Chapter 4
"How do I look?" Mel asked nervously, staring at herself in the full-length mirror in her room.
"Gorgeous, Mel," Jess assured her, grinning. Mel really did look wonderful in her red gown. Julius would not be able to resist her. "Where's he taking you?"
"Dinner, then some art museum," Mel told her with a shrug.
"What'd you talk about on the phone?"
"He told me that you're still more than welcome to come along as a chaperone," Mel laughed, shaking her head.
"What'd be the fun of having a chaperone along?" Jess scoffed, shaking her head.
Mel grinned and shook her head at her friend. "So, what have you got planned for tonight? Clubbing again?" At Jess' nod, Mel shook her head. "I'll get some more aspirin when I go shopping tomorrow," she muttered.
Jess rolled her eyes, ignoring the jibe. She was not going to back to some stupid club where the only attraction was some stupid drug and that was that. Especially not one as creepy as Club 805.
"You think the others will be able to handle things without us?" Mel asked Jess.
Jess nodded. "Why you think I mentioned Wednesday. Slow night if ever there was one."
Mel grinned and nodded. "Okay, let's go. Do I look okay?"
"For the tenth time, Mel, yes," Jess laughed, shaking her head. "Come on! You want to keep Julius waiting? He's probably already down there…" Grabbing her arm, Jess hauled Mel out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
Zin was indeed already there, enjoying a drink while leafing through the Wall Street Journal. A vase full of daffodils sat next to him. He looked up as Mel and Jess entered the barroom, rising and moving to meet them.
"Ladies!" he greeted them. "Melanie." With a faint smile, he took her hand in his own and raised it to his mouth, kissing it lightly. "You look lovely this evening," he told her with obvious approval. "Red is definitely your color. Your good advice, I suppose, Miss Brown?" he added, turning to face Jess and bowing at the waist.
Jess regarded him wordlessly for a moment, eyes wide, before grinning at him. "You always this much of a charmer?"
"Well, I suppose I have my moments," he allowed, winking at the girl. "So, will you be joining us this evening?"
Jess sniggered and shook her head. "It's like I told Mel. Where's the fun of a date if you're lugging along a chaperone?"
"Mmm, you could have something there," Zin agreed with a smile. "Other plans?"
Jess nodded easily. "Clubbing with friends, Doctor Zin."
"Julius, Miss Brown," he corrected her. "I insist."
"Julius," Jess agreed, grinning at him. "And you can just stop this 'Miss Brown' nonsense and call me Jess."
He inclined his head in agreement. "I got you flowers," he told Mel, nodding towards the vase. "Something told me that you were a daffodil person," he added, smiling.
"That 'something' wouldn't happen to carry a PDA, be dressed in an Italian suit, and named Lana, would it?" Mel asked with a smile.
Zin laughed and shook his head. "Found out!"
Mel grinned. "They are beautiful, though, Julius."
"I'm glad you approve," he said, offering Mel his arm. "Shall we?"
"You two have fun," Jess told them as Mel accepted his arm, looking surprised by his chivalry. After that kiss on the hand earlier, Jess was surprised that Mel hadn't seen it coming. Ten to one he got the door for her, too.
"You have fun as well, Jess," Zin told her.
"Yeah, Jess. Have fun. See you tomorrow."
Jess smiled as she watched them go. As she had guessed he would, Zin got the door for Mel. Jess scurried to the window and watched him open the door of a limo and help her in. Oh, yeah. Mel had definitely found herself a keeper.
***
"Julius, I'm impressed," Mel whispered after they had been seated. "This is supposed to be like the hardest restaurant in town to get in to."
"Third hardest," he corrected her absently, perusing the menu. "The other two were full."
Mel stared at him with wide eyes.
Zin slowly peered up at her over the menu. "Something wrong?"
She shook her head faintly. "You are just not like any guy I've ever been out with before."
"Is this a bad thing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't… no." Mel shook her head. "It's just that normally I would have a guy pretty much figured out by now. You I'm having trouble with."
"And with me sending Lana to find out all about you, you're at a disadvantage." He nodded faintly. "Information is power, you're right. What would you like to know about me?"
"Well, um… what kind of doctor are you?"
"Physicist."
"Oh." Mel nodded, impressed. "That must have taken a lot of school."
