She stood, too, chewing on her lower lip again. Her fangs had finally retracted, he noticed. "I don't want to put you out," she said. "I can sleep on the couch."
The corner of his mouth edged up. "You're not putting me out. Besides, I'm not sleeping on the couch. I have a guest room."
Her cheeks colored. "Oh," was all she said.
As they made their way upstairs a few minutes later, a thought suddenly occurred to Kaige. "I still don't know your name," he said.
Her brow furrowed as if in confusion, but then she laughed. "That's right. I never did introduce myself this morning, did I? It's Savanna," she said. "Savanna Royce."
Savanna. Kaige silently repeated the name in his head. It was beautiful. Like her.
Outside his bedroom, they both stopped. As he stood there gazing down at her, Kaige had an almost irresistible urge to kiss her. He cleared his throat instead.
"I'm glad you came back tonight," he told her.
"Me, too," she said. "I feel a lot better already."
He stood there in silence for a moment, and then cleared his throat again. "I'll say good night, then. If you need me, I'll be right down the hall."
She nodded. "Good night."
Kaige waited until she went into his bedroom and closed the door before slowly making his way down the hall to the guest room. He was suddenly tired himself, but as he got ready for bed, he knew he was too keyed up to sleep right away. He couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened between him and Savanna downstairs. A single bite on the wrist from a female he barely knew had aroused him more than he'd been in what, a hundred-and-fifty years? How was that possible?
As he threw himself onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling, he let that question roll around in his mind. But he still had no answer hours later when sleep finally claimed him.
Savanna leaned back against the door with a sigh. Just that morning, she hadn't been able to get out of Kaige's house fast enough, and now she contemplating yanking open the door and tearing his clothes off. It was amazing how nibbling at a guy's wrist could change a girl's outlook, she thought with a smile.
She had expected to be repulsed by the act of feeding, but she'd been far from disgusted. From the moment Kaige had put his wrist to her mouth, her entire body had felt like it was on fire. His blood had been sweet and heady, its coppery taste so intoxicating that she couldn't help but sink her teeth in just a little. The reaction had startled her at first, but then her new vamp instincts had taken over and she had found herself giving in to them.
Savanna closed her eyes, remembering how her heartbeat had seemed to merge with his as she'd fed. She'd never experienced anything so amazing, or so sexual, before. If Kaige had swung her up in his arms and carried her up here to his bedroom afterward, she wouldn't have protested. Even though she normally didn't jump into bed that quickly with a guy, there was just something about him that had her ready to do just that. She was a little surprised at how strongly her body had reacted to him. Just the thought of making love with him had her body feeling warm and tingly all over.
What was it about him that had her reacting like this? Sure, he was completely gorgeous, but he was also a complete stranger. Even though she knew it sounded like a goofy romance book cliche, she swore she had some sort of connection with him. One that she'd never had with any other guy before.
Her brow furrowed as she considered that for a moment. Maybe it was all just a side-effect of her being a vampire now. Was she just so hot over him because he had turned her? While that was certainly possible, she found herself hoping that wasn't the case. She'd rather believe that she and Kaige were just in the grasp of some incredible chemistry. But how was she going to know which it was?
Letting out a sigh, Savanna continued to think about it as she got ready for bed. By the time she'd pulled off her clothes and crawled beneath the blanket, she still didn't have an answer. Maybe she'd figure it out in the morning.
As she burrowed down into thebig, soft pillows, she inhaled a wonderful fragrance. Pulling it in even deeper, she smiled, knowing it must be Kaige she smelled. Even his scent was intoxicating. As she drifted off to sleep, her mind was filled with images of the hunky vampire sleeping just down the hall.
Chapter 4.
Savanna woke to the aroma of bacon and eggs the next morning. As she lay in Kaige's bed blinking sleepily up at the ceiling, it occurred to her that she probably shouldn't be able to smell breakfast cooking downstairs all the way up in the bedroom, especially since the door was closed. Just one more bit of proof that she was a vampire, she supposed. As if she needed any.
Throwing back the blanket, she padded naked into the adjoining bathroom, putting her hair up as she went, and then stepped into the glass-enclosed shower. While she'd never envisioned a vampire living in the ritzy Nob Hill neighborhood, she had to admit that with its sleek lines and state-of the-art decor, Kaige's condo was really nice. He obviously had very good taste.
Savanna couldn't help but smile at that as she stepped under the spray. Yesterday, she'd thought Kaige Travers was a complete nut-job, and today, she thought he was absolutely the most fascinating man she'd ever met. Funny the difference a day could make.
As she ran her soap-covered hands over her body, Savanna found herself wondering about Kaige. How old was he? Where was he originally from? What did he do for a living? Her brow furrowed at that. Did vampires even have jobs?
