Anita Blake - The Harlequin Part 23

Rafael didn't even look at them. I did. I looked at Claudia, and she actually blushed. "Whose side are you on if the flags go up?" I asked.

"Do you actually believe you could challenge me?" Rafael said, and he sounded amused. I ignored him and kept my gaze on Claudia. Micah had his attention on Rafael, and I knew he'd let me know if I needed to look at the big man.

"Come on, Claudia, Fredo, talk to me. You're our bodyguards, but he's your king. If it goes bad, can we depend on you, or not?"

"They are my people," Rafael said. "They owe their loyalty to me."

I finally looked at him. It was not a friendly look. "Then they need to leave this room, now. We need hyena and wolves in here, now." "They are no match for my people," Rafael said. "Maybe not, but at least I can trust who they'll jump for." Clay had hit his radio and was relaying my request. Rafael looked at Jean-Claude. "Are the leopards in charge here, Jean-Claude? It is what I had heard, but I had not believed it." He had turned away from us as if we didn't matter.

I had a horrible urge to draw my gun, but knew I'd never get it out in time. Not with Claudia and Fredo in the room. And besides, I wouldn't really shoot him over an insult, and you never draw a gun un less you're willing to use it. I wasn't willing to use it, but I was really wanting a way to wipe that arrogance off Rafael's face.

Wolves and hyenas spilled into the room, at a run. We now had more of our people in the room than we did wererats. The tightness in my stomach eased a little.

"Rafael," Richard said, "why are you doing this?" "Doing what?" he asked. "Treating the leopards as the lesser power they are supposed to be?" Richard let his face show the surprise he felt. "Are you purposefully trying to bait Anita?" "I have come to negotiate with the Master of the City and his triumvirate of power. His animal to call and his human servant."

"I'm also the leopard's queen, and they are my animal to call," I said. "You can't insult one half of my power base while you try to negotiate with the other."

"Exactly," Rafael said.

"What?" I asked.

"You have made your point, Rafael," Jean-Claude said.

I looked from one to the other. "Not to me, he hasn't."

"I'm confused, too," Richard said.

"I have worked for years to build the wererats into a force to be reckoned with, bargained with, a force not to be treated lightly. Though I may dislike Narcissus, he, in his own way, has also built the werehyenas up into a force to be reckoned with." He motioned at us, the only three leopards in the room. "The leopards were the play things of the wolves when Raina was their lupa. Gabriel, the leader of the leopards, was her p.a.w.n. Then Anita killed both of them. She be came lupa to the wolves and tried to protect the leopards. I was happy that the leopards had a true protector, someone who did not just use them. No group deserves the treatment that they suffered at Gabriel's hands." He walked toward us, slowly, nothing menacing in that movement but I fought an urge to step back. Somehow I wasn't sure I wanted him that close to me, to us.

Rafael spoke as he moved calmly toward us. "Then Anita became more than just a human with extraordinary powers. By all accounts she may truly be a shapeshifter one of these moons."

"So what?" I asked. "So what if I finally turn furry for real?"

"Leopard is not Jean-Claude's animal to call, it is yours. Yet you are not a vampire. You are leopard queen, but not a wereleopard. The wolves' lupa, but not a werewolf. Now the lions are yours to call. If Joseph and his pride would only give you someone worthy to choose, you would have another animal to bind to you. The lions are weaker even than the leopards, but if you find a mate among them, they will move up, they will be powerful, and they do not de serve it."

I was beginning to see what his point was, and I even understood why he'd put himself forward as food. "You do everything according to the rules," I said, "and then this metaphysical wild card comes out of nowhere and suddenly animal groups that are weak by your standards have more ties to Jean-Claude. The leopards are a small group, but they're intimate with the vampires, so they're powerful. You think the same thing will happen with the lions."

"Yes," Rafael said. "You are serious about being Anita's pomme de sang'' Richard said, "because it's the only way you can see getting closer to the power structure."

