Eclis’ face remained impassive as he approached me, kneeling in front of me still sitting on the bed. Instinctively I tensed at the contact, but his hands gently lifted my arm towards him. He paused before he leaned in, checking my reaction. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Am I blushing right now? He didn’t give me time to worry about it, he was already close enough that his breath tickled my arm. When his lips brushed the inside of my elbow I unconsciously pulled away, but his gentle grasp locked my arm in place.

“It won’t hurt this time,” His lips tickled as he whispered the words, “I promise.” His eyes locked with mine for a second and I forgot myself. My heart must’ve stopped. I watched his lips part and his tongue dance across my skin. Two pricks of pain were overshadowed by a strange warm pleasure emanating from where he was kissing. Ah, he already bit me. Pure pleasure radiated from the spot, quickened by my racing heart. His tongue lapped at the sensitive skin there and immediately my thoughts went exactly where I was trying to avoid. Unlike our fist time, his draws were slow and languid. As if he were savouring every sip. Warmth rushed to the spot he was touching me, but also to the spot I wanted to be touched. My mind became slow and sluggish, and it was impossible to focus on anything but him. This was suffering, in the best possible way.

I don’t know how much time passed between us, but the cool feel of the cabins air touching the spot where he bit brought me back to reality. An unwelcome thought struck me. Vampires could smell when someone was aroused.

“Well. I am tired now; you must be busy with…” I quickly retreated into the bed passing the canopy, “Whatever you were working on. I won’t hold you up any longer.” His eyes followed my every move as I pushed myself further backwards on the bed. Just as I had flipped the blanket over me cutting off my sight of him, the smile he gave me struck my heart. Never cross the line in the sand Jazz, he’s too much for you.

The room was dead silent, and I agonized over what he was doing right now. When he purposefully made a noise beside the bed I flinched. Right, vampires move silently.

“You must be extremely tired, to try to sleep fully clothed.” I burned inside hearing the amusement in his voice. A rosy pink nightgown was placed across the bed. I watched his shadow reach to a place on the wall and the once see-through curtains turned opaque while at the same time a light above the bed begun to glow. “Sleep well.”

I waited for a few moments before sitting up. In truth I was still tired. The rest I’d gotten wasn’t nearly what I’d needed but there was no way I could sleep with him in the same room. The night gown taunted me. ‘How ever will you change into me if you have to be naked in the room with him?’ Tch.

Working as fast as my fingers would allow, I unchanged from the fancy gown I was wearing. My cheeks flushed the moment I realized I was naked in the same room as him. Frantically I fumbled at the nightgown, pulling it over my body as if my life depended on it. It very well could, Eclis of all the male leads in the book was very possessive. A quality I really liked about him… And only more reason we could never cross that line.

Like I had predicted, sleep didn’t come easy. That smile was haunting me. He knew. I knew he knew. Even now I felt hot and my heart was racing. My cheeks flushed. Why is my body such a traitor? WHY.

To distract myself I checked where he had bitten me. The skin on the inside of my elbow was pristine. Like nothing had happened. It made me think about how well the vampires in this world were built to hunt humans. Their saliva could heal our wounds, act as an anesthetic, a poison, or aphrodisiac. They even had a type of ‘venom’ that gave a person a high, releasing a massive amount of dopamine every time the vampire touched them. They could make a person literally addicted to their presence. I took a deep breath. Thankfully, it seemed Eclis hadn’t used such tactics on me, and I knew that of all the male leads in the book, he wasn’t the type to use them. It took at least an hour for myself to calm down.

“…Jazz… Jazz?” Something was shaking my shoulder and I didn’t like it.

“mhmmffph.” Means go away. That something chuckled.

“Ganimede is in sight now. Do you want to see it before we land?” What a nice voice.

“phhhhf.” Also means go away.

I stretched out. The curtains were no longer opaque around me and the sunshine filling the room was gone. Eclis was sitting in his chair watching me.

“Good… Night?” While I rubbed sleep from my eyes he spoke.

“You sleep like the dead.”

“It’s a skill.” Something you learn when you’ve lived beside a light rail long enough. Eclis wasn't a character that smiled often, yet here I was blessed with yet another fleeting one.

“We just landed; I’ll wait for you outside.” He left me in the room alone and it took me another moment to realize I needed to get dressed.

The dress I had worn was gone and in its place was another. It had a cream bodice dotted with pearls, a lovely soft green skirt and bright green trimmings tying it all together. It matched very well with my eyes and it twirled nicely in front of the mirror. I didn’t bother with my hair; it had given me too much trouble as it was the past few days.

Outside Eclis was waiting and I realized he must've changed as well while I slept. For some reason that fact made me happy. His clothes reminded me of a more Victorian era suite if you married it with high fantasy. His jacket was black with black roses and vines embroidered throughout, giving it a sophisticated air without coming off as flashy. He wore a longer velvet cape that draped down his back, but not long enough to reach the floor. In this world only royalty and vampires wore capes.

“How long did I sleep?” I refused his escort. He showed no sign that it bothered him.

“Fourteen hours. I think I’m more familiar with your sleeping face than I am with you awake at this point.” I smiled at his joke. He’d said he hadn’t waited long, but the hallways were empty. We were the last passengers aboard.

“Ah… Yeah, it runs in the family. My sisters and my mother are just as bad, though when we’re well rested, we normally only need nine or ten hours.” I shrugged, “Its too bad I missed us flying over though.” The expression he gave me clued me in that he tried to wake me. “I need to be bargained with to wake up when I’m really tired. In my sleep I’ll agree to anything to get you to leave me alone.” I laughed, “My mom used to use that against me to get me to clean the house.”

“I’ll remember that for next time.” He said it so quietly I couldn’t help but feel ominous.

The main port city in Ganimede was Vetra. Its described as being even more extravagant than Eridia and I couldn’t help but agree. Starting at the docks one could already tell the difference between the two. Here the docks were spotless, the wood beautifully stained as if it had been installed just yesterday. In Eridia the docks were weathered and discoloured, the same as any dock from my world. Where Eridia felt familiar if not a bit rustic, Vetra truly felt like another world.

In Tyrra, the only nonhumans one would find were slaves or the rare adventurer guild parties answering a particularly lucrative quest. Ganimede was where every other race in this world lived and Vetra was one of the few cities wto house all of them in relative peace. The docks of Vetra were filled with halflings, dwarves, beast men as well as other races I didn’t recognize. In the middle of the port I'd realized I'd lost Eclis. A moment of panic set over me until I felt someone grab my hand.

"If you wish to see everything, at least let me escort you so you don't get lost." I gave him a sheepish grin and complied. I refused to hold his hand though. It felt too... Close, so instead I held onto his elbow as he lead me through the crowd. He seemed to know where he was going despite it being a thousand years since he’d last walked this city.

Now that I didn't have to pay attention to where I was going, I spent the rest of our journey as we exited the docks into the city proper taking in everything. From what was described in the books, the city was massive. Divided into sections where the majority of each race would live. Near the docks was the only exception, here the houses varied greatly, and no one race dominated this area. There was even a large tree upon which a a house was nestled in its branches. As I stared at it, I realized the stairs and balcony of the house was carved-no, grown into the trunk itself and a door in the trunk meant the house continued on inside. Its roots were pressing against the smaller stone house beside it, which I had guessed was dwarven given how elaborately carved the facade was. The cobbled street we were walking along opened up into a massive town square, one of the many in this city. It bustled with market stalls lining all sides and the square turned out to be a circular instead.

At its center I spotted what Eclis was headed for. The portal.