Danse Macabre

7

SHE KISSED ME, and this time I didn't fight her. I let my body melt into hers, let her feed at my mouth. There is a moment in a kiss, especially an open-mouth kiss, where the caress of lips and tongue spills over some line, and beyond that line, you kiss back. I kissed her, kissed her as she was meant to be kissed, full and complete, tasting her.

I drew back enough to whisper, «You taste salty.»

She breathed her answer in my mouth, as she drew me back into the kiss, «You taste of blood.» Her breath filled my mouth, caressed the back of my throat. Her breath tasted fresh and clean like the wind off the ocean.

Her lips tasted like she had just that second taken a sip of the ocean. I licked her lip, and found that there was a whitish film on the fullness of her mouth. It wasn't illusion. It was real.

I swallowed the salty taste of her lips, staring up at her, feeling the surprise on my face. «How…«But I never finished the question, because I didn't just swallow the taste of salt, I swallowed her power.

I heard the ocean whispering against the shore. I could hear it like music. I looked around the room. I wanted to ask someone else if they could hear it. I meant to look for Micah, or Nathaniel, but that wasn't who caught my gaze. Thomas was staring at me with wide eager eyes. His brother had collapsed to the love seat, and was covering his ears with his hands, rocking back and forth. Cristos was fighting it, whatever it was, but Thomas wasn't. Sampson had a death grip on the love seat, but his eyes had drowned to black so that he looked blind. The other man and woman they'd brought with them turned black eyes to me. The woman was hugging herself, as if cold, or afraid. The man had a death grip on his own wrist, the typical jock pose turned into something harsh and struggling, as if, if he let go of his wrist, he would do something unfortunate. Last I found Samuel's eyes. His eyes had bled to vampire fire, the glowing brown with flecks of green flame in their depths. They all could hear it, that whispering, seductive sound. The ocean was calling, and I didn't know how to answer.

I was still staring into Samuel's eyes when I felt a hand glide down my shoulder. I turned, and found Thomas standing next to us. Thea began to pull out of my arms, giving me to Thomas's arms as she moved, so that it was as if the embrace never stopped, only the arms holding me had changed.

There was movement around us. I saw Micah's face, his lips moving, but I couldn't hear him. All I could hear was the sigh and echo of the sea. Thomas touched my face, turned me back to look at him. He spoke, and his words held the growling echo of surf over rocks. «You hear my voice though, don't you?»

I nodded, my face pressed against his hand. His hand was large enough to cup the entire side of my face. He leaned down, and I went up on tiptoe to help him finish the kiss. I wasn't thinking that he was seventeen. I wasn't thinking we had an audience that included his parents. I wasn't thinking that men I loved were watching. I saw nothing but his face, felt nothing but the strength of his hands on my face, his arm trailing down my back, his hand gliding down my body. The inside of my head was peaceful, full of a soft, rushing sound, like water as it spills along some peaceful shore. I wasn't the one who fought free of the mind games, it was Thomas who spoiled it. His hand slid down, down, and found the gun at the small of my back. It made him hesitate. Made him stumble as if his magic had legs to be tripped by a misplaced stone.

I pulled back from him, saw the uncertainty on his face. He was still handsome, and the compulsion to touch him was still there whispering through my head, but his eyes were wide, his face uncertain. He looked fresh and new and untried, like someone who had never hugged someone and found her wearing a gun.

The sound of the surf pulled away, and I could hear the murmuring in the room. People wondering what to do, whether they should interfere.

«That's a gun,» he said, in a voice as uncertain as his face.

I nodded. I had gone back to being flat-footed on my heels, no more tiptoe, no more helping him seduce me with his mother's magic, or his own.

He'd actually missed the big knife down my spine, because he hadn't come to the midline of my body until low on my back. But it was a big weapon to miss. Baby, he was a baby. And I'd have said that if he'd been twenty-seven instead of seventeen. Baby not in years, but in my world. You don't miss a knife as long as a forearm, not and live, not for long. Not in my world.

I gazed up into his face. The black was beginning to drain away, showing the hazel of his human eyes. He was the son of a master vampire and a siren, but where he lived was a gentler, kinder place than my life. I would leave him to that gentleness.

I drew out of his arms, completely. «Go back and sit down, Thomas.»

He hesitated and looked at his mother. She was watching me, not him. Watching me with those black eyes. There was a considering look on her face, as if she wasn't sure what she thought of the show.

«Do as Anita says, Thomas,» she said, at last.

He went back to the love seat, to sit beside his brother. It left Thea and me staring at each other.

«He hesitated only for a moment,» she said, «yet, it was enough.»

«It's not his power,» I said, «not yet. It's yours. You loaned him enough power to roll me.»

