Serum

-Thirty-Six-

I was pretty sure I could handle walking around being ‘permanently aroused’ for a while. Hadn’t I already been doing that since I’d met Conner, or at least since I’d been turned into a vampire and moved in with him? I wasn’t completely altruistically motivated. I’d wanted this for a while now, and I was going to take it. I was tired of everything around me being stressful and new and horrifying. I wanted something distracting and enjoyable. Something I could lose myself in. Something that wasn’t necessarily ‘species specific’. I wanted Conner to touch me, to run his lips all over me. I wanted something beautiful just for me for a change. My thoughts swirled and dipped, becoming even more complicated as I pulled Conner around the corner of the fridge. He followed, nipping at my lip, my jaw, my neck, running his sharp fangs along my skin as his fingers fumbled at my clothing. I nearly tripped over the little step up into the walk-in closet. I scrambled behind me on the shelves for the extra bedding, fumbling it onto the floor as I pulled Conner down with me, already wrapping my legs around his waist, even though we were still mostly clothed. A broom fell, knocking Conner on the head, which made him snarl angrily while he scrabbled to toss it off. I tried to stifle a laugh. I knew it was an unsexy thing to do, but it just was so cute to see Conner so disheveled, and it ‘humanized’ him in a weird way. And then Conner was pulling my pants down over my hips, and his face was right there and I thought for sure he was going to go down on me.

“Guys! Lana’s here!” Daniel called suddenly, spoiling the moment. I don’t know which one of us cursed louder.

“Your goddamned sister and her goddamned timing!” I spat.

“You don’t have to tell me.” Conner growled, yanking up his pants with a look of chagrin.

“I’m absolutely gonna kill her one of these days, just haul off and..” I muffled a wordless scream, but Conner looked at me thoughtfully.

“It may come to that.” He said seriously, then offered me a hand to help me off the floor as a sinking feeling settled into the pit of my stomach.

We walked out of the kitchen with me slightly in front of Conner in a subtle effort to preserve his modesty. He complained about it, insisting it was going to drive him crazy to have me in front, but I pointed out that Lana was sure to make some crude comment in front of the younger vamps about our activities if she saw his erection.

“She’ll be able to smell that I’m still in Rut.” Conner grumbled. I swatted a hand behind me, trying to get him to shut up, but he was closer than I thought and my waving hand caught him in the groin. He doubled over, gripping my shoulder with a choked exclamation. “May not have to worry about that erection..” He gritted out and I found myself somewhere between sympathy and laughter at the pure ridiculousness of the situation. “Not funny.” Conner wheezed, apparently picking up on my amusement through our link.

“I know.” I gasped, trying to control the urge to laugh which he’d just made so much harder.

“By the Blood, what ever is taking you two so long?” Lana demanded, arms crossed as she stood by the twins near the front of the church.

“I’m sorry, I had to let her in. She threatened me through the door. I was afraid she might kill me.” Daniel mumbled urgently to us as we passed. I patted his shoulder.

“You happen to be intruding in our home, and you ask what’s taking us so long?” I shot back. Conner squeezed my hip. There was a note of possessive pride and also caution in our link.

“Your home? Last I’d heard, this was Conner’s home. Unless you now allow Adrian to speak for you, as apparently you’ve taken up hiding behind her.” Lana’s tone was harsh enough to flay flesh. Conner straightened, pulling me against his chest and banding his arms around me.

“This is just as much Adrian’s home as it is mine. And you interrupted a very private moment.” Conner’s eyes shot to the twins. Tara rolled her eyes.

“They were gonna have sex.” She informed Lana drolly.

“You mean you still haven’t satisfied your Rut?” Lana threw her arms in the air and turned around to pace. “Unbelievable!” She exclaimed.

“Lana, please.” Conner looked once more at the younger vampires, but Lana herself made a face this time.

“All youth are well informed about their biological process, you know that.” Lana said flatly. Only she pronounced the word ‘process’ with a long e. “You yourself had to go through the same type of informational training to ensure you knew what to expect. This should come as no surprise to them. As a matter of fact, they should be thrilled at the possibility of adding another member to our fading numbers.” Lana waved a hand, but Tara made a face behind her back.

“Gross.” Tod muttered. I agreed with him. Lana raised a brow.

“Your time will come Tod. Maybe not today, maybe not for a few years, but one day.. It will happen, and I think you’ll be singing a different tune then.” Lana remarked.

“What do you want, Lana?” Conner sighed.

“Oh, I was just here to check-in. I won’t be able to drop back by until late tomorrow evening. I’m pulling a double shift, so I wanted to check on everyone.” She answered breezily.

“You could have called,” Conner pointed out, pulling me onto his lap as he sat on a pew. Lana scoffed.

“What and trust your word on my dear Adrian and Daniel’s condition?” Lana snorted. I noticed she didn’t put an endearment in front of Daniel’s name, which made me grit my teeth. “Besides, I thought you two would be..otherwise occupied.” She looked pointedly at Conner’s groin as if she could see the erection throbbing against the back of my ass.

“Boinking like bunnies.” Daniel muttered unhelpfully. Lana shot him a withering look, and he slunk away to the back of the church.

“Yes, thank you Daniel, we all understood the meaning of my words. Very helpful.” Lana called after him.

“Well why don’t you leave so that we can get back to the ‘boinking’?” I sniped. Not that I was feeling very frisky right now, but her attitude was grating on my nerves. Lana eyed me appraisingly, and I suddenly felt like a side of beef in a store.

“By all that’s holy I hope that you two don’t Bond. It’s probably too much to hope you don’t get pregnant too. But at least if you do, there’ll be some fresh blood in the family. Even if it is sullied.” Lana wrinkled her nose at Conner. I stood so quickly Conner lost his grip on me.

“That’s it. Out. Now.” I was pointing at the door and advancing on her before even I knew what I was going to do. Then Conner had an arm wrapped around my ribs from behind as he spoke to his sister over my shoulder.

“I think you should leave Lana. You know how vampires get about their nests around a mating.” His tone was firm, but held none of the sharpness or challenge of my own. Lana looked me up and down once more, almost proudly.

“Yes of course.” She murmured, and gracefully made her way towards the door. “I’ll see you in a few days!” She called back over her shoulder. “Try to get the Rut out of your system by then!” The last I heard of her was her irritating giggle as the door shut behind her. Conner had to hold me in place because I was determined to break free of him and at least get one good hit in. If I hadn’t been worried about accidentally hitting him again, he probably wouldn’t have been able to hold me back.