“Even if he wins and slays you, he cannot just go into the crowd and start killing people,” Benito said.
“If he does, then he will not be our king for long,” Claudia added.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“If a challenger kills a king, but we hate him, then we kill him then and there while he’s still wounded,” Claudia explained.
“Wow, you guys really are harsh,” Nathaniel said.
“We have the most complete culture of all the animal groups in St. Louis, and one way we stayed strong and whole when others were torn apart by the power of the werewolves’ and the wereleopards’ old leaders was by being so ruthless that no one wanted to push us past a certain point.”
I hugged him one-armed around his waist. “Then I’m not in as much danger as I thought, which is good, but I’d rather have you alive than help kill Hector after you’re dead.”
“Good to know,” he said, looking down at me with almost a smile.
“Now kiss me like you meant it, and then I’ll see you at the fight later.”
That did make him smile. He leaned over and I went up to meet his kiss. He kissed me with his hands strong and searching on my body, so I returned the favor and his mouth was suddenly so eager at mine that it took my breath away. I forgot where we were and what was happening and it was just him in my arms, just us kissing and exploring each other’s bodies. It was only when he pulled my shirt out of my belt even with the gun holster that I broke the kiss laughing, a little nervous and breathless and happy.
He was breathless and laughing, too. “For such a kiss, I will fight harder.”
“Good, because I’m still hoping to talk you into that three-way.”
That made him laugh even more, and he left with laughter still lightening his features. Benito gave me a nod just before he closed the door behind them both.
The rest of us were quiet for a moment, and then Jean-Claude said, “Ma petite, that was well done. He left with fighting spirit.”
I turned and looked at him. “I have too many of your memories now. I’ve seen a thousand women and a few men undermine you or someone else with a pissy attitude on the eve before the big duel or battle. Hell, Richard used to do it to me all the time. I won’t do that to somebody else.”
“Where is the Ulfric? Shouldn’t he have been here during some of this?” Claudia asked.
“He’s out of state on a big extended family vacation,” I said. “And the dominants of the werelions are all off on a leadership-building camping trip.”
“I asked them to check out the new company that’s specializing in supernatural executive retreats,” Micah said.
“Nicky and Mephistopheles are going to go apeshit when they find out all this happened and they missed it,” Nathaniel said.
“Magda won’t be too happy either,” I added.
“Why don’t the lions have more of a whole culture like Rafael was saying? They weren’t taken over by Raina and Marcus, or someone like Chimera,” Nathaniel said.
“The old Rex wasn’t strong enough to run them like regular prides run,” Micah said.
I added, “He’d have been killed and taken over years ago if there’d been more werelions in this country.”
“Werelions tend to kill each other on sight if they aren’t part of the same pride,” Micah said.
“Only because they’re afraid that’s exactly what the new group has planned,” Claudia said.
“But the Coalition has given them another way to contact each other and explain that someone got a new job and needs to move to a new city, a new pride territory,” Micah said.
“You’ve made a lot of really good changes, Micah.”
“Thank you, Claudia, I do my best.”
“Now, you and I need to change for tonight and pick out your weapons,” Claudia said, and she was looking at me.
“We also need to help Pierette dress and arm herself,” I said.
“Yes.” And then Claudia suddenly grinned in a way I almost never saw.
“What?” I asked, smiling just from the look on her face.
“If we all live through tonight, it may be the best girls’ night out I’ve ever had.”
I laughed and said, “After tonight, let’s plan a girls’ night out that’s a little less death-defying.”
“Deal,” she said, and offered me a fist bump.
I touched her bigger fist, and we went off to find Pierette and tell her what she’d been voluntold for.
14
THE THREE OF us were dressed almost identically and it wasn’t on purpose, as if we’d looked in the same closet except for size and placement of weapons. I was in black tactical pants, black T-shirt, with black cross-trainers; Claudia in black tactical pants, white T-shirt, and black cross-trainers; and Pierette in black pants, white T-shirt, and white cross-trainers. My custom wrist sheaths with their high silver content were easy. They could go where they’d gone for years. It got trickier after that. I’d been practicing with the swords, but I’d never tried to carry them. I was learning kali, which is a Filipino martial art, stick and blade. I had a bag to carry the blades and sticks in, but no sheaths. I had a waist-sheath Spyderco knife that I’d bought for class. Most people wore a waist knife with the hilt up along the ribs, but I was too short-waisted to wear it that way and had to wear it horizontally, hilt forward for a cross draw. I added a couple of Emerson assisted-opening folding blades into the pockets along the legs of the tactical pants, though I’d go for the waist blade first. I also had two karambits, which were curved knives, though that didn’t do them justice. They were supposed to mimic the shape of a tiger or leopard claw, and they did just what claws do, tear and gut. The smaller one was a necklace sheath, and the bigger one hooked over one of the many pockets in my black tactical pants. If I drew either of the karambits, then things had gotten serious and I was being forced to do major damage.
