Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97229 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97229 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
I couldn’t fathom it, so I didn’t even try.
This is a dream, I told myself. Wake up, Katherine. This is a dream!
Hans read my mind again.
“At least you’re using the word dream and not nightmare.”
“Stop it!” I said. “I can’t think straight.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I don’t think many people would be thinking straight in your position.”
Shit. I was so confused. My blood was throbbing so fiercely that I could feel my pulse in my neck, but of course I would. I was standing in front of a freaking vampire.
Hans’ voice was much lower this time.
“The question is, little one, did you really mean it? Would you truly like to be bitten by a vampire?”
I shook my head, but the pull was magnetic. I let out a whimper that sounded nothing like fear.
Hans ran his hand down my shoulder, and I shot a glance at his beautiful fingers at the same time as my arms dropped to my sides of their own accord.
“I don’t just bite,” he said, his eyes moving to my nipples, poking through the fabric of my slip. “I have many more needs than blood.”
“Like what?” I whispered back, my breasts tingling like crazy.
“How about you let me kiss you and find out?”
He tipped my chin up, his face so close I could feel his breath on my lips.
“Let me kiss you, Katherine.”
I was frantic with terror under the bliss of tingles, but the pull was too strong to deny. His mouth moved closer, and mine opened just a little, and his lips brushed hot but gently against mine.
And then he kissed me.
Hans Jacob Weyer, the vampire, kissed me.
His body pinned mine, and his mouth claimed me, his tongue dancing in brutal rhythm. I responded like the girl who’d been dreaming of vampires since I was young, desperate for more.
I moaned as I tasted him. Moaned as his fingers stroked over my nipples. Parted my legs as his fingers trailed their way down my slip, crying out against his mouth as he found the right spot.
He was even better with my clit than I was.
“So, did you mean it?” he whispered between kisses. “Do you really want to be bitten by a vampire?”
Desperation knew no bounds. I was squirming against him, panting with need. My clit was alive, and my skin was thrumming all over, and my head wanted to nod with a life of its own.
But that’s what it was in me. Life.
I was alive. And I definitely didn’t want to let that go.
My spirit fought back like a burst of flames.
“NO!” I screamed, and shoved him away from me. “NO! I don’t want to be bitten by a vampire!”
I expected Hans to pull me back to him, or run after me, but he didn’t. I charged away up the cobblestones with painful feet, and this time around Keel Avenue came into view, just like normal. The street was lit up with the regular street lights, and my shared house was exactly where it should be at the end of the road.
The front door was wide open. I didn’t need keys.
My steps were thumping on the stairs and my breaths were loud on my way up, but nobody stepped out of their bedrooms.
I threw myself in bed and pulled the covers up high, repeating my thoughts like a mantra.
This is a dream. This is a dream. This is a STUPID FUCKING DREAM.
And then I woke up.
I sat bolt upright in bed, knowing that the illusion was over. I was back in my body, for real.
It was a dream. A stupid fucking dream.
Fuck, it took some time for me to calm down. I flicked on my bedside lamp and cursed the night terrors. I called up the time on my phone to find it was 4 a.m. and London traffic was rumbling a little outside, just like usual.
What a fucking dream that was.
I wondered if I’d had some kind of reaction to jam on toast, like processed strawberries had even the slightest chance of being a hallucinogen. That at least made me giggle a little out loud.
Eventually, it was time for sleep round two, so I opted for a trip to the bathroom first, to save the urge to pee before breakfast.
I didn’t need to see my feet as I dropped them down onto the carpet. The sensation told me all I needed to know.
I held my breath and closed my eyes, bracing myself to take it, and then I faced it.
I opened my eyes and looked down, and yes. I was right.
There was dirt all over the carpet, and moss still trapped between my toes.
Chapter Three
It’s hard to convince yourself it was only a dream when you’re washing fresh dirt off your feet in the shower.
Was it sleepwalking? Sleep-running? Was it really a strawberry fuelled hallucination that sent me out into the street in nothing but a flimsy satin slip?