Danse Macabre

40

«TELL ME THE joke, I could use the laugh.» Travis's voice came from the far hallway. His face was tight and pinched with pain. Noel hovered beside him like he was waiting to catch him if he stumbled. They both still looked too young to drive. Was it just age that had made Joseph pick them for my feedings, or was there some other reason? I mean, there's submissive and then there's cannon fodder. Everyone he'd offered for my selection, even the jocks, had that new-car smell, like they hadn't been driven around the block enough. There had to be a reason he'd offered me lambs when what I needed was lions.

«Why haven't you shifted?» Micah asked. He was already moving across the living room toward them, walking past Auggie. The vampire reached out, tried to grab his arm. Micah moved so fast that I didn't really see Auggie try to grab him, and miss. I saw the vampire reach out, and Micah just wasn't where he was reaching. So fast, it was like magic. Micah went to the werelions, and started talking to them in a low voice. He ignored the vampire.

Auggie looked angry, and something else, something that was almost pain. «You've made your point, Jean-Claude.»

«Micah does not like to be grabbed, that is all the point that has been made,» Jean-Claude said, voice mild. He was still lounging decoratively on the couch. «Do you envy me my cats, Augustine?»

«I don't envy anyone.»

Even I could taste the lie.

Micah started leading the werelions toward the love seat. He stopped well out of reach, and looked at Auggie. «I really don't want to play games, Augustine. I just want to get Travis sitting down.»

«If you were in my territory, I'd have to make a lesson of it, of you, but you aren't my kitty-cat. Sit down, I won't bother you.»

Micah walked wide round the vampire, but gave him his back. His eyes flicked to me, and I realized he was trusting my reaction to let him know what Auggie was doing. I nodded, like, it's okay. Micah led the two lions to the love seat.

«Petty games do not become you, Augustine. You are master of a powerful territory. You could have your own collection of lovers, to rival mine.» He left the implication that we were all his lovers, and we let it slide. I was his lover, and neither of the other men was bothered by the rumors.

«I'm not just Master of the City of Chicago, Jean-Claude, I'm a mob boss. The mob allows you a family with a wife and kids, a mistress, whores, but nothing else.»

Jean-Claude luxuriated against the couch arm. «You could never let any of them see you looking at me as you do right this moment.»

Auggie shook his head. «If you were a whore or a hustler, I'd have to kill you if they saw me look at you this way.»

«But your rivals cannot see you now. You can look at me any way you like.»

«Fuck you, Jean-Claude, you're going to use this look on my face to punish me, and try to control me. It's just another kind of gun at my head.»

«We are master vampires, we are all about control, but I do not intend to punish you, unless you punish us first.»

«What does that mean?»

«It means, if you are cruel to us, we will be cruel in return. If you play nicely, then so will we.»

«Define play nicely,» I said.

«When you saw the look of pain on his face, did it not make your heart ache, ma petite?»

I wanted to lie, but… «Yeah.»

The look of cynicism on Auggie's face flickered, as if he didn't know what look would help, or what look he dared give.

«But, so what? Thanks to his machinations, I don't want to see him hurting, so what?»

«Augustine could come and visit us. His mob connections could think he was trying to woo us for criminal activities, or just that he was solidifying his alliance with us, one master to another. Either way, he could visit us periodically without arousing suspicions. Since he is a known mob figure, it would explain why the visits would have to be out of the media's so-glaring eye.»

Auggie watched the other vampire like a mouse that's had the cat tell him I won't eat you, today. Half hopeful, half afraid to hope. «What are you offering, Jean-Claude?»

«One, that you do not try to make things worse for ma petite. Do not try to raise her ardeur, or mine, against our will. Do not abuse my hospitality by using your powers on my people.»

«I apologized for that,» he said.

«You made a joke of your apology,» Jean-Claude said. «I need to know if you are sincere.»

Auggie nodded. «I am sorry, but…«He looked away, his hands in fists. «You don't understand what it's like to be on the receiving end of the ardeur. You gained the ardeur almost from the first moment. It awoke with your blood lust. You've never been its victim.»

«Not true,» Jean-Claude said. He sat up, suddenly, brisk and almost businesslike. «Ma petite can feed the ardeur from me, as I can feed my ardeur from her. We can be the victim of each other's ardeurs.»