She made a gesture that was almost a shrug, but her hands went out in a wide gesture. I think it meant, Perhaps, or, You caught me. I wasn't sure which, and wasn't sure I cared.

«You have greeted Thomas, but we have two other sons,» she said.

Micah came up beside me. He took my hand. «In fairness to our other guests, I think we need to greet more of Auggie's people.»

«They are only his henchmen, and his mistress. We have brought you our flesh and blood, the fruit of our lives.»

Micah nodded, still smiling. «We appreciate that, but» — I cut him off, and said, «Enough, Micah, thanks for trying to be all polite and hosty, but I've had enough of games for the night.»

He squeezed my hand, as if saying, Be nice.

I squeezed back, but I was done being nice. I wouldn't be rude, but… «I'm going to greet Auggie and his people now, because they didn't try to roll me. Until Jean-Claude joins us, you and your sons are just going to have to wait to be greeted.»

«So Augustine's whore is higher in rank than my sons?» Thea sounded genuinely angry.

There was a sound of outrage from the other side of the room — a woman's voice protesting and Auggie trying to calm her. I glanced to find him talking to a statuesque brunette in a very tiny dress. She was mad, and I didn't blame her.

I turned back to Samuel. «You talk to her, Samuel. You explain that your wife damn near abused our hospitality tonight.»

«If we have truly abused your hospitality, then Jean-Claude could revoke our safe conduct,» he said, voice deep, but strangely soft.

«I understand that.»

«Did we frighten you that badly?» he asked.

«I agreed to Thea tasting my power, not Thomas. It wasn't what we negotiated for. I was told you were an honorable man; bait and switch isn't very honorable.»

«Could you hear anything we said while Thomas touched you?» Micah asked.

I glanced at him, and shook my head. «I could hear his voice and the sound of the sea, that was it.»

«I pointed out to Samuel that you hadn't bargained for Thomas.»

«What did he say?»

«He said that for a siren to truly taste your power it needed to have a sexual flavor to it, and since you were not a lover of women, one of the boys would be helpful.»

I shook my head. «I'm going to greet Auggie and his people now. Whether I let any of your other children touch me, or not, is up for a very serious debate.» I put my gaze on Thea. «I don't like to be forced, or played, Thea. If you really want your sons to have a chance at my bed, or body, or power, you need to remember that.»

«I saw into your mind when I embraced you,» she said. «I saw what you think of my sons. You are disinclined toward them. Without magic to persuade you, I do not think they have any chance at your bed, your body, or your power.»

My pulse was suddenly in my throat. I fought to keep a blank face, but wasn't sure I succeeded. How much had she read while she was playing inside my head? Did she know about the pregnancy scare?

Thea was watching me very narrowly. She saw the fear on me, but didn't understand why. Which meant either she'd only read things about her sons in my head, or she didn't understand why being pregnant would scare me. If the former, yea; if the latter, she was too odd for me to talk to.

I turned to Auggie and his angry girlfriend. She was the only woman on his side of the room. Standing in the spike heels she was over six feet tall. But whereas with Claudia it was all muscle, and menace, this woman was thin. There was no play of muscle to her arms and legs. She was making angry gestures with large hands, darkly painted nails, a diamond flashing on her right hand. Her dress was red with silver sequins. It fit her like a tiny, glittery second skin. The dress was so short that when she flounced around the couch, taking too long a step, she flashed enough flesh that I knew she wasn't wearing anything under the dress. Oh, my.

Auggie coaxed her back to me. Her face was perfect in a high-cheekboned, almost stark way. She wore enough makeup, artfully applied, that stark should not have been a word you used for her face. Her hair was long, and teased too high on the top, as if she'd never quite left the eighties, but it was brunette. It might even have been her natural color. The spaghetti straps of her dress and the thin material should not have been able to support her breasts. Breasts that large do not stay perky without more help than the dress could give. Her breasts sat under the dress in a way that real breasts just don't. She flounced toward me, holding Auggie's hand. The walk was good, bouncy, but her breasts didn't bounce with her. They were big, and even shapely, but they rode under her dress like they were way more solid than breasts are meant to be.

It took Micah tugging on my hand to let me know I'd missed something, staring at her chest. I shook my head and gave Auggie eye contact. «Sorry, what did you say?»

«This is Bunny; she is my mistress.»

Bunny. I thought, was it her real name? I hoped so — who would choose to be Bunny? I nodded. «Hi, Bunny.»

Auggie gave her a little pull, and a nod.

She gave an angry sullen face to me. «At least I'm only whoring for one man, not a dozen.»

Micah actually pulled me away from her. I let him do it. I was so astounded at the rudeness of it that I was speechless. I wasn't even angry yet; it was too unexpected. Too rude.

