Skin Trade(84)
He turned to me. “What do you want me to do?”
I blinked at him. What I really wanted him to do was not to have asked that. I really wanted him to make the decision on his own in case it came back and bit him. But either you’re the dominant or you aren’t. Fuck.
If he stayed here, he’d be safer. If he went ahead, they might punish him, but I might also be able to get him back at my side and help me control the tigers.
“If he goes ahead, what happens to him?”
“He has earned discipline, but since he is your white tiger to call, he falls under vampire rules.”
“You can’t hurt him because he’s mine.”
Rick nodded. “As long as you’re in Vegas, yes.”
We looked at each other. I didn’t know Rick well enough to know that look this well, but I did. The look said, plainly, that if I left Crispin in Vegas, bad things might happen to him. Jean-Claude was not going to like me coming home with extra baggage, but I couldn’t leave him to be hurt, could I?
“Go ahead, Crispin. We’ll be right behind you.”
Crispin looked from me to Rick, then finally nodded. He went through the far, whooshy doors, and we were one man down.
Olaf finally spoke. “Do you wonder why I did not protest Bernardo going with you?”
I turned and looked back at him. His face was its old mask of anger and arrogance, and things I could not read. “I thought you might argue about Bernardo, yes.”
“If you are Ted’s woman, then it’s his choice who goes in with you. It’s his job to protect you, not mine.”
I let the “Ted’s woman” comment go, and concentrated on something I could understand. “I don’t need anyone to protect me, Otto. I do a fine job on my own.”
“All women need protection, Anita.”
Bernardo touched my arm. “We don’t have time for you to win this argument.”
I took a deep breath, let it out, then turned back to the big guy. “You might ask Edward which of the three of us he’d trust most to protect his back.” Then I nodded at Rick. He swung the door open. Bernardo gave me a sideways glance. I stepped forward, and he followed me. Or maybe he just didn’t want to be the first person through the door.
31
WE STEPPED FROM the waiting room into a box. Okay, maybe it was a room, but it was smaller than the elevator we’d come up in, and the walls were solid and gray. I knew metal when I saw it, and something about it felt wrong. As the doors were sliding closed, I said, “I think you’ll lose the signal for a few minutes.”
“Why?”
“I think it’s a quiet room.” Then the doors closed, and there was static in my ear. I tried anyway. “Edward, Edward, say something if you can hear me.”
“He can’t,” Bernardo said, and he sounded disgusted. He looked at Rick. “That’s why you didn’t protest the radios; you knew they wouldn’t do us a damn bit of good.”
Rick shrugged, smiling like he was enjoying our discomfort. “The radios will work once we get into the room beyond. Promise.” He even made the Boy Scout salute.
“Were you really a Boy Scout?” I asked.
His eyes widened a little, and then he nodded. “Max wanted us to have the all-American experience, so he started a troop just for us, so we wouldn’t scare the humans.”
I tried to picture an entire troop of little weretigers, and was both amused and impressed. “Is the troop still active?” I asked.
“You’re looking at the current scout leader.”
Bernardo said, “Muscle by night, scout leader by day; who are you, Clark Kent?”
Rick just grinned, and said, “Now what else is different about this room?”
“It’s a test, isn’t it?” I said.
“What kind of test?” Bernardo asked.
“The walls are reinforced metal of some kind. I’m betting they’ll stand up to wereanimal and vampire strength, so no one can batter their way through.”
He nodded and looked pleased. “Very good.”
Bernardo took the next part. “That’s why you wouldn’t let us have the heavy artillery, because that might get through the far door.”
“Another point for you.”
“Are we going to be graded on this pop quiz?” I asked.
He nodded, and the smile faded. “Oh, yes, you’ll get a grade.”
“But you aren’t the teacher, are you?”
He was solemn now. “No.”
“Have we passed?” Bernardo asked.
“I’d hate for our backup to get too jumpy with the radio silence,” I said.
“Good point,” Rick said. “What else do you sense in here, Marshal Blake?”