«I'm sorry, I know that. I know that you were as much enthralled by Belle as any. But still, you can feed the ardeur, and gain the rush of it. I have nothing unless I can find a partner who carries it. I had hoped that one, or both, of you would love me, truly love me, truly want me. I'd hoped to bargain love for the ardeur, and now I watch you both.» Again, he looked away, as if he couldn't stand to look at either of us. «And you are not moved by me. You, Jean-Claude, you watch as Belle used to watch me. She» — he pointed at me — «she watches me like she hates me. So cold, so angry. I don't understand it. Did my power work on her, or only on me? I feel the draw of her body, but she doesn't seem to feel anything for me, except anger.»

«Ma petite does not like to be in love. It always angers her, most especially in the beginning.»

Auggie shook his head. «I don't understand that.»

I shrugged. «Join the club.» I went to the love seat. Nathaniel trailed me. «Why hasn't Travis shifted?»

Micah answered, «He's waiting for you.»

«Waiting for me to do what?»

«Bring my beast,» Travis said, and his face was almost gray with pain.

«What you do here on your little visits would be a secret from your so-conservative fellow criminals,» Jean-Claude said.

«Just shift, Travis. Heal yourself.»

He shook his head, huddling over his arm.

Auggie said, «And what would I be doing on these visits?»

«Perhaps we could even visit you in Chicago.»

I was suddenly paying attention to their conversation. If we went to Chicago, oh, my God, the energy there would…

«No, no fucking way. You'd feed on all my people then. I felt what one feeding off me and the few people I had here did to your power level. No way.»

«So you do not want to visit us again?»

Auggie forced himself to stand very straight, shoulders back, an echo of military something. «You know that I do, but I won't trade my people and all my power for it. I won't crawl for you, Jean-Claude.»

«I don't want you to crawl, Augustine.»

«What do you want?»

«You to stop trying to manipulate us. Accept that we hold the ardeur and you want it. Supply and demand, dear Augustine.»

«You bastard.»

Jean-Claude was suddenly standing, so fast I hadn't seen it. Magic, again. «You abused my hospitality first. You manipulated my human servant so you could feed on the ardeur again. You opened the way for Belle Morte to possess ma petite. I am not the bastard here.»

«Fine, I'm the rat bastard. You're right; saying that I didn't understand I was inviting Belle in doesn't fix it. Yeah, I want to take back one of the women of Belle's line, but no one but Anita carries the ardeur. She and you, so yeah, I came with the idea that if I had a chance at it, I'd raise the ardeur.»

«You came here wanting the ardeur one more time; what do you want now, Augustine?»

«Don't make me say it, Jean-Claude.»

«Ma petite is not a subtle woman. Unless you say it, she will not understand it.»

Auggie looked at me, but his eyes flinched, like someone who was expecting to be hit. «I won't sell my people, or my power base, I won't humiliate myself, but short of that, I will do anything, anything, to have you and Jean-Claude feed on me again.» The flinching gave way to fear. «Want someone killed, I'll do it. Money, drugs, designer anything, whatever you want, whatever you need, just don't tell me that I'll never be in your arms again.» His face turned away, but not before I saw the shine of unshed tears.

«We do our own killing. We've got enough money. We are a drug-free zone; don't bring that shit here. If I want designer stuff, I'll buy it myself.»

Auggie stood there, face averted, shoulders hunched, waiting for the blow to fall. «I have nothing to offer you then.» His voice was thick when he said it.

«I am way past uncomfortable about what Jean-Claude and I did with you. It felt so fucking good to feed off you, and that terrifies me.»

Auggie looked back at me. His eyes held the tears back by sheer willpower.

«But for better or worse, I look at you and my heart aches. I want to comfort you, and that pisses me off. I've had people I loved, really loved, use vampire powers on me. I cut them off at the knees for it. I've run from them for months, not seeing them, not even talking to them.» I moved toward him as I spoke, a little closer with every sentence. «I just met you. You aren't my friend. You forced me to love you, but I don't know you.»

He tried to give me angry eyes, but the unshed tears that hovered there ruined the effect. «I underestimated you, Anita.»

«Most people do,» I said.

«I thought you were just Jean-Claude's human servant. I felt your power as a necromancer. It should have been a warning, but I went ahead with my plan. I wanted the ardeur. I wanted it so badly.» He smiled, but not like he was happy. «And I was arrogant. I am Master of the City of Chicago. I've been a mobster since the 1930s. I have been powerful, and a threat to anything in my path for centuries. The only thing that ever truly defeated me was Belle.» The tears trembled, but still he held them back.

