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"Take me to the coffin room," I said.
"Why?" Jean-Claude asked. There was something in the way he said that one word that made me stare at him.
"Because I asked."
"How would my flock feel if I allowed the Executioner to enter their private chamber while they slept helpless?"
"I'm not going to kill anybody today, not on purpose."
"I do not like the way you said that, ma petite."
"Uncontrolled power is unpredictable, Jean-Claude. All sorts of unpleasant things can happen. I need to see where the vampires will be resting. I want to try and put them back in a controlled manner."
"What sorts of unpleasant things?" Richard asked.
It was a good question. Since I was pretty much flying blind, I didn't have a good answer. "It takes less power to put back than it does to raise. If we just call it up wild and try to will them back..." I shook my head.
"You could extinguish their life force," Cassandra said.
I looked at her. "What did you say?"
"You're going to put them back in their coffins as you would a zombie, but with a zombie you will it to be dead again, correct?"
I hadn't really thought of it that way, but she was right.
"If you will the vampires back in their coffins, you're in effect willing them dead again like a zombie, right?"
"Yeah."
"But you don't want them permanently dead."
My head was beginning to hurt. "No, I don't want them permanently dead."
"How do you know so very much about necromancy, Cassandra?" Jean-Claude asked.
"I have a master's degree in magical theory."
"That must be useful on a resume," I said.
"Not in the least," she said, "but it might be useful now."
"Did you know your newest pack member was so well-educated, Richard?" Jean-Claude asked.
"Yes," he said, "it's one of the reasons I gave her permission to move here."
"Permission to move here?" I said. "Why did she need your permission?"
"A werewolf has to get the permission of the local pack leader before they can enter a new territory. If they don't, it's considered a challenge to his authority."
"Did she have to ask your permission or Marcus's?"
"Both," Cassandra said. "Most werewolves won't come near Saint Louis while this power struggle is going on."
"Why did you come, then, my wolf?" Jean-Claude asked.
"I liked what I heard about Richard. He's trying to bring the pack into the twentieth century."
"Did you come planning to be his lupa?" I asked. Yes, a little twinge of jealousy had reared its ugly head.
Cassandra smiled. "Maybe, but the job's filled. I came here to avoid fighting, not to start it."
"You have come to the wrong place, I fear," Jean-Claude said.
She shrugged. "If I waited until the battle was over and it was safe, I wouldn't be worth much, would I?"
"You came to fight at Monsieur Zeeman's side?"
"I came because I agree with what he's trying to do."
"You don't approve of killing?" I asked.
"Not really."
"Why, Richard, you have found a kindred spirit," Jean-Claude said, smiling, and far too pleased.
"Cassandra believes in the sanctity of life; a lot of people do," Richard said. He wouldn't look at me.
"If she's a better match for you than I am, I won't stand in your way."
He turned to me, a look of astonishment on his face. "Anita..." He shook his head. "I'm in love with you."
"You'd get over it," I said. My chest was tight with the offer, but I meant it. Richard and I had a basic fundamental difference of opinion. It wasn't going away. One of us was going to have to compromise, and it wasn't going to be me. I couldn't quite meet Richard's eyes, but I didn't take it back.
He stepped in front of me, and all I could see was his bare chest. There was a scratch just below his left nipple, blood drying on his skin in darkening strings. He touched my chin, raising my face until I met his eyes. He studied my face like he'd never seen it before.
"I would never get over losing you, Anita. Never."
"Never's a long time to tie yourself to a killer."
"You don't have to be a killer," he said.
I stepped away from him. "If you're hanging around me waiting for me to soften up and become this good little girl, you might as well leave now."
He grabbed my arms, pulling me against his body. "I want you, Anita, all of you." He kissed me, arms locked behind my back, raising me up against him.
I slid my hands behind his back, Firestar still in one hand. I pressed my body against his hard enough to know he was happy to see me.
We came up for air, and I pulled back, but not out of his arms, half-laughing. I caught a glimpse of Jean-Claude standing to one side. The look on his face wiped the smile from my lips. It wasn't jealousy. It was hunger. Desire. Watching us together had excited him.
I drew back from Richard and found blood on my hands. It was hard to tell on the navy blue shirt but there were wet spots where I'd pressed myself against the bloody scratches. Some of the wounds were deep enough that they were still seeping blood.
Richard was looking at Jean-Claude, too, now. I stepped away from Richard, holding up the bloody hand. I walked towards the vampire, and his eyes stayed on the fresh blood, not on me. I stopped less than a foot from him, my hand held out in front of his face.
"Which would you rather have right now, sex or blood?"
His eyes flicked to my face, back to my hand, then to my face. I watched the effort it took for him to keep eye contact. "Ask Richard which he would rather have just after he changes into a wolf, sex or fresh meat?"
I glanced back at Richard. "What's your choice?"
"Just after the change, meat." He said it like I should have known the answer.
I turned back to the vampire. I slid the Firestar into the front of my pants, and moved the bloody hand towards his lips.
Jean-Claude grabbed my wrist. "Do not tease me, ma petite. My control is not boundless." A tremor ran through his arm and down his hand. He looked away, eyes closed.
I touched his face with my right hand, turning him back to face me. "Who says I'm teasing?" I said softly. "Take us to the coffin room."
Jean-Claude searched my face. "What do you offer me, ma petite?"
"Blood," I said.
"And sex?" he asked.
"Which would you rather have, right this minute?" I stared at him, willing the truth in his face.
He gave a shaky laugh. "Blood."
I smiled, and pulled my wrist away. "Remember, it was your choice."
A look passed over his face that was a mixture of surprise and irony. "Touche, ma petite, but I am beginning to have hopes that this will not be the last time I am given the choice." There was a heat to his voice, his eyes, just standing this close to his body, that made me shiver.
I glanced back at Richard. He was watching us. I expected to see jealousy or anger, but all I could read in his eyes was need. Lust. I was pretty sure that Richard's choice right this minute would be sex, but the thought of a little blood thrown in didn't seem to worry him. In fact, it seemed to excite him. I was beginning to wonder if the werewolf and vampire shared similar tastes in foreplay. The thought should have scared me, but it didn't. That was a very, very bad sign.
