by Kai Leakes
Both ladies seemed to nod in unison, blushing as Kyo exhaled. Just like with Mr. Sexy number one, she felt that she had to comply. A sensation that didn’t feel against her will, but more like a natural trust, an understanding of sorts. And she did not have a problem doing just that.
Chapter 12
Sanna sat in her new home in Lincoln Park, sprawled on her couch in lilac boy shorts and a lilac tank. Kyo was plopped across from her in a nearby La-Z-Boy chair, dressed in a similar outfit, only in all white. She loved her new home. It was a brownstone building restored to its former glory that sat next to Kyo’s own similar unit. Though the houses were separate, for some odd reason, there was an underground connecting tunnel that ran to both units that was still safely functional.
According to Mr. Lenox, the only ones who knew about it were the owner of the restoration construction company he worked with, her, and Kyo. Lenox had insisted she stop calling him Mr. Lenox, so she had to remind herself to stop with the formality. He had insisted in decking out their homes with security and other gadgets. Unbeknownst to both women though, the tunnel also ran to a private bunker that led to a part of the CTA subway system no human knew about, and the highway. It would come in handy if ever they needed to escape, or when it came time for them to train in their awakening powers.
The land that the two brownstones lay on sat in a protected blended Nephilim neighborhood, which ensured that the ladies would stay protected and hidden in plain sight.
“Today was too crazy, wasn’t it?” Sanna chuckled as she hit play on her DVD. Larenz Tate and Nia Long flashed across her massive HDTV then Ninja Assassin as she played with the menu option before settling on Love Jones.
Tonight was chick-flick action night. That meant that any movie, be it chick flick or action with cuties in it, Sanna and Kyo would be glued to.
Kyo pushed a massive tin of Garrett caramel and cheddar popcorn toward Sanna. “Crazy is an understatement, girl. Since moving here, we have been surrounded by the holy grail of sexy-ass men.” She tilted her head as she raised her eyebrow in a sly smile. “Do you think Lenox or Marco would like a little geisha in their world?”
Sanna shook her head at her girl. She knew Kyo hated clichés and stereotyped references with regard to her race and sexual appetite, but tonight she definitely was playing it up.
Kyo batted her eyes and winked, a hidden flash of danger glinting momentarily before disappearing.
“Girl, do you think they would like a little brown sugar in their world?” Sanna ducked as popcorn suddenly doused her, and she shook her curly ’fro while she laughed. “What!”
“Please. They are off-limits. Plus, you have that ultra-sexy man, Khamun, after you. Please do not act as if you didn’t see how he was literally so close that he could be your second skin.”
Sanna rolled her eyes, huffing. “Please. Mr. Cross was not into me like that. Did you see how fast he left?”
Kyo gave her a shrug. “Nope. No, I did not, sis.”
Quirking an eyebrow, Sanna shook her head. “Man, listen. No one is interested in me. I’m a curvy big girl who just can’t seem to draw in them fine, tall glasses of men who aren’t looking for stray ass. I keep getting old-ass, dusty, scary, stalking, Flavor Flav-looking men. What is wrong with me, huh?”
Kyo rolled her eyes and studied the movie. Larenz was spitting about how Nia was the blues in his left eye as jazz flowed through the house.
“Sanna, stop. You are in a new city. New world, new everything! Yes, those creepy, elderly, or Flavor Flav men do seem to like you, but guess what? So do those fine men who have their heads on straight. You just have to stop being blind and mean-mugging everyone.”
Sanna sighed and quietly shifted on the couch. “I do not mean-mug, and I do pay attention.”
“Do you? Okay. So when are you going to give Khamun your card? Hmm? When are you going to let him between those thighs, so the gates of heaven can sing and you can finally know what good tallywhacker is? Huh?”
Sanna flushed a thousand colors as she covered her face with her hands. “Oh my goodness! I hate your jokes sometimes. Damn!”
Kyo laughed. “What? Answer my question pretty please. So when he asks, you’re going to give him a chance, huh?”
