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“Are you all right, Marshal Blake?” Officer Maric asked.
I motioned at Wicked and Truth. “How can you ask that?”
“You seem to be having an issue yourself, are you hurt? Did Linley miss something?”
Only a very few other police knew how close my psychic connection to Jean-Claude was, and if it became general knowledge I’d probably lose my badge. In that moment I wasn’t sure I cared. The metaphysical connection was more than just master and servant, it was part of who we were as a couple, and as potential king and queen. I wasn’t sure how much of my ties to everyone else was part of my sharing power with Jean-Claude, or vice versa, and I didn’t want to find out.
“You look pale. Do you need to sit down?” Maric asked.
“No, I’m fine.”
Jean-Claude whispered something in Jake’s ear. He in turn leaned into Kaazim and whispered, and then finally Kaazim leaned in, pushing my hair aside so he could whisper directly into my ear. He made it less than a whisper, more like his breath became sound. “If Jean-Claude contacts you mind-to-mind he fears you will go up in flames. He has shielded you from all vampires until you clean yourself of the taint of the holy water.”
I didn’t have to move Kaazim’s short hair out of the way to breathe back my own message into his ear. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Kaazim leaned back, gave me a look, then moved just his eyes toward the Wicked Truth. He leaned in to whisper again, his breath hot against my skin, so that I fought not to shiver. “That is not a chance he is willing to take with you; are you willing to risk the holy fire traveling from you to Jean-Claude?”
I’d used holy items, even holy water, since I’d been his human servant. My cross had blazed until it blinded me, and it had never harmed Jean-Claude or me, but with visions of Wicked’s face and Truth’s hand dancing in my head…I drew back and just said, “Fine.”
“You should let one of the paramedics look you over, Marshal Blake,” Maric said.
“That won’t be necessary,” I said.
“But you could shower at the hospital,ma petite.”
“I can shower at home.” I was fighting not to be angry. I wasn’t even sure what I was angry about, but it was my go-to when I wasn’t sure what else to feel. I was working on other choices, but it was a work in progress.
“Ma petite, if you shower at the hospital then you can speak with the doctors about the Wicked Truth. They will not have a necromancer or anyone there who knows vampire biology as you do.”
I couldn’t argue that. “Okay.”
He smiled at me; it wasn’t quite our private smile, but it was a good one. “Thank you,ma petite, for taking care of them when I cannot.”
“We’re a couple, that means we’re a team,” I said. “You head back with Jake. I’ve got the Wicked Truth covered, as long as they let me shower first before I interact with them, or any vampires.”
“I will make certain of it,” Kaazim said.
“We will make certain of it,” Nicky said, emphasizing thewe.
“Of course,” Kaazim said, almost bowing toward Nicky, to show he meant no offense. Kaazim was like that, very placating to others, but then he’d have to be to have survived as his master Queenie’sanimal to call for thousands of years. She looked for things to take offense at. She was one of the first Harlequin I’d met who specialized not in weapons but in magic, like real old-school spell-casting shit. Things I hadn’t believed in until I saw it. I could use my “magic” to help out when I was working with other police, but I had nothing that was as good at general offense as Queenie. If only she wasn’t so unstable and epically cranky about losing her old life as an agent of darkness doing her evil queen’s bidding across the world she might actually have been useful. As it was, we were trying to get her into therapy, but so far she didn’t want to go, and therapists who would work with supernaturals were too few and far between to risk getting one killed. She wasn’t on security rotation, or in an act at one of the clubs; she was hiding in the underground of the Circus away from anyone that she could hurt either accidentally or otherwise. If her abilities hadn’t been so rare, or if we hadn’t liked Kaazim so much, we might have executed her for the safety of everyone, but if Queenie died she would reach out to him to use up his life force to save herself. She didn’t have to do it, but that was the purpose of a beast half, or even a human servant—to keep the master vampire alive. Jean-Claude was in love with me, he’d proven he wouldn’t trade my life for his, but Queenie loved no one more than herself.
I looked across the room at the vampire that loved me enough he’d been willing to let himself die more than once, so his death didn’t drag me down into the grave with him. I wanted to try our metaphysical connection so badly.
The paramedics rolled the Wicked Truth past us, or rather rolled Wicked and helped Truth walk. Nicky hugged me from behind and said, “We need to follow the ambulance.” I let myself lean back into the shelter of his arms for a second, then straightened up and moved away. I could be comforted later, when I deserved it.
“Is there anything else we can do to help?” my dad said.
I shook my head. “I let my temper get the best of me tonight and stormed off early before all our security could get in place. If I hadhandled tonight better Wicked and Truth wouldn’t be hurt, because we’d have enough shapeshifters to put between this bastard and all the vampires, not just Jean-Claude, but I let our history together get to me, and other people paid the price.”
“And if I had any part in what has happened here tonight, I am sorry, Anita.”
“Your idea of treating the holy water as a caustic chemical prevented the injures from being far worse,” Jean-Claude said.
Dad looked at him, nodded, and said, “Thank you; after what Anita said I am even sorrier for what I said and did at dinner.” He looked at me. “I am sorry to both of you.”
“That is most appreciated, Dr. Blake,” Jean-Claude said.
“Call me Fredrick.”
