Crimson Debt Read online

  “You really don’t know?” He shook his head. “You spend so much time pursuing my kind and yet you have no conception of how we think or what we really are.”

  I was beginning to get impatient. “Just tell me already.”

  “Sharing blood is a very erotic action for us,” Corbin murmured, stroking my cheek again. “Which is why we generally prefer to feed only from those we find attractive and who are attracted to us.”

  I stepped away from his touch, feeling nervous. “Seriously?”

  He nodded. “Yes. So giving blood to someone you are not sexually attracted to would be a very uncomfortable experience.”

  I thought of the squirmy feeling I got in my stomach and the way it felt like insects were walking all over my skin when Taylor bit me. “So that’s why it feels so weird,” I murmured. Well, at least now I knew I didn’t have any hidden lesbian tendencies—I wasn’t attracted to Taylor so giving her blood felt wrong to me. Not that giving blood to any vamp would feel right—especially the one currently standing in front of me, so close I could smell a hint of his expensive cologne.

  “I am glad to see your heart is not given to another. Even if it is not, as you say, up for grabs,” Corbin said softly.

  “Don’t get too excited. My best friend might be a vampire but that doesn’t mean I want anything to do with the rest of you.”

  “You will have to have something to do with me if you expect me to rescue your friend from her sad plight,” he pointed out. “So I ask you again, Addison, what do you offer me?”

  Here we were, back at the crux of the issue. My heart started to beat triple time. “I already told you I’d sleep with you. What else do you want?”

  “What I do not want is an unwilling bed partner.” Corbin frowned. “Rape holds no appeal for me.”

  “Who said anything about rape?” My throat felt suddenly dry. “I…I’m offering myself to you. This would be completely consensual.” As well as completely illegal but I didn’t want to think about that.

  “No.” Corbin shook his head and leaned back until he was half sitting on the edge of his desk.

  “No?” I frowned. “That’s it? You just refuse my offer?”

  “I do not want your body unless your heart is also involved.”

  “Well, I’m sorry,” I said, feeling at a loss. “But I can’t make myself love you.”

  “Indeed, you cannot. So it seems I must make a counter offer.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You spoke of Celeste having a VIP in town. In all probability, he is the area Inquisitor.”

  “Area Inquisitor?”

  “We have a government too, as you know,” Corbin said mildly. “And it is only slightly more corrupt than your own. So if the Inquisitor is with Celeste now, chances are he will visit me next.”

  “Taylor said his name was Roderick,” I said.

  Corbin nodded. “Yes, that’s the one. When he comes to me I must either flatter him with gifts or impress him with a display of my strength. Otherwise, he will think me weak and ineffective and attempt to have me replaced.”

  “I can’t imagine that’s ever been a problem for you,” I said dryly.

  He grinned. “No. But one gets tired of doing the same old thing, year after year. This year I think a more subtle display is in order.”

  “What are you thinking of doing?” I asked warily. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like his idea, whatever it was.

  “I am thinking that nothing would be more impressive than to have a non-glam human Auditor as my consort.”

  “So…you want me to pretend to be your date?”

  “My lover.” Corbin’s silver-blue eyes were hooded. “And you would have to play the part very…very well. If the Inquisitor suspects that I am attempting to deceive him, the consequences would be…unpleasant to say the least.”

  “So I have to—what? Hang on your arm, pretend to be all lovey-dovey?” I was beginning to feel cautiously optimistic. This actually sounded doable—a lot more doable than having sex with a vampire, anyway.

  Corbin seemed to catch my relief because he frowned. “I am afraid this will be a little more involved than you seem to think.” He stood up from the edge of the desk and reached for me. I stepped back by instinct and he shook his head. “First, you must not flinch from my touch. You will have to get used to my hands on your body, my mouth on yours.” He reached for me again and pulled me up against the hard planes of his chest. Then he kissed me.

  It had been a long time since I’d locked lips with anyone and I have to be honest—it was good. Damn good. Maybe because he’d had centuries of practice kissing or maybe because of the little thrill of danger that ran through me when he took me in his arms. He could break me in half with less effort than it would take me to break a pencil. But though I could feel his immense strength in the tension of his big body he was gentle—even tender.

  I was tense in his arms at first—nervous and uncertain. But despite my hostility for Corbin, there was no denying that he was hot. Against my will, I felt myself melting and even kissing him back a little. But when one of his needle-sharp fangs nicked my lower lip, I pulled back abruptly.

  “Ouch!”

  “My apologies.” His voice was even deeper than usual and his pupils were dilated, the black eating the silver-blue of his irises.

  I touched a finger to my hurt lip and it came back with a red smudge. It was a damn good thing we hadn’t been doing anything more sexual than kissing or there might have been trouble. I didn’t care how much Corbin talked about his self-control, there was no way I wanted to be with a vampire who was feeling the urge to feed and the urge to fuck at the same time.

  “I’m bleeding,” I said.

  “I know.” He took my hand in his and sucked my finger into his mouth. I felt his tongue, warm and wet, lap gently against my fingertip. Shivering, I pulled my hand away.

  “Your blood is sweet. You taste…innocent.”

  I frowned. “I’m not a virgin if that’s what you’re implying, so don’t get your hopes up.”

  “No, but you have not often known the pleasure of a man’s body against your own.”

  Speaking of which, I could feel something hard pressing insistently against my thigh. I looked up at him. “And this is different from having sex with you how?”

  “Not as much penetration.” He smiled down at me, showing his fangs. “Although I may need to bite you again in front of the Inquisitor to prove my ownership.”

  “Ownership? Now wait a minute!” I tried to push away from his chest but he held me close, not letting me go. “Nobody said anything about you owning me,” I said angrily.

  “Of course not,” he said smoothly. “But the Inquisitor must believe that I own you—body and soul. And if he believes I am also able to glamour you, so much the better.”

  “But you can’t,” I pointed out. “I’m a non-glam. I have resistance.”

  “You have a natural shield around your mind that most humans do not,” Corbin said. “But shields may be let down…or penetrated.”

  “I’m not letting you inside my mind,” I said, pushing against his chest again. “That’s a deal breaker.”

  This time Corbin let me go but he continued to pin me with his intense gaze. “What are you afraid of, Addison? That if you let me in and came to know me intimately, you might begin to feel something for me?”

  “Hardly.” I straightened my jacket and reached up to smooth my hair. “I just don’t want a vamp inside my head. I’m not about to become your puppet or one of those pathetic glam-sex addicts you have panting outside the doors of your club every night.”

  “Those who become addicted to what we can provide have a weakness in their soul. The same weakness that might lead them to become addicted to any other pleasurable activity. Drinking. Smoking. Physical sex. You, my darling, have no such weaknesses. You are one of the strongest humans I have ever met.”

  “Thanks. And I’d like to stay that way.” I shook my head. “I’m serious, yo