Sulking, Sanna couldn’t help but wonder. She couldn’t lie, she had been thinking about him hard since her second brief encounter with him. She couldn’t help but be curious about that man. Who was he outside of the workplace? Was he really interested in her?
“Sanna! If he asks, will you give him the time of day?” Kyo watched her sister look away from her eyes, pretending she was looking for something near her seat.
“So Calvin is coming over tomorrow. He’s going to work on some stuff in the house that didn’t get fixed the first go-’round, and is going to take us shopping.”
Shaking her unruly bob, Kyo chuckled. “Scared ass.”
“What! Yes, okay. If he asks or hints, I’ll give him my card. He’s just so . . .”
Clapping her hands in glee as she bounced on her bent legs, Kyo paused then glared at Sanna out the corner of her eye. “He’s just so what?”
Sanna couldn’t form the words. It was like that man was everything she had been waiting on. As if the Most High slapped her across the face and said, “Here! Tired of you praying for him. Now get on with your life with him as destined.” Sanna couldn’t help but inwardly laugh.
He felt like the man in her dreams. The man who would creep in at night and glide between the sheets of her bed to smoothly place a gentle hand on her inner thigh, stroking and spreading her open effortlessly. The man who seemed to slide down and leave her body wet with kisses that seemed to send euphoric pleasure through her body. The man whose rod was so hard, his veins seemed to add a ridged ecstasy against her wet bud while he brushed her gently. That man whose locks would spread over her naked body covering her in a sensual protection that made her spirit spread and flux through his solid yet comforting body. It felt as if it was him, and that scared her.
She licked her lips. Her body already felt alive in that memory.
Kyo’s voice quickly jolted her back to reality. “Sanna, speak! He’s just so what?”
“Oh, he’s just the shit! I can’t even think of a better word. Did you see his mural? It’s like its breathing life. He has poetry painted in it too, girl. That man is something else. Like Larenz Tate wooing Nia on stage, kind of something else, and he is working at my restaurant!”
Kyo chuckled while inwardly sighing. She had stood by that mural all day and not noticed a thing, but after her run-in with Khamun and Marco, she noticed the difference. The words seemed to glow with power, and the people in the scene, the colors all seemed to breathe with a life and light of their own. Everything swirled, letting her know no one would come to harm in the building or near the building, that only good was allowed in. The fact that she was able to read that from the mural freaked her out. She quickly planned on calling her father as soon as she found the time for some privacy.
“Yes. That’s what I’m saying. You two would look good together. So when you see him again, just slide him your business card. You know he’s constantly working throughout Chicago and St. Louis because he’s owner of the restoration construction company. Maybe you can get him to come back here and work on a little something-something.” Kyo snickered and tried to block the pillow Sanna sent flying in the air, but it hit her in her face.
“I bet that would make your day, huh!”
“Yes, it would. So now that we have that squared, you think Lenox or Marco would mind sharing a midnight snack with me?”
Sanna laughed. “What? Like, at the same time?”
“Yes! A girl has to dream.”
Sanna cracked up laughing. She knew Kyo was as fresh as the driven snow, like herself, but her mind wasn’t. “What about that guy in your dreams? The one you said had you clutching at the sheets and grinding all on your pillow?”
Quietly munching on her popcorn, Kyo frowned.
“What about him? He’s just another wet dream for my mind to torture me with.”
Sanna loved how Kyo could be raw with the truth with her, but when it came to her own self, that wisdom always seemed to work backwards. “I don’t think so, but that’s just me, sis. I think you’re going to bump into him one day.”
“Where? In St. Louis? Nantucket? I think I have to go to California, because he didn’t seem like the dutiful Asian son. No. He seemed like a wildcard like myself, and where do you find that at anywhere? And don’t say ABDC!”
Sanna just smiled and shrugged as she noticed her cell light up with a text. “Amara and Miya are coming back to see the new house and check on Momma on spring break. Which means my house is going to be flooded. You know Take and Dare already are annoyed that the whole family is in Chicago as is.”
