The Merzetti Effect (A Vampire Romance) (7 page)

“Yes, and DJ-ing at radio stations, hosting late-night call-in shows, driving taxi cabs. And there are still more working from their homes. Telecommuting has been the biggest lifestyle improvement for these people since the all-night diner.”

“Wow. They’re everywhere.”

“Not everywhere, but more commonplace than you might imagine.”

“It was strange, though. Doing a venipuncture and thinking, this guy is probably thinking about what my blood would taste like. And then thinking, no, he’s probably thinking how I’m thinking that he’s thinking about what I’d taste like, and what a rube I am for thinking it.”

He laughed, a short bark of hilarity that surprised him.

“Ah, you were right the first time.”

“Oh, my Lord!”

“Just think of it the same way you would a regular male patient. It’s as instinctive to a vampire to speculate about sampling your blood as it is for a normal man to think about what it would be like to have sex with you.”

She goggled at him. “Men really think about that when I’m sticking a large-gauge needle into their veins?”

A red-blooded man would be thinking about sex with Ainsley Crawford even if she were preparing to slice into their flesh with a scalpel without benefit of anesthetic, but he thought better of sharing that thought. “I’m afraid so. Blame it on the power of the male drive to procreate.”

“Procreation…” Her brows drew together. “Is that something vampires do?”

He sobered quickly. “No.”

“They don’t have sex?”

Christ, how had this discussion gotten started? “They don’t produce offspring. They are physically incapable of conception, whether you’re talking vampire on vampire, or vampire on non-vampire.”

Her frown deepened. “That is so sad.”

“No,” he said. “No, actually it isn’t. A vampire infant doesn’t bear thinking about.”

She pulled back. “Why not?”

“For a vampire, the thirst is constant. The men and women you met tonight, it takes extraordinary discipline for them to live their lives the way they do. The call to feed, to take what they want from their relatively weaker, vulnerable human brothers and sisters … it’s unimaginably hard to resist. As is the idea of their own superiority. They are infinitely stronger, faster, more physically vital.”

“Okay,” she conceded. “I see what you’re saying. We must look like dumb cattle. Or maybe sacrificial lambs, tied to the stake.”

“To some, yes. But not to the ones you met tonight. The difference between them and the creature that attacked you is that they cling to their humanity. The hunger is no less powerful, but the discipline is there. A child vampire, however … well, let’s just say that in the world of vampires, it’s completely taboo to turn a child. An adult vampire needs to feed enough to maintain himself or herself. They need to take in enough blood to sustain them and to fight off the day’s aging. But a child … their needs are phenomenally heavy, given the burden of growth, and they lack the self-control to be integrated into the shared world. They are both innocent and deadly.”

“Omigod, it’s true. Vampires don’t age!”

God, there she went again with the Hollywood stereotypes. “They most definitely
do
age. They just do it in a profoundly slower manner than un-mutated humans.”

“Like turtles, you mean? Negligible senescence?”

He managed a tight smile. “Yes, like turtles. And rockfish and sturgeon and bivalves. Once they reach physical maturity, the aging process is all but halted. And just like those species, vampires typically succumb to accident or predation long before they would meet their natural end from old age.”

Her eyes shone. “This is so exciting! Just think of it, Del, if you could bottle that…”

Del?
He was Del, now? He didn’t know whether to be honored or horrified. He’d been Lane once, briefly, an eternity ago, but never Del. He chose to ignore her use of the diminutive.

“Believe me, there are R&D companies trying to extract that mutation as we speak. Unfortunately, they haven’t been able to separate that characteristic from the compulsion to gorge on human blood.”

She goggled at him. “You mean every other bio-pharm company knows that vampires walk among us?”

He laughed, a cold, cynical sound. “Ainsley, sweetheart, you don’t even want to know what they know and aren’t telling. You could keep Senate committees busy for years if they knew the whole of it.”

“I can imagine.”