Auggie ordered her to kneel, and when she didn't do it fast enough, he forced her. «Apologize, now!» His power filled the room like cold water, shivering along my skin.

«Why am I a whore, when his wife is pimping out her own sons, and this one is fucking everything and everyone that will stand still?»

«Benny,» he said in a very quiet voice. I knew that tone of voice. It's the careful, controlled one you use when you're afraid of what you'll do if you yell.

The only vampire he'd brought with him moved around the couch to stand beside him. «Yeah, boss.»

«Take her out of here. Get on a plane, take her back to Chicago, help her pack. Make sure she takes only what belongs to her.»

Bunny's eyes went wide. «No, Auggie, no, I didn't mean it. I'm sorry.»

He moved away, so she couldn't touch him. She tried to crawl after him, but Benny grabbed her arm. «Come on, Bunny, we gotta plane to catch.»

She was human, and in five-inch heels, but she put up a fight. Benny was having trouble getting her to the door without hurting her. She'd proven to the entire room that she was naked under the tiny dress.

I said, «Claudia.»

She came to me, all serious, the bodyguard's bodyguard. «Pick someone, or two someones, to help Benny get her out of here.»

Claudia nodded, almost a bow, and said, «Fredo, Clay, help our guest out.»

Fredo pushed himself from the wall, all boneless ease like some dark, well-armed cat. Clay just took Bunny's other arm, and helped Benny start carrying her toward the door. She used the spike heels effectively, probably drawing blood through Clay's pants. He never slowed, and neither did Benny, though his face was bleeding from nail marks. Fredo got both her ankles, and they carried her out.

Auggie gave me a very low bow. «I don't know what to say, Anita. I'm sorry that I brought her. I knew she was jealous, but not crazy jealous.»

«Jealous?» I made it a question.

«She, like Samuel's Thea, is very competitive around other women.»

I frowned at him. «So she and Thea were like trying to outbitch each other?»

He looked at me. «You really don't understand why she didn't like you from the moment you stepped into the room, do you?»

Micah drew me in against his body, hugging me one-armed. I looked back and forth from one to the other of them. «What?»

«No,» Micah said, «she doesn't.»

«Don't what?» I asked.

«You are a natural beauty,» Auggie said. «Artifice gave Bunny her face, her figure; most of her best features were found under a surgeon's blade. In you walk, all natural equipment, wearing more clothes, and still get more attention from the men in the room than she did. When you were with Thea and Thomas, every man in the room was riveted. We wanted you. Wanted to touch you, in a way that is rare.»

I felt myself blushing and tried to stop it, but, as usual, lost. «You're babbling, Auggie,» I said.

«Watching you and a siren, two if you count the boy. Watching two creatures formed of desire, and it was not the pale beauty most eyes watched, Anita. It was the dark.»

I frowned at him. «I don't need this much ego-boo, Auggie, just make your point. If you have a point?»

Nathaniel came up. «I'll translate.»

«What do you mean, translate?» I said, turning to him.

He took my hand, and shook his head. His face had that I-love-you-but-you-amuse-me look. «You outvamped the sirens, Anita.»

«How?»

«I believe,» Auggie said, «because your power is over the dead, and the undead. I was told your animal to call was only leopard.»

I nodded. «It is, but through Jean-Claude's marks, I also have ties to the wolves.»

«Yes, but my men are neither. They are lion, and yet they felt your call.»

I glanced behind him at the two men he'd brought along as both bodyguards and food, and I was told as pomme de sang candidates, though Auggie, like Samuel, had a new twist on the whole pomme thing. Auggie was hoping to convince one of our new female vamps from London to come home with him and play house. He wanted another of Belle's line in his bed. Maybe that had predisposed Bunny to be pissy. He had come here to replace her, after all.

Auggie was offering to trade one of his werelions for a bedmate of Belle's line. I wondered how the men in question felt; did they want to stay in St. Louis? Did they want to leave Chicago? Had anyone asked them? I was betting not.

They were both tall, and muscular, and all they needed was a blinking sign over their heads that said «bodyguard.» They both wore tailored suits that hid the guns I was almost one hundred percent sure were under there somewhere. One was brunette, the other pale; other than that they looked as if an unimaginative baker had used the same cookie cutter for both of them. Only the icing was different. The pale one had short spiky, blue hair, which had actually been dyed well, so that it wasn't a solid blue color, but pale blue, dark blue, all mixed together like real hair is, and dyed hair seldom is. Except that nobody has hair the color of Cookie Monster and a spring sky on the top of their head. His eyes were a pale blue made deeper, richer, by the hair color. He was a little more slender through the shoulders, and maybe an inch taller, than the other guard.

