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"I'm not going to bargain," I said.
He let out a breath as if he'd been holding it. "Good, ma petite, very good."
"I'm just going to ask."
"Ma petite, ma petite, what have I just told you?"
"Look, we're trying to save vampire lives here, not just human. Vampires are legal in this country. It doesn't just mean you get privileges. It comes with a price. Or it should."
"You are going to appeal to the council's sense of justice?" He didn't bother to keep the incredulity out of his voice. In fact, he played on it.
Put that way it sounded silly, but... "The council is partially to blame for what's happening. They've endangered their own people. Good leaders don't do that."
"No one has ever accused them of being good leaders, ma petite. They just are. It is not a question of good or bad. We fear them, and that is enough."
"Bullshit. That isn't enough. It isn't even close to enough."
He sighed. "Promise me only that you will not bargain with them. Make your request but do not offer them anything for their aid. You must swear this to me, ma petite. Please."
It was the "please" that did it, and the fear in his voice. "I promise. It's their job to do this. You don't bargain to get someone to do what they're supposed to do in the first place."
"You are a wondrous combination of cynicism and naivete, ma petite."
"You think it's naive to expect the council to help the vampires of this city?"
"They will ask what is in it for them, ma petite. What will you say?"
"I'll tell them it's their duty, and call them honorless bastards if they don't do it."
He did laugh then. "I would pay to hear this conversation."
"Would it help for you to listen in?"
"No. If they suspect it is my idea, they will demand a price. Only you, ma petite, could be this naive before them and hope to be believed."
I didn't think of myself as naive, and it bugged me that he did. Of course, he was nearly three centuries older than I was. Madonna probably seemed naive to him. "I'll let you know how it goes."
"Oh, the Traveler will make very certain that I know the outcome."
"Am I about to get you in trouble?"
"We are already in trouble, ma petite. It cannot get much deeper."
"Was that meant to be comforting?" I asked.
"Un peu," he said.
"That meant 'a little,' right?"
"Oui, ma petite. Vous dispose a apprendre."
"Stop it," I said.
"As you like." He lowered his voice to a seductive whisper, as if it wasn't already the voice of wet dreams. "What were you doing when I awoke today?"
I'd almost forgotten about my little hospital adventure. Now it came rushing back hard enough to bring heat to my face. "Nothing."
"No, no, ma petite, that is not correct. You were most certainly doing something."
"Did Stephen and Nathaniel arrive at the house?"
"They did."
"Great. I'll talk to you later."
"You refuse to answer my question?"
"No, I just don't know a short version that doesn't make me feel like a slut. I don't have time for a longer version right now. So, can you wait?"
"I will wait for all eternity, if my lady asks it."
"Can the crap, Jean-Claude."
"If I wish you luck with the council, would that please you more?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"It is all right to be a lady, Anita. It is not a bad thing being a woman."
"You try being one, then talk to me," I said. I hung up. "My lady" sounded like my dog. Ownership. I was his human servant. Short of killing him, I couldn't change that. But I didn't belong to him. If I belonged to anybody, I belonged to me. And that was how I was going to approach the council, as me: Anita Blake, vampire executioner, police liaison for the monsters. They wouldn't listen to Jean-Claude's human servant, but they might listen to me.
44
Thomas answered the phone at the Circus. "They have you doing flunky work?" I asked.
"Excuse me?" he said.
"Sorry, this is Anita Blake."
He was quiet for a second, then, "I'm sorry, we are not open for business until nightfall."
"Is Fernando there?"
"Yes, that's right. Nightfall."
"I need to talk to the Traveler, Thomas. I'm asking this on police business, not as Jean-Claude's human servant. We've got some vampires in trouble, and I think he can help."
"Yes, we do take reservations," he said.
I gave him the number of Dolph's car phone. "We don't have a lot of time, Thomas. If he won't help me, I've got to go in with cops and firemen on my own."
"I look forward to seeing you tonight." He hung up.
Life would be so much easier if Fernando were dead. Besides, I'd promised Sylvie we'd kill him. I always tried to keep my promises.
Dolph was leaning in the door wanting to know what was taking so long, when the phone rang. I looked at him. He nodded and moved away. I picked up.
"Yes."
"I am told you needed to speak with me."
I wondered whose lips he was using, whose body. "Thank you for calling me back, Traveler." A little politeness couldn't hurt.
"Thomas was surprisingly eloquent on your behalf. What do you wish of me?"
I explained as briefly as possible.
"And what do you wish me to do about this problem of yours?"
"You can stop taking energy through them. That would help."
"Then I must feed on live humans. Is there someone you would offer in their place for each of us?"
"No, no offers, no bargains. This is police business, Traveler. I'm speaking with the authority of human law behind me, not Jean-Claude."
"What is human law to me? To us?"
"If we go down there and they attack us, I'll end up killing some of them. They may kill policemen, firemen. That's bad publicity with Brewster's Law to be decided this fall. The council has stopped all vampires in this country from fighting amongst themselves until the law is finalized. Surely slaughtering policemen is forbidden, too?"
"It is," he said. His voice was so careful. He gave me nothing. I couldn't tell if he was angry or amused or gave a damn either way.
"I'm asking you to help me save the lives of your vampires."
"They belong to this Church of yours. They are not mine," he said.
"But the council is the overall leadership of the vampires, right?"
"We are their ultimate law."
I didn't like the phrasing, but I plowed ahead. "You could find out case by case if the vampires were alive or dead in the burned-out buildings. You could keep the vamps from rising early and attacking us here."
"I think you overestimate my powers, Anita."
"I don't think so," I said.
"If Jean-Claude will supply us with... food, I will be more than happy to cease borrowing from the others."
"No, you get nothing for this, Traveler."
"If you give me nothing, I give you nothing," he said.
"Dammit, this isn't a game."
"We are vampires, Anita. Do you not understand what that means? We are apart from your world. What happens to you does not affect us."
"Bullshit. Some fanatics are out here trying to duplicate the Inferno all over again. That affects you. Thomas and Gideon have had to repel invaders while you slept. It does affect you."
"It doesn't matter. We are in your world, but not of it," he said.
"Look, that may have worked in the 1500's or whenever, but the minute vampires became legal citizens, it changed. A vampire got taken to the hospital in an ambulance. They are doing their best to keep him alive, whatever the hell that means for you guys. Firemen are risking their lives to go into burned-out buildings to save vampires. The fanatics are trying to kill you, but the rest of us humans are trying to save you."
"Then you are fools," he said.
"Maybe," I said, "but we poor humans have taken oaths to protect and serve. We honor our promises."
"Are you implying I do not?"
"I'm saying that if you don't help us here, today, then you aren't worthy to be council. You aren't leaders. You're just parasites feeding on the fear of your followers. True leaders don't leave their people to die, not if they can save them."