Kyo laughed. “Yes. The whole point of them coming here was to get their own space, but I don’t think they really are that upset with it as you think.”
“No, they aren’t. They love that we are here, especially us.”
Chuckling again, Kyo nodded. “Right. Because where else can they go for good food and a HDTV, with all the entertainment they like? Plus all this space.”
“Mmm-hmm. So I know Mom is loving her downtown condo? How are your parents? Do they love where they are at?”
“Momma loves being near Loyola, and the fact that they welcomed her with tenure and her own graduate department, she is in heaven.”
“Really? I’m so happy for her. She’s been so damn busy, she hasn’t had the time to tell me whenever I call.”
“Don’t I know. Daddy has been going crazy. He’s been kicking the med students at UIC’s ass. Being the top neurosurgeon in the country kind of sets you up with being gawked at by med students.”
“I still think it’s funny that Take and Dare have to deal with Pops Hideo on their campus now. I heard him saying one day that he was going to get you and Take into that med school even if it kills him.”
Kyo exhaled and rubbed her temples. “Again, I’m too old to go back. Leaving in my third year was the best choice ever. Juggling both was too hard. I loved that I said, ‘Screw it,’ and got my pastry degree instead. And, San, Take for damn sure doesn’t want to mess with med school.”
“I know, I know. That damn photographic memory of yours had you at the top of the class in med school and culinary school. Anyway, I think he’s just excited, is all.”
Kyo said, “Yeah, I think so too.” Then she added, “Don’t think I’m playing, Sanna. Next time you see Mr. Sexy, give him your card. Otherwise, I think he’s going to snatch you up one day, and I’m just going to have to let him.”
“Hmm. I wish he would snatch me up even for a little bit. Did you see his arms and his lips!”
Both women sighed and melted as they laughed and continued to watch the movie, not the least bit aware of the shadow in the window.
Chapter 13
The Reaper smiled. Right now he was just himself, the Watcher. Studying his Guide, it pleased him that she was settling in so well, relaxed and happy with her beautiful self. He knew he wanted her even more now. Her aura seemed to shine brighter as she slowly awakened.
When her mind drifted off into their mental lovemaking, he had to stop himself from kicking the door down and tearing into them lilac boy shorts with his mouth and drinking his fill. Images of his tongue playing tag around her pearl and lapping at her honeyed haven had his fangs cresting in need. Damn, if his dick wasn’t still throbbing at the thought.
He had to quietly thank the Most High for the change in status, because all protocol was going to be broken if he couldn’t have her—his seat in power, his house, all of it. He wanted Sanna Steele. After today, he for damn sure was going to have her and keep her.
Entering into the house unaware, he stood back and observed. Her father had chosen this house for a reason. Outside of the fact that it was in a well-protected area, this house also had a hidden bunker that connected not only to the main interstate but also to his compound via Chicago Transit Authority and a cavern. He had to do everything in his power to protect what was his and protect the woman who would help revive Society. It had been a long time since a surviving Oracle had been born, so finding one who was also a Vessel, in such a close generation, was a blessing in itself.
Fluctuating like a quick breeze, he misted around Sanna quietly, his fingertips playing with the ends of her hair before he noticed Kyo’s sudden stare. For a second he thought she could see him, but he knew better. Gargoyles could sense his kind but not see them. Smiling, he moved away, her eyes following but not processing. Good. She was becoming aware.
“Kyo, girl, what are you looking at?”
Khamun inwardly chuckled.
Kyo shook her head in confusion, “Nothing. Just had a moment.” She glanced around again and shook her head as she relaxed and watched the movie.
The night was young, and he was starving. Being back in his home city had him on edge. He hated hunting here. The thrill was the best, but he always had to make sure no one from Society ever caught him in the act. Feeding from the enemy was something that no others did. Many had fangs just for decoration. They were useless appendages that would only appear in anger or lust. For that reason, people in his Society couldn’t be called vampires. If a Nephilim fed, it was typically done via their mates or relative, donated Nephilim, half-Cursed blood, or not at all. Feeding reminded polite Society of what the First War did to change them from their pure Arch state to that of half-human hybrids that had fangs as weapons to tear the enemy apart, and that was a stain on the Nephilim race, a mark of the First Fall.