The brunette's hair looked like it might curl, but he'd cut it so short it didn't have the chance. His shoulders had a swell that I was familiar with; someone lifted weights as more than a casual hobby. Not a bodybuilder, but he worked at it. He was tall enough to carry the shoulders.

Cookie Monster had a slight smile on his slender face. It reached the blue of his eyes, as if we just amused the hell out of him. Brunette watched me like I might do something bad, and he would be ready. The smile didn't fool me; they were both professional muscle. They were dangerous, and they were totally unacceptable as pomme de sang candidates. Too dominant, too unbending. Yeah, it was a quick judgment, but I'd have bet almost anything I was right.

My eyes went to the other man who still stood behind the couch. I'd have said human, but the power that lurked just below that dark, elegant surface made me think, maybe not. I knew he was Octavius, Auggie's human servant. I'd have liked to just greet the two bodyguards, and let their power tell me I was right to think they were too dominant for what we wanted, but technically since they weren't Auggie's special animal to call, Octavius outranked them.

Almost as if he read my face, Octavius said, «Greet them first, Ms. Blake, let us see what you think of your choices. I, too, think the night is wasting away.» His voice matched the smooth elegance of the rest of him.

I nodded, and said, «Thank you.» But I didn't like that Octavius had read me that easily. I moved around the couch, with Micah and Nathaniel at my back, and Graham and Claudia flanking all of us. I don't think any of our guards liked the two werelions any better than I did. «You guys have names?» I asked.

Cookie Monster grinned at me, eyes sparkling. Why did I think he'd grin just like that while he gutted someone? «Haven, I'm Haven.»

I nodded acknowledgment, then turned to Brunette. «And you would be?»

«Pierce.»

«You guys only have one name apiece? Like Madonna?»

Pierce frowned at me. Haven laughed, and it was a good laugh. Head back, full-throated; if he hadn't made the hairs at the back of my neck crawl, I'd have smiled.

Auggie glided up to the two men, putting a hand on each of them. Their eyes tightened, not a flinch, but noticable. What had he done when he touched their backs, oh-so-lightly?

Auggie smiled, that happy, happy smile that filled his gray eyes with light. «My lions are like vampires, Anita; they can, if they choose, have only one name among us. Pierce and Haven do have first names, but I think they will keep them until they know if they're staying.»

«What, you think I can't run them through a computer and a record check because you don't give me their real names?»

«If their criminal record worries you, then let me allay your fears. They both have one.» He was still smiling when he said it.

It was all getting too weird. These were our friends, and I was already feeling like I'd been thrown into the deep end of the pool. Jean-Claude, where are you? I thought.

I got a confused glimpse of fighting. He and Asher were struggling to hold Meng Die down. It reminded me of watching the men carrying Bunny out. If they want to hurt you, and you don't want to hurt them, you are at a disadvantage. They were inside the building that housed the carnival's freak show upstairs. Though most of the «freaks» were rare super-naturals. I saw people looking in at them from the outer areas. They had an audience.

I thought, Ask for help, get some guards in there and get her out of sight.

I felt more than heard him think that asking for help with the other vamps maybe sensing it would make him look weak. I thought back, Taking advantage of your resources is not weakness, its good management.

I felt him reach out to the wolves upstairs. I felt them moving toward him. Soon there'd be too many men for her to fight back. What they'd do with her once they subdued her, that was a different question. I had one more awful thought. I turned to Claudia. «Can you contact the wererat guards upstairs via mind?»

She pulled a small cell phone from one pocket. «How about phone?»

«Meng Die's animal to call is wolf; I'd like a few wererats to join everyone in the freak show.»

Claudia didn't ask, she just made the call. So nice not to be questioned.

«And what does Jean-Claude need that much help with?» Auggie said.

«She's a female of Belle's line. You want her?»

He laughed. «Not if she's this wild, no.»

«Auggie wouldn't need help to subdue one of his vamps,» Pierce said.

«Jean-Claude could subdue her, or even kill her, but she's chosen a place where there's an audience. Committing murder in front of civilians is a no-no,» I said.

«But once behind the scenes, will he kill her?» Haven asked.

I sighed. «Probably not.»

«Weakness,» Pierce said.

Auggie patted them both on the back, and again there was that tightening around their eyes. «Now, now, boys, some masters would have killed Bunny for her disrespect. Everyone runs his territory a little differently.» He was still cheerful, and charming, but there was an edge to it.

«What are you thinking, Auggie?» I asked. I didn't really expect an answer, but I got one.

«That Jean-Claude is too sentimental for his own good sometimes.»

I smiled, and knew it left my eyes cold. «You know, sentimental is not a word I would have used for him.»

«Then he has changed.»

«Don't we all,» I said.

Auggie nodded, the smile melting around the edges. «Taste them, Anita. taste your new toys.»

