Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 14. Danse Macabre(148)
Most of the guards seemed as eager to avoid eye contact as I was. But not everyone. I glared most of them down, but a few gave me bold eyes. The kind of look you don't want to see outside a strip club. The look that said you'd gone from a human being to just being tits and ass. I tried to remember who looked at me that way, so I could keep them away from me later.
Micah leaned over Nathaniel and me, whispering, «I see them.» He was memorizing faces, too. Good, because I was still shaky, and didn't trust my own eyes to hold the right faces in the right places.
I always have trouble holding a glare when I'm more naked than the rest of the room. Nathaniel cuddled against me, under the sheet. He brought one arm free of the covers, so he could lay his bare arm across my covered waist. He rubbed his chin along the side of my breast, dragging the sheet down so that I had to hold it in place. I looked at him, ready to tell him to watch it, but the look on his face stopped the words before they could start.
He was staring at the men, too, but he wasn't glaring. His face held heat, and the promise of sex, but over it all was possessiveness. That look that a man gets when another man encroaches on his «woman.» Nathaniel, who shared better than any man in my life, was marking his territory. That dark, possessive look never wavered from the parade of men. He rested the side of his chin against the mound of my breast, making it clear that he had a right to be there, like that, with me, and they did not. I didn't think Nathaniel would grasp the problem, but he had.
There was a holdup at the door, a confusion of movement, like a traffic jam. I saw the flash of blood-red hair, and expected it to be Damian on his own power, but it wasn't. Richard came through the door, his arm around Damian's waist, the vampire's arm over his shoulder. Damian leaned so heavily on him that Richard half-dragged him toward the bed.
I sat up, leaving the sheet at my waist and not caring that I was topless. Nathaniel sat up, too; we both reached toward them. I said, «Damian!» I reached for him with less-physical parts. His energy was weak, but it was more as if he hadn't woken up completely from his daytime torpor.
His legs gave out completely, and Richard carried him in his arms like a child the last few feet. He laid Damian beside me. The long, red hair hid the vampire's face. I moved the hair away so I could see his face. He blinked up at me, eyes a perfect bright green, green as summer grass. It was Damian's eyes that had raised the bar so high on green-colored eyes. No one else's eyes could compare. He tried to focus on me, but didn't seem able to do it.
I touched his face, and his skin was icy. «I fed the ardeur — why isn't he better than this?»
Jean-Claude came to lay his hand on Damian's forehead. Richard said, «I found him collapsed against the wall just down from the coffin room. When Remus called for reinforcements, all the guards came here. Damian was trying to crawl to you.»
«What made you think to check on him?» Micah asked, still kneeling on the bed.
«I remembered how bad he got the last time his tie to Anita broke. I thought someone should check on him.»
«Very good thinking, mon ami.» Jean-Claude touched my cheek, then Nathaniel's while keeping his other hand on Damian's face. He finally stepped back from all of us, frowning. «I believe part of what is wrong is simply that Damian has woken too early. Only the very powerful masters among us wake before noon, even deep underground. Damian is no master. I believe you, ma petite, called him from his coffin, but even with extra energy it was too soon.»
I held one icy hand in both of mine. «Will he be all right? Did I hurt him?»
«I'll be all right.» Damian's voice was slow, heavy, as if he were drugged.
I smiled down at him. «Damian, I'm so sorry.»
He managed a weak smile. «It would be nice,» he took a labored breath, «if you'd stop almost killing me because you don't want to screw other people.»
I didn't know whether to smile or be exasperated.
«I believe that Damian would feel better if Nathaniel touched him, as well,» Jean-Claude said.
Nathaniel took Damian's other hand in his, and the power jumped between us. It made me gasp. It was as if a circuit had been completed. The energy hummed from my hand, through Damian's body, into Nathaniel's hand and back again.
Damian drew in a huge, gasping breath, almost like it hurt. He swore, softly.
«Does it hurt?» Nathaniel asked, looking worried.
«Wonderful,» Damian whispered, «feels wonderful. You're so warm.»
Strangely, I was almost certain he was talking to Nathaniel.
«Sir, excuse me, sir.» It was Remus; nerves always made him default to military-speak. Of course, it worked. Jean-Claude and Richard both turned to look at him. We all looked at him, except for Damian, who had closed his eyes.