Bound by Blood Box Set Read online

  “Great! Everything looks good so come on up with me,” she said, jogging up the bus steps after she read and approved my answers.

  As I climbed the steep steps, I held onto the rails for dear life. At the top I could see the two other girls who were ahead of me reclined in chairs with needles already in their arms and bags beside them filling up with blood. The claustrophobic bus was too warm, and it felt like the walls had started spinning around me.

  “You can go right down there to the last seat. Sam should be all set and ready for you!”

  You’re a nursing major, you can do this! I pepped talked to myself. I tried to avoid looking at the needles sticking out of arms as I walked past their seats to the back of the bus. I kept my eyes on the empty reclining chair, assuming it was my destination.

  As I approached the chair, the young and unbelievably gorgeous technician turned around and smiled at me, making my already unsteady steps falter. His eyes roamed over me and then he frowned. It was like he’d been expecting someone else and was disappointed it was only me. Pretty much summed up my life.

  Chapter Three

  Sam

  It was just my luck of the blood drive draw that I’d get stuck with “her”. There was really nothing outwardly wrong with “her”, and that was the problem. The girl was more than beautiful with her big and innocent teal eyes, petite little body, long chestnut hair that fell over her perfect breasts, and slender legs that were sexy as fuck in a short skirt. Not that I had noticed.

  My problem with “her” consisted of the fact that I was about as smooth as sandpaper when it came to talking to someone like her. Although slutty girls would regularly approach me, I was tired of all the meaningless one-night stands. I had pretty much given up on having an actual relationship, and hadn’t put the moves on anyone in, well, what year was it? It was going to be an awkward twenty minutes as I tried not to fumble and mumble like a fool, completely embarrassing myself in front of this beautiful girl.

  Drawing blood from the sorority sluts didn’t bother me since they were all superficial and shallow. They dressed and acted like they were sure things, but didn’t understand why guys treated them that way. Their attention whoring was easy for me to ignore. But with “her”, God she looked sweet and shy, not hung-over or slutty at all. But she was too young and innocent for me. And too gorgeous. That bastard fate was throwing her at me and laughing in my face because she was so damn perfect, and I knew I didn’t have a chance in hell with someone like her.

  “Hi, um, she told me you were ready for me?” she said, in her sweet angelic voice that matched her appearance. Oh baby, I’m ready for you alright. Why don’t you sit down on my lap and feel how ready I am for you? Snap out of it Sam!

  I couldn’t immediately give the girl a verbal response. I was still taking inventory of her assets as she stood before me, my eyes transfixed as she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear like it was one of her nervous gestures.

  “Yeah, sure, whatever,” I said after I finally made my mouth work. That was my wonderful personality shining through right there. I either came across as a dick or a dork. Oh God, and she smelled good too – like fresh flowers on a spring day. Where the hell did that thought come from?

  I realized I was still staring at her, which no doubt had made her more uncomfortable. A hint of red was starting to form on her cheeks. Oh, that so doesn’t help. My mind was going through all the inappropriate things I wanted to do to her that would make her blush even harder. That short skirt made me want to bend her over and ... dammit! Putting those thoughts away for later fantasies, I finally cleared my mind enough to function, and tried to talk to her normally, or at least more professionally.

  “Sorry, still asleep this morning. Have a seat and we’ll get started,” I said as I motioned for her to stretch out in the reclined chair beside my workstation.

  My dick and I couldn’t help but notice the way her jean skirt inched up over her knees as she stretched out, or how her button-up shirt pulled across her ample bust, showing the hint of her white bra underneath. This was going to be difficult.

  I spun my rolling chair around, putting my back to her as I punched my junk ordering it to behave. I was acting like a fifteen-year-old boy instead of an eighty-four-year-old man with self-control. Although, I don’t look anything like an eighty-four-year-old man. I’d only been twenty-six when I was turned, a long fifty-eight years ago.

