No vampire strippers, huh? I said.
Jason put his arms around my waist and drew me against his body. My mistake.
Jason breathed against my ear, rather than whispered, trying not to be heard by the other preternaturals who had just strolled into the room. Ive seen his pictures. This is the vampire that pretends to be Jean-Claude in Vegas.
What Jason meant was that this was the lead performer in a vampire strip revue in Las Vegas. The master of their city, MaximillianMax for shorthad petitioned Jean-Claude to allow him to do a Vegas show that was based on some of the acts at Guilty Pleasures. Some negotiations later and we had our first spin-off show.
Since they couldnt have Jean-Claude, they found a vampire that looked like him. To me, it was a superficial resemblance, but from a seat in the audience it might do.
Jasons arms tightened on my waist, and he breathed against my ear, He calls himself Lucian.
I whispered, Calls himself?
He kissed the side of my neck, and whispered, Stage name.
Ah. Part of me wanted to leave, but part of me was curious. And, at least, the men getting groped by the women wouldnt be any of my sweeties. Which meant I wouldnt have to work at the whole jealousy issue while the show was going on. Thatd be almost relaxing.
I settled my back more securely against the front of Jasons body. He snuggled the side of my face and said, Busmans holiday for me.
I turned so I could see his face. You want to go?
He smiled at me. Just surprised you want to stay.
I shrugged. I dont want to stay, or not want to stay.
He kissed me from behind, pressing my face backward so it was a good, rough kiss. A good enough kiss that it left me a little breathless. We go to our room and we can do this for real.
I smiled at him. You offering me a private dance?
The absolute most private I give. He smiled when he said it, and it was a good smile. A smile that left only one answer.
Lets go.
Keith, the vampire said, coming over to us, I didnt know youd be here, and with another brunette. Lucian glanced behind at the couch and the still-unconscious bride. Wont her friends tell?
Hes not Keith, the white-haired dancer said. He looks like Keith, but he doesnt smell like Keith. The dancer glided over to us and started trying to circle us, but Shadwell and Rowe moved up so the movement was aborted.
The dancer smiled at them, and us, and backed up a little. You vampires, always relying on your eyes. Cant you feel it? Hes one of us, and so is she.
Weretigers? Lucian made it a question.
No, the dancer said, and moved close enough to invade our personal space. He sniffed the air in front of us. Wolf, and something He moved a little closer, inches closer. I could feel his energy like heat rising off his skin.
Back up, I said.
He sniffed just above my face. The energy jump was bigger, harsher, like electric bugs biting along my skin. I dont know what you are, he whispered.
She said to back off. Rowe moved in front of me and forced the weretiger back. I was glad of the help. Because there was a stirring of energy inside me in that dark place where my beasts hid. I breathed through it, concentrated. I could do this. Id been practicing. I could control my beasts, all of them, most of them. Oh, hell, tiger was the newest and new always means a learning curve.
I licked suddenly dry lips and said, Rowe, Shadwell, escort us to the door.
My pleasure, Rowe said.
Shadwell moved up to join him. They moved the dancers back.
Why leave? the weretiger said. Stay and play.
You have plenty of women to play with, I said. You dont need me.
But theyre not as alive as you are, the weretiger said.
Chuck said, Youre being paid to entertain the bridal party, notour visitors.
They turned and looked at him. The vampire gave blank face. The weretiger gave him a speculative look, as if not quite sure what to do with him. But there was an implication in the eyes that eating him was a possibility. It was a very alien look out of a human face. But it wasnt a cat look. It was what you might get if a cat could think like a human but still have the morals of a cat. It opened up so very many possibilities.
I got a flash of something down deep inside me. A flash of orange and a flash of gold. Oh, shit. One of the reasons I was having problems with the tigers was that I held more than one. One was a strain of lycanthropy that Id gotten like you normally do by surviving an attack, but the other was a gift, or a warning, from Marmee Noirthe Mother of All Vampires.
Some said she was the oldest vampire in the world, the first of thembut having met one vampire that was an Australopithecus, I wasnt sure how that was possible. But whatever she was, she was ancient, and she was powerful, and she scared the hell out of me. She was still mostly asleep in her room in Europe, where shed been asleep for more than a thousand years. In her dreams, she terrified me, the other vampires, and anything she wanted to haunt. But her strain of vampirism was old enough that you could be both a vampire and a lycanthrope, which was not true of modern vampirism. The viruses killed each other off, so whatever you caught first, thats what you were.
She had visited my dreams and put a piece of her animal to call inside me. Why had she done it? Because she could.
Isnt she part of the wedding party? the vampire, Lucian, asked. His voice tried for that emptiness of the very old, but didnt make it. He was younger than he was trying to play. A lot of the younger vampires tried to play older. The more they tried to pretend to be older, the younger they were, usually. He also hadnt reacted to my cross being visible. That marked him as very young. Most of the vampires a century or more old reacted to holy objects as if they were always a danger. In truth, if the vampire didnt try to use powers on me, the cross might just sit there.
No, they arent part of the wedding party, Chuck said. The man is an old high school friend of the bride and this is his girlfriend.
