Accidentally Married To...A Vampire? by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff Page A

food, too! There is no other blood we can survive on. None!”
    Helena froze. “None? How about wild game or…bunnies?”
    “ Bloody inferno , woman! You read too many silly books. Those cannot sustain us.”
    Inferno was right. Helena had never really thought about it. She just assumed she could drink animal blood—no big deal; after all, she was a die-hard meat-atarian. But he'd just said “humans.” If he turned her, she would have to drink…people?
    Ick! Ick! Ick! And who would it come from?
    Hey, whose blood has he been sucking? It sure as hell hasn’t been mine, she thought absurdly. No. This is all wrong. What was she doing with him?
    “I was a total idiot to ever think I could be happy with you! Your world is dark and miserable. You are dark and miserable.” She kicked him hard in the groin, and bolted for the door.
    Helena was seized by two steel arms. She felt Niccolo’s heavy breath in her ear. “You go when I say, bride.”
    “I’m not your bride, you arrogant ass!” Helena squirmed in a futile attempt to break free. “I’d actually have to marry you to be called that, and it’s never gonna happen! What the hell was I thinking? I love the sun. I love my mother and friends. I love pizza and Twinkies! I don’t love you!”
    He turned her so they were nose to nose. His venomous glare burned a hole right through her. “ Buon , I have news for you, human. I only have to take your blood to claim you, or in your words ‘marry,’ because you are my mate. We are bonded. I never believed such a thing existed, but now I do! I think of you day and night. I feel every beat of your heart and every breath. I feel every childish, weak emotion! And you’re goddamned full of them!” he raged. “Do they ever fucking stop? It’s driving me mad! Mad! So, trust me, this—us—has nothing to do with you consenting or your ridiculous human love, or this…Tina woman!”
    He could literally feel her emotions? Could she feel his, too?
    Of course. Since she’d met him, she’d felt lost. Like there was another dimension to her she couldn’t quite articulate. In his presence she definitely felt more turbulent and amplified. It had to be this bond.
    Helena gasped as she realized he was bending his head toward her neck. For the first time ever Helena caught a glimpse of those long white fangs. She didn’t know how vampires were made, but she’d seen enough movies to know that many believed it just took one bite.
    Or, is that for weres?
    Dammit, Helena. Fight, you moron!
    Helena kicked and screamed, fighting his unrelenting grip. “No, Niccolo, don’t do this! I don’t want to be your wife!”
    With a shiver, she felt his lips—not fangs—press into the soft flesh at the base of her neck.
    “But you already are,” he said with an acerbic whisper. “You are my vampire-wife. I tasted your delicious blood the night we met, and now we are bound forever whether either of us likes it or not. The ceremony we've been planning was merely tradition, a symbolic gesture to be performed before you are turned.”
    Sweet immortal pickle! She'd gotten married at the eternal courthouse and didn't even know it?
     
     
    ***
     
     
    Niccolo stormed from the penthouse, charging straight for the elevator, and kicked his black leather boot through the wall. It was paper thin from numerous repairs over the past few months.
    “Irrational woman! Who the hell does she think she…” He froze with his finger on the down-button, suddenly feeling like he’d been hit by a blunt object.
    He’d actually yelled at her. Yelled at Helena? Then he’d left her crying in a heap on the floor and yelled at her again. A few choice words, too. The shameful truth barreled down on him. “I am a son of a bitch!” I let it happen again!
    Being mated to Helena was worse than a curse. It was an abomination of nature. Torture!
    For the first few weeks after they’d met, he was in denial. But he researched his symptoms and came to realize he’d