Rafael nodded and looked at the other man. "I am sorry, my friend, but if I cannot guarantee my people's safety through strength of arms and traditional methods, then I am willing to wh.o.r.e myself for their safety."

"I do not hold the leopards above you in esteem," Jean-Claude said.

"If there was a choice between saving the rats and saving the leopards, who would you choose?" "There will not be a choice like that," Jean-Claude said. "Perhaps not, but there might be a choice between the hyenas and the rats. Narcissus is not my friend, and now Asher's animal to call is his people."

"Asher is not master here," Jean-Claude said.

"No, but you love him, have loved him for centuries. That is a powerful bond, Jean-Claude. If Asher whispered sweetly enough, would you deny him and his animals? Or would you side with him over my people?"

"Are you planning on challenging the hyenas to a war?" Jean-Claude asked it almost jokingly. But I knew that tone of voice; it was the tone he used when he was worried he was right.

"No, but we are not animals, any of us," Rafael said. "Our master would not start a war with you, rat king." This from Remus.

Rafael shook his head. "You are one of the reasons that I fear a war, Remus. When your Oba, your leader, was only recruiting martial artists and weight lifters, pretty muscle that had never known a real fight without referees, I did not worry, but you are the real thing, Remus. He has hired several ex-military, ex-police."

"He did that because of what happened when Chimera took over his men," I said. "Narcissus learned the difference between a bouncer and a soldier. He learned it the hard way. He lost a lot of his men to Chimera."

"And you killed Chimera for him," Rafael said, giving me all the attention of those dark eyes. "I killed him for all of us. He wouldn't have left the rats alone either."

Rafael came to stand in front of us. I fought the urge to grab Micah's hand. Rafael hadn't done anything threatening, just being six feet tall and standing over us. Usually tall didn't intimidate me, but there was something about him today. Something bad.

"We were too powerful for Chimera to attack, and he did not hold rat lycanthropy in his body." "He tried to take over several groups that he didn't hold the lycanthropy for," I said. "If I had any liking for men, I'd offer myself to Jean-Claude and be done with it."

I didn't even try to keep the shock off my face. I did grab Micah's hand, as if the world had gotten shaky and I needed something to cling to. Rafael did not say things like this.

"But men do not interest me, so I do the next best thing. I offer my self to you, Anita. Because you protect those in your bed. And some thing about you brings power to your lovers. I do not understand it, but Nathaniel is the perfect example of one of the least wereanimals becoming something so much more, just because of you, Anita."

Nathaniel moved to touch my shoulder. I jumped, then eased into the touch, and a little away from this strange version of Rafael. He was afraid. I could feel it.

"What has Narcissus done to make you think your rats are in danger?" Jean-Claude said.

Rafael glanced at him. "What have you heard?"

"Nothing. I give you my word of honor that I have heard nothing, but you are cautious and thoughtful. This is not like you, Rafael; only something serious, and dangerous, could make you come to us like this." Jean-Claude sat down on the couch and said, "Sit with us, eat, and tell us what Narcissus has said or done to make you willing to say such things to ma pet.i.te" Rafael closed his eyes, his hands in fists. "Your word of honor that you don't know. Then it can't be true." "What cannot be true, mon ami} Talk to us. We are allies and friends; posturing and threats do not become us."

Micah pulled me away from Rafael and closer to the food. We weren't backing away from the rat king; we were just going to eat. Sure, but it saved face, and I was hungry. No matter what emergency was happening, I still hadn't even had coffee. One of the side effects of the ardeur and the almost-lycanthropy was that I couldn't not eat. Not without consequences, like s.e.x I'd regret later, or having my body almost tear it self apart because it couldn't decide what animal it most wanted to be.

We actually got everyone settled with food, and Rafael stopped being all strange and scary. He sat on the love seat with Louie, with his guards at his back. We took the couch. It was big enough that everyone but Nathaniel had a seat. He curled up at my feet and made the scanty leather outfit work for him. The only one in the room who knew how to be more seductive at the drop of a hat was Jean-Claude, and he was all business. Though to him, sometimes seduction was business, but not this morning.

