Kissed by a Vampire. Caridad Pineiro

similarly dressed, was exiting the hotel via a side door.

      Stacia recalled that there was a small building that housed a gym at the back of the hotel grounds. Following the female, she confirmed that the runner was going to the gym.

      Stacia followed.

      The young woman entered the building with Stacia just a few steps behind her. The gym was empty of people. Only a few pieces of equipment and a television were in the room. Immediately the woman took a spot on the treadmill, but before she could push a button, Stacia was sending the runner a message.

      Come with me, Stacia commanded and held out her hand.

      The woman had little willpower. She faced Stacia like a lamb to slaughter and then stepped off the treadmill. She wasn’t as young as she first appeared, Stacia realized now that the woman was closer. In her mid-thirties if Stacia had to guess, not that she was all that good at estimating mortal ages. After nearly two thousand years of immortal life, humans in the twenty-to-forty category all seemed to blur together.

      But the woman was fit and fairly attractive.

      Her body had the long lean, lines of a runner, with B-cup breasts that were so far defying gravity beneath the confines of the sports bra she wore.

      Come, Stacia urged again and increased the force of her elder power until a semiglazed look slipped onto the woman’s face.

      “That’s it,” Stacia nearly purred, and the woman eased her hand into Stacia’s.

      With a gentle tug, Stacia urged her toward the back of the gym and away from the glass doors facing the hotel’s gardens. There was an odd jag in the wall there, hiding the entrance to a supply room. Stacia urged the woman into that hidey-hole and pressed her against the door of the supply room. Raising her hand, she caressed the smooth line of the woman’s jaw.

      “Who are you?” the woman managed to ask despite Stacia’s control.

      Stacia leaned close, brushed a kiss across the women’s lips and said, “Someone who can give you great pleasure.”

      With those words, she unleashed even more of her elder power and the woman gasped, her body caught up in the ardor that Stacia called forth in her. As Stacia examined the woman’s body, she saw that her nipples had gone hard and the aroma of the arousal brought on by the surge of vampire rule perfumed the air.

      “Enjoy,” she said, cupping the woman’s chin with her thumb and forefinger to expose her neck.

      “Touch yourself,” Stacia whispered against the shell of her captive’s ear and the woman complied, reaching up to caress her own breasts.

      Poor thing might as well get some enjoyment from this, Stacia thought. Besides, a little sexual stimulation always gave the blood a nice flavor, she thought as she inched up on tiptoe and allowed the demon to emerge.

      A tremor of need slinked across Stacia’s body as her fangs burst forth and the world around her exploded into almost painful brilliance.