I thought it was interesting that he didnt give our names. That, in fact, he introduced us as blandly as possible. That was very interesting.
Just a friend of the brides? Lucian said, and let his voice hold his doubt.
Im a distant cousin of the Summerlands, Jason said.
You look like a close cousin, the weretiger said, and again he tried to move closer to us.
My tiger, tigers, reacted to it. They stalked through the darkness inside me like a glimmer of red-gold, and a swirl of palest yellow-gold. They, more than any of my other beasts, seemed to hide in the depths of that inner place. They used the shadows like trees and foliage to glide in and out of, so one moment there was a striped glimpse, then they were gone. Im told that real tigers are like that in the jungle. Invisible until they want to be seen.
Jason turned me in his arms so that my face was buried against his shoulder and neck. I breathed in the scent of his skin. He smelled like Jason, but underneath was the musk of wolf. It helped keep those glittering shapes away.
The scent of tiger comes and goes like a dream of wind in the desert, he said.
Poetic, Jason said, but were out of here. He started moving us across the floor. I turned my head enough to see where I was going. I caught a glimpse of blue eyes, but they werent human. The color was, but there was something about the shade, or shape, that wasnt human. The sight of those eyes clinched things low in my body, not sexually, but painfully. The tiger flexing its claws, letting me know that it resented being trapped in my human body with no way out.
My name is Crispin, the weretiger said.
Jason touched my face with the hand that wasnt around my waist. Dont look, he whispered.
I did what he said. I kept my eyes forward. Rowe and Shadwell moved with us. I felt Crispin moving up behind us without needing to look behind.
Chuck said, Leave her alone.
I felt someone behind us, and it was Sanchez. Got your back, he said. I wasnt sure who he was saying it to, but my back, their back, our back, Id take it.
38
T HEY GOT US out of the door and into the elevator. Sanchez waved us onto the elevator. Shadwell, Rowe, and Chuck got in the box with us.
What was all that about, Marshal? Chuck asked.
I shook my head and leaned into Jason. I drew in the scent of his skin, trying to use the scent of wolf to loosen the sensation in my gut that something solid was down there. I breathed through it, slow and even. I could do this. This sort of situation was what Id been practicing for, so I could travel without an entourage of lycanthropes.
Jason answered for me. Im a lycanthrope, and Anitas psychic abilities make her hit the radar as one of us sometimes.
What does that mean, her psychic abilities? Chuck asked.
She raises the dead for a living, and is a vampire executioner. You cant do the first without the talent of necromancy, and there are no vampire executioners without psychic abilities that survive long.
What kind of abilities? Chuck persisted.
The tightness in my abdomen was finally loosening. I could breathe without feeling like a weight was pulling at me. I spoke carefully, my face still close to Jasons neck. Im good with the dead, Chuck. Its what I do.
The tiger said you felt more alive than the rest of them.
The doors opened. Rowe stepped into the hallway first, and only when he nodded did Shadwell let us know we could move forward. Chuck didnt check the hallway as well as they did. He was a fixer of problems, not really a bodyguard.
He was flirting, I said.
Weird flirting.
Ive seen weirder.
Chuck gave me a look like he didnt believe me. I didnt care if he believed me; all I needed was our room and privacy. I needed Jason to help me push the tiger back and feed the ardeur. When that was done wed worry about what Chuck knew, or thought he knew about us.
You dont look so good, Rowe said.
Thanks, I said.
You know what I mean. Did the were-whatever or vampire do something to you that we mundanes couldnt see?
That was a good question; a smart question. Too smart a question. Again, Jason saved me from trying to answer.
For those of us who can sense the energy of the unseen, you have no idea how it can affect you. It can be the biggest rush, or the biggest downer.
What makes the difference? Rowe asked.
Shadwell said, Once were inside the room you can ask twenty questions, Rowe. We need our eyes and ears for work.
We let Shadwell save us from answering the second question, but his being so serious about the hallway walk to the room made me remember that I had questions. Ones that needed answers. But the metaphysical problem was going to outrank the mystery. I had to get better at this stuff. It was affecting my jobs, and my life, in ways that were not good.
When we reached the door to our room, Shadwell held out his hand. What? Jason asked.
Key card, so Im first through the door.
Jesus, I said, Shadwell, you didnt do that earlier. Did you guys get another message that the threat is even worse?
Shadwell tried for blank cop eyes, but ended up just looking angry. Please give me the key card.
Jason looked at me. He did say please.
I started to argue, but something in my stomach contracted so hard that it doubled me over. I thought What? and saw the pale gold and white of the weretiger that had nearly killed me. The tiger looked at me for a second; the old and orange eyes were overlaid with an echo of Crispins from the room above. The thought doubled me over, took my knees out from under me. Jason had to catch me or I would have fallen.
The door got opened by Shadwell while I was still fighting to breathe and remain calm. My fear was part of what allowed the beasts to get the upper hand. But it was so hard not to be afraid. So hard not to anticipate the feel of claws and teeth trying to eat their way out of me. I was tired of the pain; tired of the problem; just plain tired. I had been arrogant. I took a metaphysical ability to feed on lust to a bachelorette party with strippers. Fuck, what had I been thinking?
