A Few Sips Ch. 03

Domino slept late into the next day, only waking long enough to email her boss and tell her that she didn't feel well. It wasn't entirely true, but she was so sore and exhausted, it had been a bit of a chore to get up and do the essentials, like urinate and make coffee. Her body still tingled, even now, later the next afternoon, and Domino found herself smiling at random times as she was reminded of ways that Alexandru had touched her, of how he had tasted and felt. He had done so many truly sexual things to her that every movement she made was a harsh reminder of how insanely desirous he was, and how much it pained her deep inside that he was gone.

She was so wrapped up in the reminder of the sensations he had sent coursing through her body that, at one point, Domino had just returned to bed again and spent a great amount of time running her hands over her body, caressing her breasts, tickling her sides and belly, and then burying her hands in her crotch, rubbing harshly against her clit and sliding against her aching pussy. Her ass was slowly returning to normal, but she knew it would be days before she felt more normal in the back, and even her stretched pussy would need time to recuperate. She figured a month was more than enough time.

The following day was Saturday, and she woke that morning feeling much more refreshed and a forceful need to pee. She'd saturated herself the day before with water and had ordered beef and broccoli for lunch for the iron that Alex had suggested. Once she took a shower and dressed, she pulled her shoes on and unlocked her front door, walking out of it and was halfway down the stairs, going over her shopping list in her head, when she suddenly stopped, gasping and looking around her.

She was in the hallway.

Her heart wasn't pounding.

She had left her house without even thinking about the process of doing so.

Her eyes widened and she shivered, half needing now to turn around and go back, but instead, she steeled her shoulders and walked the rest of the way down the stairs. She bit her lower lip as her mouth spread in an excited smile. She opened the door and felt the warm morning sun hit her face and she closed her eyes and took it in for a moment before turning to walk back to the market she had visited so fatefully a few days ago. Her fear was gone. There was no way great sex could have gotten her over what had held her so captive for so many years. But the vampire had done more than just fucked her, she supposed. He had allowed her to be in control, despite the obvious need he had to take what he wanted from her. She had made all the decisions. She had made them gladly.

Inside the market, she grabbed a basket and filled it with the items that she would need to hold her over, at least for a few days. She could always come back. Domino smiled to herself, she could always come back. That option had never brought her so much pleasure before, and she giggled as she walked along the frozen food section. She would get some ice cream to celebrate her own personal victory.

~*~*~*~

Today was a huge day for Domino Ashburn, and she woke up to her alarm invigorated and ready to start her morning. First, she showered, shaved and brushed her teeth before taking the time to dry and style her hair up in a side braid that left little wisps and curls to fall around the rest of her head, and then she carefully looked over a few of the outfits that she had purchased for this particular moment. Eventually, she settled on the below the knee red dress with the little white polka dots. It had a modest scooped neck, half sleeves and a small bow at the waist and the skirt flared out somewhat from there. She paired it with vintage-y black heels that she'd purchased online on a whim years before but had never had a reason to wear them. The dress had come off of an online site, as well, and Domino had had to return it at first to get a smaller size. She'd lost a little weight in the last month, which she'd attributed to the fact that she was more active. She'd even went so far as to join an albeit small gym where she went three times a week to walk on a treadmill.

Putting a dab of red lipstick on, she smiled at her pale complexion and then walked out of her bathroom and made her way into the living room to get her lunch and computer packed into a bag. Once she had everything ready, she grabbed an apple from her stocked pantry and made her way out of her apartment. Outside, she smiled at a woman walking by with a stroller and made her way down to the bus stop. She waited quietly with a few other potential bus passengers until the light blue and green bus finally rolled to a stop in front of them. Boarding it, she took a seat near the window and enjoyed the view that passed by as it made its appointed stops on the way to the large office building that she was heading to.

It was her first day of work...in an office...with coworkers, and it wasn't her living room. Domino had waited a while to see if her insecurities had returned, but had found that every time she left her apartment, doing so again was just that much easier, and she was excited to attend to every chore, and found herself leaving as much as she possibly could now.