He gave a noncommittal shrug. "No more than any other doctoral degree," he pointed out, looking up as the waiter returned with their drinks. "Thank you. We'll still be a few more minutes before we're ready to order."
"Yes, sir." The waiter nodded and left.
"So, do you do, like, research?" Mel asked.
He smiled and shook his head. "Not any more. My theories… earned me some ridicule in the scientific community." His smile faded slightly. "I'm in Real Estate now."
"Real Estate?" Mel repeated, frowning slightly. It seemed like quite a switch from physics.
Zin smiled and sipped his scotch. "With an eye towards the archeological significance of my acquisitions," he explained. "It's always been a hobby of mine, and it brings in better money than physics."
"So, what, you like… sell artifacts?" Mel asked.
"The ones we don't keep for… sentimental reasons." He smiled at her. "Some of the things we recover are quite valuable, though." He shrugged absently.
Mel nodded faintly. "So, you from around here?"
"No." He shook his head. "I'm from a country whose name would probably mean absolutely nothing to you."
"What, one of those little Eastern European places?"
"Something like that." Close enough, at least. "Lovely place to live, wouldn't want to visit."
"Um, don't you mean…"
"No, I don't." He gave a short shake of the head. "Anything on that menu look good to you?"
***
"Walking on the beach was a wonderful idea, Melanie," Zin informed her quietly as they strolled along the moonlit stretch of sand.
She smiled over at him. "One of the advantages of living by the lake. The view is gorgeous, especially at night."
"Yes," he agreed. "I think I'm going to enjoy living in Chicago." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "The scenery is definitely something to write home about."
Mel stared at him with wide eyes.
"I'm being blunt again, aren't I?" he asked with a wide smile, turning to face her.
Mel nodded slowly. "Just a little."
"Well, I'm sorry." He shrugged helplessly. "But you really are quite lovely." When she dropped her head, he gently caught her face in his hands and forced it up, rubbing his thumbs lightly over her lips. "Obviously not something you're told often enough, but no less true as a result. Look at me, Melanie," he ordered.
"Julius," she began nervously, shaking her head.
"Hush… You are beautiful. I find you very beautiful."
Mel blinked and shifted slightly. Definitely not like any guy she had ever dated before. "Uh…"
"You don't have to be afraid," he whispered.
Mel closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm not afraid, Julius," she muttered.
Zin nodded sharply. "Good."
He had been afraid that he had overstepped himself. It was a constant risk when your complete knowledge of a species came from a legion of anthropologists rather than a human host. Sometimes the increased flexibility of not taking a human host was overshadowed by the inconvenience of not knowing what to do or say in a specific situation. Still, that was what Lana was for. She may not have been exactly happy to get him information on human mating and pre-mating behaviors, but she had also known that it was pointless to argue. As long as he did not allow Mel to distract him from his goal, she would allow him his fun.
She had returned to him a few hours after he had made his request with a full report. Rule one was that many members of the species did not consider it good form to initiate a mating on first dates. Kissing, the report had explained, was generally considered perfectly acceptable. And it had the added advantage of telling a man exactly how receptive a woman was to engaging in mating behavior later on. Lana had thoughtfully included several pages in her report describing the process and different types of kisses, along with an intimacy gradient for them.
Zin decided to start with something simple and not dreadfully intimate, so he kept his mouth closed and tenderly brushed his lips across hers before pulling away. He immediately understood what humans saw in the seemingly pointless behavior. It felt good.
Mel stared up at him with wide eyes, giving a nervous chuckle.
"What?" he asked, smiling faintly at her obvious surprise and uncertainty.
"Oh, Julius… with that lead-up, I was expecting… well, not that."
"I see." His smile widened. Receptive, definitely receptive. "Well, we can leave it at that if you'd like, or I can try again if you prefer?" he offered, knowing from Lana's report that human females liked to be given a choice where possible.
Mel gave another nervous laugh, not quite sure how else to react. The man had been coming on to her all night, compliment her appearance, manners, the way she carried herself, everything about her. He also seemed perfectly willing to leave things at that one friendly kiss. It was incongruous, completely out of her experience.
"I don't think one more kiss could hurt anything," Mel decided.
"I was hoping you'd say that," he replied cheerfully, pulling her against him.