Shadwell held the door and Jason helped me inside. He picked me up, carried me to the bed. I was staring into the tigers face, but it wasnt just the pale-gold-and-cream tiger, but like a second tiger was superimposed on top of the first as if my eyes were blurring. What was happening? The phantom cat, or cats, stood eye to eye with me in some sort of waking dream. Except this dream never changed; eyes closed, eyes opened, I saw the tigers staring at me. Id never had that happen before.
Everyone out, Jason said.
Our orders are that no one gets left alone, Shadwell said.
Then stay outside the door, Jason said.
Our orders are very clear, Shadwell said.
The tiger moved closer to me, as if it were some huge dog phantom, and wanted to touch my nose with its own. But this was no dog.
I found my voice and spoke carefully, as if afraid that I would spook it. Jason, somethings wrong, different.
I know.
Can you see it? I whispered.
See what? Chuck asked.
No, Jason said, but I can smell it.
Smell what? Chuck asked.
Jason said, You have to leave now, all of you. If you dont go Ill call down to hotel security.
They wont help you, Chuck said.
Ill call the reporters and tell them you tried to molest Anita. How would that play on the network news, Chuck?
You wouldnt do that.
There wasnt just one tiger superimposed over the pale gold one now. It was like looking at a triple negative. Colors of stripes, and one that looked like a shadow of the others, so dark, all smeared over the face of the one strain that the doctors had found in my blood. The rainbow of tigers eased closer to my face. I knew one thing for certain: I did not want them to finish the movement. How do you stop something that isnt solid, that isnt even really there? I lay on the bed, but the tiger walked through it, or occupied the same space as it. It moved toward me as if the ghost of its body werent standing in the middle of a bed. It wasnt real, but Id learned years ago that just because something isnt real doesnt mean it cant hurt you.
I began to ease back on the bed, pushing with my hands, slowly, as if the tiger were real, and I were trying not to attract its attention. Claws ripped through my body from the inside. I screamed, Jason!
He was on the bed beside me, putting his body between me and the phantom tiger. Though the tiger seemed to be able to get through the bed just fine, Jasons body was solid to it. He wrapped his arms around me. I buried my face in his chest and neck, breathing deep of the scent of him.
The sweet musk of wolf was there underneath the cologne, his skin. It was like the truth under all that civilization. He was Jason, but I needed what lay within. I needed the wild truth of him.
A shape moved within that dark part of me that held the animals. My wolf shone in the darkness, the white part of her fur ghostlike in the gloom. She had dark markings on her, but they blended into the darkness, breaking up her outline the way they were supposed to.
Shadwells voice startled her, made her look up, and begin to retreat into the dark, as if shed been a real wolf. Ill call a doctor.
A doctor wont help, Jason said.
The wolf vanished into the gloom, and suddenly the darkness was alive with tigers. Tigers the color of rainbows, impossible colors, wending their way up through the darkness. It was as if instead of being a dark tunnel, it were some phantom forest of huge black, leafless trees. The tigers were coming, and it was more than just my own beast.
Jason, there are lots of tigers, different colors that dont occur in nature. What is happening?
Are they in the room or inside your head?
Inside, I whispered, for now.
Jason rose up, pressing my face against h
is chest. Unless you know a practitioner of the arts, you cant help Anita, but you can hurt her.
Practitioner of the arts? Rowe said.
Witch, he means a witch, Chuck said.
Yes, Jason said, the metaphysical shit is about to hit the fan. Guns wont protect us against anything that is about to happen, but you delaying me from doing what I have to do to stop this is hurting her.
Id thought this was just my tiger trying to get the upper hand because of the weretiger upstairs, but the shapes gliding through the dark and light were not my beast. Oh, maybe she was in there, but this wasnt my body trying to finally pick an animal to turn into. Something else was happening. Something I had no words for, and no metaphysical experience with. That was bad.
I dont know whats happening, Jason. This is wrong, different.
He held me close. Get out, he told them.
We have to tell him, Rowe said.
We cant Shadwell began.
Chuck cut him off. The threat says that vampires will try to hit the governor and his family. That means the window is an entry point, and not just the door.
The least of our problems right now is a vampire coming through the window, Jason said.
I smelled rain and jasmine. Oh shit. The charm that rode under my shirt grew warm against my skin. It was supposed to keep Marmee Noir at bay, but it had never glowed before. That couldnt be good.
I rose up away from Jason and jerked the chain out of my shirt. The lines of the carving on the charm glowed red like someone had taken a red pen and traced every character, every faded image in the center. It was usually like an old tombstone. You knew there was a picture carved in the center but it had worn away, soft with age and wear. Now it glowed, and looked fresh-made at the end of the chain.
Jason said, Its like a cat, a many-headed cat.
What the hell is that, and why is it glowing? Chuck asked.
I answered, Its a charm against the oldest vampire on the planet.
The vampires here, Shadwell said, and guns came out.
I didnt bother with a gun. I told them the truth. Shes in Europe somewhere, but her magic isnt. I looked up at them. You dont get it. A vampire doesnt have to come through the damn window to fuck you over. If theyre powerful enough they can do you from a thousand miles away.
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