Bloody Bones (21 page)

“I didn't realize you had company, Ms. Blake. I can come back.”

I closed the door. “No, Mr. Bayard, it's all right. I told Jean-Claude about our misunderstanding this evening.”

“Ah, yes, uh . . . ” Bayard looked from one to the other of us, as if not sure what to say.

Jean-Claude didn't so much sit in the chair as fold his body around it. The movement was almost catlike. “Anita and I have no secrets from one another, Mr. . . . ”

“Bayard, Lionel Bayard.” He walked over and offered his hand to Jean-Claude. Jean-Claude raised an eyebrow but took the offered hand.

The handshake seemed to make Bayard feel better. A normal gesture. He didn't know what Jean-Claude was. How he could look at him and think him human was beyond me. I'd only seen one vampire that could have passed for human, and he hadn't been human at all. Bayard turned back to me, adjusting his glasses, which didn't need adjusting. That nervous little gesture again. Something was up.

“What's up, Bayard?” I asked. I'd closed the door and was leaning to one side of it, arms crossed over my stomach.

“I'm here to offer our most sincere apologies for earlier tonight.”

I just stared at him. “You're apologizing to me?”

“Yes. Mr. Stirling was overzealous. Why, if you had not been there to bring us all to our senses, a great tragedy might have occurred.”

I tried to keep my face blank. I wanted to frown at him, or look confused. “Stirling's not mad at me?”

“On the contrary, Ms. Blake. He's grateful to you.”

I didn't believe that. “Really,” I said.

“Oh, yes. In fact, I've been authorized to offer you a bonus.”

“Why?”

“To make up for our behavior tonight.”

“Your behavior was fine,” I said.

He smiled modestly. His act was about as sincere as faux pearls, but not half so realistic.

“How much is the bonus?”

“Twenty thousand,” he said.

I stayed leaning against the wall, staring at him. “No.”

He blinked at me. “Excuse me?”

“I don't want the bonus.”

“I'm not authorized to go higher than twenty thousand, but I could speak with Mr. Stirling. Perhaps he would go higher.”

I shook my head and pushed away from the wall. “I don't want more money. I don't want the bonus at all.”

“You aren't quitting on us, are you, Ms. Blake?” He was blinking so fast I thought he'd pass out. Me quitting bothered him. A lot.

“No, I'm not quitting. But you're already paying an enormous fee. You don't need to pay more.”

“Mr. Stirling is just very anxious that he has not offended you.”

I let that one go. Too easy. “Tell Mr. Stirling I'd have thought better of his apology if it had been delivered in person.”

“Mr. Stirling is a very busy man. He would have come himself, but he had pressing business.”

I wondered how often Bayard had to apologize for the big man. I wondered how often the apology was for telling a fellow flunkie to shoot someone. “Fine, you've delivered the message. Tell Mr. Stirling that it isn't the gunfight that's going to make me bail. I read the cemetery tonight. Some of the corpses are closer to three hundred than two hundred. Three hundred years, Lionel; that's an old zombie.”

“Can you raise them?” He had stepped closer, hands fidgeting with his lapels. He was close to invading my space. I'd have rather had Jean-Claude next to me.

“Maybe. The question isn't can I, but will I, Lionel.”

“What do you mean?”

“You lied to me, Lionel. You underestimated the age of the dead by nearly a century.”

“Not deliberately, Ms. Blake, I assure you. I merely repeated what our research department told me. I did not deliberately mislead you.”

“Sure.”

He reached out almost like he wanted to touch me. I moved back, just enough. He seemed terribly intense. He let his hand drop. “Please, Ms. Blake, I did not lie on purpose.”

“The problem, Lionel, is that I'm not sure I can raise zombies this old without a human sacrifice. Even I have my limits.”

“So nice to know,” Jean-Claude said softly.

I frowned at him. He smiled.

“You will try, won't you, Ms. Blake?”

“Maybe. I haven't decided yet.”

He shook his head. “We will do anything to make this oversight up to you, Ms. Blake. It is entirely my fault that I did not double-check the research department's findings. Is there anything that I can do personally to make it up to you?”

