As Midnight Loves the Moon by Beth D. Carter Page B

option?”
    “I turn you,” Wayde said.
    “Oh,” she whispered. “Into a vampire?”
    He nodded. “But I’d want you to
know what it’s like to live like me. It’s…not easy.”
    “Coffins? Garlic? Crosses? Sunlight?”
    “Out of all those, only the
sunlight affects us, but not because we’re cursed or whatever,” he explained. “The
enzyme in my blood that allows me to digest blood and regenerate if I’m wounded
is very sensitive to the sun. It will burn if exposed long enough. I sleep
through the day to avoid any problems. Humans need about eight hours of sleep
and vampires need about twelve. What else…coffins are ridiculous. That came
about during the Dark Ages when vampires would borrow coffins to avoid the sun.
I get claustrophobic. Garlic, crosses, sparkling like
diamonds…nonsense. I can die, although it’s harder to kill me than a
regular supernatural.”
    “I couldn’t kill a human for
blood,” she stated firmly.
    “I don’t take human blood unless
it’s from a willing donor,” Wayde assured. “And only when it’s for sexual
satisfaction. Or, now that I have you both, from you two. I mostly keep the stray population down.”
    It took her a moment to comprehend
that.
    “You eat dogs?” she asked aghast.
    He nodded, unashamed. “And cats and
rats. Sometimes I go into the forest and catch a squirrel or two. Had there
been vampires around Mongolia during the 1300’s the bubonic plague wouldn’t have spread like it did. There
weren’t many of us on earth then and by the time we became aware of it, it had
already spread through Italy and up into Europe .”
    Now both she and Alex were staring
at him with her mouths agape. He wasn’t sure if it was his reference to eating
animals or to the Black Death.
    “What?” he said gruffly. “That
doesn’t turn me into Edward Cullen.”
    Daphne laughed at that. In fact,
she began to laugh so hard she almost fell out of her chair.
    “Anyway,” he said, clearing his
throat. “If you knew I was a vampire, why weren’t you scared of me?”
    She had to wipe the tears running
down her cheeks from laughing so hard, but secretly he was relieved to see her
so happy.
    “You could’ve easily drank me dry
in the weeks I’ve been living here, Wayde,” she said. A slight hiccup escaped. “Instead,
you gave me a home. And I love you. It doesn’t matter to me what you are.”
    She turned to Alex and took hold of
his hand.
    “And you, Alex. I want…I don’t want
to die. I want to belong to both of you. So let’s go to Los Angeles .”

Chapter Thirteen
     
    They sat making plans, with Wayde
on his laptop booking night flights into LAX, when he noticed Daphne’s eyes
drooping. She tired so easily lately and he felt time speeding by quickly. The
faster they saw a Shade doctor the faster they could decide the best course of
action.
    He wondered what he’d do if she
turned down being changed. Could he just watch her…die? He’d had companions die
on him throughout the centuries, but even as sad as those times were, he
instinctively knew that if he saw the life leave Daphne it would break him in
ways he couldn’t, and didn’t want to, imagine.
    Alex rose and walked over to her. He
pulled back her chair and swung her up in his arms and then he carried her from
the kitchen toward her bedroom with the same grim look upon his face that Wayde
suspected was on his.
    ****
    “You don’t have to carry me,”
Daphne murmured. “I must be too heavy.”
    “Are you kidding?” Alex said with
an amused snort. “Once you’re better, Wayde and I will fatten you up. Make you
nice and plump.”
    “With love
handles?”
    “And a round ass to spank,” he said
with a naughty little grin.
    “Oh?” she murmured as she nipped at
his ear lobe. “What other wicked delights do you want to do with my body?”
    A shiver rolled through his body
when he felt her teeth on his sensitive skin and he looked at her in surprise. “Is
my woman a little kinky?”
    She