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I heard shouting, and then Ru said, “Nicky’s got a motorcycle.”
The thought of riding on a motorcycle scared me—there’s a reason they call themdonorcyclesin emergency rooms, but losing Jean-Claude terrified me more. I climbed back over the seat to find myclothes on the floorboard. I scrambled into them: socks, pants, boots, T-shirt. I almost left the body armor, but it would protect me from falling off a motorcycle just like it would from a bullet, not as well, but it beat a T-shirt and skin. I was still putting guns, knives, and ammo back in place when Nicky pulled up on a large motorcycle. It was black and chrome and big; the seat stretched long enough for two. Nicky held out a black helmet to me.
“Where’s your helmet?” I asked.
“Put on the helmet, get on the bike. I felt Jean-Claude fading from your mind.”
I took the helmet and put it on. It was a little big and I was struggling to adjust it when Ethan reached up and did it for me. He wasn’t wearing my marshal windbreaker anymore. I had time to think it, and then Ru was holding the jacket for me to put on. He handed me my badge on its lanyard. I tried to put it over my head, but the helmet was too big. I had a choice of taking the lanyard off, putting it into one of the MOLLE straps on the vest, or…Nicky revved the engine on the motorcycle. “Now, Anita!”
I shoved my badge into the pocket on the windbreaker and got on the back of the motorcycle behind Nicky. I didn’t know where to put my feet. Ru told me where to put my feet, and the moment my boots were in place, Nicky said, “Hold on.”
I had time to slide my arms underneath his windbreaker, and the moment he felt me touch him, the motorcycle roared forward. I grabbed at Nicky and managed to wrap my hands more securely around his waist, pressing my body as tightly to the back of his as possible.
He must have felt me holding on more securely, because he hit the gas. I buried my face against his body as much as the helmet would let me, tightened my arms around his waist until my muscles ached with it.
He yelled over the sound of the engine, “We’re going over the median here.” He didn’t bother to tell me to hold on tighter, I washolding on as hard as I could already. He slowed down, which made my pulse a little happier, then demonstrated that this kind of motorcycle wasn’t made for off road. It felt like my teeth were going to rattle out of my head. Then we were over to the other side of the highway. There were some screeching brakes from other cars; I just closed my eyes and thought,I trust Nicky. I trust Nicky.I did trust him; it was the motorcycle and the other drivers on the road that I didn’t trust. I held on to Nicky and prayed that we’d make it to Jean-Claude before it was too late.
36
I was so lostin my fear of speeding down the highway with nothing between us and the wind, and the constant thread of loss in my head and my heart for Jean-Claude, that I almost missed my necromancy whispering to me that there was something dead near us. I had two handguns on me: one on the front of my vest, and the second at my hip in a drop holster. I went for the holster, because to get to the one on the front of my vest I’d have to lean back from Nicky before I could even reach the gun, so I went for the holster.
They tried to grab me under my arms on both sides but only got one arm—the one with the gun. The vampire grabbing at the arm that was still holding on to Nicky missed. The vampire holding my right arm tried to pull me off the bike, but I tightened my hold with my other arm around Nicky, and that was my mistake. If you’re riding a motorcycle with someone you need to move in the same direction to keep the bike balanced. The vampire had my arm so I couldn’t move with Nicky. I felt the bike start to skid. The vampire holding my right arm grabbed the gun belt at the back of my waist and lifted me up as the motorcycle skidded faster and went over on its side with Nicky still on it. Brakes screeched behind us as the cars reacted to Nicky wrecking and the sight of someone being pulled off the back of the bike and into the night sky.
I didn’t have time to see where Nicky and the motorcycle went, because the vampire tossed me in the air as if he meant to throw me into traffic. I screamed. He grabbed me in a bear hug, but instead of falling backward we went skyward fast, so much faster than any vampire I’d ever seen fly. I screamed again, and that cost me the seconds I could have used for trying to aim my gun into the meat of his body. I could have shot him, fallen a short distance, survived, but by the time I tried to turn the gun in against his body the world was black sky with the city lights spread below my dangling feet. His arms were around my waist and one of my arms was across his shoulders. My other hand was wrapped around my gun; all I had to do was pull. I was so scared I tasted metal on my tongue. I was holding my breath, or maybe it was the rush of cold air around us stealing it away.
“Shoot me and we both die,” the vampire said, in a voice that sounded neutral, as if he didn’t care which choice I made. He let go of my waist and I suddenly had to use both arms around his neck, or I’d have fallen. He pulled my gun out of my hand and let it fall. For a second I thought he meant to drop me, too, and then his arms went around my waist, and I admit that I breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, the bad vampire had me up in the air, but he wasn’t going to drop me—yet. I’d thought that I was afraid of flying, but in that moment I realized I was afraid of really big, enormous heights and falling from them. Fuck.
I wrapped my legs around his body as close and tight as any lover. Now if he wanted to drop me he’d have to peel my body off one limb at a time. “I liked that gun,” I said, trying for as neutral a voice as his; pretty sure I failed, but it’s not about winning, it’s about doing your best. And I was doing my damn level best not to panic. Phobias suck.
His face was kissing close as he said, “I would accuse you of trying to seduce me, but I can feel your fear.”
“So now what?” I asked.
“We await your rescuer,” he said.
“Great, we’ll just hang out until they come kill you, and take me back to earth.”
“But who can fly up here and save you now that the Wicked Truth are too injured? Who else is with you that flies as well as I do?”
I stared at him, and I knew my face showed all the fear as I said, “Jean-Claude.”
He smiled, but it was the kind of smile serial killers use before things get even worse. “Yes, our would-be king will come rescue his fair maiden, or if he is too afraid to leave his castle then your knight in shining armor, Damian, might come to fight the dragon and save you. Whichever comes, we will kill him.”
I said the thing that cops know not to, because bad guys don’t need a reason. “Why?” I asked, like thewhymattered when all that mattered was stopping him. I wasn’t afraid for myself anymore.
“Because we do not want to be ruled by Belle Morte’s catamite, no matter how powerful he has grown.”
I locked my arms and legs tighter around the vampire holding me in his arms. I slid my hand to touch his neck, bare skin to bare skin. It had worked with our Wicked Truth. I prayed that me touching any vampire would gain me power enough for this.
“Are you seriously trying to seduce me? That is a fool’s errand, Anita Blake. I am what in modern day is called an asexual. Nothing you can offer will tempt me.” I opened my link to Jean-Claude first. I thought at him as hard as I could,Flying is a trap, don’t come.
Jean-Claude breathed the barest touch of power through me.I hear you,ma petite. I will warn the others. Then the connection was gone again. It was like every time I touched a vampire I could use them like temporary batteries to reach Jean-Claude.
“I feel the power of your master, Anita Blake. Good, call out to him.”
“I told him not to come.”
“He will come anyway.” The vampire pressed his cheek against mine and said, “Men in love will always come to rescue their ladies in distress. It is a law of the universe as real and dependable as the gravity that will take your king to his final resting place.”
