Ashlynn's heartbeat echoed loudly in Nyrielle's chest as she hovered with her fangs above her lover's neck.
Her midnight eyes grew larger, filling with the midnight of the night sky as she allowed the hunger within to rise to the surface. Her soft, pink tongue licked across her dark, purple lips, savoring the anticipation of the sumptuous meal before her.
The water of the bath was warm and fragrant, filling the air with lavender-scented steam that gave everything a hazy, dreamy quality. In the hearth, logs of cedar burned, cracked and popped, adding to the rich, evergreen scent that accompanied Ashlynn everywhere she went.
At some point in the past year, that scent had come to mean many things to Nyrielle. It teased at her passions and desires, tickling her nose the way the aroma of freshly baked cakes taunted the living, promising delights waiting to be devoured. It wrapped around her like a cozy blanket on a cold winter day, offering warmth and comfort.