Claudia was carrying just a knife at her waist, hilt up because she had waist for days, and a sword on her back in a custom shoulder harness. Her long black hair was in a braid nicely out of the way. I was wearing it long for Rafael and yes, I’d put on makeup. I had hair ties in one of my pockets in case I decided that I didn’t want to be blinded by my hair in a fight. I could always take it down before Rafael saw me, or maybe by the time I got to him I wouldn’t give a damn what he thought of me. I automatically grabbed a pair of tourniquets that were both rubber-banded to combat gauze that would help slow bleeding. I’d started carrying them shoved in my tactical pants pockets since I’d started going out with more humans, both fellow marshals and SWAT, for delivering warrants on preternatural citizens. There wouldn’t be any humans there tonight and shapeshifters could heal anything that either would help with, so I almost put them back, but that still, small voice in my head that had kept me safe in so many dark places gave that little push. I didn’t argue with it, I just put the tourniquets and combat gauze in the pockets of the tac pants. I had to remove one of the folding knives, but in the end that little voice said it was a good trade. Besides, five knives were probably enough. I really missed having a gun tonight.
Pierette had a custom-made back harness that held two swords with the hilts coming off the same side. I’d asked if it wouldn’t be easier for there to be a hilt over each shoulder. She’d replied that it’s easier to do a shoulder roll if you’ve got one shoulder that’s clear. I was really going to have to get one of the sword-sheath harnesses. She had a waist knife with the hilt forward like mine, for the same reason. She was only a little taller than I was, and her hair was so short that she didn’t have to worry about it getting in the way. She’d put on makeup when she realized I was wearing it, and then she suggested makeup to Claudia. I’d never seen her wear any, so I’d just assumed she didn’t like to wear it, not that she didn’t know how. But she surprised me by letting Pierette put mascara and eyeliner on her with just a little neutral color to the eyelids. It was both neutral and eye-catching, which was a trick I’d never m
astered with makeup. I went for bold eyes and bright lipstick, because it looked good and I honestly didn’t know how to do anything else. Maybe we could have a sleepover and Pierette could give us makeup tips. I almost wasn’t kidding.
The three of us rode in the back of a big SUV with two of the wererat bodyguards in front. I knew that there would be other vehicles out of sight, scent, and hearing range waiting in case I gave the signal. They were full of bodyguards that weren’t wererats, because all of them that we’d want to fight on our side would be at the fight tonight.
I also knew that there were Harlequin guards scattered in the shadows doing what they’d done for thousands of years: be the best spies and assassins the vampire world had to offer, though half of them were wereanimals like Pierette. Her vampire master, Pierrot, was out there hearing and seeing what she did. They had one of the smoothest and closest connections of any master and moitié bête I’d ever met.
The fighting pits were in a warehouse by the Mississippi River, but I felt the energy of the rodere blocks before we got close to the river. It reminded me of the energy of the lupanar when all the werewolves were there waiting in the woods around their throne of carved rock, the only thing that had survived the destruction of their culture under the last leaders. I’d never thought before that a group of shapeshifters that had a throne carved of solid stone must have a story behind it. Damn thing was too heavy to move, so how did it come to be sitting in the middle of the Missouri woods? It was like I was suddenly wondering, What were the cultures that all the other animal groups had lost? Could we get them back? Did we want them back?
Pierette said, “You are very quiet, my queen.”
“I can feel the energy.”
“Of what?”
“The rodere.”
“Already?” Claudia asked from the other side of me.
I looked at her. “Yeah, can’t you?”
She shook her head.
“Why should I feel it more than you do?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Do you feel the werewolves this way?” Pierette asked.
“Yes, but not this strong. It’s like the leopard, but more, so much more energy.” I rubbed my arms and realized I was already goose-bumped.
“Should we tell Jean-Claude she’s feeling it like this?” Claudia asked.
“He knows,” Pierette said.
“Micah, then?”
“Jean-Claude will tell him if he thinks he needs to know,” I said.
“Why are you feeling it this far out?” Claudia asked.
“Not sure, but I think it’s because I made Rafael my moitié bête and he’s king in a way that Richard isn’t for the wolves.”
“Micah would be this for the leopards if you weren’t all so . . .” She stopped.
“What? Just say it, Pierette.”
“Broken.”
“Broken how?”
“There are rituals and ways for our kind, too, my queen.”
“We’ll talk about some of the leopard culture we’re missing after this is over.”
“If you wish.”
“I wish,” I said, and took her hand in mine and squeezed it. “I want to be the best queen I can be for everyone. Help me do that, Pierette.”
She smiled in her red lipstick that not only matched mine but was mine. We were sharing a tube of it tonight as if we were on a date at a club and had only a tiny purse to hold everything, so consolidating lipstick was just practical. It wasn’t her usual color, but if we wanted to be able to kiss tonight and not ruin each other’s color, it had to match, or at least complement.
“I would help you set the moon in the sky, my queen, if you but ask.”
That made me smile and lean in for a careful kiss. It was as I drew back from the kiss that I realized the skin-thrumming energy of the wererats was less the moment I touched her hand. I told her and Claudia, and we spent the last few minutes of the drive experimenting. A finger on her skin wasn’t enough, but a hand against her skin, or hers on mine, was enough to dim it. Holding hands or kissing or hugging calmed it so that I could feel it like an echo.