I shook my head, and said, «Can you stop touching them while I do it? I'd hate to confuse your tie to them with their power.»

He gave a small bow and stepped back. He even went to sit on the couch, where Octavius joined him. I stepped away from my own people. I fought not to look at one particular guard of ours. Our local lions were ruled by Joseph, and he was in the corner dressed as a bodyguard. He was ready to help if needed, but he and I both knew that he was mostly here to check out the new werelions. I was betting he liked them even less than I did.

I looked up at the two men in question. «Do you guys want this trade?»

That surprised them both, though Haven hid it sooner. He smiled. «I'm cool with it, if it works out.» His eyes were cooler when he said it, as if the smile were beginning to melt down his face. If I asked the right question I might even see the real Haven behind the smiling, hip exterior. Pierce glanced behind them at Auggie. I said what I'd said to the twins. «Don't look at your master, look at me, and give me an honest answer. Do you want to be traded to St. Louis?»

He started to look at the couch again. I touched his arm. A jolt of power ran through me, made me drop his arm. It stopped him midmotion, turned him back to me with his pulse pushing at the side of his throat. «What was that?»

I fought the urge to rub my hand along the side of my skirt. «I'm not sure. Power, some kind of power.»

«You're not sure?» He sounded as suspicious as he looked.

«I honestly don't know why there was a power jump when we touched. I didn't like it either.»

«I want to go home,» he said. «I don't like being traded away, and I really don't like being offered up for sex like some kind of whore.» He let the anger fill his voice, and the anger raised his power like heat across my skin.

Octavius said, «Be careful, cat.»

«No,» I said, «I want honesty. I've seen what happens if someone is forced to be in a group that they don't want to be in. The local lion pride works well; I don't want to queer their deal.»

«So you won't taste Pierce now, will you?» Auggie asked from the couch.

I shook my head. «Take him back home, Auggie. I'm surprised you brought him, him not wanting to come.»

«Bunny said Pierce was one of the best lovers she'd ever had. I thought you'd enjoy that.»

I couldn't control my face fast enough.

«What's wrong with that?» Auggie asked.

«The idea of Bunny, just — «I made a push-away gesture. «I'm fighting off a visual.»

«She could be crude, but she was very good at her job.»

I looked at Auggie. «And her job would be?»

«Sex.»

«She's your mistress, not your whore. Mistress means more than just sex.»

«Now that is Jean-Claude talking.»

«Maybe, but it's still true.»

He shrugged those massive shoulders. «You've met her, Anita, do you really think I sat around and had stimulating conversations with Bunny?»

I laughed, I couldn't help it. «No, I guess not.» Then another thought occurred to me. «Why would you date anyone that you couldn't talk to?»

He just stared at me, a look on his face that I couldn't read. «You mean that, don't you?» He smiled, almost sadly, shook his head, and wouldn't meet my gaze. «Oh, Anita, you make me feel jaded, and very old.»

«Do I apologize for that?» I asked.

He looked up, smiling still. «No, but that you meant that question makes me wonder about my choices for your pomme de sang. I looked for good sex, dominants, because everyone needs more muscle. I did not look for good conversation, or someone with interests like yours. I wasn't looking for a date. I was looking for food and fucking.»

«You need a woman in your organization, Auggie. Being all guys limits you.»

«Are you saying I need a woman's touch?»

«Yeah, and there isn't a woman of Belle's line that will go with you just to be your whore. We promised them that they'd have choices when they came here.»

«Are you saying I have to court them?»

I nodded. «Yeah, I am.»

«And Jean-Claude agrees to this?» Octavius said.

I nodded. «He gave his word that no one would be forced to have sex against their will.»

«Ah,» Auggie said, then he laughed. «Dating. I haven't dated in decades. I wonder if I remember how.»

«The Master of the City does not have to date,» Octavius said, «he commands.»

«You're in the wrong town for that attitude,» I said.

«You are so certain of that?» he said.

«Absolutely.»

«Taste Haven,» Auggie said. «If you don't like him, then I'm going to have to send home for some less dominant take-out.»

I looked up at the tall man in front of me. He looked down with that soft, laughing face, and I just didn't buy it. It was like the smile and sparkly eyes was his version of a cop face. A way to hide everything.

He dropped gracefully to his knees. Which made him not that much shorter than me. I added at least another inch to his height. He laughed, that joyous laugh that seemed so sincere. «You should see your face, so suspicious. I just thought that this way you have your choice of wrist or neck. With me standing, you can't reach my neck.»

It made sense, so why didn't I like it? No answer other than the one I'd had since I saw him. Being close to him reacted with that primitive part of the brain that keeps you alive if you don't argue with it. Touching him was dangerous in some way, but in what way? The trouble with the primitive brain is that it doesn't reason, or explain, it just feels. I could just touch him, then turn him down. He'd be on his way back to Chicago, no harm, no foul.

