HelaineWhipping around to look behind me, my lips parted in surprise at the large wheel, padded with gorgeously detailed leather.My fingers ran over the intricate patterns embossed into it, skulls and roses similar to the details on Evan’s coffin rendered in detail that must have taken years to achieve on a scale this large. Deep in concentration, my tongue slid along the seam of my lips in appreciation.“Do you like it?” His hands trailed up my hips, his touch feather-light, as he pressed himself against me, telling me that he’s been just as eager for this day to come as I have. “I didn’t build the wheel, but the leatherwork is all mine.”“You made this?” Craning my neck to look back at him, I couldn’t hide how impressed I was. “It must have taken—”“Years, yeah.” He chuckled, his breath tickling the back of my neck. “Time isn’t an issue for me.”The chill of his hand grazing my skin as his fingers carded into the back of my hair made me gasp. He turned my head toward the center of
EvanI could feel Helaine’s eyes linger on me as I moved toward the makeshift kitchen, where I’d already prepared her snack. Leaning against the fridge, I took in a deep breath, regaining my composure.My willpower and self-control was something I took pride in, a skill I’d honed over decades of living with my condition. I needed to always be in control of myself, or I could lose everything all over again.Helaine was just a human, but something about her drew me in from the first time I saw her, four years ago when she started taking classes at the art college where I spend my time.I made a deal with myself that I wouldn’t interfere with her life unless she came to me first, but she never did. When she said that she was in danger of losing her apartment, I knew that if I didn’t do something to stop it, there was a chance she’d have to leave the city, and then she’d be out of my life for good.It probably would have been better for her in the long run, but I couldn’t stop myself. I d
HelaineThe look in Evan’s eyes as he knelt between my thighs burned through me. There was a hunger in him that went deeper than his hunger for blood. His lips pressed against the soft skin of my inner thigh, trailing higher as he leaned in.“Look at you,” he sighed, ghosting his nose along my flesh, sending a shiver through me. “You’re incredible like this.”His breath was like a cool breeze, not warmed by natural life like a normal man. The not-yet-familiar sensations caused me to gasp and squirm, and he grabbed my thighs in response, holding me in place as he dragged his tongue through my pussy, tasting me.He hummed as he dipped his tongue inside of me, coaxing out a whimper of pleasure as I buried my fingers in his hair.“Evan,” I moaned, bucking my hips up against his face when his nose brushed against my clit.He didn’t answer me, his tongue too busy moving to flick my sensitive bud as he squeezed my thighs harder.Hard enough to bruise, I hoped. I almost mourned the subtle sli
Helaine“Good girl,” Evan purred, running his fangs along my sensitive skin before pressing a sensuous kiss to the back of my neck.His kisses trailed further down my spine as he crawled off of me, and when he stood, he almost seemed like a gentleman when he offered me his hand.My legs felt like jelly when I tried to stand, but he held me while I swayed on my feet.“Careful now.” The corner of his lips tugged into a smug smirk as he pulled me against him, my body flush with his. “We wouldn’t want you getting hurt before we reach the main event now, would we?”Shaking my head, I clung to him, regaining control over my legs. “No.”“No, what?” His thumb and forefinger captured my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes, bathing in their soft red glow.“No, Sir,” I affirmed, and he rewarded me by drawing me into a kiss.His lips moved skillfully against mine, his free hand carding through the back of my hair to hold me closer.Evan kissed me like he needed me, like he was a starving man,
EvanShe was perfect, her lips stained red with her own blood and what remained of her lipstick, even as the wound I’d made on her tongue closed. The sweet aphrodisiac taste of her blood still clung to my lips and between my teeth, and the thrumming beat of her heart called to me like a siren’s song.She looked like Jesus on the cross, her limbs splayed wide for me, promising salvation from my lonely existence. Before her, I hadn’t thought that I could get close to anyone after the carnage my condition had caused in the past.I never expected to be able to be with someone like this again—to trust myself to hold someone at my mercy. She knew the danger she was in, but she had faith that I could control myself.It was time to prove worthy of her trust.“You’re incredible,” I exhaled, my eyes roaming her body—every inch of it laid bare to my touch.Her pupils were dilated as she watched me stoop to pick up the knife. In the moment before I kissed her, it was only in the way, but now that
HelaineAs I packed up my paints, I caught the music shop owner out of the corner of my eye—of course he’d been dressed like Dracula. There were a million and a half Draculas every Halloween, only, most of them weren’t real vampires.No, the real vampire was probably just rolling out of his coffin about now, doing whatever it is he does when he’s not making a mess of my body and mind.Evan had caught me off guard last week, holding me like he did after another amazing session. I’d been swept up in the moment too, but when we were laying together, entangled as we were, I was struck by a moment of clarity.It wasn’t real.I was only there in the first place because Evan was paying me, not because we had some deeper connection. It was easy to forget that when he looked at me like I was worth so much more than the hundreds he was paying me, and he touched me like he was praying.But at the end of the day, there was no “we” outside of our monthly session.I was just sex and blood, and he w
