Sweetheart? Who’d given him permission to call her sweetheart? That was a word she didn’t use lightly. She’d never call him sweetheart unless she meant it. And he’d be long in the fang before she threw anything that loving his way.

She kept quiet for the short time it evidently took him to fill Sparkle in on the latest news. When he looked as though he was finished, she continued her train of thought. “So I assume you don’t really need a phone at all.”

“I use a cell all the time. A human mind is an easy-enter, but getting into a nonhuman mind is hard work. It drains my power. And a vampire with no power is a dead vampire. Permanently dead.”

“What’s happened? Everyone’s running around. I’ve been out all afternoon. Did I miss something?“

Asima’s voice in her head drew Cinn’s gaze down. The blue-point Siamese gazed up at her with those spectacular blue eyes. If you could get past her annoyance factor, she was really a beautiful animal.

“Thank you for the compliment, but I’m only borrowing a cat’s form. As I should, since I’m the messenger of the goddess of all cats. And I have no idea why you’d think I was annoying.“

Okay, this had to stop right now. “Get out of my head, cat. No one gave you permission to root around in my thoughts.” She cast Dacian a meaningful glare so he’d realize this was aimed at him, too.

Asima managed to put a puzzled expression on her cat face. “Why would I need permission? You wouldn’t even know I was there if I didn’t tell you.“ She paused to think things through. “Although over time you’ll learn to feel the light brush of my mind against yours. It’s very subtle though, because I’m so powerful.“

Cinn was shocked. “You mean you’re still going to read my mind?”

Asima blinked. “Of course. How else will I find out what I want to know?“

“Heard this before.” Cinn knew that talking to herself didn’t bode well for her mental health, but Asima had that effect on her.

Dacian stepped into the breach as Cinn tried to think of a way to reason with a being that didn’t think in a human way. A good thing, too, because she was almost at the point of abandoning reason and resorting to throwing things.

“Someone stole a plant from Cinn’s room. The plant is very important to her. We’re trying to find him while there’s still a chance that he’s alive.”

Asima looked fascinated. “You called the plant a he. Why?“