Nodding, she told them, "Okay. If you need my help, let me know." She shook her head and went into formal mode, her tone of voice clearly asking Abbott as her Master, instead of her friend. "I'd like permission to begin teaching Eric how to resist becoming enthralled."

Abbott shook his head. "You know what I need to hear before I can give permission."

She nodded. "Master, I believe the human to be a good candidate for being turned."

Abbott eyed Josef before looking back to her, clearly unhappy with the request as well as the way they were getting around the rules, but he said, "Permission granted to test the human."

He hadn't given her permission to teach him, but she could give a certain amount of instruction during the testing phase, and Eric was smart, and self-aware. It might be enough. She bent slightly at the waist as she said, "Thank you, Master."

"I appreciate you being clear you weren't abusing our friendship with the request. I trust you won't go farther than we can legitimately claim as testing, Kendra. We don't want to find ourselves on thin ice with the council." He paused, looked off into s.p.a.ce a moment as someone contacted him, and then turned his back a few moments. When he faced them again, he said, "Gavin is in South Carolina a.s.sisting The Swan Queen on my behalf. Mitroff's second is on the Media Council, and they are already dropping hints that if we don't back off in South Carolina, things will not go well for our people."

Mitroff was the a.s.shole Master Vampire in South Carolina, and Abbott was making preparations to go to war to fight for the territory, if he couldn't manage to gain it politically. After decades of peace, Kendra wasn't looking forward to war, but agreed with Abbott's reasons for taking over South Carolina. They should've done it long ago, but politics and friendships had stayed his hand. For a variety reasons, the way was open to him now, and he intended to take it.

"Okay, then. You'll need an expert on Mitroff's second, and if you don't have anyone else in mind, I'll volunteer."

Abbott nodded and told Josef, "Get her everything we know about him." He looked back to her and said, "Sophia Siyanko-Drake has a treaty with the Owl King. I'll arrange an introduction and meeting through her. Would you like to attend?"

"I would. What do we know of the girl?"

"She's in her mid-twenties and makes nearly two hundred grand a year at a world-cla.s.s tech firm, so I'd say she's likely skilled at her job. She wears gender non-specific clothing and has short hair, and seems to survive quite well in a world dominated by male geeks. She's likely strong, so hopefully she can handle herself with the council."

Chapter Thirteen.

Kendra wasn't sure what to expect from Eric when she arrived at the yacht the next evening. She had a feeling tonight would be a turning point in their relationship, but was afraid it might be a turn for the worse, as she'd felt him pulling back a little last night, despite the fact he said he wouldn't.

She halfway expected him to be waiting in the parking lot again, and was relieved when he wasn't. She made her way to his yacht, floated up to it, and knocked on the door. After several minutes of no answer, and the single heartbeat inside not moving, she finally let herself in since the door was unlocked.

She found him in his office, drawing furiously. She called his name, but he didn't realize she was there until she put her hand into his line of vision.

He jerked with surprise, looked at his watch, and said, "Oh, I'm sorry! I hadn't realized the time." He looked at her, back to his paper, and back up. "Can you let me get a few ideas on paper? While they're fresh in my mind?"

At her nod, he went back to furiously drawing, and she sat and watched him, amazed at how quickly he made things spring from the paper. After about ten minutes, he'd roughly sketched out three more pages. He neatly lined them up and said, "Thanks. That should be enough to get me started again tomorrow."

He walked to her, pulled her to him, and kissed her as if his soul thirsted for her, as if she was the only thing in the universe that mattered, and suddenly she felt much better about the conversation to come.

When he pulled away, his fingers tenderly brushed her hair away from her face and he said, "I guess now you know about the artist in me who loses track of time and forgets to eat and sleep. I'll tell you again how sorry I am, but it doesn't mean it won't happen again. Can you head to the galley? I'll use the restroom and meet you in there. I have some leftover Chinese food I can nuke and then eat while you tell me everything there is to know about whatever metaphysical things you can to do bind us together."

Kendra sat on the bench seat in his little eating area, and Eric joined her a few minutes later, grabbed a carton from the fridge, and popped it in the microwave. "What you did the other night just made me not be able to tell your secrets, it didn't bind us together in any way, right?"

"It bound you enough so I know where you are if you tell the secret, or think about telling the secret, and I have an idea of your intent - whether it's an attempt to just tell our secret outright, or whether it's the twenty questions hinting around nonsense. However, if you aren't telling the secret or thinking about telling the secret, then I won't know where you are."