HelaineThe knocking on the door grew louder, accompanied by an ugly shout of, “I’m coming in, Helaine!” from my scumbag landlord.“You need to hide,” I whispered, shoving Evan toward the bathroom. “Quickly.”“Why?” His brow furrowed as he stopped in the doorway, his gaze shifting toward the door. “Who is that?”“Jeff—my landlord,” I pressed, looking up at him with desperation in my eyes. “Look, if he knows you’re here, it will create a whole mess that I really don’t want to deal with.”Evan stared at the door a moment longer before nodding, cupping my face in his hand. “Alright, but I’ll be right here if you need me.”“Thank you.” Leaning up, I snuck a quick kiss before shutting the door just in time for my landlord to burst into my apartment, letting himself in with his own set of keys.He’d never been shy about busting in here, whether I was home or not. It was for that reason that I tried not to spend too much time here. I hated the way his gaze was both lecherous and judgmental a
EvanThe second her hand touched mine, I pulled her against me, holding her head to my chest even though there was no warmth in my body to offer her.She didn’t seem to mind, burying her face in my chest as I held her tight.“I will never judge you,” I whispered, pressing a kiss to her hair. “You will always be safe with me.”It was an oath, one I felt deep in my bones. I didn’t have much of a soul to swear on anymore, but whatever I had left belonged to her. Intrinsically, I knew that.But my eyes weren’t on her as she relaxed into my arms. My gaze was fixed on her painting, on the demon’s black eyes, devoid of soul but brimming with ugly, feral, want.I’d looked into those eyes before, decades ago, when I was a mortal man. I saw them in the mirror, saw them in a man desperate to ensure that his legacy would live on forever.What a poor deal it was.Sure, E.V. Rose and The Dirtbags lived on through CD sales, then through the music streaming services that came to dominate the industry
EvanHelaine clung to me with tears streaming down her face and I was suddenly very aware of the blood drying on my hand as I smoothed down her hair.We were a mess, inside and out.No one took their first kill well. Taking another human life wasn’t supposed to be easy, but there were more layers of it for her.Through that one brutal action, it was like the darkness in her was roused from sleep. I saw it in her eyes, and there was no way I could pretend that I didn’t.“It’s going to be alright,” I murmured into her hair, but the words felt hollow even as I said them.How could I even begin to define “alright” for her right now?Whatever happened, whatever path she chose, I knew that I’d follow her. I’d take a thousand lives if it meant getting to twine mine with hers. It wasn’t as though spilling blood was new to me.Lilith called me Helaine’s champion, and she wasn’t wrong.But that wasn’t what Helaine needed to hear right now and as she clung to me, trembling as sobs wracking her s
Helaine“I’ll handle it,” he whispered in my ear, as he slid out of me, stuffing his still-hard cock back into his jeans. “Let me do the talking.”My stomach felt like it had tied itself in knots, remembering the last time those words came out of his mouth.Of course, that wasn’t fair of me.He was in a vulnerable place that night. He’d just been shown evidence that after all these years of nothingness and hunger, he was getting his soul back. I couldn’t begrudge his need for answers.Not when we were currently sticking our necks out to hunt down my dad for any information he had about me.Evan could never have imagined that summoning Lilith would have caused the trouble it did. As far as Evan knew before I took that photo of him, I was perfectly human.And it wasn’t as though living in ignorance would have changed the terrible truth that I was literal the spawn of satan.At least I found out while there still might be time to do something about it.The way he strode toward the absolu
HelaineThe man let out a gurgle as I pulled the rope more tightly around his neck, and I didn’t let go until his body fell completely limp. His face hit the floor hard with a terrible thwack as his nose broke against the ground.My breathing was labored as I stood over him, amidst the carnage. I almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing, what I’d just done.But he would have killed Evan if he had the chance, and I couldn’t let that happen. He was the only one I had who could ever understand what I was going through, and I . . . I cared for him.Deeply.My hands trembled and my head ached as the world seemed to spin around me.I killed a man today. I took a life. A soul.“Helaine, you should’ve stayed in the room,” Evan scolded me, but I could see the gratitude in his eyes as he approached, holding me in his arms. “They wouldn’t have even hesitated to kill you.”“Which is why we killed them,” I retorted, clinging to Evan as I stared down at the still-warm corpse of the man I strangled