I stood there, staring at him, needing to look up only a little, because he wasn't that tall. Normally I liked that in a man, but now I was just pissed. I was going to hold on to that anger, because rage was the only thing that kept me from running my hands over his bare chest. My hands itched with the desire to touch him. It wasn't just love, it was more and less than that. It was a sort of magical compulsion. It felt like love, but it held elements of almost addiction. I realized that Auggie had rolled me, well and truly. His power had rolled me. I had fought free of some of it, and Jean-Claude had helped, but I wasn't free of what he'd done to me. But staring into his face, those angry, teary eyes, I realized he wasn't angry at me. He was angry at himself.

«You rolled yourself,» I said.

He closed his eyes and turned away. He spoke with his face averted from me. «The blade cuts both ways,» he whispered.

«But if we've got better armor, then more of your power hits you than us, doesn't it?»

He nodded, still turned away.

I had a flash of satisfaction. Served him right. But on the heels of that petty pleasure came regret. Regret like bitter ashes. «Jesus,» I whispered.

He turned. He'd lost the battle with the tears. They ran in pale pinkish tracks down his face.

«Of all the powers from Belle's line that I've had used on me, Auggie, yours is the most awful.»

«How can you say that?» he asked. «The ardeur can enslave. Requiem can rape with a thought.»

«Yeah, Requiem's power would be the ultimate date-rape drug, but he doesn't use it that way.»

«He did once,» Auggie said.

I processed that information, tested if it was a lie, but I didn't think it was. I shrugged. «Whatever he was as a young vampire, he's not that now. But the ardeur is just lust, and so is Requiem's power. It doesn't steal the emotions; yours does.»

«And you think that is a worse crime?»

I nodded. «Yeah, I do.»

«You hate me.» He whispered it.

I nodded. «Yes.»

He turned away, and took a step. I caught his arm. He froze under that one small touch, as if I'd turned him to stone. I knew that reaction. That was the reaction when the merest brush of someone's hand meant more to you than almost anything in the world, and it meant nothing to them. It was how I'd felt off and on with Richard. As if my entire life were in the hand that touched him, and he didn't care. It was one of the reasons that I'd fought free of him. It was too hard to love that much, and hate that much at the same time.

I used that touch to turn Auggie back to me. He let me do it, though he could have fought and won. I was stronger than a normal human now, but Auggie's bicep was thicker than my thigh. In a fair fight, I'd lose, but Auggie's own power had made certain he'd never have a fair fight with me.

I looked into his eyes, watching him try to be angry, instead of hurt. «What a terrible power you have, Augustine,» I said, softly, «to offer true love and mean it. People must have been willing to trade anything, everything, for such a gift.»

He nodded. «Without the ardeur to trap me back, I could have made you love me without risking this much of myself. I know everything about my power, Anita. I can make a person love me, really love me, and not love them back.»

I dropped his arm. «Have you done that?»

«You're right, Anita, I have a terrible power. At first it was just the ability to make people like me, then love, but what I didn't realize, at first, was that it was a two-edged blade. I could only cut my prey as deep as I was willing to be cut.»

«That changed,» I said.

He nodded. The tear tracks were drying on his face. He made no move to wipe them away. «I learned control. I learned to trap others without trapping myself, as Jean-Claude learned with the ardeur. I don't know if Requiem ever learned how to cause lust in only one side of his equation.»

«I did not.» Requiem came in, moving slowly, carefully. He was wearing his usual black cloak, so the injuries were hidden, but he moved like things still hurt. Someone had used cover-up on the worst of the facial bruises. It was a good job. You had to look to see the discoloration; even then, if I hadn't known it was bruises, I might not have seen.

Auggie glanced at him, then back at me. «But most of us do, eventually.»

«So if our power hadn't tripped you up, you'd have been willing to make me love you, really love you, and not love me back?»

«I didn't think that clearly, but I would not willingly have loved you, no.»

«You really are a bastard,» I said.

He nodded. «Chicago has no mob but the old-school Italian. I've kept out the Russians, the Ukrainians, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Japanese. No one, absolutely no one, takes power from me. While almost every other mob stronghold has been whittled away, I've held my territory against everyone. To do that, Anita, you have to be a bastard. A cold-blooded, murderous bastard.»

