Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 14. Danse Macabre(129)
Asher seemed to struggle to think, then finally said, «I do not know. I can't seem to think with her here in my arms.» He looked out into the room. «Their presence seems to make it harder to think.»
«The guards, or just certain guards?» Jean-Claude asked.
«Remus» — and he looked to the far corner of the room — «and the new one.»
«And what of Pepito? Do you sense him as strongly?»
Asher's body began to relax against me. I didn't want that. I wanted him to feed. Needed him to feed. «Don't stop,» I said, «please, don't stop.»
Asher looked down at me with those glowing eyes. He seemed to be searching my face for some sign. «You wish me to take you here with the guards watching?»
Of course I did. «Yes,» I said, «yes, God, yes.»
He looked at Jean-Claude. «Something is wrong.»
«Wrong, and right,» Jean-Claude said. He came to the edge of the bed. «You have possessed her, completely. You could do what you wished with her, but when she sobered, then she would never forgive you.»
Asher turned back to me. Whatever he saw there calmed him, tore the light from his eyes. «Anita, are you in there?»
The question made no sense at first, then I said, «I am here, Asher, right here.» Some part of me heard me say it, and thought I'd heard that phrase before. I closed my eyes, tried to not see Asher's face. It helped, to look away. I knew where I'd heard the words now: Requiem. I was echoing Requiem when I'd rolled his mind. Asher had rolled me before, but not like this, never like this.
Remembering Requiem helped me think, but closing my eyes helped more. I was too big a fish for Asher's gaze to keep, but staring into his eyes had lost me, myself. I'd stared into Augustine's eyes and not been swept away, so how did Asher's gaze rate higher than a couple of thousand years of Master of the City? I was supposed to be immune to vampire gaze. My necromancy and Jean-Claude's marks should have kept me safe.
Asher let go of my wrists. I felt him move back from me. I opened my eyes and reached for my robe, drawing it back around me. «What's happening?» I asked.
Jean-Claude spoke from beside the bed. «Are you yourself, ma petite?»
«I think so.» I glanced up at Asher's face, but he turned away, the spill of golden hair hiding his face. «Look at me, Asher.»
«I did not mean to bespell you with my gaze. I did not even know that my gaze could capture you.»
«It's never been able to before,» I said. I looked at Jean-Claude. «What is happening? I was as bespelled as Requiem before I freed him.»
«Non, you were able to fight free, once you realized what had happened.»
«Yes, but why did it happen in the first place? What just happened, and why? And don't avoid the question again, Jean-Claude, I mean it.»
He made a gesture that was half bow and half shrug. Managing to make it both apology and an I-don't-know gesture.
«Not good enough. You do know what's going on.»
«I know what I believe has happened.»
«Fine, tell us.» I slipped off the bed so I could tie the robe in place better.
«All our people gained from what we did last night with Augustine. Asher has been a master vampire for a very long time, but he has never had many of the master-level powers that are taken for granted among many of us.»
«His gaze has gone up a few notches, I get that,» I said.
Jean-Claude shook his head. «Now, ma petite, it is more than that. What is Asher's greatest vampiric ability?»
I thought about it for a second or two, then said, «His bite is orgasmic.»
Jean-Claude gave a small smile. «That may be his most alluring power for you, ma petite, but it is not his most powerful.»
I thought harder. «Fascination. He makes you fascinated with him, once he's fed off you using full power. Once he's made love to you, it's like a sort of love spell, but it works the way that love spells never work.»
«I believe his ability to fascinate has grown in power.»
I glanced at Asher, who was still sitting on the side of the bed, but carefully not looking at me. I shook my head and walked closer to him. «Look at me, Asher, please.»
«Why?» he asked, in a very still voice, carefully not looking at me.
«I have to know if your gaze can just roll me, or if it happened because I don't protect myself against you.»
He almost glanced at me then, but gave me only the perfection of his profile and a wave of shimmering hair. «What do you mean, you do not protect yourself from me?»
«I trust you, so I don't shield from you. I want your power to take me. I don't want to fight it. But before it was a choice. Now I need to see if it's still a choice, or if you've just outgrown me.»