I reached for his hand, and he gave it. I wondered if I'd get that jolt of energy like I had from Pierce, but his hand was simply warm. His hand was very passive in mine, but when I pushed back the sleeve of his jacket, he had on a French-cuffed shirt, with real cuff links. «Shit.»

«You don't like French cuffs?»

I frowned down at him. «It'll take a while to unhook your wrists.»

He gave me that smile again, but the blue eyes weren't quite as neutrally cheerful. I got to glimpse the coldness under that smile. For some reason it made me feel better. I liked truth, most of the time.

«Why are you smiling?» he asked, and his voice held just a hint of uncertainty. Good.

I shook my head. «Nothing.» I smoothed my hand up the side of his face, turned him so the line of his neck stretched above the collar of his dress shirt. I bent over him, one hand on his shoulder for balance, the other cradling the side of his face. The neck was always so much more intimate than the wrist.

I meant to simply lay my lips against his neck. But when I was close enough to smell his skin, all my good intentions vanished. He smelled so warm, so incredibly warm. I wanted to put my mouth against that warmth, but not to kiss. I put my face so close to the warm, smooth line of his neck that a hard thought would have made my lips touch his skin. But I kept just above his neck, and breathed in the scent of him. Warm, a faint hint of some powdery sweet cologne, barely there, soap, and underneath just the scent of his body. Human, and deeper still, where my breath blew back hot from his skin, the musky hint of cat. Cleaner, less sharp than leopard. But definitely cat, not wolf, not dog. I breathed in the scent of lion as it rose from his skin, as if my breath called it forth.

My arms slid down his back, across his shoulders, folding my body around his. He'd behaved himself until then, hands at his sides, but now he reached for me, wrapped me in the strength of his arms, the force of his fingers, kneading at my body through my clothes.

I heard him whisper, «Oh, God.»

I laid the gentlest of kisses against that hot, smooth skin, a feather's touch of a kiss, and it wasn't enough. I could smell what I wanted just below the surface. I could smell his blood like something sweet and metallic. I licked along his neck, licked over the warm, jumping life of his pulse. He shuddered in my arms.

I heard a voice. «Anita, Anita, don't do this.» I didn't know who it was, and didn't understand what they were talking about. I needed to taste his pulse, feel it quiver between my teeth until it burst hot and scalding in my mouth.

A wrist appeared near my face. I smelled leopard. Micah called me back from that quivering edge. «Anita, what are you doing?»

I didn't unwind from Haven's body. I raised my face only enough to see Micah. «Tasting him,» and my voice sounded hoarse and not mine.

«Let him go, Anita.»

I shook my head, and felt Haven's fingers hard and firm, as if he had claws to sink into my body, and I wanted him to do it.

Graham came next, putting his wrist between me and that pulsing candy. But the musk of wolf was not what I wanted.

Nathaniel was next, putting the sweetness of his wrist between me and Haven's neck. He still smelled of vanilla, but that wasn't the scent I was after tonight. I shook my head. «No.»

«Something's wrong, Anita, you need to stop.»

I shook my head again, sending my hair flying over the kneeling man's face. He made a sound low in his throat from the sensation of it. The sound made me push Nathaniel away and lay my mouth over the shivering of Haven's pulse, not a kiss, no, my mouth was too wide for a kiss. My jaw tensed to bite him, and two things happened simultaneously. Someone grabbed a handful of my hair, and a wrist I didn't know well was suddenly in my face.

A voice that had already gone growling deep said, «If it is lion you want, then here I am.»

I followed that scent upward, as he pulled my head backward with my hair. Joseph stood above me, his hair golden, his eyes already the deep, perfect amber of lion.

The man at my feet wrapped himself tighter around me, not kneading me with his fingers now, but clinging. «No,» Haven said, «no, she's mine. Mine!»

«Not yours,» Joseph growled. He drew his wrist upward and my body followed the line of his skin. It wasn't Haven I wanted, it was lion. Would any-one do? Maybe. It wasn't a person I chased, but a scent.

Haven came up off the floor in a movement too quick to follow. He was just suddenly moving, and Joseph was there, and the next moment they were across the room, crashing through the drapes into the stone wall beyond.

The drapes cascaded down around them, so that half the living room wall was ripped away, revealing the bare stone and the torch-lit corridor beyond.

The guards waded in, trying to separate them. I was left standing, staring, not entirely sure what had happened, or why. Joseph had saved me, from something, something…

Cloth ripped, loud and violent. Haven came up, out of the ripped drapes, and sailed across the room, to find the drapes at the other side. They collapsed around him, but he never tried to rise. He was just a shape under the cascading cloth.