Oh, yeah. Definitely not like any man she had ever dated before. She was a little startled by the intensity of the second kiss, in complete contrast to the first one, but quickly decided that it did not really matter. Obviously he had not wanted to make her uncomfortable with the first kiss. Having received her permission to kiss her again, he clearly no longer considered himself under the same sort of restrictions.
She barely had time to register surprise over the fact that he seemed to be growling during the kiss when he did something that took her completely off-balance. His hand shot up and wrapped firmly around her throat, not hard enough to cut off the air-supply, but definitely enough to make itself known. What really horrified Mel, though, was the awareness that she was actually enjoying it on some level. For some reason, having this man she had just met squeeze her throat was a turn-on. That scared her a hell of a lot more than his actions.
"Julius!" she gasped, pulling away and staring at him with wide eyes. "What the hell?" she whispered, one hand shooting up to her own throat, half defensive, half confused.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he murmured, as startled by what he had done as she was. It had been a very Vardian reaction to a very human form of stimulation. "Did I hurt you? Are you okay?" he asked, reaching up and running his hands over her throat, feeling for damage. His eyes widened as hers drifted shut. It was the last reaction he had expected. Curious, he continued stroking her throat. "I'm sorry, Melanie. I have no idea why I did that…"
"Just don't let it happen again," she breathed. "I like this a lot better."
"So I see." Zin smiled, bemused. "It won't happen again," he promised, still stroking.
His expression became increasingly curious as she submitted to this for several minutes, leaning a little closer to him with every pass of his hands. He had seen this response before, but not from any human woman. He leaned in for another kiss and Mel made no protest until his hands stilled in their progress over her throat, then she let out a soft sigh, almost a whimper.
Zin broke off the kiss, but resumed his attentions to her throat. His expression went from curious to bemused. "Should I take you home now?" he offered.
"Oh, I could stay here all night," Mel assured him, not opening her eyes.
"So could I, but we both have work in the morning. We could go out again on Friday?" he offered.
"Sounds good."
"Wonderful. I'll pick you up around seven?"
"Okay."
He reluctantly withdrew his hand from her throat. "We should go now."
Mel opened her eyes and nodded regretfully. "Yeah. Guess so. But you will pick me up on Friday?"
"Of course." Zin smiled and nodded. "Melanie, you have done something that no woman has managed in a long time. You have thoroughly intrigued me…"
***
"How'd your date go?" Lana asked lightly, entering Zin's office in response to his summons.
"I don't think she's human," he informed her, gesturing for her to sit.
"That… has the potential to complicate things. What is she?"
"Cirronian, I think."
Lana's expression turned cautious. "Based on?"
"The fact that her throat is an erogenous zone and she likes having it pet more than she likes having it squeezed."
Lana nodded faintly. "You think it's the Tracker?"
"No. Her life-force has a feminine feel about it."
Lana considered. Zin's little project had either yielded up a huge liability or a valuable tool. They would have to proceed carefully. "How shall I proceed?"
"Get a genetic screen run. And figure out how a Cirronian ends up on Earth."
She rose. "I'm on it." Sweeping from his office, she went to her own and picked up her phone, telekinetically pouring herself a drink as she spoke. "This is Lana. I need every available piece of information on a human named Melanie Irene Porter as soon as possible. Don't worry about what's important. You let me decide that."
She sat down at her computer and waited for information to start coming in. The results pleased her greatly. Mel Porter had an appointment to donate blood in the morning and Lana had an operative working for the Red Cross.
***
"One quarter Cirronian," Lana informed Zin the next morning, dropping the information on his desk. "By her paternal grandfather."
"That was quick."
"I'm always quick," Lana told him. "Her grandfather did not exist before he married her grandmother. We're still working on trying to ascertain exactly what he was doing on Earth. How shall I proceed?"
"Can someone who is one quarter Cirronian be expected to have full use of her Cirronian powers?"
"With training, she would, theoretically, be able to make use of at least the more rudimentary ones."
"We have a Cirronian in our employ? Other than the traitor Lontoria?"
"We do." Lana nodded sharply, searching her mind for a moment before providing, "Reta, sir, an embezzler."
"Take him off whatever he's working on," Zin directed. "His exclusive duty will now be the training of Miss Porter." He rose. "Get me my car. I need to speak with her."