  Joselin had found me after I was walking home from a downtown bar on July 4, 1954. Some son of a bitch drunk driver had plowed over me and kept going. She gave me the choice of living a long time or dying right there. I was a coward, and too scared to die after I’d recently watched my parents and younger brother do it.

  Joselin had been like a second mother to me from that day forward. She had only been thirty-six-years-old when she was turned, but she’d been a vampire since 1790. She insisted I move out of my shithole apartment I paid for with minimum wages from the factory, and into her large, two story plantation home just outside of the city. I’d been a slacker and just lived with her for the next thirty years until she remarried, and I finally decided to live on my own. Now Joselin was really the closest thing to family I had left. That reminded me, her birthday was coming up next week and I needed to send her a card.

  Back to the blood mobile and “her”. I should probably find out her name and get to work instead of just sitting here in silence eye-fucking her.

  “I’m Sam by the way. Thanks for donating today,” I told her as I put on a pair of latex gloves.

  “I’m Kate. Kate Adams,” she said shyly, then looked down at her hands in her lap, blushing even harder.

  I looked her over again, being less perverted this time and more professional.

  “How much do you weigh?” I asked, wondering if her tiny frame actually met the damn weight requirement to donate.

  “Excuse me?” she asked as she looked up, surprise showing on her face from what was usually a very personal question for most women.

  “Well, you need to weigh at least a hundred and ten pounds to donate, and you look like you might be under that.”

  “I weigh a hundred and ten pounds,” she said defensively, but I wasn’t convinced.

  This girl was determined to donate blood, the consequences to herself be damned. It showed just how sweet and kind she was. It wasn’t like I was going to refuse to let her donate. I wanted to keep her here beside me for as long as possible. I just hoped she wouldn’t pass out after she left that chair. I’d make sure she was okay before I let her leave. She may need to stay here even longer than normal just to be safe.

  Getting on with it, the first step was for me to prick her with the finger-stick to check her hemoglobin. She extended her soft delicate hand to me and I tried to hold it gently even though I knew it was going to pinch like a son of a bitch. I only had to squeeze three drops of her blood directly into the blue copper sulfate to make sure she had enough iron to make it sink. Yep, her blood was good to go.

  Instead of wrapping the Band-Aid around the small gash on her finger, I wanted to stick it in my mouth and suck it dry. That sure as fuck would get me fired, I thought with a smile as I reluctantly taped up her finger.

  I had to slide my chair closer to her to tie the rubber band around her lovely upper arm and make a tourniquet. That only put me closer to her oh-so-perfect breasts that I wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch. I sighed at my total lack of professionalism as I swabbed the area around her vein with alcohol, probably a little longer than was necessary, then it was show time.

  I handed her the red stress ball and told her to start squeezing, and oh and I had something else I’d really like to have her squeeze.

  “Okay, are you ready?” I asked, trying not to look at her beautiful face and get distracted again, or her chest, or legs, or where her skirt was riding up. Yeah, I just needed to focus on the inside of her arm.

  “Go ahead, I just don’t want to watch while you do it,” she said as s
he turned her head to the side and started squeezing the squishy ball. Her already fair skin had gone a shade paler.

  “Alright, here we go. You’re going to feel a sting but I’ll try and make it as quick and painless as possible,” I told her. I jabbed the needle in as gently as I could, but still made her flinch, then the worst was over.

  “Are you okay?” I asked after I taped the needle down.

  “Yeah, that wasn’t so bad,” she said as she let out the breath she’d been holding and finally turned her head to look up at me. Damn she was beautiful.

  “Good,” I told her with a smile. “It’ll probably take about fifteen minutes to fill up the bag, then you’ll need to eat and drink something before you leave.” I looked down to check on the progress in the bag.

  “Oh shit!” I said covering my mouth before I could stop the outburst. The other four people on the bus had stopped what they were doing to turn around and look at me. I tried to think of a cover-up.

  “Sorry,” I said. “She just has really good veins,” was all I could come up with. I was such an idiot.

