KissBeforeDying by Aline Hunter

Chapter One
     
    Tonight I will have him, my Master and vampire lord. And
tonight I will die.
    As a blood slave I have never known passion or pleasure. We
are never to know what it means to be taken into bed. Our virginal blood is our
worth, given in exchange to the lords who offer the most lucrative bargain for
ten years of our servitude. When the time is served, our minds are cleansed of
the past and we are allowed to return to the dregs of a society that know
nothing about them.
    Most blood slaves are born of the human families who—for
generations—have served the lords and ladies of the keep in a place hidden
within the mortal realm. These most cherished servants are treated with the
utmost respect, for their bloodlines nourish and provide for their keepers and
ensure survival.
    Then there are those like me.
    Mortal females snagged from a life of poverty, desolation
and misery. There is no choice for us. Once we’ve been marked, all that is
required is an unexpected happenstance with The Collector to seal our fate. The
vampire slave hunter is known for his exceptional eye for beauty and grace, as
well as his ability to see the aura of purity as it radiates from the source.
    Although I resisted my entrapment, spewing every vile word
in my vocabulary and demanding to be released, it wasn’t long before I met my Shellar —the
stunning male who paid the price for my companionship and thereby held all
rights where I was concerned.
    Lord Sebastian Arsov.
    It seemed destined that we should meet, as though it was
meant to be. The moment I first laid eyes on him, I knew I would never be able
to fight that which would occur regardless. With thick white-blond hair, vivid
and impossibly bright mushroom blue eyes, a face beautiful enough to grace
heaven and a chiseled body that moved with such intent and precision he
actually appeared to ripple, Sebastian was unlike anyone or anything I’d ever
seen.
    Yet it was his tenderness in that first, tentative contact
between us that proved to be my undoing. He enraptured and enthralled me, and I
knew I had to be with him. No matter the price, regardless of the cost.
    No longer am I content with his fangs at my throat, followed
by the most heartbreakingly tender pulls as he feeds at my veins. I need more
than the hours spent conversing privately about his past and my future while
wrapped in sheets that know nothing more than the most innocent of touches as
we sleep side by side.
    The dichotomy has changed. I have changed. The
seventeen-year-old girl taken from a harsh life on the streets has gone,
replaced by a woman full-grown.
    I want his kiss of sexual longing at my neck while his large
hands explore my breasts. I want to feel the fullness of his cock buried deeply
inside my untried body as his moans of pleasure echo inside my ears when he
finds release.
    Months of preparation have brought me to this place, sitting
in a tapestry chair, to appear before him when he enters, having committed a betrayal
of sorts. For the time with my lord is nearing an end, and the thought of never
remembering Sebastian is more than I can bear, something I’m not willing to
allow.
    Although it will mean my death, I am content in knowing our
last moments will be shared together, in the most intimate and beautiful of
ways. And my beloved Shellar will be none the wiser until the deed is
done and the piper is paid his due. It is vampire law. You must not bed those
you drink from—as you can never fully wipe their memories clean—unless their
lives are taken during the physical union.
    Blood drinkers survived by one rule above all.
    No one must know they exist.
    It was amazing, when I thought of it. Mortals fail to
recognize the supernatural creatures around them. Despite the fact they are as
beautiful as the stories depict, lovely in their absolute grace and sensuality.
But they are often isolated and separate from all those around them, which
makes the vampire race lonely creatures.
    Often Sebastian