EvanThe look of pure concern in her eyes stabbed into me like a knife to the chest. The wound closed as I dragged my thumb across my hand, but she had already seen.The damage had been done.“I never meant for you to see me like this.” I gazed at her with pleading eyes, quietly begging her to understand.Before now, she’d seen me as a domineering presence—always careful, and always in control, but by the very nature of the vampiric curse, there was an inherent weakness.One that made me look and feel truly pathetic.“What—what’s happening?” She asked with a furrowed brow as she extended a gentle hand to touch me, only for me to flinch away. “Evan?”“I should have known this would happen, sleeping away from my coffin.” Shaking my head, I moved as far away from her as I could in the bath, water sloshing around us. “But I haven’t needed nearly as much blood since I met you, so I thought I’d manage until you recovered enough.”“Your coffin? What does that have to do with—”“Sleeping in a
EvanHelaine was still asleep when I awoke, our limbs woven together on the comfortable bed. It had been a long time since I’d slept without the walls of my coffin to protect me, and sleeping in the open like this unnerved me.It had been a too long since I worried about slayers—Cardinal and Main was such a crime ridden street that a careful vampire could go entirely undetected. I had for decades.But being out on the open road again was a risk. I knew that when I suggested it, but there wasn’t much choice.Helaine’s father was the only person who might be able to shed some light on her true origins, and there was no way in hell she’d be able to let it go until she got some answers.I couldn’t let her keep on suffering like that.Unwinding myself from the warmth of her embrace, I sat up to stretch. The corner of my lip tugged into a smirk when she groaned in her sleep, inching her body closer to where mine had been.She was so filled with life that I couldn’t help but admire her.Anti
Helaine“How does it feel?” He took me by the hand, inviting me to stand on trembling legs, still wobbly from my orgasm.“It’s . . . ” I struggled to put it into words. Even with the intense burst of pleasure dissipating, the plug in my ass kept my body on edge, desperate for more. “It’s almost like I could come again if you touch me at all.”He must’ve liked that, because his lips curled into a cat-like grin as he backed me against the bed, sliding his hand up my thigh before cupping my sex. “We’ll have to get you one for home . . . maybe one that vibrates.”My bottom lip disappeared between my teeth and I squirmed against his body. Just the idea of having that much stimulation on top of our usual sessions was almost enough to undo me all over again.“Evan,” I whimpered, bucking my hips against his hand like a bitch in heat. Mercifully, he slipped two fingers into my dripping cunt, situating his thumb against my clit as he slowly pushed me toward that edge.“I’ve never liked my name
HelaineEvan’s fingers curled against that sweet spot inside of me again, and tears rolled down my cheeks as I tried so hard not to come undone.“That’s a good girl,” he purred as he withdrew his fingers, bringing them to his lips with a hum of approval before that sinful tongue of his lapped up my juices. “There, it’s just up ahead.”My eyes watered as I squirmed in my seat, left frustrated by the ruined orgasm.But I knew Evan. Whatever he had in store for us would more than make up for it.“What is?” I asked, squinting to try and get a better look at the unassuming building on the side of the road, nothing around it for miles. “A motel?”“The Rose Garden,” he explained, and sure enough when we pulled into the parking lot, an old neon rose glowed above the entryway. “This place has catered to kink since it opened back in the seventies. It’s where I had some of my first real experiences with BDSM, back when I was . . . ”Back when he was alive.“Do we have time?” I looked up at the m
EvanHelaine almost dropped the brown paper bag of takeout from The Night Shift when I opened the garage door to reveal what was once my pride and joy, a shiny red 1959 el camino I bought with my paycheck from the band’s first big American tour.The damn thing brought back memories—fond memories I didn’t deserve after what I’d done all those years ago. That was why I kept it in here. I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it, but I also couldn’t stomach looking at it.Even seeing it now, I could almost hear the laughter of my old friends—could almost feel the sun on my skin as we raised hell from Vegas to Reno . . . it was a whole other life.A life I didn’t deserve to daydream about.Now though, the el camino had a new purpose, and the look on Helaine’s face made all the discomfort I was feeling about seeing it again worth it.Her lips parted in a quiet gasp as she looked back at me. “Is this . . . ?”“The very same.” I nodded, the corner of my lips tugging into a smirk in spite of my
Helaine“Just wanted to know if you were planning on coming by for Thanksgiving. I love you.”Sucking in a hissing breath, I whipped my phone across Evan’s apartment, where its fall was luckily broken by his plush red couch before clattering to the floor. Evan looked at me like I’d lost my mind, but I was beyond caring.If the fact that I was the anti-christ wasn’t enough to scare him off, I highly doubted that pacing around his apartment like a caged tiger was going to be the final straw.“How fucking dare he,” I snarled through gritted teeth. “What right does he have to sound so god damned normal after everything that’s happened?”Evan only watched me, having the curtesy to give me my space when I needed it. If he tried to hold me right now, I’d probably combust. I couldn’t stay still, not when I had this much furious energy burning through my veins like acid. “I take it he doesn’t call often.”“He calls on the same day every year.” I grimaced, looking at the phone in his grasp as t