«You hide it well,» I said. «The laugh is great.»

«I work at appearing human; it makes the other bosses be less afraid.»

«The head of Vegas is an old-time mobster, too.»

Auggie shook his head. «He stopped being a force in the mob when he became a vampire. It takes a while to recover from it, and by the time Maximillian was powerful enough to take back some of it, times had changed, and he didn't change with them. He's powerful, and runs Vegas, but he's not a boss anymore.»

We stood there staring at each other.

Jean-Claude came up behind me. He touched my shoulder, and when I didn't pull away, he hugged me from behind. The look on Auggie's face, seeing us together, was painful, and strangely satisfying. If he'd had his way, it would be me with that stricken look, and him cool and calm. Evil bastard, but even thinking it, I couldn't own it. Damn it.

«The night wastes away. Soon we will have to change for the ballet,» Jean-Claude said.

Auggie nodded. «Yeah, yeah.»

«We need to decide if ma petite is too dangerous to go out among the other Masters of the City.»

Auggie nodded again. «I'll help you figure it out, if I can. I owe you for the breach in hospitality. I owe Anita for what I tried to do to her.» He looked away from both of us, staring at nothing. «It's been a long time since I've felt the full weight of my own power. I'd forgotten how much it fuckin' hurts.»

«Excuse me.» Noel was standing beside us.

We both turned and looked at him. I don't know what he saw on our faces, but he backed up fast until he was out of reach of both of us. «May I approach?»

«No,» Auggie said.

«Yes,» I said.

We looked at each other.

Noel dropped to all fours. He didn't bow, just dropped to all fours where he was standing. «I don't know what to do; I can't please you both.»

«What is your problem, Auggie?» I said.

«He asked a question, I answered it,» Auggie said.

«Fine, you answered it for yourself, not for me.» I stepped away from Auggie, closer to Noel. Auggie grabbed my upper arm.

I tensed, but didn't try to pull away. I knew I'd lose if it was just brute strength. I looked at him, then at the hand on my arm. I looked back at him. «You did not just do that.»

«And you did not just step away from me to go to anyone this submissive.»

«Do you ever want to experience the ardeur again, Auggie?»

He looked puzzled for a moment, but I knew in a way that that was an act. He might have been truly puzzled, but he worked at human facial expressions. «You know I do.»

«Move the hand, or you won't ever touch me again.»

We stared at each other for a moment, then he let me go. «I heard you were dangerous, powerful, and quick to kill. What none of my spies caught, is that your force of will is the most dangerous thing about you. God, your eyes, the determination in your eyes.» He shook his head. «You mean it. You would truly cut me off because of this.»

«Damn straight.»

«Why, because I grabbed your arm?»

«Because you're acting like you own me. Nobody owns me.»

Micah got off the love seat and started toward us. It drew Auggie's gaze to him. «Your lion injured Travis and abused Noel. I think you owe them some consideration.»

«Spoken like a leopard,» Auggie said, «so practical, so willing to negotiate.» He made those all sound like bad things.

«You really are very much your animal to call, aren't you?» Micah said.

Auggie nodded.

«For those of us who are confused, could you explain a little more?» I said.

Micah said, «Lions are the most aggressive society among all the cats. To be a lion is to be always ready to defend your place in the pride. Unless you are very dominant or very strong, or make people fear you enough to be left alone. Noel and Travis are lesser, and Auggie treats them as if he were a dominant lion. A few dominant lions in most prides mate with all the females.»

«Joseph's pride isn't run like that,» I said, «it's closer to how the leopards run things.»

Micah nodded. «Joseph's pride is the exception, Anita. Remember, I spent years trapped with a mixed group. It can take forever to do business with lions because everything is a pissing contest. Joseph thinks more like a leopard — very reasonable, especially for a lion.»

«Pussy-whipped is what I heard,» Auggie said. «His wife wouldn't tolerate sharing.»

«You know, Auggie, almost everything coming out of your mouth is just digging the hole deeper.»

«What does that mean?»

«You're on her shit list,» Micah said, «and you keep digging yourself a deeper pile of shit.» He actually smiled.

«What are you smiling at?» Auggie asked.

«I thought you might be a threat to our domestic arrangement, but you won't be able to behave yourself long enough to be a threat to any other man in Anita's life.»

«Jean-Claude has already invited me down to sample the wares again.»

