Chapter 19

When I opened my mind, things got weird. I could hear people talking even though I knew that no one else was in the house other than Tony and Mei Wah. I could hear cars and telephones ringing. I was hearing the nearby neighborhood. I could smell things, too. Mei Wah had eaten some type of pork for his evening meal. Tony... I could smell him! I remembered his smell from last night. It was akin to fresh-baked bread. I knew it wasn't his true smell, but I knew his smell because he was my kin, my liege.

I reached out with my mind to locate that connection between us. It felt like a line.Funny, but there were two of them. I didn't have time to explore further because Tony was standing in front of me.

"Did you do that on purpose?" he asked.

"What?" I asked. My eyes scanned his form in appreciation. Damn, he was one sexy man. He was wearing black jeans and a dark shirt with the cuffs rolled up. The shirt was loosely untucked, but I could still see the broadness in his chest and arms. While he talked, I focused on his mouth … mmm.

"You called me." He gestured to his head. "Here. It's something we can do within our liege."

"You mean I can make you come?"

"Very easily." His eyes twinkled. "Oh, you mean come to you? No. We still have free will."

I felt myself grow warm at my poor choice of words.

He gave me another sexy smile and then leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine. "Good evening, beautiful."

I shivered. He smelled like something edible. He gave off a smell that reminded me of fresh-baked goodies. But I was far from hungry—at least the type of hunger that could be satisfied by food. I wanted to touch him but felt a little shy. We'd nearly fucked and yet he was still a stranger to me.

"How do you feel this evening?" he asked. "Of course you felt damn good a few hours ago ..." He had jokes today—bad ones, but it was cute.

I rolled my eyes but smiled. "I feel fine. But how do you feel? I think I almost killed you."

"Vampires won't die from being drained. But it's damn uncomfortable."

He led me into the media room, walked over to a remote control, and the room flooded with a subtle glow.

"Would you like to watch TV, listen to some music? I need to finish up some things in the other room. Then we're going to need to take care of your hunger situation."

My hunger situation? Which hunger, because I only had one going on right now. I tried not to be a complete slut about it, but memories of last night's escapades left me warm and tingly. I suppressed the surge of warmth wishing that I wasn't too shy to ask him about the intensity of my feelings—the intensity of everything. Everything seemed magnified, including the rapid attraction that I felt for him.

"Make yourself at home." Then he disappeared. Literally. He was there and then he was gone. I sighed in disappointment. He had things to do, but I wanted some of his attention. I needed to make more sense of things.

Mei Wah entered the room a minute or two later as I was trying to figure out how to work the remote control to the entertainment center.

"Good evening, Miss Kim. Would you like me to show you how to work that?"

"Hi, Mei Wah. No, I think I'm going to go down to my quarters."

"Mr. Brett has delivered your clothes. If you find anything to your disliking, please let me know and I'll have it returned and replaced."

I beamed. "Thanks, Mei Wah". I didn't think I'd send anything back, though!

Because I was in heels, I didn't want to risk using my super speed going down to my quarters. It would suck to twist an ankle at the speed of light.

Mei Wah had come in and cleaned. The bed was made, and the new clothing was lying on the bed or draped across a chair. Damn! Tony had bought me an entire wardrobe!

I luxuriated in the Jacuzzi experimenting with some of the bath oils until I got a scent that made me happy.

I rubbed my skin with shea butter then slipped on a set of my new lingerie. I decided on a buttery cream wireless bra with matching lace boy pants underwear. I had to look at my butt in the boy pants and do a little dance. I looked around to make sure no one had crept downstairs, because the last time that happened, a woman lost her hand.

Thinking about that unnerved me. So did the memory of taking the Lord's name in vain. It made Tony uncomfortable to hear me say it. No ... That wasn't quite right. It hurt him. But it had not affected me at all. What was that about?

I put it in the back of my mind and went through the selection of clothes. I decided on pale gold slacks and another pale sheer button-down blouse. This time the blouse hugged my form in a fashionably urban yet sophisticated look.

This outfit was crying for my thin gold chain. I dug through my overnight bag and found my jewelry box securely tucked in the bottom of it.

Sitting on the faux white fur of the bed, I dumped out the contents of the box. Everything twinkled in a mess of earrings, bracelets, and chokers. I was never good at keeping my jewelry separated, except my diamond earrings, of course. Those were a present to myself, and they were safely tucked into their own personal velvet-lined box. I used an empty clothes hanger to nudge things aside, and the crucifix lay tangled with the chain I wanted to wear and one of my dangly gold loops.

I looked at it, mesmerized. Kaniji had lost her hand touching it, but how is it that I could say, "God." There, I just thought it, and nothing happened.

I reached out. I would only touch the tip, and then it wouldn't brand its impression into my flesh.

My hand started shaking before it got within inches of it. Kaniji's hand had been smoking. My fingers had looked like sausages after touching silver for only a split second.

I took a deep breath and pressed my finger against the crucifix before jerking it away.

Zing!

I jumped with a yelp. I gripped my hand and squeezed my finger. Wait a minute. The finger that touched the crucifix wasn't throbbing. The side of my pinky looked seared.

I looked at the heap of jewelry. I leaned in close. My pinky had brushed the back of an old watch that had long since been relegated to the jewelry box. The back of the watch was sterling silver.

I gasped.

I reached out and picked up the crucifix.

Oh ... my ... God.