He came awake slowly; somewhat surprised that he was still alive. His internal sundial told him that the sun had been down for several hours. He opened his eyes and assessed his surroundings. He was lying in a comfortable bed with the covers tucked in around him. The room looked cozy, with a fire flickering in the fireplace and an oil lamp shedding a warm glow. Somewhat gingerly he sat up. His chest had been bandaged, and the pain there was nothing but a faint ache. The wound would probably be almost healed already. When he threw back the covers he was rather embarrassed to see that he’d been stripped down to his underclothes. He looked around the room in search of his trousers, but didn’t see them anywhere.

He stood up, feeling dizzy and weak. He swayed and had to clutch at a nearby chair to keep from falling over. Hunger made itself felt in his stomach. He had lost a lot of blood and his body was informing him he ought to replace it. Just then the door swung open. Aidan looked up to see Shauna come into the room. He recognized her easily enough, but she had changed since he had last seen her. Five years ago she had been hardly more than a girl, but now she was definitely a woman. She wore a loose dress of pale blue fabric that complimented her fair hair, which was still pulled back in a sensible ponytail, and brought out the blue of her blue-gray eyes. It also flattered her slender feminine figure. Aidan found himself blushing, acutely aware of his unclad state.

She smiled at him and said, “You’re up! Good. When you didn’t wake up at sundown I started to worry.”

“I needed some times to heal a bit, I guess. Thanks for rescuing me.” He was embarrassed and unsure of what to say. Shauna was looking at him with an intensity that unnerved him. “Umm,” he added after an uncomfortable pause, “Where are my pants?”

“Oh,” she blinked and said, “They’re out in the front room drying. I had to wash them off; there was blood all over them. I’ll go get them for you,” she added.

She went back out of the room and Aidan sat down on the bed to wait for her return. He almost wanted to climb back in and preserve what was let of his modesty, but since Shauna was no doubt the one who had undressed him in the first place, he decided there wasn’t really any point. She came back a moment later carrying his folded trousers. “I’m afraid your shirt was a complete loss,” she said as she walked across the room. Aidan got up and reached for his pants. She came close, too close, as she handed them to him. He was suddenly very aware of the sound of her heartbeat, the rush of blood under her tanned skin, the scent of her permeating the room. His hunger clawed its way up from his stomach and into his brain. He realized her was staring at her in a kind of tunnel vision as the rest of the room faded away.

She was staring back too. He had a brief flashback, remembering five years ago in the dim light of a lantern. He had been hungry then too, but he’d been tied to the wall and unable to do anything about it. That same look had been in the eyes of the then teenage girl when she’d kissed him. And now history was repeating itself, for Shauna moved closer, the folded trousers dropping forgotten from her hand, and kissed him deeply.

Aidan was torn, knowing he should break it off as he had before, but unable to muster the self-control to do it. He was fighting a double battle against sheer blood hunger and illicit passion. Shauna’s arms went around him, her heartbeat thundering in his ears. Then she pulled back and looked at him. Her blue-gray eyes were exactly level with his. He broke off from her intense stare and his eyes fell on her neck. He could see the pulse throbbing beneath her skin and at last it was too much for him.

He bent his head to her neck and his sharp eyeteeth broke through the skin to reach the blood beneath. Shauna let out a soft cry of surprise and pain, then she went completely still, her breath coming fast, her heart pounding. As Aidan took her blood into him, he could feel the touch of her mind, the blood-bond that came from such an exchange forming an emotional link between them.

Her mind was strong, and her emotions ran deep. She was an independent woman who knew what she wanted, and right now what she wanted was him. Her feelings rushed over him like a flood. There was a faint shock at what he had just done, but it was already fading as the initial pain of his bite faded. There was concern for his well being too, but the overriding emotion was an intense physical attraction. She had been fascinated by him when they had first met, and the feeling had not faded with time. The heat of her desire washed over him, sparking an answering desire in his body, if not his mind. The pleasure of taking her blood into him was undeniable. He realized what was happening, and fought it, trying to pull away, but his hunger was not sated, and it demanded that he stay. The link ran both ways, and she could sense his feelings as well. The confusion in his mind baffled her, but she could also feel the pleasure he felt, though he fought it, and her own desire blazed higher in response.

He was caught in a feedback loop of rising heat, and at last he gave in to it. His teeth drove deeper into her neck, he drank freely of the flowing redness of her life, and as her arms tightened around him, his own arms came up around her, his fingers finding the buttons on the back of her dress.