“I think with more people who aren’t rat I might be able to shut it out completely.”
“I’m even happier that you have Pierette with you tonight then, because if you are this attuned to our energy now, wait until you’re surrounded by us.”
“I’m a little worried about that now,” I said.
“Maybe the energy won’t bring your beast, my queen; maybe it is just the energy that Rafael feels and through him you feel it, too.”
“Maybe,” I said, and then I felt it like a great beating heart that just happened to not be inside my chest, but it was still my heart. It still pulsed and beat for me. I touched my hand to my chest as if I could feel my heart start to beat in time to it.
Pierette still had my other hand in hers. She squeezed it tight and put her other hand around my arm. “My queen, what is wrong?”
My voice came out low because I was listening to the pulse of that power. “I’m not sure anything is wrong. If this is what Rafael feels, then no wonder he’s arrogant.”
“Does it still help for us to touch?” Pierette asked.
“Not as much, let’s see what happens when we stop touching.”
“I can feel the power of so many of us in one place now,” Claudia said.
“It’s not just that,” I said as I drew my hand away from Pierette. The moment I didn’t have her skin against mine the power swept over me like a giant ocean wave. So. Much. Power. I stopped breathing for a second, as if I were holding my breath, waiting for the wave to pass over my head so I could surface.
“Anita,” Claudia said, voice sharp.
It startled me and I took a gasping breath as if I had really been underwater and just surfaced. “What else is in there beside the fighting arenas?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t get power like this just from fighting.”
“Spilled blood is sacred, my queen, and lives sacrificed even more so.”
It felt like I was fighting to lift my chest enough to get a deep breath. I had to figure out how to navigate this power level before we got out of the car. I just called inside my mind, “Jean-Claude, are you feeling this?”
“I am.” His voice came like an echo.
“How do I deal with it?”
“I can tell you how to harness it, or block it, but swimming through it is harder. It is so very alive, ma petite, and that is not my area of expertise.”
“Power is power—help me navigate?” I said.
“We will try, my queen.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that last part out loud.”
“Are you doing that mind-to-mind thing?” Claudia asked.
“Yeah.”
“Jean-Claude?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re pulling into the gate,” Claudia said. It was a tall fence with razor wire at the top.
“We’re out of time, Jean-Claude; if you have any advice, now is the time.” I said it out loud and I didn’t care.
Jean-Claude didn’t bother with words, he just shared knowledge and skill at working with supernatural powers. Centuries of practice that he thought might help me now. I got glimpses of memories that went with some of it, but it was like shuffling and then cutting cards, you got hints of images instead of the full card, but it was like I could suddenly count cards and keep it all in my head. If anything that he knew would help me tonight, I had it just like that. Let’s hear it for practice, because we’d started training in the metaphysical the same way we did in the physical. It wasn’t as formal and the groups were smaller and more personal, but we’d never been better at this part of things, except for Richard, who was like a missing piece of our puzzle. I pushed the thought away and realized that it hadn’t been my thought, it was Jean-Claude’s; he felt the loss of Richard more than I did, because I’d found people to fill Richard’s place in my heart and my
bed, but Jean-Claude was still looking to fill all the holes that our absent werewolf left for him. Jean-Claude pulled the emotion and thought back and shielded more carefully from me. He was a lot better at cherry-picking what he shared with me; I still had a tendency to do an info dump that included a lot more than I needed to share.
“I will be here if you need me, ma petite, and if the need is great, I will be there in the flesh.”
“Don’t endanger yourself,” I said.
“I will be discretion itself, ma petite.”
The guards at the gate opened them for us, and the SUV glided between them and the energy stole my breath again. “Remember what you have learned, ma petite. Je t’aime.”
“Je t’aime,” I thought, and then I swallowed hard as if I’d changed altitudes. We’d come through a magic circle like my friends that were Wiccan, witches, cast when they were working magic, and just like their circles it was meant to raise power and contain it. It felt like I was inside that giant beating heart; the power was all around me so that it felt like the car was vibrating with it, but I knew it wasn’t real. Magic was like emotions, they both felt real, until you tried to explain them to other people and then they didn’t make any sense.
“Why is there a permanent magic circle here?” Pierette asked; she was looking through the tinted windows of the SUV as if looking for threats, or for who was casting circles.
I answered her question in a voice breathless as if I’d been running. “To keep the power in.”
“We told you this was our seat of power, Anita,” Claudia said.
“The lupanar doesn’t feel like this at all.”
“The wolves are powerful here in this city, but they are not us. The rodere have never been conquered. Never been broken so that we forgot who we are—we are an unbroken line going back thousands of years.” Claudia said it with such pride and with the beating, roaring pulse of their power all around me; she should have been proud.
I felt tears start to build in my eyes, I wasn’t even sure why. I turned to Pierette and clung to her hand. It helped anchor me a little in the pounding surf of magic. “This is what you meant when you said we were all broken here in St. Louis, isn’t it?”
Rafael Page 13