are you a religious man, Justin?” He huffed a sigh and placed his hand over my heart. “I believe in the power of right and wrong and that your soul continues after death. I believe everyone has the choice to choose his own path, but I don’t believe that everything can be measured in black or white, Heaven or Hell.” He noticed my silence, though I knew it wouldn’t be allowed to last. “What do you believe?” “What I believe, or used to believe means nothing, for I am certain you cannot do the things I have done and still possess a soul. I know nothing of Heaven or Hell, but a creature such as I am can only be spawned from evil.” He shook his head adamantly. “I don’t believe that. I’ve seen your kindness and though it doesn’t beat, I’ve seen your heart. To be evil… truly evil, you’d be nothing but a monster without conscience.” “Justin…” “No, Brian. I…” “Justin,” I growled. I sat up quickly, putting my hand over his mouth to quiet him. I listened carefully and then turned to face him. “Promise me you won’t move from this spot.” “Why?” All it took was a stern look. With confusion, he nodded. “Okay, but what…” “Just be quiet and don’t move.” I stood and reached for a pair of pants. He was about to speak again, but I stopped him. “We have company.” A low growl escaped my throat and Justin turned to look at me with fear filled eyes. “A vampire.” TBC