I nibbled on a croissant and a variety of cheese and fruit, and for the dozenth time wondered how to put a real kitchen into the Circus underground. Breakfast takeout was too d.a.m.n limited. But the coffee was good. I sipped it black, because the first cup should always be black. It's the morning slap in the face that lets you know you're awake.

"Now," said Jean-Claude, "Rafael, my friend, talk to us. What has Narcissus said or done to alarm you so?"

"He said that he would offer himself to Anita as a pomme de sang, and with that, and his tie to your love, Asher, he would be the second most powerful animal group in St. Louis, after the wolves."

"He said this to you?" Jean-Claude asked.

"Not to me personally, no."

"Then how did you hear of it?"

"One of my rats likes the way that Narcissus makes love. Narcissus is beside himself now that Asher's animal to call is hyena. He had offered himself to Asher as Asher's animal to call, and been turned down."

News to me, I thought. "Asher was flattered," Jean-Claude said, "but we both felt it would make the other groups nervous if Narcissus was so honored."

I fought not to look at Jean-Claude, because shouldn't someone have mentioned it to me? I sipped coffee and tried to keep my face blank, not always my best thing. I drank the coffee too fast to enjoy it, but it kept me from giving anything away, or I hoped it did.

"But Asher goes to Narcissus's club, and he enjoys the entertainment," Rafael said.

Narcissus's club was a bondage and submission club, and entertainment could cover a lot of ground. I hadn't known that Asher was going over there. I know that it feels good to be around your animal. I liked being around the leopards, and the wolves, and even the lions. But... it was like a lot was happening and I'd been out of the loop. I didn't like that.

"Asher enjoys what the club has to offer, but he has turned down Narcissus's more personal offers, again because he thought other animal groups might take it badly if he were to show such favor to Narcissus," Jean-Claude said.

"Narcissus seems to think that it's only a matter of time before Asher gives in to his charms."

"He does not know Asher as well as he believes," Jean-Claude said.

"Asher enjoys the bondage," Rafael said.

Jean-Claude shrugged, that wonderful Gallic movement that meant everything and nothing. Which meant Rafael might be right. Again, news to me. What else was my vampire "master" keeping from me? "If Narcissus can seduce your Asher, he will do so. He will try to se duce you," Rafael said. "Narcissus has tried to seduce me in the past. He failed," Jean-Claude said.

"He says the old Master of the City, Nikolaos, gave you to him several times. He has bragged of your body and what he did to it." Rafael studied Jean-Claude's face as he said it, as he'd studied mine. It looked like he was even making eye contact, not always wise with a vampire.

Jean-Claude gave him a lovely, blankface. "He has not bragged to you."

"You are certain of that?" Rafael said.

"Very. He had a tendency to talk during . . . during. He might have talked of me while he was doing similar things to someone else. In fact, I would be surprised if he had not. He enjoyed comparing and contrasting his lovers, and his victims."

"So you were his lover?"

"No, I was his victim. Nikolaos gave me to him with no safe word, no way to stop him from doing what he wished with me, except my own poor art of persuasion."

Rafael laughed, an abrupt and unhappy sound. "To art,' false modesty from what I hear. Narcissus would give a great deal to have you back as his ... victim."

"So he has said." "He seems confident that Asher is the key to your bed. And if not Asher, then Anita. He believes sincerely that he will find a way to your libido again through them."

Finally something I could address without revealing that I wasn't entirely sure what was happening with Asher and the hyenas. "You don't have to worry about me and Narcissus. He's really not my cup of tea."

Rafael nodded, his face still serious. We couldn't seem to get a smile out of him this morning. "Am I your cup of tea, Anita?"

I felt Richard stiffen beside me. I glanced around him to Jean-Claude. "Can I talk plainly without upsetting the political apple cart here?"

"Talk, and we shall see."

Not a rousing endors.e.m.e.nt, but I'd take what I could get. "You're handsome, and if it was a date, we could talk, but you want to skip to s.e.x, and I'm just not that casual about it."

