The Dark Rising by Lacey Weatherford Page A

forefront.
    He had to be on board with it though.  I knew demons enjoyed showing their powers and proving their superiority to others.  That would be a hard trait to overcome, but then again, there had never been a demon like Vance before … ever.  He’d become a magical race unto himself.
    He stirred slightly next to me.  I waited for a moment, wondering if he would say anything, but he didn’t.   I took a chance and carefully rolled over so I could look at him.
    He was staring at me through half lidded, red eyes.
    “Good morning,” I whispered into the air, trying to gage his mood by feeling for his emotions.
    He didn’t respond, continuing to stare at me.
    “Are you alright?” I asked, and I reached up to touch his face.
    He suddenly moved, reaching up to grab my hand in a vise-like grip and my breath caught at the action.  His gaze never left me while he twisted my arm, bringing it toward his mouth, sinking his teeth into the artery at my wrist.
    I winced in pain, closing my eyes and clenched my jaw.  I didn’t protest though while he drank, hoping he would have some sense of restraint.  Recovering from blood loss took a lot of energy, not to mention the amount of time.
    To my surprise, he only fed for a moment before he released me and I opened my eyes, watching my skin heal over like he had never been there.
    I looked at him in question.
    “Good morning,” he replied, watching me closely.
    “Is it hard for you to stop?” I asked him, wanting to learn about him.
    “Yes, it’s very difficult.”  His eyes flitted over my face.
    “Why did you then?” I continued to question him.
    “Because I don’t want to make things harder on you,” he responded.  He ran his hand over my hair and down my back.  “Plus, I would like to have you awake for other activities I’ve got in mind.”  He smiled at me.  I was happy to see his normal teeth, instead of the demon ones.
    “What kind of activities?” I grinned back at him.
    “It’s easier if I show you,” he replied, moving to kiss me.
     
    Vance followed me into the kitchen about an hour later after I’d declared myself too famished to go another minute without feeding my lethargic body.
    I pulled some eggs and sausage out of the fridge before grabbing a pan to start cooking.  I leaned heavily against the stove, still very weak.
    “Does real food appeal to you at all?” I asked him knowing demons ate, but wondering if it tasted good to them.
    “Of course it does,” he said with a laugh at my question.  “Why wouldn’t it?”
    I shrugged my shoulders.  “You’ve just seemed to be enjoying your new blood diet,” I replied and I eyed him with more than a little doubt.
    He paused before he answered.  “The blood is appetizing to me.  But a lot of the enjoyment comes from the fact it’s yours.”
    “I know.  Your mom explained it would be like this because mine carries more power than anyone else’s, besides yours anyway,” I added.
    “That isn’t what I meant,” he smiled, coming up behind me to wrap his arms around my waist.
    “Really?  What did you mean then?” I asked, enjoying him being next to me.
    He chuckled and he placed a kiss next to my ear.
    “I have a physical reaction to it.  I don’t know if it’s because we are together like this, but there’s a pleasurable aftershock.  It wasn’t that way when I drank from Babs, only you.”
    I quit stirring the eggs for a moment, letting his words sink in.
    “Are saying drinking from me is a … turn on?” I replied, turning to look at him incredulously.
    He grinned widely back at me.  “Something like that,” he nodded, pulling me a little closer to kiss me.
    I was kind of detached from the kiss though while this new information rolled around in my head.
    “Hey,” he said, nudging me back to reality.  “You’re burning stuff.”
    “Oh!” I said, quickly turning to move them in the pan.
    I heard him laughing behind me.  “Sorry,” he apologized.