Odin’s lips popped off the bottle. “Op. Ot wuh eh ooks ike ah aww.” He closed his eyes for a second, smacked his lips together then stuck his tongue out to a dull point and wiggled it. Eyes wide, his head bobbed from side to side then back before he righted it and smiled. “Ahh, much better.”

Logan stood still for a moment while her brain tried to reconcile his idiotic movements. “What in the hell was that? How much of that stuff have you had?”

He set the bottle on the counter and spun it. “It only takes one. That’s some good shit, Baby.”

Ignoring the fact he’d called her something other than it or Bones, she snatched up the wobbling vintage and tipped it to her mouth. If the wine was good enough for them, it was definitely good enough for her.

Besides, maybe her father had been right. Maybe all of life’s answers were at the bottom of a bottle.

Closing her eyes, she parted her lips and let the liquid surround her tongue.

“Logan!”

“Shut up! Let her do it. It’s kinda kinky.”

Logan wrinkled her nose as her taste buds caught up with her. Hot and coppery, it didn’t take her long to figure out what the distinct metallic taste reminded her of…

Being punched in the nose, that’s what it reminded her of.

She swallowed the thick fluid, waited a moment to make sure it would stay down, and then gently set the bottle back on the counter.

“That was fuckin’ hot! Kerestyan, get out another bottle!”

She opened her eyes and stared at Odin, whose face was lit up like a Gothic Christmas tree. “You could’ve warned me.”

“And miss watching you do that?” He wiggled a finger in front of her nose. “Oh, no. No way.” He lowered his hand and rubbed it affectionately over his stomach. “Watching humans drink blood gets my monster all excited. You want some more?”

“Your monster?” She eyed his leather covered groin. “Please tell me you didn’t name it.”

He kicked his head back and laughed. “No. He would have a much more imposing name.” He poked at his abdomen. “I’m talking about my beast. He drives the scary, predatory vampire side of me. You know, the animal that craves blood and power and ultimate control. But he’s also really old and kinda jaded, and loves watching humans do things they shouldn’t.” He pushed the bottle closer. “You sure you don’t want more?”

When her mouth took on the texture of sandpaper, Logan licked her lips. It didn’t taste horrible, and she had to admit it even had a sweet yet slightly tangy quality, but there was something about swallowing a mouthful of blood that made her feel a little queasy.

She pushed the bottle back towards him. “No thanks. I think one shot is enough for today.”

“Oh, come on. Admit it. It wasn’t that bad.”

“Have I tasted worse? Yes, a lot of rotten things taste a whole hell of a lot worse than that. But, there’s just something wrong about standing in such a normal looking kitchen, drinking blood with two vampires.”

Logan rubbed a hand across her cheek. Of course, there was something fundamentally wrong with standing in a kitchen with two vampires to begin with.

She studied the dark blue floor tiles as a shiver worked its way down the back of her neck. There was also something seriously wrong when one of those vampires made her more aware of her body than she’d been in a long time.

When she heard Odin laugh again, she looked up just in time to see him wave a hand in front of Kerestyan’s face. “Kerestyan, you still alive over there man?”

She glanced over at Kerestyan and frowned. His irises were an odd mixture of sapphire and onyx, lit from behind a sheet of glass. “Are you alright?” She stepped closer to him. “Your eyes are almost as dark as Odin’s.”

“I’m fine.” It was the way his lips parted when he formed the “f” that allowed her to see a quick flash of his fangs.

She stared at his mouth for a minute, trying to recall the moment he’d gotten so close to her in the alley. Were they out then? Had they always been there?

She couldn’t remember.

A low, evil chuckle rumbled in Odin’s throat, drawing her attention away from Kerestyan’s dental irregularity. He grinned wide, no fangs present. “Well, this is a good time for me to leave. Bones, your clothes are in the duffle bag out in the living room.” He smacked the back of Kerestyan’s shoulder. “Little brother, behave yourself.” Then, just like he did before, he vanished from the room.

Logan blinked a few times then turned to Kerestyan. “Do vampires even need cars?”