  My real surprise had been the color of her blood as it settled in the bag. It was almost black.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked nervously.

  “I’m so sorry about that,” I apologized. Then I lowered my voice to barely a whisper. “Have you ever had blood drawn or donated before?”

  “No. Why?” she asked, and I could tell she was getting queasier.

  How did I not notice when I pricked her finger? I looked around to make sure everyone had gone back to what they were doing.

  “We have to stop. You should never try and donate blood again. Don’t let a doctor draw any from you either,” I told her in a whisper.

  She looked really ill as she glanced down at her arm, watching as I pulled the needle out and pressed the cotton swab over it to stop the bleeding.

  “Why does my blood look black?” she gasped.

  “Shhhhh!” I hushed her. “Don’t say anything about this to anyone! Don’t you understand what this means?”

  Her big, innocent teal eyes looked up at me, scared and confused as she shook her head.

  “Look, I’m sorry to scare you but we can’t really talk about this here.” I wrapped the gauze around the cotton ball holding it down, then gathered up everything with her blood on it. I’d have to take it all with me. Not in a creepy way, but to destroy it.

  Suddenly I had an idea. I might be able to make the best out of this girl’s bad situation and score a date at the same time.

  “If you want to meet me for coffee or dinner tonight I can try and tell you why you need to keep quiet about this.” There. I’d said it as an offer to meet and talk, but she didn’t have to agree to a “date” per say.

  She still looked nervous, and with the amount of time passing I thought she was going to say no.

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  Hell. Yes.

  “How about Donut World over on Highway 220 at eight o’clock? They’ve got a few tables outside so it’ll be less likely for someone to overhear.” It was the only place I could think of off the top of my head, and it wasn’t like I could invite her over to my place.

  “Okay,” was all she said again, eyes still wide in shock.

  “I’ll see you there. Don’t worry about this,” I said, waving my hands at the supplies on the table. “I’ll tell them your hemoglobin was too low to donate and get rid of it all.”

  “Um, thanks.”

  “I’ll see you tonight then.”

  I smiled as Kate walked off the bus in sort of a daze. I felt the same way but for a completely different reason. I quickly put the sealed bag that held the few drops of Kate’s blood into my cargo jean’s pocket. I was almost positive, but I would smell it and taste it later to make sure my assumption was correct. Not because I was a perv. Well, not just because I was a perv. Of course I also wanted to see what she tasted like.

  Kate. Shit, I couldn’t think of anything else the rest of the day as girls came and went on the bus donating blood. I trashed the four phone numbers I’d been given by various Delta Sigs, Pi Betas, or whatever the fuck they were after I lied and said I didn’t have my cell phone on me. Tonight at eight I had a date with Kate. My erection and I were so worked up we could almost break out in song and dance, but it wasn’t really technically a date. And she’ll run when I tell her what I am, but I’d worry about that later.

  After we finished the blood drive and unloaded at headquarters, I flew back to the house to get ready, even though it was early and I had hours to kill. Chris was watching for me from his bedroom window when I pulled up in our driveway. Creepy. He must want something.

  I went up the front steps and unlocked the door. He was already pacing on the hardwood foyer.

  “Hey man. How’s it going? What you up to tonight?” he asked quickly, sounding like he was hyped up on the nip.

  “Um,” I really didn’t want to tell him about Kate yet. “I’ve got plans.”

  “Yeah right! The only plans you ever have on a Friday night are the game controller in one hand and your dick in the other,” he laughed.

  “Not both at the same time, jackass, and at least I have hands. But tonight I do have plans. Out.”

  “Oh. Okay,” he said all depressed as he sat down, hanging his fluffy head and looking at the floor.

  “What?” I gave in and asked.

  He perked up instantly. “I wanted to see if you’d take me to get a frosty. Or a milkshake. Yeah, that’d be awesome,” he said as he started pacing in front of me again.

  I guess I could pick up a shake for him without much effort on my part. “Tell you what, on the way home, I’ll go by and pick up whatever you decide you want.”

