#vampire max

The thought of him made you grin, even though you knew it was foolish. You knew who he was and what he was, and he’d never tried to cross any lines with you aside from seriously flirting… but you would have let him. Any day of the week. And you never stopped him, using his tactics right back on the man, your direct nature surprising him often.

Phone alarm buzzing, you swiped a finger over the screen to silence it and sighed deeply before climbing out of the car and beginning the short trek across the parking lot. Max and his team had shown up a few months earlier, quickly beginning their takeover. 

To be honest, the changes had made your workplace more tolerable. The team was more efficient, people didn’t snap at each other as often, and because you’d been given a choice about whether or not he’d turned you, you were one of the few people that could leave the building during the day … which meant that you didn’t have to worry about your coworkers trying to tag along on every lunch break or including you in their weekly happy hours, which occurred in the middle of the night. 

But it also meant that you were the one sent on errands for the ones that couldn’t leave. Your job had shifted from data entry and filing to running errands, mostly … and you didn’t mind. Max had approved an almost 60% pay raise for you to compensate you for your time and efforts, grinning at you from across the large wooden desk, and for a moment, you’d understood how he’d charmed everyone so easily. 

No, that wasn’t true. You understood it all the time, you just hadn’t wanted to let him win that round with so little fight. There was no guarantee that Max would stay in your office, and as much as you relished the thought of never having to worry about grocery shopping or waking up with the sunrise to go to work again, you hadn’t been willing to give up everything for a desk job that you hoped was temporary. Especially not this desk job. 

When the doors opened to your floor, you made your way past the cubicles of your coworkers, most of them typing away furiously or talking in hushed voices on the phone. On the walk, you laid down sheets of paper on their desks; receipts, billing statements, pick up and drop off confirmations - it was all there for them whenever they needed it as proof that you’d done what you were asked to, and as a record of what they owed you.

The last stack was for your boss, and after pausing long enough at your desk to drop off your bag and straighten the neckline of your shirt, you headed for his office, knocking twice and not waiting for him to answer before entering. “I’m back, Max.” 

His chair was turned so that he was facing away from you, the man tossing a small, green ball against the back wall of the office. “Took you long enough.” 

“When’s the last time you had to deal with daytime crowds anywhere, hmm?” Sliding a stack of papers across the desk toward him, you took a long breath. “People go outside on their lunch breaks. They go into places. They get things done before it gets dark so that they can go home and be with their families.” 

It was a fine line you walked with him - you knew the man wouldn’t lash out at you, knew that he wouldn’t try to charm you with his enhanced senses, and knew that he wouldn’t fire you because the team needed you - so you took advantage of the situation, speaking to him candidly. He likes it. He’s good at hiding things, but he can’t hide this. “If you’d let me change you over, you wouldn’t have to worry about the ‘daytime crowds’ anymore.” He spun the chair around as he spoke, the ball held tightly in one hand and his eyebrow raised. “And then I could show you what the dark is really good for.” 

“You gonna show me how to lurk in alleys, Max?” You rolled your eyes. “Gonna teach me how to charm someone so that they let me -” He frowned at you then, a mock expression of hurt on his face. “I don’t lurk.” The frown changed into a smile, both brows raising. “And I can’t teach you to be charming, so maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t let me turn you, otherwise you might have starved.” 

“Asshole.” But you were grinning, too, using your chin to gesture to the papers. “All the receipts for this week. Everyone’s got theirs, too. Make sure they all pay me, alright?” He watched you silently for a few seconds, mouth hanging open slightly. “What?” 

“Nothing.” He shrugged, sitting up straight. “I actually need you to stay and help me with something, though.” That surprised you - Max had an assistant; a perky young woman that had been more than happy to let him turn her only a week or so after his arrival, practically throwing herself at him when the opportunity arose. But I haven’t seen her in a couple days. 

“Where’s Trisha?” You glanced over your shoulder and then back at Max. “I’m sure she -”

“Trisha didn’t work out.” He pressed his lips together. “Too eager. Friendly, but shit at her job.” Didn’t work out? What does that … Deciding that you didn’t want to think about it too much, you blew out a long breath, waving your hand in the air. She made her choice. 

“What do you need?” It wasn’t like you had much to do for the rest of the day; you were caught up on your actual work, and had planned on a few hours of online Scrabble before clocking out. The perks of a highly efficient workforce. “And can I do it at my desk, I was planning -”

“No, you cannot do it at your desk, I need you in here.” He pushed away from you, reaching down and into a drawer. “Sit.” You did as he asked, moving before you could stop yourself, but instead of staying silent, you yelped the man’s name out. 

“Absolutely not, Max!” Grumbling, you pushed down on the desk, trying to stand - and you couldn’t. “No. You do not get to use that voice on me. You don’t get to -” He couldn’t hold back a laugh as you shot to your feet, the chair moving backwards. 