“Just leave. I'll call your office tomorrow to discuss details. I may need some extra . . . paraphernalia to attempt the raising.”

“Anything, anything at all, Ms. Blake.”

“Fine; I'll call.” I opened the door and stood by it. I thought it was enough of a hint. It was. Bayard went to the door and almost backed out, apologizing as he went.

I closed the door and stood there for a minute.

“That little man is up to something,” Jean-Claude said.

I turned and looked at him. He was still curled in the chair, looking scrumptious.

“I didn't need vampiric powers to tell me that.”

“Neither,” he said, “did I.” He rose from the chair easily. If I'd curled up in a chair like that, I'd have been stiff.

“I've got to tell Larry that he can stop packing. I don't understand why we're still hired, but we are.”

“Can anyone else raise the graveyard?”

“Not without a human sacrifice, maybe not even then,” I said.

“They need you,
ma petite
. From the little man's anxiety, they must need the dead raised very badly.”

“Millions of dollars are at stake.”

“I do not think money is all that is at stake,” he said.

I shook my head. “Me either.”

He came to join me by the door. “What extra
paraphernalia will you need to raise a three-hundred-year-old corpse,
ma petite
?”

I shrugged. “A bigger death. I'd originally thought to use a couple of goats.” I opened the door.

“What are you thinking about using now?”

“An elephant, maybe,” I said.

We were out in the hall and he was staring at me.

“I'm kidding. Honest. Besides, elephants are an endangered species. I was thinking maybe a cow.”

Jean-Claude stared down at me for a long space of moments, his face very serious. “Remember,
ma petite
, I can tell if you are lying.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“You meant the elephant comment.”

I frowned up at him. What could I say? “Okay, but just for a minute. I wouldn't really do in an elephant. I'm telling the truth.”

“Yes,
ma petite
, I know.”

I hadn't really meant the crack about the elephant. Not really. It was just the biggest animal I could think of on short notice. And if I was going to attempt to raise several three-hundred-year-old corpses, I was going to need something big. I didn't think a cow would do. Hell, I didn't think a herd of cows would do it. I just hadn't thought of a good alternative yet.

But no elephants, I promise. Besides, can you imagine trying to slit the throat of an elephant? The logistics of just getting one to hold still while you killed it were mind-boggling. There's a reason why most sacrifices are our size or smaller. Makes it easier to hold them down.

 

“We can't just leave Jeff with that monster,” Larry said. He was standing in the middle of his forest green carpet. Jean-Claude was sitting in the corner of the green patterned couch. He was looking amused, like a cat that had found a very interesting mouse.

“We aren't leaving him,” I said. “We just can't go looking for him tonight.”

He whirled and pointed a finger at Jean-Claude. “Why, because he says so?”

Jean-Claude's smile widened. Definitely amused.

“Check the time, Larry. It'll be dawn soon. All the vampires will be asnooze in their coffins.”

Larry shook his head. The look on his face reminded me of me. Stubborn, not wanting to accept it. “We have to do something, Anita.”

“We can't talk to vampires during daylight hours, Larry. That's just the way it is.”

“And what happens to Jeff today, while we wait for the sun to go down?” His pale skin had gone almost white. His freckles looked like brown ink spots. His pale blue eyes glittered like angry glass. I'd never seen Larry so mad. Hell, I'd never seen him angry.

I glanced at Jean-Claude; he just looked at me. I was on my own. Wasn't I always. “Xavier will have to sleep. He won't be able to harm Jeff once the sun rises.”

Larry shook his head. “Will we get him back in time?”

I wanted to say “Sure,” but I wouldn't lie. “I don't know. I hope so.”