He gave me a look. It was a very judgmental look. I gave him an un happy look back.

"Yeah, I have a lot of lovers, but they aren't casual lovers, Rafael."

He let out a breath, sipped some coffee, then said, "Perhaps not, but there is something about being your lover that seems to up the power level of every man that you . . . give yourself to." "Not true," I said. "Name a single lover you have had who has not gained power from it."

"I can name three: London, Requiem, and Byron," I said.

"The first two were master vampires before you slept with them. It's hard to judge how much power they arrived in St. Louis with, and how much they may have gained. Byron you slept with only once. Once doesn't seem to be enough." He sat his coffee down on his plate. "Fine, your regular lovers gain power."

"I think you overestimate me."

Rafael handed his plate to Louie, who stood and put it on the coffee table, as if he'd been told to do it. Rafael looked at me. He looked at me as if he would see through me to the other side. It was a look to study, weigh, and measure a person. I tried not to squirm under that gaze, but it was hard work.

"What?" I asked.

He looked at Jean-Claude. "She doesn't know, does she?"

"I am not certain that I know what you mean," Jean-Claude said.

"Jean-Claude, every lover Anita has gains power. Asher was a master vampire in name only, almost, but since he's been in her bed he's gained enough power to have his own territory if he didn't love you both too much to leave. Nathaniel was everyone's victim; now he is be coming someone to be reckoned with. You, personally, have gained more power than you ever dreamed."

"And you believe that it is ma pet.i.te who has given me power, not that I have shared my power with her?" "She has her own triumvirate of power, Jean-Claude. Her own vampire servant in Damian." "I am not the power behind the throne, Rafael. Trust me, Jean-Claude is plenty powerful enough for both of us." "He is, but he gained most of that power after you became his lover." "I gained powers after he made me his servant," I said, "not the other way around."

"I've been talking to some of the wererats in Europe," Rafael said. "They speak of your Belle Morte, the creator of your bloodline. They say that she could give power to her lovers, if she chose."

"Belle Morte does not choose to share power with anyone," Jean-Claude said.

"No, but she can; through s.e.x, she can make her lovers more powerful. Legend has it that once she made kings and emperors through her touch. She changed the face of Europe through her bed."

"She ruled from her bedroom, that is true, but not in the way you think. She chose only the powerful, only those who could give her something she wanted. And I did not gain power in her bed. I was her p.a.w.n for centuries. As was Asher." "Masters of the City often kill their own vampire children if they become too powerful, true?" Rafael said.

"Some do."

"But isn't it strange that so many of the vampires who were nearly powerless around Belle Morte have gained power the longer they are away from her?"

"What are you saying, Rafael?"

"I have heard rumors that some masters can r.e.t.a.r.d the powers of their followers." "Some can, but I do not believe Belle is one of them." "Why not?" He gave that shrug again. Frankly, the rats were a little too well informed for comfort. I'd seen a master vampire gain new powers once in America and far enough away from his old master. But I wasn't sure it was on purpose; I'd actually begun to wonder if some powerful masters gave off a sort of hormone that r.e.t.a.r.ded the power of those around them. No way to test it, but I'd seen some of what Rafael was saying.

"There are rats in every city," Sampson said, and like last time it was as if we'd all forgotten him.

Rafael nodded. "There are."

I had this image of hundreds of rats scampering in the walls, hearing things, and what they heard, the rat king heard. Did it work that way? For real? I wanted to ask, but in this mood, I wasn't sure how he'd take the question.

"I am the son of two powers, but you did not concern yourself that you had insulted me," Sampson said.

"I don't know what you are to Jean-Claude and Anita."

"So you would ignore me, and see if it got a reaction?"

Rafael nodded.

"I am the next lover in line for Anita."

"Why have you waited so long?"

"It is the lady's privilege to keep a man waiting."

They were supposed to be talking about me, but it was like I was missing the conversation, or not truly understanding it all.