«Among vampires, you mean,» I said.
«Oui.»
«Us, too,» Micah said, «but…«Then he stopped abruptly.
«But what?» I asked. When he didn't answer, I pulled away from them both, so I could see his face. Jean-Claude, if he wanted to, could hide anything behind his face, but Micah wasn't that good. If I looked hard enough, I might get a hint.
He lowered his eyes, as if he knew what I was doing.
I touched his face, turned him to look at me. «What, Micah, what is it?»
«Chimera could invade your dreams.»
«Could he hurt someone that way?»
«No» — then he seemed to think about it — «not when he took over my original pard, he couldn't. He had grown in power in the years I was with him, so maybe? Ask some of the dominants he took, who survived. Ask them if he could hurt them in their dreams.»
«It is very rare for a lycanthrope to be able to invade dreams like a vampire,» Jean-Claude said.
«Chimera was a rare kind of guy,» I said, and just thinking about him scared me. He was dead, I'd killed him, but he had been one of the scarier things I'd ever fought.
Micah looked at me, and his face held such pain, as if whatever he was thinking was something so awful.
«What?» I asked.
«We learned last month that you carry lion lycanthropy. That had to come from your fight with Chimera.»
I nodded. «He was in lionman form when he cut me up, yeah.»
Micah licked his lips, as if there were any possibility in the hot, misty tub that his lips were dry. «What if you gained more from him than just lion lycanthropy?»
I frowned at him. «I'm not following.»
«He means, ma petite, what if you gained not simply lycanthropy, but the kind of lycanthropy that Chimera held? He was not a werelion, he was a panwere. He held over a half-dozen types of lycanthropy, did he not?»
Micah nodded. «Leopard, lion, wolf, hyena, anaconda, bear, and then he took the cobra's leader. I think if he'd lived until next full moon, he would have been cobra, too.»
«Chimera thought that once he hit his first full moon, the animals he had were all he got.»
«I don't think that was true,» Micah said.
«Are you sure it wasn't true?» I asked.
He shook his head. «No, but it would explain what's happening to you.»
«What do you mean, what's happening to me?»
«Anita, you almost shifted tonight. Blood came out from under your nails. It was close.»
«We're not sure I'm a panwere.»
«No, but if you are, then you won't lose the leopards when you shift.»
I shook my head. «I'll pick leopard, if I have to pick, thanks, just in case.»
«I agree,» he said, «but if you are a panwere, and you're close to shifting…«He stopped talking, then looked down.
«You are thinking what I am thinking, mon chat, and you know she will not like it,» Jean-Claude said.
«What?» I asked.
Jean-Claude answered, «If you are to be a panwere, and there is a chance that you will gain new animals until your first change of shape, then we have the opportunity to gain great power.»
«What are you talking about?»
«If you are going to shift, then wouldn't it make sense to add more types of lycanthropy?» Micah said.
«Make sense, no,» I said, «no, it wouldn't make sense.»
«Why not, ma petite? You called the lions, and they came to your call. You call the leopards and they come. You call wolves, and I begin to wonder if it is my power that attracts them to you, or something more.»
«You're saying I should deliberately infect myself with other types of lycanthropy?»
They exchanged glances. «Put that way, no,» Micah said.
«It is a thought, ma petite, merely a thought.»
«Are you always thinking about how I can help you be more powerful?»
He sighed. «We must be powerful, and stable. We must show the other masters that we do not pose a threat to the council in Europe or anyone else.»
«Powerful we can do, but stable — «I shrugged. «I don't know about that one.»
«We aren't a threat to the council,» Micah said, «but they may not believe that.»
«They may not,» Jean-Claude said.
There was a knock on the door. «Who is it?» Jean-Claude called.
«Remus.»
«Is there something you need, Remus?»
«Claudia ordered me to check in, physically, with you for the shift change.»
Jean-Claude glanced at us. He held an arm out. «Come to me, ma petite, let us make certain you are hidden from sight, then allow him to enter.»