His soft, Howdy-Doody face was set in very stubborn lines. I looked at him and understood why so many people underestimate me. He looked so harmless. Hell, he was sort of harmless, but he was armed now, and learning how to be dangerous. And in his face for the first time I saw a grim purpose building. I'd planned on leaving him behind when I went to talk to the Master of Branson. Looking at him now, I wasn't sure he was going to let me do that. He'd had his first vampire hunt tonight. I'd managed to keep him out of the rough stuff until now. But it wasn't going to last. I'd been hoping he'd give up the idea of hunting vampires. Staring into his glittering eyes, I realized I was the one who was fooling myself. In his own way Larry was as stubborn as I was. Frightening thought, that. But for tonight he was safe.

“You couldn't just comfort me? Tell me we'll find him?” Larry asked.

I smiled. “I try not to lie to you, if I can avoid it.”

“For once,” Larry said, “I'd have liked to have heard the lie.”

“Sorry,” I said.

He took in a deep breath and let it out slow. His anger was gone just like that. Larry didn't know what it was to hold onto his rage. He didn't brood over things. One of the main differences between us. I never forgave anyone for anything. A character flaw to be sure, but hell, everyone's got to have at least one.

There was a knock on the door. Larry went for the door.

Jean-Claude was suddenly standing by me. I hadn't seen him move. Hadn't heard his leather boots slither over the carpet. Nothing. Magic. My heart was suddenly thudding in my throat.

“Stomp your feet or something when you do that.”

“Do what,
ma petite
?”

I glared up at him.“That wasn't a mind trick, was it?”

“No,” he said. That one word slithered across my skin like a low creeping breeze.

“Damn you,” I said softly and with feeling.

He smiled. “We've been over that,
ma petite
; you are too late.”

Larry had closed the door. “There's a guy out in the hall says he's with Jean-Claude.”

“A guy or a vampire?” I asked.

Larry frowned. “Not a vampire, but if you mean human I wouldn't go that far.”

“You expecting company?” I asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“Who?”

He stalked to the door and put a hand on the doorknob. “Someone I believe you've already met.” He opened the door with a flourish, stepping to one side to let me have a clear view.

Jason stood in the open door, smiling, relaxed. He was my height exactly, not something you find in a man often. Straight blond hair barely touched the top of his collar; his eyes were the innocent blue of spring skies. The last time I'd seen him he'd been trying to eat me. Werewolves will do that sometimes.

He was dressed in an oversized black sweater that hit him almost at mid-thigh. He'd had to roll the sleeves over his wrists. His pants were leather, laced up the side from waist to mid-calf, where the laces vanished into boots. The lacings were loose enough that there was a pale line of flesh all the way down.

“Hello, Anita.”

“Hi, Jason. What are you doing here?”

He had the grace to look embarrassed. “I'm Jean-Claude's new pet.”

He said the last word like it was alright. Richard wouldn't have said it that way.

“You didn't tell me you brought company,” I said.

“We are going to be calling on the Master of the City. We must make a good show of it.”

“So a werewolf, and what . . . me?”

He sighed. “Yes,
ma petite
, whether you bear my marks or not, most consider you my human servant.” He raised a hand. “Please, Anita, I know you are not my human servant in the technical sense. But you have helped me defend my territory. You have killed to protect me. That is the best definition of what a human servant does.”

“So, what? I have to pretend to be your human servant on this visit?”

“Something like that,” he said.

“Forget it.”

“Anita, I need a show of strength here. Branson was part of Nikolaos's territory. I gave it up because the population density could support another group. But it was still my land, and now it's not. Some view that as weakness rather than practicality.”

“So without any marks at all you've finally got me to play servant for you. You manipulative son of a bitch.”

“You asked me down here,
ma petite
.” A thread of warmth cut through his words. He stalked towards me. “I am doing you a favor, do not forget that.”

“I don't think you'll let me forget,” I said.

He made a harsh sound, as if he had no words for his anger. “Why do I put up with you? You insult me at every
turn. There are many who would give their souls for what I offer you.”

He stood in front of me, eyes like dark sapphires, skin white as marble. His skin glowed like there was a light inside him. He looked like some kind of live sculpture made of light, jewels, and stone.

He was impressive and scary, but I'd seen it before. “Cut the vampire powers shit, Jean-Claude. It's almost dawn; don't you have a coffin to crawl into somewhere?”