Once Bitten -Part Three-

by =onnawufei

I thought if I left things alone my situation would go away but of course that wasn't true. About a month after Donovan's first visit to my room he returned, the same guilty look on his tired face. He didn't seem as bad as he had before though, so I knew that he hadn't gone the entire month without feeding. I wasn't sure how often he needed to feed but I had a feeling it was more than just once a month.

Once again I sat up in bed and he came to sit next to me. He couldn't ask for the favor I knew he needed so I unbuttoned my nightshirt as I'd done before, this time discarding it rather than simply slipping a shoulder down.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"It's alright, I -" My voice broke and I suddenly felt embarassed. "I don't mind."

This time I knew what was coming, I knew to expect the pain before the nice feeling and then the overwhelming desire to sleep. However for one reason or another Donovan decided to drag things out.

"I feel like I'm using you," he told me. "I drank your blood and never spoke of it again afterwards, we both tried to act like nothing had happened."

"What was there to talk about?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said. "But just the same I don't want you to think that I see you as someone I can fall back on whenever I'm feeling too lazy to hunt."

"Donovan, you can fall back on me as often as my body will allow."

There was a moment of silence before Donovan snickered. I then realized what I'd just said and I blushed furiously. So much for the serious tender moment!

"You know what I meant," I mumbled.

A smile played on his lips as he watched my embarassment.

"Yes I know, and I appreciate the thought... however you meant it."

His words didn't do anything to help the heat in my face go away. In fact it simply made it worse and I was trying my hardest to stop it from spreading to other areas in my body.

Slowly his smile faded and he scooted closer to me, wrapping one arm around my waist. He held me carefully as if to make the prelude to the pain as sweet as possible. I got chills when I felt his hot breath on my skin but I gasped audibly when his lips grazed my neck rather than his fangs.

"I'm sorry," he said again, his voice muffled in the crook of my neck. "I just... Key you're so..."

This stammering vampire at a loss for words was something I'd only seen once before and it was something I felt I'd never get used to. He always seemed so confident that it was disorienting seeing him any other way, especially when he was dealing with me.

He tightened his hold on my waist but brought his head up so that his eyes met mine. I could see his fangs in the dim light and I had to wonder if they had grown or whether it was just a trick of the mind brought on by too many vampire movies.

"What's wrong?" I asked, my voice hoarse and throat dry.

Donovan smiled faintly.

"You're always more concerned with others than about yourself," he said. "That's just part of your perfection."

Perfection? What was he talking about? My mind flashed back to my discussion with Leo and it dawned on me that the zombie brat might have been telling the truth. It was times like this when I was glad that Leo had gotten the psychic abilities and not Donovan. I did not need him reading my thoughts, especially not lately.

He looked into my eyes for what felt like forever before dropping his head back to my bare shoulder. Within seconds the anticipated pain came with it's accompanying pleasure, and finally the desire to sleep. He held me in his arms as he had before, his now red eyes watching me intently. They seemed to almost glow in the dark and I was surprised to realize I found them beautiful.

"Leo said that I belonged to you," I mumbed, the confession coming no doubt from the fact that my ability to reason had gone out the window.

"Ignore him, you belong to no one but yourself."

"No, that's not true. I do belong to you," I insisted. "And any time you need me I'll be here."

He seemed to be stunned silent for a moment or two.

"Thank you," he finally said.

"You have to do one thing for me though."

"Anything."

I smiled, my normally innocent mind forming some very naughty thoughts. I chalked that up to the inability to reason as well.

"Don't leave tonight," I said. "Stay with me till morning."

He seemed pleased with my request and stroked my hair softly.

"I wouldn't dream of leaving you."