"So what's the next step, or, I guess, the first step?"

"The next step makes it so we can speak telepathically. When the connection is open I may be able to get a general idea of where you are, but we'll have to wait until the link is formed to see how much I get. At that stage, if you know how to block, how to shield, then you can keep me from talking to you, and from getting a general idea of where you are."

"Is there something you can do so I'll know where you are?"

"No, sorry. All of this has evolved so vampires could keep track of their humans, not the other way around. But, you can mind link to me at any time, ask me where I am, and I can tell you. Of course."

"Okay, what's the next step, after making it so you can mind link to me? And how is that different than telepathing?"

"They're the same. Vampires have always called it some version of mind link, but it's become easier to refer to it as telepathy, since it's already in most humans' vernacular." She crafted her next sentences carefully, to be sure she stayed within Abbott's parameters. "At the risk of freaking you out again, I need to tell you that if I want to go into your head and see what you're thinking, I can, at any time. I can also go wandering through your memories. I haven't, and don't intend to, but any strong vampire with good control can do it. Well over half can read current thoughts, probably around fifteen to twenty percent of us can look through your memories. If you can learn to shield and block, you'll at least know if someone is in your head, even if you can't stop them.

Eric looked at her a few seconds and asked. "Then why bother with the mind link?"

"Because the mind link lets us project our thoughts to each other - basic telepathy, so we're talking. My ability to delve into your thoughts won't let us talk to each other."

He sighed, looked at his hands a few seconds, and said, "Okay. What's the next step, after the mind link?"

"The next step makes it so we can share memories. We open our minds to each other, and then remember something, and the other person sees it. But, you need to know that once we hit that level, you may not be able to block me from talking to you or knowing where you are. It pulls us that much closer, and it takes a lot more skill for the human to block the mind link. Many humans can't - some learn how to do it after anywhere from a few months to a few years, but some never figure it out. I don't know what kind of skills you'll have in that area."

"Is there a step beyond that?"

"Yes, but it's intended for a human who's planning to be turned at some point, and trains you to keep your shields strong at all times, since it's imperative for vampires to do so."

He was deftly eating the Chinese food with chopsticks now. "I'd thought maybe we'd jump a step or two, but it sounds like they're intended to be done one at a time, to kind of let me learn about this shielding business. Can you explain how one shields?"

"It'll sound corny, but you really just imagine a shield around you, and it's there. The better your imagination, the better the shield. The trick, though, is remembering to hold it there. When a child is potty training, they have to learn to hold their muscles all the time, and only relax them when sitting on the toilet. As an adult, you don't even realize you're holding those muscles anymore, but learning how to do it was really hard. Shielding is kind of the same, once you learn to do it and it becomes reflex, you won't even realize you're holding it."

"How do I imagine it in the first place?"

"First, you need to decide what kind of shield you think would work best. Some use metal around them, some new vampires put themselves in a big bulletproof gla.s.s bubble, some use s.p.a.ce age foil like they supposedly found at Roswell, some build up a pretty stone wall, others pour concrete around them. Whatever you do, it needs to enclose you on the sides as well as the top and bottom, and it needs to let clean energy in all of the time, but nothing else without your permission. It should be a few feet out from your body, so it encloses your aura. It can be any material you want, as long as your imagination will make that material hold off any kind of metaphysical attack."

"I kind of like the s.p.a.ce age foil idea, made into a huge beach ball around me."

"Very good, whatever feels good is what's right for you. Some prefer an egg shape, but if the beach ball makes more sense, go with it. Imagine it around you, and make sure it can change shape as you sit, stand, or sleep."

"How do I know if it's working?"

"Finish eating and we'll go down below for our next conversation."

Kendra turned music on upstairs before they went below to the bedroom, and she closed the door and turned different music on downstairs.

"It's important you don't tell anyone I've shown you any of this. I got permission by insinuating I was considering you as a candidate to turn into a vampire."

"Are you?" Eric didn't think she was, but needed to be sure.

She shook her head. "I need to teach you some things, and testing to be sure you can learn what's necessary to manage the metaphysics once you're a vampire can possibly show you what you need to know." She sat on the bed, pulled her legs up and crossed them, and motioned in front of her. "Join me on the bed and get comfortable. I'm going to probe into your head to see what your thoughts are, and I want you to tell me when I'm in. Make sure you're thinking something you won't mind me seeing."

