Jared might have thought he was being clever, but he’d misjudged Max; rather than being discouraged, Max attached himself to me. Any closer and he’d have passed for my Siamese twin. At first Jared seemed agitated by it but then he took to repeatedly saying things down my ear – inconsequential things that could have even been said telepathically, but it was all part of winding Max up. It seemed that Jared was intent on making Max either storm off in frustration or snap. He did neither. The more something became a challenge for Max, the more he wanted it. They weren’t actually all that different.

Chico had been watching Max cling to me all night and got increasingly annoyed about it to the point where he came over and said something to Max about needing his help with an extremely drunk Butch. Being the good friend that he was, Max left my side to help with Butch – a little hesitant, but still he went. Chico winked and nodded at me. I gave him an appreciative smile. It was nice to have some breathing room.

“Here’s my darlin girl,” said Fletcher as he approached with Norm. Standing behind me holding onto my shoulders he asked, “So, who will you be shagging tonight?”

I almost choked on my drink. “Say again?”

“Oh come on, you can’t tell me you’re not horned-up to death. I can sense it coming off you like fumes.”

“Max will definitely be up for it,” said Norm.

Fletcher nodded. “The way he’s glued his body to you all night he practically has shagged you.”

“Sam’s got a complex about being someone’s consort,” said Jared, not seeming to like the topic of conversation.

“Doesn’t mean she can’t have one of her own,” insisted Fletcher with a giggle. He squeezed my shoulders. “Or just a nice jump to keep you going for another week.”

A jump with Max sounded good to my body, but not good enough. It completely ached for someone else. However, with Jared not being an option that meant a night with Max was on the cards. Why did the idea of it make me feel off inside? “I need alcohol,” I told Fletcher. “None of these alcohol flavoured NSTs, I need real alcohol.”

“Good idea,” he said. “It’ll settle your body a bit and then you won’t end up assaulting the bloke.” Fletcher patted my upper arm and then disappeared, returning seconds later with one gorgeous, muscled, brown-haired human bloke who had several teeth marks in him. Drinking blood from intoxicated people was how we vampires got drunk. “Here we are.”

The bloke looked at me and grinned. “A Sventé? I haven’t been bitten by a Sventé in years. I’m going to enjoy this.”

Well of course he would. Our saliva did a good job of getting our prey all hot and bothered and could make them orgasm on the spot if we drank from them for more than ten seconds.

“You’ll have to hold my hands still,” he told me, high on anticipation.

“Why?” snorted Jared.

“Because it’s that good I’ll end up fondling her if she doesn’t. I’m used to getting bitten and standing the pleasure but when it’s a Sventé bite there’s no way of keeping still.”

I grabbed his hands and held them firmly behind his back. I was more or less embracing him. Although some vampires were content to drink from the same bite mark that others had made, I wasn’t. It was like sharing a cup that had been passed around a load of strangers. Not for me, thanks. As I ran my lips down the curve of his neck he shuddered. Content with a certain spot on his neck, I paused.

Now, here’s something you might not know. A vampire bite is a lot like a kiss; there are different styles. For instance, there’s the firm bite; clamping your eyeteeth abruptly down and making the suction fast and hard and greedy. Then there’s the softer approach; tenderly popping the skin with the tips of your eyeteeth and then feeling the blood rush into your mouth, keeping the suction gentle and slow. Of course there’s a bite that is somewhere between the firm and the soft style that some vampires prefer to do.

My personal favourite is a style I developed myself. First I nick the skin with my eyeteeth, which tickles the human, and then I lap up any blood that surfaces. It’s more or less teasing but Sventés are like that. Then I do a double bite; letting one of my eyeteeth pierce the skin slightly first, and then sliding them both down into the neck.

When I nicked his neck the human instantly quivered. Then he felt the double bite and moaned in pleasure, I hadn’t even started sucking yet. When I did, gulping slow but taking long pulls, his arms strained against my hold and he tried grinding against me. I had to ensure to keep it shorter than ten seconds or else I’d probably make him come in his pants – something that wouldn’t be great for either of us. Not right here right now anyway.

Opening my eyes as I began to draw back from him, I noticed that Jared was watching intently. The human wasn’t so easy to shake off so Evan and Jared helped.

The bloke shook his head as if clearing his foggy thoughts and smiled. “It’s on the house. I’ll come back later.”

I returned his smile. “You do that.” When I turned my focus back to the vampires around me I found four sets of eyes fixed on me, two glinting red, two glinting amber. “What?”

Fletcher swallowed hard then said to Norm, “Now I’m even more curious.”

The others nodded and suddenly I understood. “None of you have ever been bitten by a Sventé? Oh come on you can’t be serious.”

“You’re a Sventé so you travelled in Sventé circles, none of us did,” explained Evan.

“There has to be some Sventés here.”

“Only a few,” said Fletcher. “Antonio and Luther have them as consorts.”

The curiosity was still shining from their eyes. Their mouths were twisting to the side and they seemed to be debating whether to say something, looking to each other for cues.

“You want me to bite you?” I asked all of them. Their smiles and arched brows all said ‘hell yes’. “You can all sod off, I’m not biting any of you.”

“Why not?” whined Fletcher.

“Because it would turn you all on.”

“That’s why we want you to do it,” said Norm, sounding horny already.

I grimaced. “I am not biting my best friend, my best friend’s boyfriend, someone who I consider a brother, or my co-worker who I have to work close with every day.” Suddenly my head felt a little heavy and I almost swayed. Oh yes I was now tipsy! It’d been a while. A hand caught my elbow. Oh, I had swayed. It was Jared’s hand. My body automatically reacted, pining for him again and I found myself automatically clenching my thighs. I had to move away from his touch, and now.