She had smiled after she had said her name and her fingers once again continued their exploration of his features. Although it was almost painful to look away from her face, he let his eyes wander to the delicate hand that was now studying the line of his jaw.

Trying to concentrate on something other than the lust and the heady scent of her he let his attention be captured by a ring that she wore on her thumb. It was a simple, but beautiful piece of jewelry. Whatever craftsman had made the silver ring was skilled and obviously loved his work.

He reached for her hand then and carefully took it in his. At this simple movement, she froze. His eyes briefly lifted away from the ring to her face at this action, but she did not seemed frightened, merely surprised.

He arched a brow at her expression and then mentally shrugged it off and let his crimson eyes wander to the ring again. His brows drew together as he examined the intricately woven silver that had letters embedded inside. Πλούτων. Pluton…Hades. His eyes flew up to hers in surprise and she gave him another sheepish smile as she shrugged her shoulders gracefully.

“Death,” he whispered. That was what the name on the ring signified.

She had just nodded.

Frowning he stared at her, as if expecting her to reveal more, but she had just stared back. In fact she seemed to be enjoying the fact that he would not ask the questions that would sate his curiosity. And, in the end, he did not ask, he had simply said, “Explain.”

She had smiled at the sound of his voice and simply shrugged. “I am a priestess.”

He had rarely been surprised by anything over the last several centuries, but this young girl, this human, continued to do so with each passing moment.

His kind, vampires, kept up with the various religions that worshipped and paid tribute to the dead. After all, they could be extremely helpful to the undead.

His brows drew together again and he frowned as a million questions began to swirl through his mind at this newly acquired knowledge. A priestess of Pluto, or Hades, as the Greeks had called him, that was…unusual. For one most of the priests that served the god of the underworld were old men who were close to death’s door themselves, what was this beautiful young girl doing as a priestess? It was apparent that she was not of Roman descent with her bright red hair and blue eyes. She was a descendant of the barbarian tribes that the Roman’s enslaved, that much was obvious. How could a slave be serving as a priestess? Was the fact that she served the god of death the reason she had been attracted to him? Was that why she was fascinated? Was she seeking death herself?