Joseph stepped out of the fall of white and gold cloth, half his shirt ripped away. His hands were half-clawed, and his face was beginning to lose its human shape, like his body becoming soft clay. His hair was lengthening, starting to form the golden halo of his mane.

Auggie stepped to the edge of the spilled cloth around him, and his voice echoed through the room like the whisper of a giant. Intimate, soft, and thunderous all at once. «Lion, I am master here, not you.»

Joseph growled at him with teeth gone long and dangerous. His voice was so low and growling that it was hard to understand. «I am the Rex of the St. Louis Pride. I was invited to see the lions you brought, and I have found them wanting.»

Octavius came up beside Auggie, laid a hand on his back, and the power level rocked off the scale. It was like a metaphysical earthquake, except nothing moved, nothing you could see anyway. But it stumbled me on my high heels. Joseph staggered back a step from it. The others turned startled faces toward Auggie, but they weren't as affected as Joseph.

«Have you ever met a master vampire that could call your animal, Rex?» Auggie asked.

Joseph was breathing harder than he should have been, but he managed to growl, «No.»

«Let me show you what you've been missing.» He didn't gesture, or speak, but suddenly the air was hard to breathe. The air was so heavy with power that we should all be choking on it. But it wasn't meant for us.

Joseph collapsed to his knees, snarling, fighting, but he could not stand against it.

«Let me see your human eyes, Rex.»

The growing mane began to shrink. The fur that had been climbing over his skin began to be reabsorbed. His face was reshaping itself. Only when he was Joseph again, fully human again, did the air ease a little.

«What do you want, vampire?» Joseph said, in a human voice that sounded breathy.

«Obedience,» Auggie said, and there was nothing friendly about that one word. The good-natured man was gone, and the master vampire was revealed. «Come to me, Rex, crawl to me.»

Joseph fought him. You could watch the struggle of it on his face, but finally he dropped to all fours.

«Stop it, Auggie,» I said, «leave him alone.»

«He is my beast, not Jean-Claude's. There is no tie between my host and the lions.»

«There is tie between me and the lions. I invited Joseph here tonight.»

He never looked at me, but Octavius did. He put those perfect chocolate eyes on me, and his face held nothing but arrogance. Which pissed me off. Anger is bad, but sometimes, well, it has its uses.

I moved toward them. I put myself between them, blocking his view of Joseph. It was like I'd taken a punch. Nathaniel was there to grab me, and the moment he touched me, I felt better. He was my animal to call now, not just my type of animal, but truly my animal to call, as Richard was to Jean-Claude. It was sort of like a furry human servant, and it gave some of the benefits. Power, extra power.

«Joseph and his people are our allies. My leopards and I have a treaty with them. To harm one is to harm both.»

Auggie looked at me then, his eyes swimming gray like clouds with lightning caught inside them. «If Jean-Claude had made this treaty I would have to abide by it, but you are a human servant, Anita. You do not bind me, as your master would. Just as, if you visit us in Chicago, deals made by Octavius alone are not binding on your master.»

«So you'll hurt Joseph because why, because he stopped me from doing some metaphysical shit with your lion? Is that it?»

«He is lion, and no lion can resist me.»

«He is the Rex of St. Louis, Auggie, you have no authority over him,» I said.

«Would you challenge me with Octavius at my back? Would you set yourself against me with your master busy elsewhere?»

I nodded. «Yes.»

«I will punish him for his insult to me and mine, Anita. I will do it. You can either allow it, gracefully, or you can force me to control you, as I control Joseph.»

«If you think you can control me, Auggie, knock yourself out.»

It was suddenly harder to breathe again. Micah came in at my other side. He was my Nimir-Raj, and it helped me think, but it didn't help me fight. «Graham,» I said.

He came to my reaching hand, and the moment I touched him, I could feel the wolves. Feel the tie through Richard to the pack. That neck-ruffling scent of wolf. The green peace of woods and fields, and…

I staggered, and only Nathaniel and Graham's hands kept me on my feet. Pierce the werelion was at Auggie's side.

I wanted to call Jean-Claude, but was afraid to. Auggie was his friend, but what I was feeling pushing against me, filling the very air, was more powerful than anything I'd ever felt from Jean-Claude. If I lost to Auggie, then I lost. But if Jean-Claude lost to him, then there was a chance he would be defeated as Master of the City. And right there, in that moment, I saw the real reason I hadn't wanted these bastards in our city. I hadn't trusted us to be strong enough.

I would not cost us the city. I would not be the ruin of us all. I would not. I was trying to fight him as if I were another master vampire, but that wasn't what I was. I was a necromancer. I was supposed to have control over all the dead. We would see.