"And if I don't want you in my head?"

"If I'm going to teach you how to keep us out, you're going to have to be able to recognize when we're in, Eric."

The thought of someone in his head when he didn't know they were there, struck fear into him on a visceral level, and he asked, "You think someone's going to poke around in my head?"

"Since your video game will sell worldwide, and not just in Abbott's territory, he has to go to people higher than him to obtain permission. This has brought you to the attention of people I'd rather you remained invisible to."

"Abbott didn't tell me I'd put myself in danger."

She sighed. "It shouldn't have, and I'm sorry I can't explain why it did. Not yet, anyway. Are you ready for me?"

Eric took a breath, closed his eyes, and thought of hang gliding as he nodded. At first, it was just him thinking of how it felt to glide above the earth, soaring like a bird of prey over his domain... but then, he felt as if he weren't alone in his thoughts. If he hadn't been looking for it, he likely wouldn't have noticed, and he still couldn't put a finger on how he knew, but he did.

He opened his eyes and said, "That's creepy."

She nodded. "Yeah, but it makes me want to learn to hang glide even more. Okay, this time I want you to imagine your s.p.a.ce-foil shield around you, and then think of something. See if you can keep me out of your thoughts with your shield."

Kendra had mentioned making it an oval instead of a circle, and he decided to use an egg shape around him. The material would be shiny on the outside, dull on the inside, and would reflect back whatever someone tried to do to him.

"Okay," he told her, "it's up."

He tried to think of hang gliding while holding the shield, but soon discovered how hard it was to do both. While he thought of the keeping her out, he thought it worked, but when he sank into how it felt to hang glide, he felt her presence again. Instead of asking out loud, he asked in his head, How do I keep the shield up and think of other things, too?

"It takes practice," she told him out loud.

He opened his eyes and asked, "When I focused on the shield, it kept you out, right? I wasn't imagining that it worked?"

"Yes, which is impressive for your first attempt. You could likely keep someone out now, if you knew they were probing, but you need more practice recognizing when one of us is in your head. I've done all I can legally do to teach you, though. You need to research shielding on your own." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a handwritten note. "This is the name of a good book on metaphysical shielding in general. It wasn't written with vampires in mind, but it teaches good techniques. Meanwhile, if I have your permission to poke into your head every once in a while to test and see if you can sense me, I can give you some practice."

Eric didn't want her randomly in his head - he understood why they needed to practice, but couldn't bring himself to give her the permission she asked for. He shook his head. "Let me read the book and practice some on my own, and then talk about it again."

"Okay," she looked hesitant as she asked, "Are you still interested in my binding you so we can speak through a mind link?"

"How is it different?"

"I'll only 'hear' what you intend me to, and it'll give me the option of speaking back to you telepathically. It's completely different than what happens when I take a peek at your thoughts, or poke through your memories. By design, you can't hear me when I'm in your head, so I don't accidentally give myself away."

Her explanation made sense, and he nodded as he said, "What do we have to do?"

"It works the same as the other binding, but you won't have to take an oath, and I'll put a different, ahh, c.o.c.ktail, into your bloodstream, when I bite you."

She was nervous, and at first he thought it was because of something to do with the process, but then his heart hurt as he realized she was afraid he'd get scared and run again. He couldn't let her think he was going to flake out again, but he had questions. "Is this going to be another o.r.g.a.s.mic thing?"

"It can be, doesn't have to be."

Her voice had been businesslike while she explained everything, but now he saw heat in her ice blue eyes, heard warmth in her voice, and his c.o.c.k swelled at her words. "Can we maybe get undressed and do it, so we can have s.e.x, and then at the end you could bite me again, and do the o.r.g.a.s.m thing then?"

Her happy smile lit her face, and he could see her affection for him as she teasingly said, "Yes, but I don't want to bite your neck twice tonight, so I'll put the first bite at your groin."

His hard-on pulsed in time with his heart as he thought of her biting so close to his c.o.c.k.

Kendra smelled arousal and nice hit of adrenaline. Oh yes, he wanted this. What she didn't tell him was that she could put something in her bite to give him a raging hard-on to make him hornier than he could imagine, and would keep him from reaching climax until her next bite.

However, as she considered it, she realized she had to tell him or risk blowing his trust. Many human males loved having it done and didn't mind not knowing ahead of time, but Eric was a Dom and didn't appreciate being out of control.

