Alexis had no doubt they were. Katie had forgiven her, and she was touching her skin, at the same time trying not to let her eyes wander down to Katie’s breasts. Instead of explaining, she asked Katie, “Why do you think they’re red?”

Katie reached for Alexis and lightly grasped her hair. “Because you want me, because you’re hungry.”

Katie took the initiative and pressed her lips to Alexis’s. Alexis moaned. She felt like she had been waiting for this kiss her whole life. Katie pushed her tongue into Alexis’s mouth and ran her tongue around her fangs.

Alexis responded by sucking it deeper into her mouth. Her own mouth was watering and aching for blood. Not any blood, Katie’s blood.

Katie pulled back for air, and Alexis took her hand off Katie’s wound. All that was left was the stain of Alexis’s blood.

“It’s gone,” Katie said with amazement.

* * *

“Josie has gone.” Alexis felt like Josie had been between them as long as her bite had been on Katie’s neck, a reminder to Alexis of her failure.

Katie took Alexis’s hand and placed it between her breasts. “Touch me.”

Alexis trailed the back of her hand down between Katie’s breasts. Katie gasped and pushed Alexis’s hand onto her breast. Her sex clenched when Alexis squeezed. She pulled Alexis closer by her hair.

Katie didn’t know if it was having some of Alexis’s blood in her system, but she was feeling so much more like herself, grounded, and with more energy than she’d had since the attack.

She grabbed for Alexis’s T-shirt and pulled it off. Alexis didn’t wear a bra, her breasts were small, and Katie could see how it was possible for her to pass as a male soldier without much trouble.

Katie scratched her fingernails down Alexis’s back. She shivered but then pulled back from their kiss.

“We have to stop. You’re not strong enough,” Alexis said.

“I am strong enough. Your blood has made every part of me stronger already, and I need you to touch me,” Katie said.

“I don’t—”

Katie took off her bra and dropped it at her side. Alexis’s eyes went an even darker red. She then said, “You remember when we kissed in my bedroom and I did this?”

Katie pierced her finger against Alexis’s fang and let the blood flow into her mouth. She hoped it made Alexis unable to resist her.

Alexis sucked on her finger and moaned, then lifted her off the couch and onto her back in front of the fire. She sucked on Katie’s finger for another few seconds then broke away.

“God, you taste so good,” Alexis said.

Katie smiled then unbuttoned her jeans. “I hope I taste good everywhere.”