"That's a nice dress." A deep voice said from the seat behind her and Domino turned around to see a blond haired man with a jaw that needed a bit of a shave wearing a flannel shirt and worn out jeans smiling kindly at her.

"Thank you." Domino nodded at him, feeling the smallest blush creep up her neck as she turned back around.

"I take this bus every day, I've never seen you on it before. Car break down?" He asked, leaning forward and resting the underside of his left forearm on the empty seat beside her.

She shook her head, turning her head to meet his gaze again, she was still uneasy talking to men, but this was good practice, she supposed, she knew a lot of her coworkers were male.

"No, I don't drive."

"Lucky me." He winked at her and she tilted her head a little as she took in his handsome face with the light blue twinkling eyes. He looked like a college student, probably at UVM.

The bus rolled to a stop and she watched him as he looked out the window and frowned, "My stop. It's a shame. Maybe I'll see you again." He shifted so that his face moved closer to her and she watched as he breathed in deeply, and his body seemed to shiver a moment as his mouth fell into a stress-filled frown, his eyes searching hers for a moment before he stood up and looked down at her.

"Maybe so?" Domino responded, wondering at the change in him as he moved into the aisle, his eyes on her for another moment before he nodded shortly and left the bus. She looked out the window and watched as he moved onto the sidewalk. He turned and looked towards where she sat on the bus, his eyes still just as questioning as they'd been after he'd smelled her and she almost thought she saw him shake his head as the bus started to drive off.

She looked into her lap to see that her hands were shaking a little, she didn't understand. What had made the man react to her smell the way he had? Why had he seemed to change his entire demeanor toward her in that one brief intake of air? She shivered a moment, but Domino was not going to let some weird guy on the bus ruin her whole day. She was going to work, damn it, and that was something to celebrate! When the bus finally got to her stop, Domino exited it and quickly walked into the front doors of the building that she'd only been to the one time, her initial interview with the tech company. A smile on her face, she walked to the elevator and pushed the button for the floor that she knew her office was located on, and waited the few minutes it took for her to get to the appropriate floor.

Walking down the hall to the right, Jenna had told her exactly where to go, she'd even texted her a video of the floor in preparation for today, Domino looked ahead and her grin widened into a tooth-exposing smile as she saw her desk covered in toilet paper and balloons, and Jenna and several other people were surrounding it, blowing on party horns as she stopped in front of them.

"Welcome to work, Dom! It's about damn time!" Jenna laughed at her and walked over and gave her friend a big hug.

"Thanks, Jenna. You guys really didn't have to do this." Domino nodded at the others, who she was quickly introduced to.

Her first work day was a success and Domino felt very proud of herself as she left the office later that afternoon. She'd met pretty much everyone who worked in the office, and they'd taken her out to lunch, even. All had been friendly, and more than one of the men had looked at her a little longer than socially acceptable, but had been completely gentlemanly with her. It was an amazing feeling, to once again be part of something, part of the world. She had so much to thank Alexandru for, if she ever saw him again.

Jenna had given her a ride home from work, and she'd entered her apartment building through the back door, slyly looking towards the little alleyway off the alcove, she had very fond memories of that quiet little area. She'd snuck down the afternoon after Alexandru had visited her and found her clothes pretty much exactly where she'd left them. She'd thrown the pants and undies in the trash, but had cleaned up the shoes and tossed them in her closet.

The following weeks were close repeats of those first few days of her work, and Domino had gotten into a relative routine of work, exercise and home. She'd started taking classes at a local bakery that taught people to decorate cakes and cupcakes, and Jenna had invited her almost weekly to some adventure or another. Sometimes it was just the two of them, and other times, it would be a small group that they would head out with. She saw a few movies, went fishing, and even drove with a car full of people over to the Ben and Jerry factory to take a tour and eat some ice cream. It was something like a dream that she desperately wanted to never wake up from.

