The door to the backroom is cracked, allowing a sliver of fluorescent light to bleed into the darkness of the hall. Charles stops chewing on his thumbnail when Asher enters the room and pushes the door closed. The small room is cramped, leaving little distance between them. Not that Asher gives Charles any personal space. Charles cants his head as Asher leans in, needing Asher’s touch as much as he assumes Asher needs his blood.
The way Asher smells, like the musk of an antique book, is intoxicating. His cool breath sweeps over Charles’s pulse point as he exhales, and the chill that consumes Charles’s body raises the hair on the nape of his neck. He tenses and grunts softly when the vampire’s fangs pierce his skin.
It always hurts the same. Not that he lets Asher do this every night, but often enough he expects he’ll get somewhat used to it eventually. Yet the way Asher is so careful about not truly damaging him and the way he sucks on his neck with such urgent desperation afterwards never fails to make Charles weak in the knees.
But it's not just the blood drinking. Asher holds Charles close to his lukewarm body with a steadfast palm on the small of Charles's back, supporting Charles's delicate human form as he drains the life-force from him. He whispers encouraging words in Charles's ear intermittently, as if Charles needs to be rewarded for letting Asher drink his blood. And with each and every visit of theirs to the storage room, Asher has opened up to Charles just a tiny bit more. Until Charles can hardly remember what his life was like before Asher when Asher’s pressed against his chest drinking from him.
“Mmm, my lord.” Asher pauses to lick Charles’s neck clean. “You're the most delectable morsel I've ever tasted.”
Charles draws in a deep, shaky breath, both disappointed and relieved Asher is finished. “I aim to please,” he utters, half in jest.
Asher studies Charles with a contented expression. He raises his hand and strokes Charles's jawline with the back of his fingers. His eyes are drawn to Charles’s lips, and he licks his own, drawing his lower one between his teeth.
“I'll see you on Thursday?” Asher’s voice is all gravel.
“Yeah, Thursday,” Charles breathes. But in this bewitching moment, two days is too far away.
Asher pulls Charles close once more, his lips tickling Charles’s cheek as they brush past it. With that, Asher is gone, leaving Charles spent and languorous.
All's Night is Book One of the All's Night Series by Cayden J Thomas. The saga continues in Book Two Betraying the Second Son, out soon, and Book Three Broken Vows, currently underway.