“You’re so nosy” I complained teasingly. He smiled.

 “You are me, and I am you” he said simply, shrugging. I laughed at the corniness.

 “NO! I mean it” he said, laughing now “You’re mine” he said so low as he pushed me onto the bed and lay next to me. I tensed. Given my new realization that he probably thirsted for my blood, I didn’t know how far was too far. He just laughed at my expression.

 “You’re so scared” he said.

“Shouldn’t I be?” I said thinking of Luke, and the precarious vampire-human relationship I knew was not healthy for me. Not that any relationships had been healthy for me. He grimaced.

“Luke Smucke.” He said still elated and smiling. “He isn’t going to touch you or me” he said nonchalantly, overconfident, and even somewhat arrogant. I rolled my eyes. He laughed delighted at my reaction.

 “And as for the vampire relationship” he continued. “I’m insulted you think me so weak to the thirst” he said, still arrogant. I sighed.

 “You are a vampire…I thought that was kind of the point of the death of a certain Alexis.” I said through my teeth. He sighed too. He was sighing so much today because of my questions.

“I don’t want to discuss that, but that wasn’t the reason actually” he said.

“I don’t want to discuss it either.” I said evenly. I’d come to terms and already grieved for Alexis.      

“Can’t we just have a stress free weekend?” he asked, half teasingly half seriously.

“Sure” I said, resigning. “But I have so many questions. You can’t expect me just to take the fact that I have a prisoner mythological creature and not probe it, and poke it.” I said grinning at him, daring him to resent the way I made him sound like a lab project

“You call me evil” he said rolling over me. His breath rolled over me, and it was the best thing I thought I’d ever smelt. Our faces were so closed, but I wasn’t thinking at all about his thirst. I was thinking about his lovely brown eyes that seem to tether me to this world, and his bright white smile, that almost blended in with his white pearly skin. I was thinking about how he sucked me into his world, took me prisoner and had me going all squishy and lovey on the inside in the span of a week or so. He stared down into my eyes, and I felt that connection again. I was looking into his soul again, visualizing the bright and the dark swirl of colors it would be, and I had more conviction now that he was doing the same. I took a breath, realizing I’d been holding it.

            “You may want to hold that breath again, “ he said inching his lips closer to mine. My whole body called to be closer to him “Because this isn’t going to be a short kiss” he said. And then he kissed me. The kiss was like no other. His lips mashed into mine in a way that was almost painful, but not unpleasant, they forced my lips to form around them, and to push back. He wrapped his hand around my neck, not breaking the kiss, and I wrapped my fingers into his hair, memorizing the texture, and pulling him closer to me. His body tensed, but still he didn’t stop, his kiss became gentler, and I sensed he was holding out on me, keeping his enormous strength from crushing me. I wished he wouldn’t bother. The kiss lasted until I actually began to notice the lack of air in my lungs, and unwillingly I broke away. He kissed my forehead, sweetly and so gently I could just feel it. I gasped for air and lingered in the sensation of feeling my heart pound, the blood rush to any place he touched, and the ache of my more abstract heart, the feeling deep in my chest that ached so much with love that it was almost painful. I enjoyed that ache, those uneven thumps, so loud in the room. And I hoped that this was a feeling that I would experience over and over.

“Eric?” He took a breath, steadying himself I guessed.

 “Yes Jane?” he said tenderly, his voice so rough with emotion, but still mesmerizing in its deep tone.

 “I’m afraid I am in love with you too” I said mimicking his words the day he’d confessed to me. And Eric just grinned

“I know. About time you’re human brain figured this out” and kissed me again.