«Sample the wares,» I said, «what the fuck does that mean? Am I wares, things to be sampled? I don't fucking think so.»

«See,» Micah said, «you keep this up and you won't ever get the ardeur again.»

Jean-Claude joined us. «You are being exceptionally careless with your words, Augustine. It isn't like you to be so impolitic.»

«He's scared,» Nathaniel said. He came in behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, pressing his nakedness against my back. I didn't have to see his face to know the look. It was a look he'd only recently worn around me. Possessive, it said, mine, it said. I'll share, but it's mine. He usually only brought the look out when someone was behaving badly, or he didn't like them. I think we were all agreed on what we thought of Auggie. He was such bad news.

«Afraid of what, pussycat?» Auggie asked, disdain thick in his voice.

«Wanting Anita as badly as you do,» Nathaniel said.

The comment made me tense, but he pressed himself even closer, and I relaxed against him. He rested his face touching mine, so we probably looked like one of those posed engagement shots. Auggie was right about one thing; Nathaniel could play games when he wanted to. He played less and less as he got more comfortable with his life, and himself, but he hadn't forgotten how to play.

«You don't like wanting anyone that much. You see it as a weakness,» Nathaniel said, «and you're beginning to realize just how hard to deal with Anita can be.»

I turned and looked at him, forcing him to move his head enough for us to make eye contact. «Do you find me difficult?»

He grinned. «I like being dominated.»

I started to say how hard I'd worked to ensure that he wasn't dominated, then realized what the grin meant. He was teasing me. I tried to glare at him, but I wasn't serious enough for it to work.

«Do not let your unease be your undoing in this, Augustine,» Jean-Claude said.

«What's that mean?» he asked.

«It means that if you continue to say and do such things to ma petite, then I will not be able to offer you the ardeur from her.»

Auggie had a moment where something flashed through his eyes. For just a second I would have said it was fear. «Maybe I am being stupid, but I came to her looking for a Julianna and what I found is Belle.»

Jean-Claude's face went very still. «Why would you say that?»

«I only saw you love two women in nearly six centuries, Jean-Claude. You don't choose to love Belle Morte, she chooses it for you. You chose to love Julianna. I thought, if you had finally fallen in love again, that it would be someone like her. I thought that the tough talk, and the danger, were just surface. I thought if I scratched deep enough that Anita would be more like the only other human I ever saw you love.» Auggie shook his head. «You've got a physical type you like, petite brunettes, but beyond that" — he shook his head again — «Jesus, Jean-Claude, sweet Jesus, don't you ever have anything in a woman's personality that you like every time?»

«Did you come here thinking that if you pushed ma petite hard enough she would crack open and be gentle and feminine in the way of Julianna?»

«It wasn't just you, Jean-Claude, but Asher, too. He never seemed to have a physical type, but personality; he liked gentle, laughing, comfortable women. Belle used to accuse him of being addicted to peasants, when it came to women.»

«And you reasoned that if one woman had kept both of us happy, she must meet the criteria for both of us.»

Auggie nodded.

«Logical,» Jean-Claude said. «Wrong, but logical. I had forgotten that about you.»

«Forgotten what?»

«That you tried to make of love and emotions something logical, something that could be understood.»

Auggie frowned at him. «You're making fun of me.»

Jean-Claude shook his head. «No, but I would remind you that Asher went on his own and found Julianna. I loved her with all my heart and soul, but she was not of my choosing. I came to love her, but I did not begin to love her.»

«So I've got faulty data.»

«If you like,» Jean-Claude said.

Auggie looked at me, with Nathaniel still wrapped around me. «Micah's right. I think like a lion. I don't see Nathaniel as a problem, because he's submissive. I do feel the need to prove myself more dominant than the other dominants in your bed. But, damn, there are a lot of them.»

I shrugged, holding Nathaniel's arms like you'd keep a shawl from spilling down your arms. «Is that why you tried to grab Micah, and why you stared at him like he was some kind of hooker?»

Auggie shrugged. «Maybe.»

«I don't dig the macho shit, Auggie. Flex your dominance on your own time, not on mine.»

Auggie pointed behind us, turning us all to look at Noel. He was still on all fours waiting to be noticed. «You say your local Rex doesn't run his pride the way most do.»

«He doesn't,» Micah said.

«His lion is reacting like he knows the rules.»

«Joseph's pride know how to be lions. They just don't do that whole Serengeti-plains-dominance-fight at each kill,» Micah said.

