[Anita Blake 17] - Skin Trade (23 page)

“
Ma petite
, I did not mean to lose my temper, but it is not just Vittorio that you need fear.”

“I know that being around the weretigers is going to test my ability to control the beasts inside me.”

“I fear so.”

“Is there anything you haven't told me about Max or his tigers?”

“Shall I be coy, and say that you know all?”

“The truth would be nice.”

“Recently, Max wanted you to visit his city and sleep with more of his tigers. They want, very much, to see if the new psychic powers that Crispin and the red tiger, Alex, gained from you feeding the
ardeur
was a onetime thing or can be shared with others of their clan.”

“I'm not sure those were my powers at all. The Queen of All Darkness, Marmee Noir, possessed me for a couple of days. With the help of my inner wolf, I kept from being consumed by her, but I still think any extra powers that the tigers gained came from her, not me.”

“That may be, but Max and his queen would like to test the theory.”

“I thought they were afraid I'd take over any tiger I fed on and that he was pissed how devoted Crispin is to me?”

“All that is true, but in the last few weeks, Maximillian has asked for a visit, or to send tigers to you for feeding.”

“And you were going to tell me all this when?”

“
Ma petite
, I am already sharing you with eight other men, or is it nine? You have enough food here in St. Louis; we do not need more in your bed. I do not really wish to add to your lovers.”

Just hearing him say it that way made me feel squeegy. “Do I apologize again?”

“No, for it is my
ardeur
that you carry. I cannot fault you for gaining my hunger.”

“Why do you think Max changed his mind about letting me have some more tigers?”

“I believe it is his wife, Bibiana. By the way,
ma petite
, knowing your sense of humor, I will caution you that only Max calls her Bibi. She is Bibiana, or Chang-Bibi.”

“You gave me this lecture before Max visited us last time. Chang, depending on pronunciation, is the name of a moon goddess. I won't say it to her face, but it does make me dread meeting her a little to know that it's not enough to be queen; her title has to mean
goddess
.”

“It is a traditional title, not one she chose,
ma petite
.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.”

“Okay, I'll do my best not to use her husband's nickname for her, if it's like a serious faux pas.”

“It is. She is a very powerful weretiger, and she seeks more power. If she could have other tigers with the new ability that Crispin has, then it would be good for her clan.”

“He can call like static electricity, Jean-Claude; it's like a little ouchy, but it's not a weapon. It works best when he has metal to touch, so it's really limited without metal around him.”

“Crispin is one of her weaker tigers. The tigers she offered to us recently were not so weak.”

“She's hoping that if they're more powerful shapeshifters, then their ability to do the lightning thing will be greater.”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“I do not understand,
ma petite
.”

“Do you want me to avoid feeding on her tigers while I'm here?”

“What will you feed on, if not the tigers?”

“I've got the swanmane, thanks to you, and I can feed on anger now.”

“If you can avoid feeding on any but Crispin, I think that would be wise.”

“I'll do my best.”

“Of that,
ma petite
, I have no doubt.”

“Thanks.”

“It is the truth. I may not always enjoy your choices, and they are certainly not mine, but you always try your hardest and do your best. I do understand that,
ma petite
.”

“I'm sorry you don't like the choices, but thanks for noticing that I'm trying.”

“You are welcome.”

“But if I do have to feed on other tigers, is it okay with you? I mean, will it affect the balance of power among the tiger clans if the white clan suddenly has this uber-version of Crispin's power?”

“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.

But for today, all I had to do was find a serial killer. I knew I needed to see a Wiccan priestess, and the queen of all the weretigers in Vegas, or excuse me, Chang of all the tigers. I needed to do the tigers before it got too dark. I had clear-cut goals and a time constraint. When a murder investigation this awful is simpler than my love life, something has gone horribly wrong. The problem was, how did I fix what had gone wrong, and exactly what
was
wrong? I just knew I wasn't entirely happy, and neither were some of the men. I was beginning to realize that unhappiness might include Jean-Claude. Not good.

I got out of the car and watched the three men come toward me, their faces showing that they'd been arguing, too. Great, we could all be grumpy together.

 

 

EDWARD HAD BASICALLY been telling Olaf to stay the fuck away from me. Olaf had been telling him that unless he was fucking me, it was none of his business. Oddly, if Edward had been doing me, then Olaf would have accepted that I was off limits. Apparently, it had never occurred to Edward to lie about that. I was just as glad because I could never have pretended that. Not to mention that if the rumor got back to Donna, she'd be heartbroken, and their son, Edward's stepson, Peter, would never forgive either Edward or me. It was all too weird and Freudian for me.

The good news was that the warrants would be coming soon. Edward had a fax number for the local police. “You really have worked Vegas before,” I said.

He nodded.

Something occurred to me that hadn't before, and I felt stupid for not thinking of it sooner. “Did you know the local executioner?”

“Yes.” So, Edward, one word, simply yes.

I studied his face and knew that the sunglasses probably didn't hide anything useful in his eyes, but . . . I had to ask. “Did you like him?”

“He was competent.”

“Not good, just competent,” I said.

“He had more rules than you and I do. It limited him.” His voice was utterly cool, no emotion.

“So, you'd met the dead operators, too?”

He shook his head. “Only Wizard.”

“Wizard?”

“Randy Sherman.”

I studied his face. “You just saw a man in the morgue who you knew, had worked with, and it didn't . . .” I waved my hands, as if trying to grab the right word out of the air. “Didn't it move you?” The question was inadequate, but it would have been too stupid to ask Edward if he cared.

“Only a woman would ask that,” Olaf said.

I nodded. “You're absolutely right, but I am a woman, so I get to ask. It would bother me more to have looked at a man who I knew in there. It was bad enough as a stranger. I kept thinking about the SWAT guys I'd met earlier, and knew that all the dead in there had been just as tall, just as professional, just as vital, and now it was all gone.”

“You'd have cared more,” Edward said, “but it wouldn't have stopped you from doing your job. Sometimes you work better when you're upset.”

“Do I say thanks?”

“My reaction bothers you, I get that, Anita, but I've seen a lot of men die who I knew. After a while you either deal with it better or get a desk job. I don't want a desk job.”

I wanted to yell at him. Yell that I knew he cared for Donna and the kids. I was pretty sure he even cared for me, but his lack of emotion about the men in the morgue reminded me that Edward was still a mystery to me, and maybe always would be.

“Don't overthink it,” Bernardo said.

I turned to him, ready to be mad, because being mad at him would be easier than yelling at Edward. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“It means you're being a girl, and you need to be the guy I know is in there, or you're going to weird yourself out about Ted here. You need to trust him, not doubt him now.”