"I have something I can do with my bite. It'll give you kind of a super hard-on, and then you won't come until I bite you at the end. It puts me in control of when your o.r.g.a.s.m happens. Are you okay with that?"

He thought about it a minute and said, "If I tell you to give me the second bite and end it, you must do so immediately. You can bite me whenever you want to end things, unless I tell you to do it sooner, and then you must do it as soon as I tell you."

She smiled. "Agreed."

She leaned forward, pulled his head towards her, and brought her lips to his. He let her control the kiss a few seconds, and her stomach somersaulted as he grasped her head and took control, angling her head the way he wanted.

Several minutes later, he allowed her to push him backwards, her body over his as she kissed him until his heart raced.

This was two Doms kissing, letting the other take the lead occasionally, but neither submitting so much as taking turns being the aggressor.

Or, sometimes, both being the aggressor at the same time.

She pulled his shirt off, and he unb.u.t.toned her blouse from the top to the bottom as she unbuckled his belt.

He took her blouse off, she removed his pants - both maneuvering around each other in a well-ch.o.r.eographed dance. Kendra felt so close to him, so in tune, there was nothing awkward as they kissed, touched, fondled, and removed clothing.

Eric pulled her pants and underwear off and climbed on top of her to once again take control, and she flipped him over and started kissing her way down his body until she reached his c.o.c.k, standing tall and proud, and she licked, nibbled, and teased until his arousal smelled so strong she was literally salivating.

She gave his b.a.l.l.s some attention on the way to his femoral artery, and licked and nibbled the spot she was about to sink her teeth into until he had a good dose of adrenaline, and then, without warning, she bit.

Kendra was tempted to let him feel a few seconds of pain this time, but wanted to be sure he a.s.sociated her bite with pleasure and excitement, so she numbed it first thing, took a drink, and then put in the necessary ingredients to bind him to her.

She felt the metaphysical snap as the connection was made, and then drank deeply before finally putting the ingredients in to give him a raging hard on. She drank just a little more, and then added another dose to give him even more of a raging hard-on, because she wanted him to be so hard it hurt.

Okay, so perhaps she was being a touch s.a.d.i.s.tic. His moan went straight to her c.l.i.t, though, and she couldn't wait to see what he did when this aroused.

She slowly pulled her fangs out and licked the bite wound to be sure it healed. As she lifted above him she was almost lightheaded from the buzz of his adrenaline and arousal soaking into every cell of her body.

He propped on one elbow so his ab muscles were even more defined, and said, "G.o.d, Kendra, I've never been so hard in my life. I hope to h.e.l.l you're wet because I don't think I can wait to get inside you."

When she'd put the hard-on c.o.c.ktail into his blood, her body had automatically prepared itself for s.e.x, but she'd explain that to him later. Now, she rolled onto her back and said, "I'm ready for you Eric, no foreplay necessary."

He rolled on top of her, centered himself between her thighs, and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he drove straight into her, all at once without giving her time to get used to his size, but she didn't want him to be gentle. His huge c.o.c.k pounded her like a madman as he took her word she was ready.

Kendra had pushed him to this, and she loved his reaction, his ferocity, his raw, animal l.u.s.t. She wasn't sure how long she could last before biting him to end it, but she enjoyed the pain and pleasure as he pistoned in and out of her with no mercy, his head up and his eyes closed, savage ecstasy written across his face. He changed his angle every so often, and she wasn't sure if it was to use different leg and back muscles, or if he was doing it to give her a different angle, but either way his timing was perfect because just as the pain grew almost too intense, he'd change angles and it would be bliss all over again. Kendra lost track of how many times she found release, some were rolling o.r.g.a.s.ms while others spasmed through her body like an earthquake until she thought she might come apart. After probably thirty minutes he said, "Kendra-" but she interrupted him with, "Let me get on top for a while."

She hoped he was just tired, and if she offered to do the work he wouldn't want her to do the final bite just yet.

Eric flipped them over, and Kendra arched her back and rode him until she felt another o.r.g.a.s.m coming on. Without warning, she zeroed in on his neck and bit him with only a little of the numbing agent, as she wanted to give him an edge of pain. She injected the o.r.g.a.s.m c.o.c.ktail with more of the bliss element, gave it a second to travel beyond the bite mark, took a few delectable, mouthwatering, luscious sips, and then injected the numbing agent as she removed her fangs, and finally allowed herself to come with him.