I let go of the men who held me up. I took a step away from the hands of the living, and opened that part of me that I always had to shield. That part of me that was like some great closed fist, tight, tight, or who knows what we could do, by accident or by design.

I almost never unleashed my necromancy outside a cemetery. But there were no dead bodies for the power to find, there were only vampires. My power blew out from my body like a chill wind, and it found its mark.

«What is this?» Auggie asked. Octavius's face didn't look so arrogant over his shoulder. Pierce moved away from him as if something about my power had made it hard to keep touching him.

«If being human servant or Nimir-Ra gains me nothing, then there are other titles, Auggie. Other powers to be invoked.»

He licked his lips, a nice nervous gesture. «What is this power?»

«Haven't you heard, Auggie, I'm a necromancer.»

«There are no true necromancers,» Octavius said, but his voice didn't sound so certain.

«Have it your way, but you will leave Joseph and his people alone while you're in my city.»

«Or what?» Auggie asked, his eyes still full of gray light.

«I have another title among the vampires; do you know what it is?»

«The Executioner, they call you the Executioner.»

«Yeah, they do.»

«Are you threatening to kill me?» He managed to sound amused, even with my power breathing around his body.

«I am telling you the rules. You do not mess with our people. And all the vampires, all the shapeshifters, and other supernatural to be named later, qualify as our people.»

«We were attacked,» Octavius said.

«Fine, you've proved your point. You forced him to swallow his beast. I say it's enough.»

«I am a master vampire, a ruler of a city; you do not dictate to me.»

«If you're vampire enough to make me back down, then come and get me, Auggie. I stand here alone, no animal to call, no Nimir-Raj, no vampire at my back. I stand here with nothing but my own power. Are you vampire enough to do the same?»

He smiled. «Are you saying to step away from Octavius and my lion, and meet you in the middle of the room, for what? A duel? You would die.»

«A testing of wills then,» I said.

«You cannot hope to win,» he said.

«If that's true, then you have nothing to lose, do you?»

«Anita,» Claudia said, «I'm not sure about this.»

«Come to me, Augustine, come to me.» I put everything I had into that command. I wanted him to come to me, now. Before Jean-Claude got here.

He pushed away from his human servant and his lion. He started walking toward me, just like I wanted. «Augustine,» Octavius said, «do not do this.»

«Come to me, Auggie, come to me.»

He had taken two more steps, before he frowned at me. «You are bidding me to come. You are truly calling me.»

«I told you what I was.»

He shook his head. «I will not come to you.»

«Afraid?»

«Cautious,» he said.

«Fine, then I'll meet you halfway, that's fair.»

«Anita,» Graham said. I ignored him. I started walking toward the waiting vampire. «Meet me partway, Auggie.»

He started toward me, not gliding, but stiffly, as if his body wasn't working quite right. He finally stopped before he reached me. Stopped with a look you don't get to see on a master vampire's face often. Nervous, he was nervous.

«What happens when we meet in the middle, Anita?»

«If you get past me, fine, but if you don't, then I win.»

«That doesn't seem fair; you have only to stand your ground, but I must walk past you.»

We both stopped about two feet away from each other. I coaxed my power, whispered to it what I wanted. I wanted him to obey me. I'd never tried this so overtly against any vampire. A Master of the City was probably not the place to start, but it was too late now.

He swayed on his expensive shoes. «I will not.»

«Will not what?» I asked, but my voice held the power that was breathing around us. My voice knew what.

I expected him just to keep resisting. I should have remembered that there were other options.

«You want me, Anita, you can have me. I can do what I wanted to do all along, and Jean-Claude can't even get mad.»

I hesitated, stumbling in my mind, the power flickering. «What…»

He moved faster than I could follow, closing the distance, taking me in his arms. I was suddenly pinned against his body, my arms trapped. My power pushed at him, but his power pushed back.

«I feel it, your power, and God, you are powerful. If you were just a necromancer you might even win, but you aren't just that, are you?» He lowered his face toward me, as if he meant to kiss me.

«Stop, I command you to stop.»

He actually hesitated, swallowing hard, closing his eyes, but when he opened them, it was as if his power had taken a catastrophic leap. The gaze from his eyes stopped the breath in my throat. «Strong, but not strong enough.» He flexed his power, like some invisible muscle, and that flexing shot through my body. It bowed my spine, and only his arms kept me upright. We half fell to our knees, as if my collapse caught him by surprise. He ripped my controls away from the ardeur. He did it better and quicker than Thea had dreamt of. He brought the ardeur, with my body wrapped in his. He brought the ardeur knowing that once it rose like this, he would be my food. Which, of course, was what he had meant. He could do what he'd wanted to all along, and Jean-Claude couldn't even get mad.