Sudden hunger had him in a daze. Since the woman he wanted as his mate was still clueless about her lineage and he clearly couldn’t feed from her, hunting seemed the best bet, he thought as he strolled through his compound. His compound was hidden, thanks to protection runes that camouflaged it as nothing but a well-guarded CTA building, surrounded by lethal fencing and cameras that Kali had hooked up.
He drove through retina and bio scanners identifying him, which opened the massive gates. Driving underground, it took only five seconds for him to open his door and meet Kali’s angry stare.
“You didn’t feed!”
“Hello to you too, little bit,” he said, lightly picking Kali up by the shoulders and moving her to the side he walked on. “No, I did not. Don’t feel like it.” He stepped out of his black Escalade.
“What! You have to feed. Khamun, please go hunt.” Kali tried to match his pace as she followed.
“What I want to feed from is not currently available at the time, so it is what it is. I’ll grab something in the cellar.”
“I’ll call Marco.” She frowned and rushed forward, her face contorted in annoyance.
“I’m good, Kali.” It annoyed him to have to use donor blood from his cousin, mixed with that from a non-relative Nephilim, typically Kali.
Khamun paused in the long corridor and glanced down at the woman he felt was the little sister he never had. Kali stood in tight dark denim jeans that had rips on the thighs, yellow high-top Nike, and a white-and-yellow graffitied shirt that hung off her bare right shoulder. Sometimes he thought she could be Miya’s twin sister.
“You know how I feel about it, so leave it.”
“No, Khamun, I can’t. If you don’t feed, you know how sick you get. We can drag a Cursed here for you.”
“Munchkin, if it was about the hunt, then I wouldn’t be here. This is different. I just don’t want that blood.” He closed his eyes and ran an idle hand over his locks as he exhaled.
“You want Sanna.”
The lilt in Kali’s voice and twinkle in her eyes made Khamun inwardly cringe as he walked on. He passed through another set of scanners and flashing lights before standing in the middle of a swank platform that overlooked his second home. If he made a right, he could take the hidden stairway to his estate home. If he walked north, he could end up back in Sanna’s and Kyo’s homes.
Yeah. He liked where he was and the family he had surrounding him.
“Grab me the donor blood and be done with this, Kali, okay. I’m good. Do not mix Marco’s blood in there. That’s an order.”
Kali pouted and walked off before pausing. “You know, you could just ask her in her dreams. Take a small sample. See if it will help you appease your thirst.”
“I could, but I’d rather have her be coherent and willing, because when I feed from her . . . ” Khamun flashed a seductive smile that had Kali blushing while she shook her head.
“Okay, okay. I’ll be back with your food.” She rushed off.
He knew she’d mix Marco’s half-dark blood with the bag out of love and concern. He hated using Marco in such a way. It often put them both in a bad place due to old memories and shadows of their youth, but he needed that darkness. He needed to have it run through him and cycle out like a dialysis machine, but the older they both got, the less Marco’s blood seemed to help. Khamun always felt it was due to his cousin’s acceptance of being a creature of the Light, not what he was born in, the Dark.
“Ey, man. How my cousin doing?” Calvin strolled in from the gym that nestled on the first level of the compound. Glowing sweat drenched his white tank as he dabbed at his face with a towel and offered Khamun dap.
“Still adjusting and loving her home.”
Damn! Khamun swore everyone was dousing him with fifty questions. He misted and landed on the couch, the remote in one hand and his foot resting on the table in front of him.
Calvin was still on the platform stairway, shaking his head as he hopped the railing and landed with a thud below, before calmly walking to the couch. “That it, man? She a’ight? Nothing dark invading her dreams?”
The concern in Calvin’s voice had Khamun sitting up as a warm cup of blood found its way in front of him. “No migraines tonight, my man. All is good.”