First of all I need to thank by friend Garrett Cook for the band name Toaster Kittens, I asked for suggestions and he delivered with his usual bizarre talent. He is an amazing author, I highly reccomend you look him up on Amazon if you like fiction that celebrates the strange.
Now into the real reason I'm including this note. I'm not a romantic person, it's just not in my nature, so writing this story was well outside my comfort zone which made it both fun and extremely nervewracking. One thing I am comfortable with and enjoy is playing with tropes and romance stories have a lot of them, some I subverted and some that I really dislike were completely turned on their heads.
One of the ways is with the characters themselves, I had already used them in a few stories and have established their personalities and they aren't typical romance story fodder. Cal is not some naive virgin or at all shy or ashamed of her sexuality. At 26 she knows what she wants and goes for it, sexist societal norms about what makes someone a "good girl" be damned. That includes what is clearly some rough kinky sex off-screen.* Lucas is just shy of being a sociopath who sees humans as little more than happy meals with legs (to borrow a phrase from Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
I like that they are starting off this relationship with their eyes open. Cal knows what Lucas is and that it's probably a bad idea but she does it anyway for reasons that make sense to her. Lucas still wants to drink her blood but for the moment won't without her consent because he wants to know more about her, though he still leaves that option open for later. There's no love at first sight, plenty of lust, but no love or even real trust yet. Those things will grow over time and you see it in my other stories with these characters even though they are written out of order.
*Speaking of kink and BDSM themes. I made sure to include a very clear bit of negotiation that is, I hope, still sexy because I'm a big believer in enthusiastic consent and asking for what you want. You write what you know and this is an area I have strong feelings about.