There was no pain. There was no twinge of discomfort. Whatever magic chemicals existed in vampire venom left no room for anything other than pure pleasure and comfort as he sucked gently from the puncture wounds.
Francesca closed her eyes, savoring the overwhelming peace that engulfed her.
He didn’t drink for long. Vampires only took a small amount of blood at a time as a precautionary measure to keep their anchors healthy, so she wasn’t really surprised. Still, she made a soft moue when he tried to pull away.
Guiding his head back to her throat, she whispered, “No, that can’t be all. I want more.”
Luis dragged his tongue over the twin holes in her neck, probably to seal them with that multipurpose saliva they went on about in health class all those years ago. He did it again and again, almost like he couldn’t stop himself.
“Easy,” he whispered, releasing the rope to run his hands over her sides. His voice trembled. “Easy, kitten. I’ve got you. Let it settle. Gods, I… there’s nothing like that in the world. I’m—fuck.I can’t live on anything else now.”
She didn’t realize she was shaking until he slipped the rope over her head and tossed it aside. Gathering her to him, he laid them on their side again with her leg slung over his hip, their bodies still connected in a sticky mess that’d have to be addressed eventually.
He pressed gentle kisses to her cheeks and brow, a soft purr rumbling in his chest that shouldn’t have been nearly as comforting as it was. Francesca didn’t feel upset, but she didn’tfeel much like herself, either. She couldn’t tell if she wanted to run away screaming from that new Francesca or not yet.
Luis didn’t press her. He simply waited, his arms banded tightly around her, and made those soft sounds that for reasons she couldn’t identify made her want to cry.
And then the tears came anyway, despite her best attempts to keep them at bay, and she didn’t even knowwhythey were happening in the first place. Humiliated, Francesca tried to push him away.
“I’m sorry, I need to go to the bathroom,” she sniffled, utterly failing at hiding her tears.
“Okay, but we’re going together,” Luis calmly replied. He casually slipped himself free of her body and made to gather her into his arms again. “You don’t get to leave when you’re crying, Frankie. You wanna cry and piss at the same time, then you gotta accept I’ll be there, too.”
It should’ve made her laugh but instead it only made her cry harder, which embarrassed her more, which only made her want the floor to swallow her up.
She tried to wiggle out of his hold, but Luis was made of stronger stuff than her. His arms didn’t move an inch. In that same calm voice, he warned her, “You gonna make me tie you up again?”
“No,” she warbled, pressing her face into the pillow.
Luis stroked her hair back from her damp cheek. “Tell me why you’re crying.” At last a hint of strain entered his voice when he asked, “Was it the bite? I tried to be gentle, but I’ve never?—”
“No!” she cried, whipping her head up to spear him with a wild look. “No, Ilovedit.”
A look of indescribable relief crossed his flushed and sweat-sheened face. “Oh, thank fuck. Okay. Then what is it? Tell me so I can fix it. Whatever it is, I’ll fix it.”
Francesca sniffled. Lifting one trembling hand to touch his cheek, she admitted, “I’m just re-really happy.”
His dark brows drew together. “And that made you cry?”
“Yes.” She scrubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand, wishing more than anything that she could just let something good happen for once. “I’m really, really happy when I’m with you. And I’m so, so happy to bewith you-with you. But I can’t ever seem to turn off this part of my brain that feels guilty for being happy and like at any moment you’re gonna disappear because I don’t deserve it.”
“Why wouldn’t you deserve it?” The question was soft but insistent, and when he gently pried her hand away from her eyes, the look on his face was firm. “What could possibly make you think you don’t deserve every bit of happiness the gods have to give you?”
She couldn’t answer. Her throat felt like it was lined with knives, making it impossible to speak.
But she didn’t need to.
Luis searched her face for a long moment before a slow look of realization dawned. “That’s why you work so hard, isn’t it? Why you don’t do anything for yourself. Why you joined the Games. You think youhaveto.”
Grasping her chin, he forced her to look in his eyes when he demanded, “What brought you back to United Washington, Frankie?”
It took an enormous amount of effort but she did somehow manage to get the words past her lips. “I’m looking for my sister.”
There was a beat of silence before he asked, “What happened to her?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered, tears slowing until they stopped entirely. “We weren’t real sisters. We were born in the same ward and given up at the same time — or just a few daysapart, anyway. Then we were sent to the same children’s home. We were inseparable until we turned five and… I was adopted. She wasn’t.”
Luis stroked her hair back from her face again, careful to get every strand out of the damp trails left behind by tears. “And you feel like it shouldn’t have happened that way. That you got the good deal and she didn’t.”