Dark Desire: A Paranormal Romance Novella (The After Dark Series, Book #1) (4 page)

Damon nodded, “Yes. But, for now I
need to get you nourishment and this is the easiest way. There is much for you
to learn and tonight is only the beginning.”

I’m in so deep, there’s no way out. 
How did I get into this?

Chapter
Five

The night sky was illuminated by the
moon, which shone down upon the city.  The lights of the buildings looked like
fallen stars across the metropolis landscape.  Damon led Juliet along the river
next to the park.  He reached for her hand and pulled her in close.

“There are things that you are about
to see that may seem unusual, but you must trust me.  I will protect you with
my entire being.”  Damon gently kissed her hand.  “Trust me.”

She couldn’t deny that he was telling
the truth, for a bond between them was growing.  Juliet could sense Damon’s
emotions and the closer she got to him, the more intense they became.

A woman was jogging down the park’s
running path with a dog.  Damon assessed the situation and instructed Juliet to
stay near him.  The woman stopped jogging and dropped the dog’s leash.  The dog
looked in Damon’s direction, whimpered, and ran away.  The woman walked toward
Juliet and him.  Once in front of them, she stood frozen with a glazed
expression.  Juliet felt enthralled by the woman’s presence as hunger filled
her.  She heard the woman’s pulse as if it were calling out to her like a
dinner bell.

“I told her to come to us…now drink.”

Juliet turned to him in surprise and
shook her head.  “What do you expect me to do? I’m not going to kill this
woman. I don‘t want to take her blood.”

Damon brought the woman closer to
them.  “You must.  I can see you want to, but you resist.  Why do you keep
resisting the inevitable?”

As he spoke, his teeth grew long and
sharp.  He leaned into the woman and bit her neck.  She whimpered for a moment,
but remained still.  Damon released her and brought her closer to Juliet as
blood trickled down the woman’s neck.  The sight of it brought a feverish
thirst burning in Juliet’s throat. The anticipation made it worsen as she
hungrily viewed the blood.  Filled with need, Juliet leaned into the woman and
began to drink.  The blood felt exhilarating as it sated her parched body.  At
first, Juliet heard the woman’s pulse pounding in her ears loudly, but it
became fainter the longer she drank.  Juliet stopped when she heard Damon’s
voice.

“Juliet… my love, you must stop, or
you will kill her.”

Juliet released the woman and stood
next to Damon.  She eyed the woman in disbelief and put her hand to her mouth
in shock.  To her surprise, she felt sharp fangs.  She quickly withdrew her
hand, noticing the evidence of her feeding.  She stared down at her
blood-covered hand and was appalled at what she had done.

Damon gently touched the woman’s neck
and stroked his fingertips across the puncture marks. They instantly began to
heal.

“You were looking for your dog in the
park; you will find him near your car in the parking lot. Go now,” Damon
commanded and the woman staggered away toward the parking lot.

“How did you do that?”

“It’s simple really. Mortals are
weak-minded and easily swayed. Implant a notion into their minds and they will
follow it through.”

“How did you heal her neck though?”

A man came down the path and ran past
them.  Damon waited until he was further down the path before continuing.  “Our
blood and saliva have healing properties.  Humans heal quickly when you gently
touch the wound after feeding.  It would heal on its own even if you didn’t, but
it heals more rapidly when you seal it with your touch.”

Juliet palpated her neck to feel for
a wound, but found none.  Damon smiled at her and nodded.  “I want you to try
it next.”

“Wait. This is going too fast. Can we
slow down?”

Damon gave her a concerned look, but
agreed to her request with a cautionary warning.  “When you are hungry, you
must feed.  There is no other way, or the hunger will drive you mad. You might
attack someone openly, thereby revealing your true nature.  Be careful not to
wait too long between feedings.”

Juliet listened to his advice and
worried how she would assimilate into her new existence.  She didn’t like
having to drink blood and didn’t want to hurt anyone.  Juliet knew, however,
that the urge to taste blood was too strong for her to ignore and she would
have to find a way to quench it.

Recalling Damon’s warning that she
could not return to her old life, Juliet wondered what others would think about
her sudden disappearance.  She felt sad and unsure of her new situation, but when
she looked at Damon, it took the sting away.  Being with him brought new
feelings of pleasure.

How can I resist him?  He’s so
handsome and the way he stares at me as if I’m the most enticing woman in the
world. A moment ago, he called me “my love.”  Does he really love me? 

Damon led Juliet back to his car,
which he parked down the street near an abandoned warehouse.  After a few
minutes, they were back on the road, driving toward Damon’s home.

“Damon, has anyone been unable to do
this?  I mean unable to accept their transformation into a vampire?”

Damon turned at her with empathy.
“Don’t worry. I will do everything in my power to help you, although I do not
believe you will have any difficulty.  You have already drunk from your first
mortal and adjusted to the physical changes.”

“What do you mean?”

Through the darkened streets, they
traveled swiftly. Damon steered with speed and accuracy that would make any
NASCAR driver jealous.  The headlights lit up the private stretch of road that
led to his home.  

“Damon?”

He turned to her and smiled.  “I will
show you.”

As they rounded a curve, bringing his
home into view, Juliet looked at it in surprise.  She hadn’t noticed how
elegant it was before, since she had been overcome with hunger.  In the
darkness, lit only by the car’s headlights, the house loomed silently.  Large
cottonwood trees lined the driveway and their leaves rustled in the wind.  The
home was a large, white Colonial with Corinthian pillars either side of the
entry.  The yard’s grass and shrubbery were neatly manicured and a forest of
fir trees comprised the yard’s boundaries.