But like all dreams, the happy, easy, contented life that she had started to live was interrupted one afternoon when she stepped off of the bus in front of the stop in her neighborhood and looked up and saw a face that she hadn't seen since that first day that she'd taken it to work. Despite what the blond man had said, he hadn't seen her again, though she had looked, and had taken the bus later or earlier a few times just to see if he showed up. He was sitting, his elbows on his knees and his hands folded in front of him, his eyes watching her approach closely, on the bus bench. He wasn't alone, there were five other men with him, all tall, like he was, all dressed similarly in casual clothing, and all seemed to have their eyes centered completely on her.

Oh, what was she doing out of her apartment? It was the first thing Domino thought as a nervous shiver worked through her body. She pulled her bag closer against the dark blue dress that she wore and nodded at him, it would be rude not to acknowledge that she'd seen him before, and a nod seemed the most noncommittal thing that she could do. Turning to her left, she started making her way to her apartment building, her body tensing and heating up when she saw several of the men shift in her direction as she started moving away from them, and the blond stood up, his hands shoving into his pockets as he started to follow her.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. She dug her keys out and put them between her fingers like they tell you to in defense classes, or at least that's what she'd heard in the past. Domino thought she heard a dog growl nearby and moved her eyes down to the ground around her, but she couldn't see any animals anywhere. Frowning, she knew he was about ten feet behind her now and she sped up a little.

"Wait." His deep male voice sounded and Domino felt her entire body tense and sizzle in fear and she stopped in front of her apartment complex door and shoved the key fob against the sensor as she felt his body come up behind her.

He didn't press in, he just stood extremely close behind her, his hands moving to rest on her shoulders as she shook against the door. Tears fell from her eyes as she felt him pull her hair back over one shoulder so he could move his mouth closer to her ear.

"I'm not trying to scare you. We need to talk." He told her and she whimpered.

"If you're not trying to scare me, then why are you standing so close and why did you follow me to my apartment?" She whispered against him as he took a step away from her and let his hands fall to his sides.

"My name is Aidan Bardolph. These are my brothers." He motioned to the five other men who had approached with him, she didn't believe for a minute that they were brothers, none of them looked the same, and one of them looked to have a little Asian in him.

"And?" Domino crossed her arms in front of her as she faced them.

"I smell a vampire on you." His words were spoken softly and she tensed as if he'd screamed them at her.

"And?" She frowned, how could he have? He wasn't a vampire too, was he? But it was sunny outside, not possible.

"I mean I smell a vampire inside of you, growing inside of you." He looked down at her flat stomach and Domino followed his gaze.

Her eyes were wide as she looked back up at his face, he couldn't possibly be right. She'd taken the pill that Alexandru had given her, she'd even bled a bit shortly after. She couldn't be pregnant? Frowning, she shook her head, "No way."

"I smell it, it's there." He looked down and she realized that rumbling growl that she'd heard was actually coming from him.

"You can't be-."

One of the men, a dark blond haired one, stepped forward and put a hand on Aidan's shoulder. "This is not the place for this conversation."

Aidan looked at the man and sighed, nodding his head before looking back at the girl in front of him with the wide, scared eyes. "I mean you no harm. When I saw you on the bus a few weeks ago, I smelled it on you, but I couldn't figure it out at first. Once I spoke with my pack about it, I realized what it was. You're in danger."

Domino frowned again, looking at the six men with worry on her face. "I'm not about to let six guys that I don't know into my apartment, but I will allow Aidan to enter by himself."

She wasn't sure what had made her decide to do that, but she was worried that what he said was true, and she wanted more information. Opening the front door, she walked inside and held it open for the lean blond man that walked in alone behind her, closing the door behind him. They took the stairs quickly and Domino unlocked the dead bolt on her door. Once inside the room, she felt instantly calmer, the safety net that she was so used to finally back around her with force. She was terrified that this would be the straw, the one that sent her back into hiding from the world.

"What is your name?" He asked as he closed the door, staying near it so that he didn't scare her further.

"Domino. Domino Ashburn." She told him, walking into her living room and sitting on her couch, on the edge, she was way too tense to get more comfortable.