She chewed her lower lip a moment, and all he could think was
let me do that
.

“So, do they do it?”

He shook his head, but the words didn’t realign to make any more sense. “Does who do what?”

“Do vampires have sex? You’ve clarified they don’t procreate, which apparently is good because baby vamps are voracious, conscienceless blood leeches. But you didn’t say what they do about sex.”

He cleared his throat. “They are more than capable of sex.”

“With each other?”

God, the woman’s curiosity was boundless. As was her temerity. “Very rarely.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“Mainly because it’s not very satisfying. Typically, vampires have no appetite for vampire blood.”

This time her eyebrows soared. “And vampire sex involves the exchange of blood?”

“Most definitely. But with human/vampire couplings, it’s one way, human to vampire. Otherwise, the vamps would have converted your ranks pretty swiftly.”

She scoffed. “That’s presuming there are ranks of females just waiting to be bitten. ’Cuz speaking as a card-carrying member of the once-bitten, I can assure you the experience would not be high on the must-do list for most females.”

“Ranks of
females
?” He shook his head. “There you go again with the generalities. For your information, some male vampires prefer male partners. And female vampires take their share of partners, too, thank you, from both the male and female ranks. Basic sexual orientation isn’t altered by this mutation.”

“I didn’t mean to‌—”

He held up a hand to forestall her. “All I’m saying is that if every time a vampire had sex with a non-vampire, they opted to turn said partner, then the food supply would have been exhausted long ago. The vampire ranks would swell until there were no un-mutated humans left to feed them. Presumably, that’s why vampires have evolved in such a fashion as to not be sexually attracted to other vampires.”

She grinned. “Securing the food supply. Smart.”

“And again, for your information, it’s not an unpleasant experience for a woman. Or a man, for that matter, or so I’m told. Quite the opposite. It’s quite an extraordinary experience. So extraordinary, in fact, that certain people engage in relations only with vampires.”

Her jaw dropped. “Vampire groupies?”

He couldn’t suppress a smile at her expression. “If you want to call them that, I suppose it’s fair enough, at least in your view of the world. But I assure you, they have a very different view of themselves.”

“What would you call them?”

“Me?” He pushed his hair back. “I don’t know. Holy women?”

Her eyes widened, fascinating written in their violet depths. “Holy women?”

“Or men. Let’s not be sexist here.”

“Wow.”

“Think about it: why wouldn’t they be revered? They provide sustenance, comfort, pleasure, companionship, all at the same time.”

“Why indeed? Shoot, I want me one of them.”

That surprised a laugh out of him. “Sorry. You don’t qualify. Mutant variants only.”

Her face got very still. Uh-oh.

“What?” he said.

“I was just thinking about what you said … does that mean there are circumstances when it’s safe to be bitten? When there’s no risk of infection ensuing?”

Stupid, Bowen. Real stupid. What now?

He decided to stick with the truth, or at least enough of it that the lie could be in the omission.

“Absolutely.” He leaned back in his chair, the picture of relaxation. “The vampire controls the exchange. Obviously, in the sex situation, he‌—‌or she‌—‌wants to keep their partner not just alive and well, but uninfected. However, in your case‌—”

“In my case, he was doing his damndest to drain the very last drop of my blood, so he probably wasn’t being too particular about whether or not he infected me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. And he was. A
sorry sonofabitch
, that is. “Don’t think about it. Besides, I told you no harm would come to you, and I meant it.”

She held his gaze, her violet eyes shadowed, and Delano felt another lash to his conscience.

“You’re right. No point worrying about it. My blood work has been fine so far, right? No abnormalities?”

He nodded. “Definitely normal, and no post-transfusion reaction.”

“I still can’t believe you typed and crossmatched me so quickly. If I’d gone to the ER, they’d have started me on O-neg while they were waiting for the lab.”

He gestured to the equipment around him. “As you can see, there’s not much I don’t have at my disposal, and no competition for the resources. Not to mention lots of blood.”