Suddenly impatient to get the scoop on her fellow creature of the night, Savanna quickly finished showering and toweled off. After applying a light coat of mascara and a touch of lip gloss from her purse, she ran a brush through her long hair, then went back into the bedroom. Rather than putting on the jeans and graphic print Tshirt she'd worn the night before, however, she instead found herself reaching for the button-up shirt Kaige had left draped over the back of a chair. For some reason she couldn't explain, she suddenly found herself wanting to wrap herself in his scent again.
While she didn't know the layout of the condo, Savanna had no trouble finding the kitchen when she went downstairs a few minutes later. All she had to do was follow her nose.
When she walked into the room, Kaige was just setting the table and he looked up at her entrance. His dark eyes caressed her slowly, lingering on her bare legs. Her pulse fluttered. She didn't consider herself an expert on men, but it seemed obvious that he was interested in her.
"I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your shirt," she said softly.
He shook his head. "No, of course not. I was just going to come wake you up."
At the words, an image of Kaige waking her up by pulling back the sheet and slowly kissing his way up her naked body flashed into her head, and Savanna felt herself blush. "I'd probably still be in bed if I hadn't smelled breakfast cooking," she laughed, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear as she pulled out a chair and sat down. She usually didn't eat anything more than a piece of whole wheat toast with cereal and some fruit for breakfast, but her mouth watered at the sight of the scrambled eggs and bacon. "This looks delicious."
Savanna helped herself to some eggs, and then took two pieces of bacon. Across from her, Kaige did the same, though the portions he took for himself were much bigger.
She picked up her fork, all set to take a bite, but then her brow furrowed as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Wait a minute," she said. "We still eat food like everyone else?"
Kaige looked up from sprinkling pepper on his eggs, his mouth quirking with amusement. "Blood isn't a substitute for food.
We just need it to survive, like a supplement. Food still provides the energy, nutrients, and vitamins for us just like it does for everyone else."
Savanna nodded and took a bite of bacon. As she chewed, she considered something else. "Are we monsters?"
On the other side of the table, Kaige almost spit out his orange juice. "Monsters? No, of course not! We simply have a...condition."
"A condition?" She didn't think she'd ever heard vampirism referred to as a condition before.
He sighed. "I'm not the best person to explain all of this. My friend, Jensen, could do a much better job."
"Jensen?" she said. "Is he a vampire, too?"
Kaige nodded. "Yes. He's the one who turned me. Now as I was saying-"
"Wait," she said, interrupting him before he could continue. "When did he turn you?"
Kaige frowned, clearly perplexed. "When did he turn me?"
She nodded and reached for her orange juice. "I want to know how old you are."
"Two hundred and seventy-eight."
She blinked. Damn, he looked good for his age!
"Now back to what I was saying," he began, but she interrupted him again.
"Where are you originally from?" she asked.
He sighed and picked up his toast. "England."
Savanna sipped her juice. "I've always wanted to go there," she said. "You don't have much of an accent, though. Not that you would, I suppose. I mean, you must have lived in lots of places in two hundred and seventy-eight years, right?"
"A couple."
"So, what do you do for a living?" she asked, lifting a forkful of scrambled eggs to her mouth.
"I'm a professor at the university," he said, picking up a strip of bacon from his plate and biting into it.
A college professor? He had to be joking. With those looks and that body, he should be modeling for Abercrombie and Fitch, not spending his time in some stuffy old classroom. "What do you teach?"
"History."
She should have known. "Of course."
The corner of Kaige's mouth edged up. "So," he said when she made no other comment, "is thereanything else you want to know, or can I get back to what I was saying before?"
Savanna gestured with her toast. "Please," she said, then added, "If I think of anything else, I'll just interrupt you again."
Kaige chuckled. "Okay, as I was saying, we basically carry a very contagious form of anemia. The condition was transmitted to you when I gave you my blood."
"Anemia? Really?" She chewed on a piece of bacon while she considered that. "Are there a lot of us with this condition then?"
He shrugged. "I wouldn't say a lot."
"More than a few?" she persisted. "Less than a dozen?"
He frowned. "In San Francisco? There are about a hundred vampires or so, I guess. Obviously more in the entire state of California. Now back to what I was saying-"
"Wait a minute," she said, leaning forward in her chair. "How can you be sure how many vampires live in San Francisco? There could be a lot more than a hundred, right?"
"Not really," he said. "I mean, I haven't read the census report in a while, but the last time I looked, there were only about a hundred or so."
Her eyes went wide. "There are census reports for vampires? You're joking, right?"
He shook his head, his face serious. "No. How else can the proper services be provided?"
She stared at him aghast. "Services? What kind of services?"
Kaige put down his fork. "Look, I had this whole conversation all planned out. If we can get back to the part about the anemia, then I'll get to the part about the census..."