  “Ohhh mannnn!” he whined. “I wanted to get out of the house. And it’ll be all watery and shit by the time you get home.”

  Now he was starting to piss me off. “Take it or leave it,” I said as I strode down the hall to my bedroom. Chris was killing my buzz. And reminding me how much I didn’t want to tell him about Kate. Much less ask her to help him.

  I heard Chris say he’d think about what he wanted as I closed and locked my bedroom door. I was pulling off my jeans to get in the shower when I felt the blood bag I’d stuffed in them earlier. I couldn’t wait any longer.

  I sat down in my boxer briefs on the side of my still unmade bed and pulled out the plastic stopper. Holding it to my nose I breathed in. Ah. Then guzzled it down.

  It wasn’t like smelling blood sent me into a frenzy. Shit, I couldn’t work at a blood bank if that was the case. I hardly even liked the taste of it, but I needed it every few days if I didn’t want to start aging and eventually die. And the longer I held out the worse the blood lust would get until I finally just gave in and bit someone.

  But this, oh, this was “her” blood. I usually only drank the unhealthy shit from the clinic, sort of like drinking decaffeinated coffee to get through the days. It tasted mostly the same but without the jolt of caffeine my body wanted.

  Her healthy blood tasted like a five hour energy drink as it spread through me. I wanted to lick Every. Single. Last. Drop.

  Other than being a little thicker, and of course darker, Kate’s blood pretty much tasted like human blood. Um, thinking about her near the blood made me instantly harden and my fangs descend, because my instincts were hot and ready to multitask. My teeth always wanted me to sink into something whenever my dick was getting in and vice versa. Satisfying both urges at the same time was convenient, instead of trying to find two willing participants, one for sex and one for blood.

  I couldn’t help but cringe as I thought about my embarrassing and desperate past trysts. Oh, the lows I had stooped to get both my urges satisfied at the same time before I sealed the deal in my current profession. I was disgusting, and thinking about my shady past made me feel dirty.

  I finished undressing then turned on the shower faucet. As the water warmed I flexed and looked at my reflection
in the bathroom mirror. I wasn’t even close to the stereotypical portrayal of a vampire. Thank God, or I’d never have been able to hide from the D.R.A. this long.

  I definitely wasn’t pale. I had a decent tan going on since it was summer, and I sure as hell didn’t sparkle or any shit like that. My hair and eyes were the same color they’d been when I was human – dirty blonde and green.

  Thankfully I’d never been one of those excessively hairy guys either. My body fuzz was so light you could hardly see it, even on my face that I hadn’t shaved in days. My chest and stomach were almost completely bare other than a light dusting that got darker the lower you went, which reminded me it was manscaping time. It was a known fact that women were much more likely to go down on you the smoother you were. Not that I had a chance in hell of that happening anytime soon, but a man can dream.

  I wasn’t really huge or bulky either, but thanks to all the years of manual labor on our family farm and growing up poor, I had some nice cuts of muscles on my six-foot-three frame. I was glad I’d been changed while I was in decent shape, including having a six-pack. I guess looking like I did for an eternity, without having to work at it, almost made all the back-breaking work and starvation from when I was younger worth it. Almost.

  Since I became a vampire I haven’t done much of anything. I lived with Joselin for years, then when I finally went to work about thirty years ago I started out in cushy video rental store jobs, then game stores, until I implemented my current brilliant plan.

  After fifty-eight years as a vampire I’ve gotten lazy when it came to relationships with women. When so many come and go it starts feeling like just a big waste of my time. Same old fucking over and over. It wasn’t like I could be honest with women or let them find out what I was. During my long life I’d only told three women I was a bloodsucker, and that’d been all she wrote for them. It’d been nine long years since the last one ended, and that’s exactly what led me to my awesome blood bank idea. I wasn’t in a big hurry to go through that whole pathetic ordeal again. Although with Kate, even though I just met her, I think I’d be willing to make an exception and risk the fallout.