Wilma
Jacob and Gus took a while to make it up to the kitchen, and my anxiety ramped up the longer they took. When I saw he was okay, I went to the guest room to collect myself. Zelda had run by my house while I slept and picked up clothes for me, and I wanted to grab a sweater as it was a cool night.
My head was spinning from so much male attention, but specifically the strange behavior I’d noticed from Gus.
I’d been educated in the many ways that magical transitions could interfere with your moods and behavior. I wasn’t afraid he would hurt me anymore than I had been when I’d first found the guys in the woods. But when he came back upstairs with Jacob, I could tell that he was worried.
I heard buzzing coming from my purse, and I realized it had been almost twenty-four hours since I’d heard from Jules. I’d left a message at the station and sent them all the graphics they needed for tonight’s broadcasts, and the news anchor, Jack Russell, would cover for me. But Jules and I talked every night, and for me to not call her, I knew she’d be freaking out.
Sure enough, my phone display showed thirty-two texts from Jules. I read through them as I went back down the hall to the kitchen.
“Oh gross! It splooged all over me!”
“Well, it’s not a Big Mac, Freddy,” I heard Gus say with a laugh. “You gotta be gentle.”
When I entered the kitchen, I found Gus and his cousins carefully cradling tomatoes in their hands.
“You want to pierce the skin gently, not rip into it,” Jacob said. “And no lower jaw. You’ll kill whoever you’re drinking from if you bite down. Try it again.”
“I cannot sit here and watch you guys make out with tomatoes,” Mac said. “This is beyond disgusting.”
Jacob made a point of licking his tomato and caressing it with his lips in a way that would get a film an X rating.
The guys each tried sinking their fangs into the tender flesh. Vinny’s squirted juice in his eye.
“Que chingados! That burns,” he said, rushing to the sink to rinse his eyes.
Freddy gave it a try and left two giant gouges in the tomato.
“Aaannd you just committed murderrr,” Jacob said.
Gus tossed his tomato up in the air, eyed it carefully—and then gently sank his fangs in. He pulled them back out and there were two small puncture wounds.
“Excellent,” Jacob said, smacking him on the back.
“Overachiever,” Freddy said with a sneer.
Gus blew him a kiss.
“Now, try it again, only this time, gently place your lips on the fruit and suck.”
“Fruit? I thought tomatoes were vegetables,” Freddy said, frowning.
“They’re actually both,” Vinny said, giving the tomato a gentle nibble, leaving dainty puncture holes this time.
“How can they be both? You’re either a vegetable or a fruit. You can’t be both.” Freddy tried again, and this time he bit down so hard he got a mouthful of tomato.”
“Don’t swallow it,” Jacob warned. “You’ll puke it up. Spit it out.”
Gus was successful once more with his bite. He caught my eye…and then gently sucked the juice from the tomato.
And ohhhhh my Goddess, what the vision of him sucking did to my lady bits. I was frozen in my spot, watching as he removed his fangs, turned the fruit over, ran his tongue over it, and then sank his fangs into the flesh once more. His cheeks hollowed as he sucked, and his hazel-eyed gaze held mine the entire time.
My birthmark throbbed as I watched. So did parts below.
I recalled the dream I’d had during the day.
Gus and I had been alone in the woods. He’d kissed me without using his fangs, kissed me for a long time. Somehow we’d ended up naked and wrapped in each other’s arms and legs on a billowy white bed in the middle of the woods.
I knew I was dreaming, but I was determined to see what happened.
“I want you inside me,” I heard myself murmur. “Gus, please.”
He smoothed my hair back from my face as he held himself above me. “Are you sure, my love?”
“Yes.”
He grinned, quirking those full lips up on the side in a playful smirk. He lowered his head slowly, oh so slowly, toward my left breast. I waited for that feeling I anticipated would come with lovemaking.
“Gus!” I cried out. I wanted him so badly, although given the fact I’d never had sex before, I had no idea what I wanted or what to expect. Somehow in my dream, I knew.
“Shhh, I’ll take care of you,” he whispered. I watched those dusky rose lips as he moved lower and lower. He licked his lips as he drew even with my hips. I held my breath as he descended once more and—
The sting of his fangs piercing the inside of my leg caused my whole body to convulse.
And then I’d awakened. To what I realized was an orgasm.
I’d come from dreaming about Gus.
About Gus biting me.
And I’d loved it.
And now, watching Gus with a tomato, I felt my cheeks flush. I wanted him. And even though I was afraid of what that might mean, I knew I was on a collision course.
Would I be Turned if he bit me again? Would I survive? No one seemed to have any other advice than “don’t let him bite you.” I needed to find out for myself.
My phone buzzed in my hand and I started reading Jules’s texts again. The last one said she’d be right over to serve Mac his ass if he’d let those “vampers” hurt one hair on my head and if she didn’t hear from—
“Mac! Where’s— Oh. Hey.” Jules burst into the kitchen and looked around at all of us gathered, taking an extra-long look at Freddy before turning to me. “Thank the Goddess you’re okay. Why haven’t you—”
“Let’s just go outside.” I pulled her out the door.
