“A wise question, ma petite, but I have a better one.”
“Shoot.”
“Would you truly sleep with strangers?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t met the strangers yet.”
He laughed then, and it had the first edge of that caressing energy. “So terribly you, that comment, ma petite.”
“Well, it’s the truth. If feeding off a few of his tigers will make Max and his wife happier with me and you, then it’s not a fate worse than, whatever.”
“You have always been practical, even ruthless, in violence, but this is the first hint I have had that you may be growing practical in the bedroom.”
“You aren’t here to keep me safe, so I’ll have to use what you’ve taught me to do it for you.”
“And what have I taught you, ma petite?”
“That sex is just another tool in the arsenal.”
“Do you believe that?” he asked.
“No, but you do.”
“Not with you, ma petite, never.”
“Not true; when we first met, you tried to seduce me.”
“All men try to seduce the women they want.”
“Maybe, but you did teach me that a little sex isn’t a fate worse than death.”
“Very wise, ma petite.”
“But cheer up, Jean-Claude, if the weretigers are involved in the murder, then maybe Max and his queen are part of the group that murdered the policemen. If I can prove them guilty, then I can kill them, legally, not as your human servant but as a U.S. Marshal.”
“We killed the Master of the City of Charleston and have put our own vampire in his place. If we slay another Master of the City, the vampire council could use it as an excuse to discipline us.”
“Discipline how?”
“We have enemies on the council, as you know.”
“I remember.”
“Also, Max and Bibiana’s death would leave a huge vacuum of power in Vegas,” he said.
“Is that our problem?” I asked.
“Not if you have no choice, and they have truly murdered all these police officers, but if we could avoid leaving such a vacuum of power, it would be better.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“But do not hesitate, ma petite. Do whatever you must to come back to me.”
“Count on it,” I said.
“I do. Would you, how do you say, frame Max and his queen?”
“No, but I might fudge a bit.”
“What does that mean in this context, ma petite?”
“It means that we might have enough proof to execute, then find out we were wrong. I’d still be in the clear legally.”
“Truly?” he asked.
“Yep.”
“Your warrants of execution can be very frightening documents, ma petite.”
“A license to murder is what one lawyer called it.”
“I will trust you to be as practical as you need to be, ma petite. I will find others to send to Vegas, for other business reasons.”
“What sort of other business?”
“There is always business to do, ma petite.”
“Like what?”
“Max has asked for some of our dancers to come and guest-star in his show.”
“Bear in mind that Vittorio may have had people watching me in St. Louis. He may know who’s special to me. Don’t give him hostages, Jean-Claude. So whomever you send, make sure they can handle it.”
“I will choose carefully, ma petite.”
“How soon will you get some of them here?”
“Tomorrow, at the latest.”
“Okay, but I’m going to push to see the tigers before nightfall. They live in a high-rise, so Max doesn’t have the underground to help him wake early like you do. I’m going to try to question the tigers while it’s just the queen. She’s his animal to call, which means separated by his daytime sleep, she’s not as powerful.”
“Do remember in chess, ma petite, that the queen is far more dangerous to your men than the king.”
It was my turn to laugh. “I never forget that a woman can be dangerous, Jean-Claude.”
“Sometimes you do forget that you are not the most dangerous woman in a room.”
“Are you saying I’m arrogant?”
“I am saying, the truth. Je t’aime, ma petite.”
“I love you, too.”
He hung up then, and I guess he was right. We were done, but it still felt like the conversation had gone badly, or like he hadn’t said everything he needed to say. I loved Jean-Claude, and Asher, but I missed my house. I missed living with Micah and Nathaniel in our house. I also missed my alone time with Jean-Claude. Asher, or someone, was always with us, because we finally realized we had a spy in our midst. Or maybe that was too harsh; we had gossip. Vampires love to gossip. You’d think living so long would make them great philosophers or scholars, and a few do that, but most are just people with very long lives, and they love a good rumor. So we had to make sure the rumor mill said that Jean-Claude was spending a lot of time with the men. Which meant that suddenly I was never alone with anyone. I liked, or loved, everyone, but a little alone time with them individually would have been nice. But how the hell do you date that many men and have any privacy? No clue. And forget me having alone time with myself; that just didn’t happen anymore. It was to the point that the only time I was alone was in the car going from one job to another. Things had to change, but I wasn’t sure how.