“Just reminding you that I can.” He was still grinning, pushing a small stack of envelopes and a typed piece of paper across the desk at you. “Seriously, though. Sit. It’s not anything hard, I just …” He leaned in, nose wrinkling. “Everyone else here sucks, and you don’t.” It was a legitimate compliment - the look in the man’s eyes warm. “I need you to address these for me. A whole lot of things improved when I was in Romania, but my handwriting wasn’t one of them.” You snorted at that, reaching for the stack and pulling it toward you. 

“Maybe after a couple hundred years it won’t look like a third grader wrote -” He growled at that and you laughed, glancing down at the sheet. “Jesus, there’s like thirty names on here, what are they -” “Don’t worry about what they are, just write.” Mumbling the words ‘yes, sir’ under your breath because you knew that he’d inwardly react to it, you began to do as he asked, methodically addressing each envelope and piling them neatly to the right of you. While you did that, he focused on his computer, typing for a few minutes and then printing off a stack of sheets, bringing them from the printer to his desk and then working through them, signing each with a flourish of his pen. 

He finished before you, and you glanced up after a few minutes of complete silence on his side of the desk, finding that he was sitting still, elbows bent and both hands behind his head as he stared at you. “Creep.”

“Nope.” He leaned closer, moving his hands to the desk. “I’m just watching how efficient you are.” Like always, the intensity of his stare unnerved you, and without glancing away from him, you reached for another envelope, the tip of your finger sliding along the edge. Shit. 

You watched the look in his eyes change and even before you felt the sting of the papercut, Max was focused on your finger, the look on his face hungry. “You cut yourself.”  

“It’s not bad. It isn’t even…” But you stopped when you saw the beads of blood on your skin. “Oops.” Instinctually, you let go of the paper and lifted your hand toward your mouth, ready to place the tip of your thumb between your lips like you’d done countless times before. Halfway up, though, you felt Max’s fingers wrap around your wrist, haling the movement. “... Max?” 

It was the first time he’d ever touched you, and you barely concealed your shiver at the way it felt. No, do not fall apart right now.  “Let me?” It was a dangerous thing to do, and you knew it, though it didn’t stop you from nodding, eyes trained on your thumb as he pulled your hand toward him - the agreement having nothing to do with im commanding you.

“Do not bite me.” You mumbled the words, Max’s gaze flicking up to you and then back down to your hand, the entire tip of your finger smeared with blood. That’s a bad one. You knew you needed to look at the envelopes to see if you’d bled on anything, but couldn’t tear your eyes away from what was happening. Because it might never happen again.

At the last possible second, Max raised his eyes and locked them with yours, the change in focus drawing your attention and forcing you to miss the moment your thumb made contact with - and then passed between - his lips. Oh shit. He sucked gently, the flat of his tongue running over the pad of your finger. He released you before you could even begin to process what happened, the man leaning back in the chair and swallowing. “You do that a couple hundred more times and I won’t need to find someone to -” “That’s inappropriate, Max.” You couldn’t hide the racing beat of your heart - and knew that he could hear it, too. “Who do you think you are?” 

“Your boss… who also happens to be a vampire, and gets very hungry after a long day of -” Rubbing at your face with one hand, you groaned. “What? I’m just being honest.” 

“I know.” What a time for it to happen, though.  You hadn’t bled on the envelopes, and after a few seconds, returned to the task, trying to ignore the man across the desk from you. It didn’t work, and your mind kept going back to the way he’d licked your skin clean, the drag of his tongue slow, like he was savoring the taste of your blood. Maybe he was.

“I was going to have you fold these letters and stuff the envelopes, but you managed to hurt yourself on a single envelope, so that might be a little too dangerous for you today.” He was joking - the man’s tone light, and without missing a beat, you set what you were holding down, flattening your hands on the desk and looking at him again, head tilted to one side. 

“You know, if you’re that hungry, we can just use a letter opener and you can slice open my arm. Would save some time, and then you wouldn’t have to hope that I repeatedly forgot how to correctly handle pieces of paper, and you’d never have to worry about me being such a smartass to you again.” It was maybe a little much - but the previous few minutes had made it clear that you’d reached your limit with pretending that you weren’t attracted to the man when you were in front of him and he was being normal. 

“I like the way you think.” He cleared his throat, standing and circling around to your side of the desk and then taking a seat on the edge of it, the man’s thigh smashing the stack of envelopes that you’d just finished, creasing every single one of them. Well, shit. “But I don’t need a letter opener.” Widening his eyes, he grinned, the pointed ends of his teeth visible. It wasn’t the first time you’d seen them, and you figured it wouldn’t be the last, either. I hope it’s not. 

“Good.” Murmuring the word, you stood too, once again lifting your arm, holding it out to him. “Might be tempted to stab you with it if -” He cut you off though, the man bypassing your arm and reaching up, his fingers curling around the back of your head. 

“You could try.” He leaned in, lips hovering over your ear. “Might be fun.” 

Instead of retorting with something playful as had become normal for the two of you as you circled each other, you lifted both hands, grabbing for the bottom edges of his lapels and pulling him closer. “I’m sure a lot of things would be fun with you, Max.” 

You’d barely gotten the words out before he pressed his lips against yours - his smile still evident… and just as genuine as yours.