Лорел Гамильтон - The Harlequin

«You are lying. She told you her reason.»

Great, he knew I was lying. «The shapeshifters say that I don't smell like I'm lying anymore; my respiration rate doesn't even change.»

«I am not smelling or listening to your body, Anita. I simply feel the lie. Why do you not tell me the truth?»

«I'll tell Jean-Claude, and if he says it's okay to tell everyone, then I will.»

«So you will keep secrets from me.»

«You know, Requiem, we have a lot of bad shit happening, and you seem more interested in your own hurt feelings than in the life-and-death stuff.»

He nodded. «I feel raw tonight, undone. I have felt that way since earlier in Jean-Claude's office.»

«We were being messed with then,» I said.

«But there is no holy object that I can wear, my evening star, no refuge that I can take from what the Harlequin have done to me.»

«Are they messing with you now?»

«No, but they showed me certain truths about myself, and I cannot seem to unknow what I have learned.»

«You don't sound like yourself, Requiem.»

«Do I not?» he said, and again there was too much emotion in his voice. I wanted Graham back here, or someone back here. Requiem thought they weren't messing with his head, but I was betting the Harlequin were playing Scrabble with his thoughts right now.

He undid his cloak and flung it backward onto the floor. I'd seen him do a similar gesture on stage at Guilty Pleasures near the end of his strip act. He was fully clothed in elegant gray dress slacks and a shirt that was a clear cornflower blue that turned his eyes as blue as blue could be. I'd looked into a lot of blue eyes, but none quite the color of his. It was a startling blue, a color that had made Belle Morte try to collect him and add him to her collection of blue-eyed lovers. He flung his long straight black hair behind his shoulders.

«I would not have left your side for any business, my star. If you would but love me as I love you, nothing would be more important to me than you.»

I called, «Graham!» It wasn't a yell but it was close to one. Was I afraid? A little. Maybe I could use necromancy to knock the Harlequin out of Requiem, but last time I tried I nearly got myself killed. I'd like to heal from one attack before I got hurt again—selfish, but there you go.

The door opened, but it wasn't Graham. It wasn't even Edward. It was Dolph, Lieutenant Rudolph Storr, head of the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team, and paranoid hater of all things monster. Shit.

REQUIEM DIDN'T EVEN turn around. He just said, «Leave us.» But he said it in that «voice,» that power-ridden voice that some vamps have. That voice that was supposed to bespell and bemuse.

I saw the flare of Dolph's cross around his neck. It made a halo around Requiem's body. I could see Dolph over Requiem's head, because he had eight inches on the six-foot-tall vampire. I didn't like the look on Dolph's face.

«He's my friend, Dolph, but the bad guys have him bespelled.» My voice held more fear now than it had when I'd called for Graham. The look on Dolph's face made me afraid.

«One vampire can't bespell another,» Dolph said. I saw his arms move, and knew before he moved around the vampire's body that he'd drawn his gun. He moved so that if he had to shoot, he wouldn't risk me. His cross stayed at a steady white light, not too bright—after all, the vampire who was being bad wasn't actually in the room.

«These vampires can, I swear to you, Dolph. Requiem is being controlled by one of the bad guys.»

«Is that what is happening to me?» Requiem asked, and he looked confused.

«He's a vampire, Anita; he is a bad guy.»

«They're brainwashing you, Requiem,» I said, and reached out to him.

«Don't touch him,» Dolph said, his gun up and pointed.

Requiem's hand closed over mine; his skin was cool to the touch, as if he hadn't fed. But he had fed; I'd felt his power. «If you shoot him now, like this, it's murder, Dolph. He hasn't done anything wrong.» I drew a breath of my own power, my necromancy, and tried to «look» at Requiem, gently. If I had a repeat of being thrown across the room by metaphysics, I was afraid Dolph would blame Requiem and shoot him.

«You're the one who taught me that if my cross glows, they're fucking with me.»

«They are fucking with you, and with Requiem. They're messing with you both.»

«I'm still wearing a cross, Anita; my mind is my own. You taught me that, too. Or did you forget everything about monster hunting when you started fucking them?»

I was too scared to be insulted. «Listen to yourself, Dolph, please. They are messing with your thoughts.» I traced my power over Requiem, as delicate a brush of power as I'd ever attempted. I felt the power, and I knew the taste of it. It was Mercia. If we all survived, I'd ask Edward how he managed to miss her. But it was like chasing a ghost; her power withdrew before me. She just gave him up and left. Maybe she didn't want to risk another metaphysical knockout.

Requiem swayed, grabbing the rail, and my hand, to keep from falling.

«Get away from her, now,» Dolph said.

«The bad vamp is gone, Dolph,» I said.

Requiem said, «Give me but a moment and I will do as you ask, officer. I am unwell.» He kept his face averted from the cross that was still glowing soft and steady. It wasn't glowing because of Requiem.

Edward came slowly through the door. Olaf loomed behind him. «Hey, Lieutenant, what's going on?»

«This vamp is trying to mind-fuck me.» Dolph's voice was low and even, with a thread of anger to it like a fuse waiting to be lit. He was holding a two-handed shooting stance; the gun looked strangely small in his hands.

«Anita,» Edward called.

«Requiem is fine now. The bad vamps were messing with him, but it's over.»

«Lieutenant Storr, we don't have a warrant of execution on this vampire. Kill him now, and it's murder.» Edward's voice was his good-ol'-boy best, apologetic, somehow implying by tone that he thought it was a shame, too, that they couldn't just kill all the vampires, but shucks, it just didn't work that way.

Edward and Olaf eased into the room. Edward hadn't gone for a weapon. There was already one too many guns in this room. I had an idea.

«Dolph, this vampire messed with me while I wore a cross. She makes your feelings stronger. You hate vampires, and she's feeding that feeling. Requiem is jealous of Jean-Claude, and she was feeding that.»

«There's nothing wrong with me,» Dolph said.

«You're about to shoot an unarmed civilian,» Edward said, in his good-ol'-boy voice. «Is that a good thing, Lieutenant, or a bad thing?»

Dolph frowned, and the tip of the gun wavered. «He's not a civilian.»

«Well, now,» Edward said, «I agree with you, but legally he's a citizen with rights. You kill him, and you're up on charges. If you're going to go down for killing one of them, why not make it one that's actually breaking the law? Lose your badge saving some innocent human from a bloodsucker about to munch on 'em. That'd be satisfyin'.» Edward's down-home accent was growing thicker as he talked. He was also easing deeper into the room. He waved Olaf to stay near the door, then crept closer to Dolph.

Dolph didn't seem to notice. He just stood there, frowning, as if he were listening to things I couldn't hear. His cross kept up a steady white light. He shook his head as if trying to chase off some buzzing thing. His gun pointed at the floor, and he looked up. The cross faded, but it had never had the light it should have for such an attack. It was almost as if whatever Mercia's powers were, they somehow didn't set off holy objects as much as they should have. Dolph looked first at Edward. «I'm okay now, Marshal Forrester.»