“And speaking of blood, isn’t it time for me to roll up my sleeve again?”

He checked his watch. Two o’clock in the morning. Precious as those vials were for his research, he hadn’t planned on drawing any more until at least four.

She rubbed the back of her neck. “I know it’s a little early, but I wouldn’t mind turning in for some rest, if we’re done here. I’m feeling a little wiped.”

The last thing she needed was an iron deficiency, which wasn’t out of the question the way they’d been harvesting samples. By rights, he should postpone the next draw until she got up. But he had a solid four hours left in the lab tonight, if he had new samples to work with. And her hemoglobin was fine… “Sure, we can do that. I’ll just buzz Eli.”

“Oh, don’t do that,” she protested. “He’s been on call pretty much around the clock since I came here, and he only just got to bed. Let the poor guy sleep.”

“Very well.” He inclined his head. “We’ll take the next specimen tomorrow. I’ll ask Eli to wake you for it.”

She laughed. “No, I didn’t mean postpone it. I meant you could do it. You did run the clinic by yourself before I came, right? Or you and Eli.”

Good God!
Draw her blood?

In a flash, he saw himself tying off the tourniquet, swabbing that warm patch of skin on the inside of her elbow, probing the delicate blue veins, introducing the needle…

Bad idea. Very bad idea.
He cleared his throat.

“Eli is paid very handsomely to do what I ask of him. He certainly won’t mind being roused for this. He’s as anxious as I am to find … to know that you’re going to be all right.”

There! She wasn’t imagining it. Ainsley blew out an exasperated breath. For some reason, he was completely loath to touch her. She’d been here for days, under his direct care, and he’d yet to lay a finger on her. Well, apart from carrying her here that first night.

What exactly was his problem?

He sure as hell wasn’t a germaphobe‌—‌hell, he’d performed countless venipunctures on vampires. Creatures who were capable of visiting a blood-borne, gene-warping, physiology-altering pathogen on their victims, at will.

So if it wasn’t disease or germs he feared, it had to be her.

“Why are you afraid of me?”

He snorted. “Afraid of you? Ms. Crawford, believe me when I say there’s very little in this world that frightens me.”

His words rang with the authority of a man who dealt with deadly forces every day, but dark patches of color now rode his cheekbones.

Interesting.

She smiled. “I don’t doubt your ability to hold your own in this … underworld. But I was thinking … maybe it’s the fairer sex that scares you?”

His forehead, which had been pleated in a fierce frown, relaxed, and he laughed. He actually
laughed
, dammit.

“Ummm, how shall I put this? No. Women hold no terrors for me, Ms. Crawford. Not even women as smart, attractive and driven as you.”

Her smile suddenly felt strained. Yes, she was smart. Yes, she was attractive, in a blond ambition kind of way. And damn right she was driven. But somehow when he put all those attributes together‌—‌all attributes she happily owned up to individually‌—‌the picture didn’t feel terribly flattering.

Ignoring the stiffness in her face, she let her smile broaden. “Then you won’t mind drawing this little bit of blood.”

A slight hesitation, long enough to make her rethink pushing the issue. What was she doing anyway, aggravating her new employer like this? The man had literally saved her life, then handed her a job that solved all her problems, and here she was baiting him. She really did need to learn when to keep her mouth shut.

He shrugged, as if it were of no import. “Certainly. If that’s what you want.”

Huh? What was he up to now, with the sudden acquiescence? Because despite the six-of-one, half-a-dozen-of-another attitude he currently projected, she’d lay strong odds he wasn’t nearly that blasé about it. She couldn’t have misread him that badly. She angled her chin in a challenge.

“Great. It makes infinitely more sense than waking Eli.”

He nodded agreeably. “Then by all means, I’ll do it. I thought only to keep the employer/employee relationship as straightforward as possible. You may be my patient for now, but I hope you’ll be in my employ much longer than you will be in my care.”