Savanna held up her hand. "Wait," she said. "Who takes the census? More importantly, who provides these services? Wait a minute. Are vampires part of some shadow-government that controls the world from behind the scenes?"
He regarded her for a moment in silence, and then burst out laughing. "Okay, maybe I'd better talk about that part first. I'll try to make this as understandable as possible," he said. "First off, we are definitely not part of any shadow-government. Humans don't even know we exist. Each vampire community is served by a local administrative office. These offices receive their guidance from a governing body called the Counsel. Representatives on the Counsel voluntarily serve for a period of twenty years at a time and make decisions based on the good of all vampires."
Her brow furrowed. "So, the Counsel is kind of like Congress then?"
He shook his head. "It's not really a political organization. There are no elections, no agendas or grand schemes for the future. Definitely no plans to take over the world or anything like that. The Counsel simply sets and enforces some basic rules to ensure everyone's safety, including that of the human race."
She nodded, trying to take it all in. This was completely different than how she'd thought it would be. It seemed so...ordinary. "Okay, so what are these services you were talking about?"
He sipped his coffee. "Blood delivery, medical and administrative services, employment-"
Savanna blinked. "Blood delivery?"
Kaige set down his mug. "That's how we get the bagged blood I mentioned to you."
"Oh," she said. "But you didn't always have bagged blood, right?"
"No, but bagged blood is much better. There's no muss, no fuss, no strange bite marks to explain, no angry villagers with torches and pitch forks."
She had the impression he spoke from experience, and she couldn't help but shiver a little at the thought. "Okay, but what does blood delivery have to do with the census?"
"The Counsel uses the census data to tell them where to locate the distribution centers, as well as where to send the automatic deliveries," Kaige explained.
"Automatic deliveries?" she said, forgetting all about the angry villagers he'd mentioned earlier. "You're kidding me, right?"
He shook his head again. "No. The distribution centers are pretty good at calculating how much blood a vampire needs, based on height, weight, and age. And with the automatic delivery system, they have no problem keeping up on the shipments. You can even go online and put a shipment on hold, or forward it to another address, say if you go on vacation."
Savanna laughed, sure he must be teasing her this time. "Internet? Vacations? You go on vacation?"
He shrugged. "Not in a while, but everyone needs a vacation now and then. Even a vampire."
She shook her head. "This is just too weird," she muttered. "Okay, what about these other services? And if you say that this vampire Counsel runs its own travel agency, I'm going to know you're making it up."
Kaige chuckled. "No, no travel agency. Though that would be a good idea," he said. "The Counsel also sets up and runs emergency medical facilities for vampires."
Her brow furrowed. "Vamp hospitals? Don't tell me I can still get a cold or the flu!"
He gave her a suffering look. "If you had let me start at the beginning like I wanted to, you'd know the answer to that question," he said in what she imagined was his best professor voice. "But no, you won't be getting the common cold anymore."
Savanna relaxed. "That's good to know," she said. "Maybe you should go back and start at the beginning. Sorry I interrupted. It won't happen again."
Kaige lifted a brow. "Somehow, I doubt that," he said dryly. "As I was saying, vampirism is a genetic condition with the number one symptom being acute anemia. There are a lot of other side-effects to the condition, but the anemia sort of drives the train. You see, a vampire's body can't produce its own red blood cells. That leads to all of the problems you'd expect a person with severe anemia to have-pallor, weakness, excessive sleeping, and in extreme cases, death. If that were the end of the story, vampires would have died out a long time ago. But the same genetic mutation that created the anemia gave us a way to overcome it. The first vampires discovered that they had the ability to absorb the red blood cells from the food they ate. Our stomachs, our whole digestive system in fact, is completely different from a human's." He shrugged. "How those first vampires figured out that their bodies could digest and process human blood is anyone's guess, but according to our history it was pretty common knowledge by the fifth century.
"The really unusual thing about the condition," he continued, "is that it can be transmitted to another person. Basically, it's contagious. Once my blood got into you, it changed your body, making you like us. That's why you were unconscious for two days. Your body needed time to make all of the physical changes necessary to turn you into a vampire."
She was silent for a moment. "So, being a vampire has nothing to do with demons or evil or anything like that? It's a blood-born...disease?"
"We like to think of it as a condition," he corrected. "Most vampires would be offended if you called it a disease. We don't like to think of ourselves as sick, just different."
Politically correct vampires. Who would have thought? She was silent for a moment, then frowned. "So, what does any of that have to do with us not getting sick? I mean, you'd think having anemia would make us less resistant to disease. And where do the fangs come into this?"
Kaige nodded. "I'm getting to that," he said. "The fangs apparently developed so that vampires could feed more efficiently. Of course, since we get our blood from a bag, there's not really much need for fangs now. And like with most things in the human body that aren't needed any more, fangs are slowly starting to become less and less prevalent."