After Damon parked the car, he led
Juliet into the house.  They walked through a side door into the kitchen. It
contained modern appliances that looked as though they had never been used.
They continued down a hall and entered an open door of a bathroom where a
large, antique clawfoot bathtub sat against one wall. 

Damon spun Juliet around and
positioned her in front of a full-length mirror that hung on the wall.  She
viewed her reflection with detachment, as if a stranger were staring back at
her.  Her eyes were the same, but her features were more refined.  Juliet was
actually surprised at how good she looked.  It usually took an hour of
pampering herself to get this kind of result.  Her long hair was thick and
beautiful, coiffed perfectly in lazy waves that framed her face.  Juliet’s eyes
almost sparkled with radiance and her lips were full and inviting.  She cocked
her head to the side, enjoying her improved look.  Damon’s image next to her
was every bit as gorgeous. She sighed unknowingly while eyeing his reflection
up and down.

“Okay, so there are some definite
perks about being a vampire.”

He smiled at her appreciatively.
“Juliet, I wanted to show you that you still are
you.
”

“Still me?  Yes, slightly improved
however.”

His forehead formed puzzlement lines
and he shrugged. “Some have noticed drastic changes in their appearance, but
you have always been beautiful.”

His words floated softly across her
skin as he leaned in next to her and put his arms around her waist.  A slight
chill made
her shudder as his lips lightly
touched her earlobe and she lost her train of thought.  Damon turned her around
to face him.  She sensed power behind his beautiful, intense eyes, an ancient
type of power that she could feel flowing from him into her.  An incredible
bond was being forged between the two of them and it seemed to increase with
each moment they were in each other’s presence. The swiftness and intensity of
the bond, however, troubled Juliet.

“You’re making this difficult for
me.”

“What?”

“Hating you for turning me into a
vampire.”

Damon raised an eyebrow while
considering her remark and smiled at her compassionately.  He began to gently
trace her cheek and outline her lips.

“We belong together. If it were not
so, I could not feel your emotions as my own and you would not feel mine.”

Juliet shook her head. “What do you
mean?”

A sensation of falling swept over
Juliet as she stared into Damon’s eyes, seeking the answers to her many questions. 
His gaze was placid, but intimidating for power emanated from his very
presence.

“The dawn is approaching; we must
sleep. Come with me.”

He led her by the hand down the hall
toward a staircase that went to the basement.  At the bottom was a long
hallway.  He paused near the bedroom which Juliet had stayed in previously.

“Will you stay with me this dawn?”

She looked at him with a confused
expression. “You want me to sleep with you?”

“Yes,” he responded with raw need
threaded through his strained voice.

Juliet didn’t answer immediately,
feeling unsure about the sleeping arrangements and what would happen at the
dawn.  A look of disappointment momentarily crossed his face.  Damon opened
Juliet’s door and she stepped inside.

“Don’t worry about the dawn—you are
safe here.  There are no windows and it is completely sealed. No one will
disturb us either, for the house is protected from the outside world.  You may
sleep worry-free, knowing you are safe.”

He reached for a silken lock of her
hair and felt its softness. Then his hand tenderly cupped her face. 

“Sleep well,” he whispered before
kissing her lightly and closing the door behind him.

Chapter
Six

Juliet arose the next evening as the
sun slowly dipped below the horizon.  Investigating the house, she found a
library with hundreds of books, and a huge fireplace that occupied one of the
walls with a large-paned window on another.  She pulled back the curtains and
looked out at a dark, dreary sky.  The clouds grew thick and thunder crashed in
the distance.  The old Colonial boldly stood, defiant against the impending
storm.  With each threatening clap of thunder, the window vibrated.  The trees
swayed violently as the winds picked up, twisting and whipping their limbs in
the storm.  Lightning flashed across the sky; and had to have been closeby
because of the boom of thunder that accompanied the flash. 

A light cool breeze caressed Juliet’s
skin, drawing her attention back to the room.  She turned around and was
surprised to see Damon right beside her.

He smiled at her sensually as he
reached out.  Juliet loved the way she tingled when he touched her, sending
waves of longing throughout her bloodstream. Realizing she could lose herself
to him easily, she tried to focus on the view outside the window.

“I remembered something when I awoke,
a strange dream… I was in darkness and I heard your voice.  You spoke to me
saying you’d been looking for me for countless years and that I had to make a
choice to become a child of the night.”

Damon turned her around to face him,
finishing her words, “As my bride.”

Juliet looked at him, unsure of how
to react.  Damon took her hands and placed them in his.  “I spoke those words
to you, asking you to come to me freely.  As much as I wanted you, I didn’t
want to force you, even though I could have.  You are my bride and we belong
together.”

He gently traced the contour of her
face down to her chin and leaned in to kiss her.  “Surely you can feel this is
true.”

Her heart answered before she could
form a thought and she returned his kiss passionately.  Damon held her tightly
to him and kissed her deeply.  He spoke the truth as if he had seen it written
on her heart.  Damon released her from his fervent kiss and his eyes were
brimming with depth and sincerity. 

“It is said that one can find his
true mate through a sign: a great longing that envelops one’s senses.  I hoped
that someday I would find you, but had almost given up because it had taken so
long.  A while ago, I came through this area and felt an intense feeling that drew
me to you.  It was as if you were a magnet, pulling me closer.  When I saw you,
I instantly knew you had to be my bride.  I must admit, I was surprised when it
happened because I had almost given up long ago.  I decided finding one’s true
mate was a myth, but I was wrong.”

Juliet listened in amazement as Damon
explained the way he had suffered without her, feeling incomplete, and how
overjoyed he was to have finally found her.  She knew, without a doubt, that a
vampire could love, for he certainly loved her.