“It depends on their age.” There they were again, flashing between his soft lips like razor blades under a strobe light.

Most intriguing. She allowed curiosity to get the better of her and moved even closer. “Do they have holes in the bottoms?”

He snatched the bottle from the counter then turned his back to her and tucked it into a cabinet under the sink. “Do what have holes in the bottom?”

“Your fangs, Lord Vampire. Do you suck blood through them like a straw? How does it work?”

He braced his hands against the edge of the sink, his shoulder blades bunching together in a tantalizing ripple of muscle. “No, my fangs don’t have holes in the bottoms.”

Logan kicked her foot back and dragged out one of the stools surrounding the center island. She sat down and leaned forward, resting her hands on the leather seat between her legs. “Then how does it work?”

He exhaled a loud, obviously irritated breath. “After I bite my prey, I slide my fangs from the wound and drink until sated. When finished, I either lick or touch the wound to heal it. The human goes on their way and I go on mine. The end.”

She scrunched up her face. “That’s all? You make it sound so…so impersonal. I thought eating for vampires was supposed to be all sexy and seductive.”

His shoulders tensed again. “Do you strive to form an emotional connection with every cow you consume?”

“Oh, that’s a cheap excuse. I can’t talk to a cow.” She laughed. “Well, I thought I could once. The cow ended up being part of a billboard and it only talked to me because of a bad batch of mushrooms.” When he didn’t appear to find her comment nearly as funny as she did, she moved on. “So how do you get a human to let you bite them? Do they know you do it? Do you go out on a date, or do you just grab one and chow down?”

He spun around to face her, his dark eyes narrowed. “What do you want me to tell you, Logan? That I dress up in tight leather pants and prowl the clubs for a beautiful woman? That when I find one, I stalk her from the shadows until the power of my Ancient blood draws her to me? That once it does, because it always does, I take her home and fuck her until she comes so hard she can barely breathe? And in the second before she does, I sink my fangs into her fragile neck? That when her body shudders and she’s lost in the best sensations she’ll ever feel, I taste every single ripple of pleasure coursing through her blood? That I get off on the rich taste of her just as hard as she gets off on me? Is that what you want me to tell you?”

Logan opened her mouth then closed it; her mind clouded with images of black leather, sweat slicked bodies and tangled satin sheets. Her ears still rang from the way he’d said the first real curse word she’d heard him use, and the deep inflection he put on it. She’d never heard it sound so enticing, so damn inviting.

Water. She needed lots of cold, so cold it’d turn your insides to ice, kind of water.

She watched the corners of Kerestyan’s lips rise ever so slightly as his eyes moved over her neck, then down and across her borrowed shirt. “Perhaps that’s exactly what you wanted me to tell you.”

She folded her arms. So what if her nipples felt like they were going to jump off her chest and slingshot themselves at him? And really, whose fault was it that she’d just added a brand new scent to his pajama pants since she hadn’t had any clean underwear to put on after her bath?

It certainly wasn’t hers.

She might have been detached from the world, but she was still a flesh and blood woman, and her brain was still very much attached to every nerve in her body.

She swallowed the large knot in her throat. “I…well,” she paused when he smiled and glared back at him. “You said all that on purpose! You’re a bastard. That little rant was unbelievably unnecessary and completely uncalled for.”

In the space of a single heartbeat, his smile turned dangerous at the edges. “So was your licking your lips after setting the bottle of blood back on the counter.” He moved towards her, the powerful muscles of his thighs flexing underneath the dark material of his pants. “You didn’t get it all, you know.”

Logan raised a hand to wipe her mouth, but jumped when Kerestyan caught her wrist before she could follow through. She stared up into his marbled eyes as he nudged her thighs apart with his own. Her heart slammed against her ribs.

Oh no, he isn’t. He is…

He leaned down, lips hovering barely above hers. “Which part was it, Logan?” The heat from his breath and the moisture on his bottom lip caught and tugged at hers. “Was it the biting that stirred you…or the fucking?”