The Vampire Gene

"What?" I demanded, suddenly acutely aware that my pyjamas were covered in bunnies.

"You look beautiful," he said sincerely, and I blushed.

"Did you phone Fergus and Angus?"

"Yes. They will be here tomorrow evening, and we'll all travel up to Lancashire on Sunday morning. They're very excited," he said, and sighed.

"I'll bet," I said dryly. He grinned at me.

"You sleep upstairs. I'll take the sofa tonight. Fergus is ordering a new bed for the spare room, and that should be here in the morning."

"Are you going to be OK down here?" I wanted to know.

"I'll manage," he smiled at me. "I need to contact Fergus and Marcus about Sunday. You look tired. Go and sleep."

"OK." I hesitated briefly, and then "Goodnight." I waved awkwardly, and turned and walked back up those stairs.

Angus

I couldn't sleep. Not with her in the house, in my bed. So I eventually got up and made coffee, and tried to ignore her presence. I could hear her breathing as she slept, and that didn't help at all.

And then she screamed.

I sprinted up the stairs and into the main bedroom, images Rebecca wrestling with Jack or even that new vampire blazing through my head, and burst into the room.

She lay in a crumpled nest of duvet and sheets, still fast asleep, but sobbing as if her heart were breaking. I stepped softly across the plush carpet and reached out carefully to lay a consoling hand on her tear-stained cheek. She reached out and held my hand to her face, and the sobbing subsided, and her breathing steadied and became regular again as she slept.

I looked down at my hand still clutched in hers. She wasn't letting go, even as I tried to extricate it from her grasp. If anything, her grip tightened. I smiled and sat down next to her, waiting for her rhythmic breathing to lengthen, signifying a deeper level of sleep where her hand would relax and I could make good my escape.

But I was bone-tired, and listening to her hypnotic breathing was having the same effect on me as a lullaby on a baby. Giving in, I stretched out next to her, careful not to let our bodies touch, and fell asleep.

Rebecca

I woke up just as the weak dawn light was shimmering through the gap in the long pale curtains. Angus lay asleep next to me, flat on his back, with his arms at his sides. His flawless face looked even more youthful and strangely untroubled as he slept.

I reached out to touch his face and hesitated, not wanting to wake him. Instead, I leaned over and breathed in his intensely male scent, closing my eyes as I inhaled. Hmmmm… I opened my eyes to look down at his face again, and was startled to see that his eyes were wide open, and blazing black, and almost glaring up at me. I tried to pull away slightly, but he had already curled one hand around my neck and was pulling my face down to his. I closed my eyes as our lips met, and that sensation overwhelmed me. There was a tightening rush in my abdomen, and I gasped at the sudden intensity of desire that swamped me.