Page 68 of Danse Macabre (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 14)

"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."

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