«That's what it means to be a lion,» Auggie said.

"Actually," I said, "lions native to forested regions don't do that. The fluidity of dominance, and the complicated social system, seem peculiar to the African plains region.»

Auggie gave me a look.

I actually felt myself beginning to blush, and fought it off. Nathaniel hugged me. «Smart girls are so sexy,» he whispered.

I managed to say, «I have a degree in biology, and I did research on the various animal forms once the coalition got going.»

Auggie gave an abrupt laugh. «I've been dealing with lions for thousands of years, and I've never picked up a book about them.»

I just stared at him. «How could you not want to learn as much about them as you could?»

«I live with lions, I don't need to read about them.»

«I live with vampires, and raise zombies damn near every night, but I still read my trade publication, and keep abreast of the articles on all the undead.» I shook my head at the level of arrogance he was admitting to. The really scary part was that he didn't see it as arrogance.

I couldn't deal with Auggie anymore. I still felt the pull of his power, but it was just love. I could fight against love. Richard and Jean-Claude had given me lots of practice doing that.

I patted Nathaniel's arm. He kissed me on the cheek and let me go. I went to where Noel was waiting on the floor. «Get up, Noel.»

He got up, eyes flicking behind me toward Auggie. It made me glance back, but the vampire actually wasn't doing anything but looking at him. I touched Noel's shoulder, turning him so he couldn't see Auggie. «What's up, Noel?»

«Travis and I need to talk to you.» He tried to glance back at Auggie. I touched his arm, kept him from doing it.

«Fine, we'll talk.» I started toward the couch. I herded Noel with me. Micah and Nathaniel came at our backs. I wasn't sure if they wanted to hear everything, or were covering my back in case Auggie decided to get all weird again.

Requiem was sitting beside Travis. He had a hand on the man's forehead. «He is going into shock.»

I knelt in front of Travis. His face was gray-tinged. «Jesus, Travis, shift and heal this.»

He gave a small, tight shake of his head. His voice was tight, but breathy. «Give me your beast, make me change.»

«My beast is fine where it is, Travis.»

«You need to feed the ardeur on one of us, or give us your beast, Anita, please.»

I looked into his pain-filled face. «Do you really want to have metaphysical sex while you have a broken arm?»

He shook his head, grimacing. His upper body folded over his injured arm. He spoke, still bent over. «No, not really, but I also don't want you making that blue-haired freak our Rex.»

«I won't…»

He stared at me from inches away. His face was beaded with sweat. He was shaky, and hurting, and should have seemed weak, but he didn't. There was a lot of force in that look. «Anita, if you make him your animal to call, or your Rex to your lioness, then he'll share in your power. No way would any dominant lion with that much power be able to leave the local pride alone. Lions aren't like the rest of the big cats. We aren't live and let live. We're very much about who's the biggest cat in the pool. Joseph chose his Regina for love, not power. She's nice, but she's his wife, not a power to be reckoned with. If you give that other guy your power, then he won't be able to leave us alone. The lion in him will be compelled to find us, and conquer us.»

I looked back across the room at Auggie. «You agree with his assessment of the situation, Auggie?»

Auggie nodded. «Yes, but I'm not sure that Haven being your Rex is as certain as you and the other cats think. I've bound you with my power, Anita; what if your reaction to my lions is so strong because of that? Not just your beast, but my power helping make my lions more appealing.» It was the smartest thing he'd said in a while. It left me wondering which was the real Auggie, thoughtful-guy or sexist-idiot-guy?

I nodded. «Okay, maybe, how do we test this little theory?»

«Anita reacted to your lions before you rolled her,» Micah said.

«Shit,» I said, «Micah's right. My initial reaction to Pierce and Haven was funky from the beginning, before we had our little power duel.»

Auggie nodded. «Then perhaps what your lioness is seeking is a dominant. Either way, the way you react to Pierce, as opposed to these two, will tell you something. Either my power has made it worse, or your power seeks stronger prey. Jean-Claude believes that your ardeur seeks stronger prey; why not your beast?»

I glanced at Jean-Claude. «Getting chatty, are we?»

«I am seeking answers, ma petite. Augustine may not be trustworthy in all things, but when he gives his word, he keeps it.»

«So you asked his opinion, after getting his word of honor he wouldn't tell our secrets anywhere.»

Jean-Claude nodded.

