Page 55 of Spider Demon's Kiss

“And you are joining them for dinner tonight?”

“I told Dante that I would be able to see his guilt.”

“Have you gained a power I am unaware of?” she asked teasing me.

“I have gained many,” I replied jokingly. “I can now see through walls.”

“That is great skill.”

“I can also move the saucer from under the cup without touching it,” I told her holding my hands above it as if aboutlevitate it. “I just don’t want to right now,” I said relaxing in mock refusal.

Yuki put her hand over her mouth hiding her laughter. It always made me feel good to make my sister laugh. It had never been easy. But when I did, I felt complete.

Enjoying the rest of the day with my sister, I left her promising that I would visit again. And I did plan to in spite of all of her emotional outbursts.

Calling Dante’s assistant, the helicopter was there with enough time to return home, shower again and get dressed for dinner. I knew what I would wear, but I hadn’t decided on the makeup. What impression did I want to make on my new brother?

He certainly needed to know that I would kill him if he went after Dante. What would communicate that? Cat eyes were so out of fashion that someone would have to crazy to wear it. Was I that type of crazy? Or would that be going too far?

Deciding on a pale foundation that would give me a ghostly look, I emphasized my already thick eyebrows and chose black lipstick. It was very 1980s Grace Jones. It said, don’t turn your back on me because I’m crazy enough to have sex with O.J. Simpson.

“What the fuck?” Dante said when he came to change and get me. “You know that we’re having dinner with my brother, right? He’s not gonna go for any of this shit you’re wearing.”

As Dante waved indicating everything about me, I ignored him.

“Well, the purpose of tonight isn’t to have him go for me. It is to find out if he tried to kill you.”

“Yeah, but if he didn’t, you’re gonna have to see him on a regular basis. Matteo isn’t as open minded as I am.”

“Then he’s going to have to learn to be, isn’t he.”

Dante looked flustered. I didn’t think it possible for someone with so many tattoos. Taking my hand, he said, “I want you to know that you look fuckin’ great right now. I’m serious. I love everything about it. But when it comes to members of my pack…”

“When it comes to members of your pack, they’ll have to get used to it.”

“Kuroi…”

“Are you asking me to stab you again?”

Dante let go my hand and jumped back.

“No!” When he saw I wasn’t going to, he added, “I’m still healing from the last time.”

Remembering what I had done to him. I did feel a little bad.

“Ahhh, my poor baby,” I said approaching him slowly.

Directly in front of him, I slipped my hand on his side and with my thumb, lightly brushed the spot where I stabbed him. Dante’s body was tense beneath me, but he didn’t pull away.

“I will never let anyone do this to you again,” I told him looking up into his eyes.

“You’re the one who did it. Are you gonna do it again?”

“I hope not,” I told him honestly. “I only want to protect you.”

Dante seemed less assured by my answer than I wanted him to be. That was probably because I didn’t want to lie to him. I still didn’t know what I did when I slept. He should be ready to defend himself if in exhausted delusion I tried something.

I truly didn’t want to hurt him again. But I wasn’t sure I could stop myself. I could never be trusted.

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