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“So that’s where you get it,” Ethan said. He was smiling when I looked at him.
“We need to get going,” Nicky said. He wasn’t smiling. Of course, Ethan hadn’t been in the car listening to my dad’s tirade and Nicky had. I had, and maybe that explained why we were crankier, or maybe we were always crankier than Ethan. Yeah, that.
“We will take Jean-Claude back in the limo,” Jake said. “You may take the SUV that Kaazim and I arrived in; it has your preternatural marshal kit in it.”
“Thank you, Jake,” I said, and I meant it.
“Most appreciated, but we cannot take credit for it,” Kaazim said. “Your Nathaniel was most irate that he could not come with the rest of us, so he gathered your go bag, though it should be go bags with the arsenal your government insists all you marshals carry.”
It made me smile to think of Nathaniel, and just like that I felt his anxiety miles away. He was afraid for us. I started to reach down our metaphysical link, wanting to reassure him, but he pushed back gently, which he’d never done before. It was like a second slap in the face after Jean-Claude cutting his energy from me. I realized that the metaphysics was like a constant touch, constant reassurance, and now it was gone from so many of my most loved people. What the fuck?
“Ma petite, please, just until you shower, then we will bathe you in our energy again.”
“You felt what just happened, right?”
He just nodded.
“I didn’t start to glow again, nothing bad happened.”
“In an hour or less you will shower, is that short space of timeworth taking such a risk early?” We looked at each other with Jake and Kaazim standing ready to intervene if we tried to get closer to each other. It seemed ridiculous. I caught a glimpse of my father in the crowd and realized that was one reason that this temporary ban on full metaphysical energy was bothering me so much. I needed reassurance badly, and I wasn’t getting it. Damn it.
Nicky took my hand in his; it made me look up at him and smile, but I could feel my eyes burning as if tears weren’t far behind. Damn it, damn it, damn it. I would not give my father more tears. I would not. My therapist could say tears were okay, natural, even necessary, but that wasn’t what I really believed. I believed that anyone or anything that could make you cry had power over you. I wouldn’t give this terrible night any more power over me. I would not.
One of the black figures from our security stepped closer to Jean-Claude. She was wearing a full burka that left only her dark eyes bare; the rest of her face was completely lost behind the black veils. Heavy eyeliner made her eyes even more exotic, but in or out of her burka Queenie was exotic to my Midwestern eyes.
“I have seen such things happen before, Anita,” she said in a voice so low and rich it felt like she was always on the verge of singing a torch song in a deep contralto voice. Her voice made me think of words likesmokyor smooth whiskey.
“The stories were most convincing,ma petite, be patient for a little bit longer and all will be well.”
I looked from him to Queenie. It was rare for her to be included on a public security scene like this. She was one of the Harlequin who had not been willing to give up her mask, which they had all worn in public for centuries even among themselves. Only Kaazim had been allowed to see her full face, and Jean-Claude had insisted on us seeing everyone’s face, no exceptions. The now-dead Mother of All Darkness had been the only one who knew all their faces. It had been a precaution to make certain the best spies and assassins in the world couldn’t use their skills on her, or that had been the idea.In the end some of them had used their skills at subterfuge to start her downfall, but it was still a precaution that Jean-Claude had demanded. They’d done it, all of them. We knew that Queenie was delicate and dark, and lovely with eyes that occasionally flashed a little crazy. She was a very old vampire, so old that her line didn’t go as pale as the modern ones, so she’d gotten to keep her natural skin tone. You could have dropped her into the Middle East, and she’d have blended in perfectly just like Kaazim. Until I’d seen Queenie unmasked I hadn’t even known that there was a vampire bloodline that didn’t look corpse pale. She was one of the most alive-looking vampires I’d ever seen, even when she hadn’t fed for the night. The Mother of All Darkness had brought her over personally; all of the vamps that could claim that looked more alive.
“Do you doubt my word?” she asked, and I realized I’d been staring at her for too long.
“No, it’s just been a weird night.”
“As you say,” she said, and gave that half bow that Kaazim did with the one arm coming out almost in a flourish.
I took it as a sign of respect but always felt like I should do something back rather than just stand there. Jean-Claude knew what to do, or at least say: “Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, Queenie.”
“It is my duty,” she said.
“Ma petite, we will choose security to take your family to the hotel. Go to the hospital and take care of our Wicked Truth for me.” It was his very polite way of telling me to get a move on.
“Divide and conquer,” I said.
“Always and forever,ma petite.”
“Always and forever,” I said.
I got my gun back from Officer Linley. The powers that be had cleared me to be the preternatural marshal on site who could decide that I wasn’t a danger to anyone. It was an all-time, nonsensical low for the rules and regulations covering the Preternatural Servicewhen interacting with regular law enforcement. I’d find time and energy to write up an official complaint about the ridiculousness of it, but first I needed a shower to get every last drop of holy water off me, and second I had to help Wicked and Truth navigate a human hospital where vampire medicine was still more experimental than practical. I prayed silently that I would be able to help them, really help them. I prayed for a miracle as Ethan drove the SUV, Kaazim rode shotgun, and Nicky and I sat in the backseat. My family wasn’t here to disapprove, so we could finally cuddle.
18
I turned in hisarms so that I could press my face against his neck and breathe in the scent of his skin. Just that, and I could feel myself start to relax. His neck vibrated against my lips as he said, “Your makeup is already smeared. We could kiss the way I’ve been wanting to kiss you since the airport.”
I moved back just enough to see his face. I was on the wrong side for his good eye, so he had to turn more to look back at me. I smiled as I looked into his one blue eye. It was always blue, no hint of gray, or green, but a clear, pure blue like my father’s. I realized I’d been wrong earlier. I had fallen in love with someone who was blond-haired and blue-eyed like my dad.
Nicky studied my face. “Do I say, other than the hair and eye color I look nothing like your dad?”