"And you had sex with a vampire, Domino? When? Do you know his name, or was it-?" He let his question end without finishing it, but she knew what he was asking.

Domino looked up as he walked into the living room, sitting on the armchair nearer the window, the one that she liked to sit and read in. "I wasn't raped. I know that's what you think, but it wasn't rape. He didn't hurt me. But he gave me a morning after pill, so how could I?"

"So he tried to protect you from this?"

Domino nodded, "Of course, he said it's dangerous for a human girl to have a vampire baby. How do you even know about vampires?"

He smiled mischievously and ran a hand through his somewhat messy hair, "Vampires aren't the only non-humans in the world, they're just the ones that your kind seem to romanticize the most."

She frowned, she had not romanticized Alexandru. What they had done was much more physical, much more brutally passionate. She had not gazed at him with innocent star filled eyes, she had screamed in intense, agonizing pleasure as she'd gushed her pussy juices all over his cock. Domino felt herself blush and grow warm as her thoughts centered on her time with her vampire and she took a few moments to calm herself before looking back at the man on the armchair, he seemed to have tensed ever so slightly.

"His name is Alexandru. He was not unkind to me." She let her gaze rest on and hold his and he nodded slowly.

"I know the vampires in this area, and he's not familiar to me. Did he tell you where he nests? If he plans on seeing you again?" He put his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together in front of them.

"I don't know. He said he works as an escort of some sort sometimes. He said he couldn't see me for a while, that I needed time to restore my-my blood supply." She heard him growl a little and figured his kind didn't like the fact that vampires used her kind for a food supply.

"How long ago were you together?"

"S-seven weeks, I think?" Lord, that would put her at almost two months along in her pregnancy.

He frowned, and she wondered why.

"If I'm really pregnant, and it's dangerous, then I can go and get an abortion, right? Then it can't hurt me?" The thought of aborting Alex's baby made her gut tighten and she wanted to cry again, but if it would kill her, did she have any other option?

"At seven weeks, it is firmly attached to your blood supply. Removing it now would mean we would have to remove your entire uterus. You'd be sterilized, if you even survived it." Aidan frowned, knowing she was scared by the way her shoulders were slumped and she was starting to visibly shake.

"I'm going to die." Domino felt the tears fall and she looked slowly up at him with wide, terror filled eyes. "I left my house to buy milk and now I'm going to die."

He stood up and walked over to her, putting an arm around her shoulder and bringing her up against his warm, solid chest. He was making a few rumbling sounds that she couldn't understand and found herself wrapping her arms around his waist as she sobbed. Damn it. Of course having sex with a vampire had been a stupid idea. What kind of a nut says yes to letting something that drinks blood as a source of nutrition fuck her? Really, who does that?

"Domino, there is still time. Your body is feeding the fetus all right for now, but eventually, in another month or so, you will start to feel exhausted, short of breath, and you'll become short of blood as it begins to consume larger amounts than you can restore. Have you noticed that you drink more fluids already, that you're hungry for meat?" He asked her quietly, talking in what she knew was a voice meant to soothe her and not scare her further.

Domino sniffed and wiped her eyes across the front of the thick cotton shirt that he wore. Nodding, she looked up at his face, "I have noticed that I eat more red meat. I'm usually not very into it, but hamburgers seem to be my go to meals these days." Jesus, she was pregnant.

"My great great grandfather did some similar type work as your vampire friend. I wonder if he might know this lover of yours. He should know what he's done to you. Plus, he might know something that can help you. There's always a chance, a story, a rumor of something that has worked in the past. There is still time, Domino." Aidan told her.

She nodded, his great great grandfather? That sounded weird. "Why do you care?"

"Non-humans should be responsible for what they do to others. I would be remiss if I knew you were in danger and I did nothing." Aidan ran a hand across her cheek, his face loomed ever closer to hers and Domino could feel his heat seem to flow into her skin and warm her, "Plus, I find myself somewhat drawn to you."