Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 14. Danse Macabre(178)
«Please, Anita,» Travis said, «please, give me your beast. Feed on one of us. Don't give that freak power over us.»
«I don't need to give my beast up, and I don't want to raise it on purpose. I don't know how to stop it, once it starts.»
«Start it, and give it to me.»
«Travis, just shift.»
He shook his head stubbornly.
«Then feed the ardeur on me,» Noel said.
I looked into his face, those eyes behind his wire-framed glasses. He looked so sincere and so young. «You don't know what you're asking, Noel.»
«Just mark their necks,» Nathaniel said.
I looked at him. Usually, Nathaniel liked to be the only one that I marked up. He shared with Micah, but he didn't like it when I marked anyone who was just food. «Usually you complain about that,» I said.
«The jolt of power with Pierce could happen with anyone who was a preternatural. But what happened with Haven when you tried to touch his neck, that was different. Try to do the vampire greeting thing on their necks, and see if you get a similar reaction.»
«Beauty and brains,» Auggie said. «Lucky you.»
I wasn't sure who he was calling lucky — me, Jean-Claude, or Nathaniel. We all ignored him. «All right, Nathaniel, all right. I'll try, but if this doesn't work at all, Travis has to shift and heal that arm.» I looked at Travis as I said it.
Travis nodded. «If you try it on both of us, and nothing happens, okay.»
Requiem tucked his black cloak closer around him. The movement made me look at him. «You are master here, Jean-Claude, but before she uses the ardeur again, should we not talk?»
That made me look back at Jean-Claude. He nodded. «Yes, but perhaps our young lions could go back to Dr. Lillian for a time.»
Travis gave him a look that said, clearly, he wasn't moving. «You're kidding, right?»
«Are you refusing the direct order of the Master of the City?» Auggie asked.
I raised a hand, and said, «Don't start that shit again, Auggie. Not your city, not your call.»
«I don't think Travis feels well enough to walk back to Dr. Lillian,» Noel said. «What if we give our word that we won't tell anyone what you say?»
«You are young and live in a time where you do not truly understand what it means to give your word,» Jean-Claude said.
«Besides,» Micah said, «if Joseph ordered you to tell him, you'd have no choice.»
Travis let out a long shaking breath, cradling his arm against his body. «Help me up, Noel.»
«What can be so private that you're making him move?» I asked.
«We could move,» Nathaniel said.
«Yeah,» I said, «all the able-bodied, except for Noel, follow me.»
«Are you really going to let her make us all move, so the lion won't have to?» Auggie said.
I stopped a few steps beyond the group, because only Nathaniel and Micah were following me. Claudia was looking from Jean-Claude to me, and the rest of the guards were looking to her. We were deep into the pissing contest and Claudia was trying to decide what would help and what would hurt.
I pointed a finger at Auggie. «I'm getting tired of you.» I switched the finger to Jean-Claude. «Please, tell me you are not going to grandstand to save face in front of Auggie. It will cost us nothing to move down the hallway.»
«He lost a fight,» Auggie said, «it should hurt.»
I waved a hand at him, as if waving him away. «I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to my master, thank you very much. Jean-Claude?»
It wasn't so much that I could see him think it through, because his face was perfect and unreadable. But I'd been staring at that empty face for years now. It was almost like I could feel him thinking it through.
He gave a small nod. «Very well.» He went to me, and I held out my hand to reward this show of common sense.
«I see the local Rex isn't the only one pussy-whipped around here,» Auggie said.
I started to get angry, but Jean-Claude pulled on my hand. He told me with a glance that he'd take care of it. He turned those dark-blue eyes on Auggie, and said, «And if you knew that she would cover you in the ardeur, and love your body, would you stay here, or would you go where she wished you to go?»
Auggie stared at him for a second, then started shaking his head, over and over again. He walked toward us, then kept walking. He walked into the far hallway, and kept walking until he was lost to sight.
«When he faces us again, ma petite, he will have his people at his back. I do not think he will risk himself alone with us again.»
I squeezed Jean-Claude's hand. It made him look at me. «I don't think he's afraid of being pussy-whipped,» I said.