“You know they can still hear us.”
“You’re right. Well, I’ll make it quick. Things are wonderful. And a mess.”
Jules pressed her lips together to keep from laughing and then frowned seriously. She was used to hearing me ramble and settled in for a long story.
“First, Gus is amazing and he kissed me. Well, we kissed, and he nicked me with his fang, but I’m fine—”
“What? Where?”
“It’s okay. It was my lip. Zelda healed it. It wasn’t technically a bite—”
“If you got any venom in you, it counts.”
“Shoot. Okay. But Jules? I think he’s…well I’m having feelings. Lustful feelings. And he is, too. But how do I know?”
“How do you know what? Lust? Well, it’s when you want to jump—”
“I know that! But the way I feel…what if he’s my mate?”
Jules eyes went wide. “Ohhhhh. Can that happen? With a vampire?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. But something’s happening, and I want to be alone with him, but I’m afraid of what might happen if we kiss again.”
Jules frowned and exhaled. “He’s just gotta keep his fangs to himself, right?”
“Right. We can kiss without fangs. Absolutely.” Did I want that? I recalled the feeling from my dream, and I knew it was highly likely I was going to want some fang again, even if it was a terrible idea. Did that make me a naughty girl?
If it did, I wasn’t sure I wanted to stop.
Jules laughed first, but when the guys came outside, we were both laughing uncontrollably.
“Everything okay out here, Coop?”
“Hey, Jacob,” she said, giving the vampire/were hybrid a gentle hug.
“You look lovely, my little hawk friend.”
She rolled her eyes at him and he chuckled, proud of himself for being a twit.
“All right, friends. It’s time for a field trip.”
“Are you nuts?” Mac asked him. “They’re only forty-eight hours old! Barely! Where are you planning to take them?”
Jacob raised an eyebrow. “How about the scene of the crime?”
“Witchita’s? Are you completely insane? Wait, why am I even asking, you psychopath? I know you’re fucking crazy.”
“Thank you, brother, that’s quite a string of compliments. Now, I say we go on down and pay a little visit to your Makers. We’ll have a few drinks, we’ll do some dancing, and you can get the hang of being around humans who actually enjoy being the midnight snack. But here’s the thing…if you bite someone, you bite them once and then you never snack on them again, savvy?”
Gus and I caught each other’s eye. Did it count? He’d only nicked me with his fang—
“Why’s that?” Freddy asked.
Jacob swung his hair around and smiled at Freddy. “Because, dear boy, we don’t want an entire world full of the walking undead. Now, grab your coats and let’s go boogie.”
“Oh my Goddess, no one even says that anymore,” Mac said as he pulled out his cell phone. “Let me tell Zelda.”
And then it hit me. Jacob was taking them to a bar so they could drink from humans. Gus would be drinking from a human. And if he bit that person more than once, they could be Turned. I didn’t like this one bite.
Bit. Grrr.
“What? No, she can’t…no, don’t tell her… Shit. Fine.” Mac hung up the phone and glared at Jacob. “Carol’s coming. She wants to know what’s going on at Witchita’s and she can’t get in on her own.” He smirked.
“I bet that pisses her off,” Jacob said.
Mac laughed. “They always sense her coming and close up the entrance. If we’re inside, she can pop in and they won’t see her coming.”
Jacob and Mac chuckled, and then Mac went back to being pissed off at his brother.
“We’ll have to take two cars,” Mac said, pulling out his keys.
I raised my hand and prayed Jules would go along with my plan.
“Yes, Wilma?”
“Jules has her van. We can all fit.”
Jules pinched me, and I yelped.
“What the actual hell are we doing?” she asked through clenched teeth.
“Um, going to Witchita’s?”
Her eyes went super wide and then she pinched me again.
“Have you lost your mind?” she whispered loudly.
“I think I have,” I whispered back. “Is that part of mating?”
She looked skyward and huffed out a breath. “Not Wilma, Goddess. She’s my only sane friend!”
“Not anymore,” I retorted in a singsong voice.
“Come on,” she said. “Everybody in. Let’s go party with the fangers.”
Jules climbed into the driver’s seat, Jacob and Mac fought over “shotgun” like a couple of kids, and the nervous vampires climbed in back. Jacob lost his bid for the passenger’s seat, so he and I met around back and he gestured for me to climb in first. He settled in next to me on one bench, and Gus and his cousins sat across from us.
“Okay, a couple of ground rules and reminders. First, have a drink of your favorite booze. Second, have a good time. Dance, play pool, whatever other extracurricular activities they have at this establishment. And third, let the volunteers come to you. And they will. They’ll be drawn to you and have no clue why. Be kind, be gentle, buy them a drink. Do not engage out in the open. Take them outside, to a quiet corner, to a restroom. Whatever you do, be cool. Now, when you drink, take no more than three pulls before you let go. That’s plenty. Any questions?”