I didn't like it, but I had to trust that Jean-Claude knew what he was doing. Besides, we did need help figuring some of this out. The list of Masters of the City that he trusted at all was damn small. It might be smaller after this visit, if I could vote on the list.

«Please, Anita,» Travis said, «please, give me your beast. Feed on one of us. Don't give that freak power over us.»

«I don't need to give my beast up, and I don't want to raise it on purpose. I don't know how to stop it, once it starts.»

«Start it, and give it to me.»

«Travis, just shift.»

He shook his head stubbornly.

«Then feed the ardeur on me,» Noel said.

I looked into his face, those eyes behind his wire-framed glasses. He looked so sincere and so young. «You don't know what you're asking, Noel.»

«Just mark their necks,» Nathaniel said.

I looked at him. Usually, Nathaniel liked to be the only one that I marked up. He shared with Micah, but he didn't like it when I marked anyone who was just food. «Usually you complain about that,» I said.

«The jolt of power with Pierce could happen with anyone who was a preternatural. But what happened with Haven when you tried to touch his neck, that was different. Try to do the vampire greeting thing on their necks, and see if you get a similar reaction.»

«Beauty and brains,» Auggie said. «Lucky you.»

I wasn't sure who he was calling lucky — me, Jean-Claude, or Nathaniel. We all ignored him. «All right, Nathaniel, all right. I'll try, but if this doesn't work at all, Travis has to shift and heal that arm.» I looked at Travis as I said it.

Travis nodded. «If you try it on both of us, and nothing happens, okay.»

Requiem tucked his black cloak closer around him. The movement made me look at him. «You are master here, Jean-Claude, but before she uses the ardeur again, should we not talk?»

That made me look back at Jean-Claude. He nodded. «Yes, but perhaps our young lions could go back to Dr. Lillian for a time.»

Travis gave him a look that said, clearly, he wasn't moving. «You're kidding, right?»

«Are you refusing the direct order of the Master of the City?» Auggie asked.

I raised a hand, and said, «Don't start that shit again, Auggie. Not your city, not your call.»

«I don't think Travis feels well enough to walk back to Dr. Lillian,» Noel said. «What if we give our word that we won't tell anyone what you say?»

«You are young and live in a time where you do not truly understand what it means to give your word,» Jean-Claude said.

«Besides,» Micah said, «if Joseph ordered you to tell him, you'd have no choice.»

Travis let out a long shaking breath, cradling his arm against his body. «Help me up, Noel.»

«What can be so private that you're making him move?» I asked.

«We could move,» Nathaniel said.

«Yeah,» I said, «all the able-bodied, except for Noel, follow me.»

«Are you really going to let her make us all move, so the lion won't have to?» Auggie said.

I stopped a few steps beyond the group, because only Nathaniel and Micah were following me. Claudia was looking from Jean-Claude to me, and the rest of the guards were looking to her. We were deep into the pissing contest and Claudia was trying to decide what would help and what would hurt.

I pointed a finger at Auggie. «I'm getting tired of you.» I switched the finger to Jean-Claude. «Please, tell me you are not going to grandstand to save face in front of Auggie. It will cost us nothing to move down the hallway.»

«He lost a fight,» Auggie said, «it should hurt.»

I waved a hand at him, as if waving him away. «I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to my master, thank you very much. Jean-Claude?»

It wasn't so much that I could see him think it through, because his face was perfect and unreadable. But I'd been staring at that empty face for years now. It was almost like I could feel him thinking it through.

He gave a small nod. «Very well.» He went to me, and I held out my hand to reward this show of common sense.

«I see the local Rex isn't the only one pussy-whipped around here,» Auggie said.

I started to get angry, but Jean-Claude pulled on my hand. He told me with a glance that he'd take care of it. He turned those dark-blue eyes on Auggie, and said, «And if you knew that she would cover you in the ardeur, and love your body, would you stay here, or would you go where she wished you to go?»

Auggie stared at him for a second, then started shaking his head, over and over again. He walked toward us, then kept walking. He walked into the far hallway, and kept walking until he was lost to sight.

«When he faces us again, ma petite, he will have his people at his back. I do not think he will risk himself alone with us again.»

I squeezed Jean-Claude's hand. It made him look at me. «I don't think he's afraid of being pussy-whipped,» I said.

Jean-Claude actually managed to look humble. «Perhaps not.»