Лорел Гамильтон - The Harlequin

«She and her friend Nivia framed two legal citizen vampires for murder, and two humans died to do that.»

«Nivia did that on her own. My mistress was most upset when she found that Nivia had done these horrible things.» He didn't even try to keep his voice from sounding fake.

He knew I couldn't prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it hadn't been just Nivia, who was conveniently dead. It was her weretiger that had tried to kill Peter, a human. Again, conveniently dead.

«Son of a bitch,» I said, softly.

«Excuse me, Marshal.»

«I have a warrant of execution and it works just fine for you and your mistress.»

«But if you use it knowing that we did not do these crimes, then you are a murderer. Perhaps you will never be tried as such, but you will know that you have abused your powers and simply killed to protect your master like a good human servant, but not a very good federal marshal.»

«You've done your homework,» I said.

Micah was beside me now. I held up a hand so he wouldn't try to talk to me. I glanced back and found Nathaniel still talking to Zerbrowski. Whatever he was saying had the sergeant's full attention.

«We know you are honorable, and your master is honorable. We will not harm Malcolm or his people. We will simply challenge him for them, and use only legal means to win the challenge.»

«Avery Seabrook is already blood-oathed to Jean-Claude. He's off limits.»

«Very well, but the others are no one's flock.»

«Malcolm gave them to Jean-Claude. We haven't blood-oathed them yet, but they are ours.»

«Lies do not become you, Marshal Blake.»

«Can you taste a lie in my voice?»

«I have that ability.»

«Fine, then listen carefully, Giovanni. Malcolm gave his entire congregation to Jean-Claude and me. They belong to the Master of the City of St. Louis now. You can defeat Malcolm with your vampire wiles, but it won't win you shit. By vampire law you have to defeat the master that owns them before you can oath them to you.»

He was quiet for a second. I heard him breathing, which isn't a vampire thing. He was human, somehow; he was her human servant. He had more powers than most human servants, but then so did I.

«I hear truth in your words. But I heard truth in Malcolm's speech to my mistress only moments ago. She forced him to tell truthfully if Jean-Claude had a claim to his congregation. He said Jean-Claude did not.»

«You underestimated Malcolm's powers, Giovanni. He got a message to us, and you have a church full of legal American citizens with rights. You have a church full of vampires who belong to the Master of the City of St. Louis, and they have rights under vampire law, too. You've been very careful that my status as a police officer isn't invoked here. I'll hold you to vampire law just as tight as human law. You break either of them, and I will rain all over your parade.»

«But as the laws constrain us, they also constrain you, Anita Blake.»

«Yeah, yeah, you and the horse you rode in on.»

«I don't understand. We have no horses.»

«Sorry, it's slang. I mean that I understand what you said, and I'm not impressed.»

«Malcolm used your young vampire here to somehow give you this message, didn't he?»

«I don't have to give you information, not by either set of laws.»

«True,» he said, «but if my mistress blood-oaths enough of these vampires, then she will have enough power to defeat Jean-Claude.»

«You're Harlequin. You can't kill anyone without giving them a black mask first.»

«We are not attacking as Harlequin. My mistress has grown weary of being a tool for the council. She wishes to have her own lands in this new country of yours. Jean-Claude was harder to destroy with vampire powers than she anticipated.»

«You're supposed to give a formal challenge before you start battling to take over.»

«Did Jean-Claude give a formal challenge to Nikolaos, the old Master of the City, before you slew her for him?»

I took a breath, then didn't try to say anything. Truthfully, I hadn't realized that killing Nikolaos would make him master. I'd just been trying to stay alive and keep her from killing other people. But it had opened the way for Jean-Claude to own the city. Saying it had been an accident would make us sound weak. So I shut my mouth and tried to think.

Micah was on his own cell phone. I heard him say, «Jean-Claude.» Had Micah heard enough to tell Jean-Claude what he needed to know?

«I'll take that as a no,» Giovanni said.

«I thought the Harlequin couldn't have a territory of their own. They're supposed to be neutral.»

«We grow weary of this wandering life. We wish for a home.»

«You could petition Jean-Claude to join his kiss.»

«My mistress wishes to rule, not to serve.»

I started walking toward the exit. Whatever we were going to do, we needed to be at that church. We needed to stop whatever they had planned. Somehow I didn't think they were done with their bid for power in St. Louis.

«The council has forbidden war between master vamps in America right now.»

«Only if the fight cannot be kept secret. My master is confident this will be settled tonight, quietly.»

«Overconfidence, Giovanni, it'll get you killed.»

Nathaniel was alone at the end of the hallway. I didn't know where Zerbrowski had run off to, but it was just as well. I wasn't sure what my face looked like, but I knew I didn't look happy. I didn't want to lie to him, and so far this was a party for monsters, not cops.

«We will try our powers against each vampire here in turn. Those that cannot withstand us will be blood-oathed to Columbine.»

«You can't blood-oath someone else's vamps, it's against the rules.»

«Think of it as the beginning of the duel between your master and mine.» The phone went dead.

«Shit,» I said.

Micah handed me his phone. «It's Jean-Claude. I've told him it's the Harlequin, and it's the church.»

I took the phone and started talking. Jean-Claude listened and asked a few questions here and there. Maybe he felt my urgency over the phone, or maybe he'd spent too many centuries dealing with exactly this kind of shit.

«Will you bring human police?»

«I'll bring Edward and Olaf, but I don't know about the rest. I can't prove they've broken any human laws.»

«I will leave it to your discretion whether a he would be useful here.»

«You mean use the warrant even if I'm not certain she did it?»

«It is your honor that is at stake, not my own. I will call the wereanimals and my vampires. Be careful, ma petite .»

«You, too.» He hung up.

I stopped walking. My pulse was suddenly in my throat. Panic screamed through me. I was sure, certain, I would get everyone killed. If I took the cops, they'd die. If I didn't invite the cops, my other friends would die. I couldn't do this.

I looked at Micah. «This could turn into a hostage situation, and I'm not trained for that. They've got a few hundred people in there; what if I get them killed? What if I make the wrong choice?»

Micah searched my face with his gaze. «First, you need to shield better, because this kind of self-doubt isn't like you. Second, she doesn't want them dead. She wants to blood-oath them, and that means she wants them healthy.»

I nodded. «You're right, you're right.» The tremble of panic in my gut was still there. He was so right. I'd had vampires mess with my mind before in all sorts of ways, but Mercia's power was almost the most awful. Because it made you have to feel your own emotions intensified until you almost couldn't stand it. I think I'd have rather dealt with a good old-fashioned attempt to control me with her thoughts than this emotional rape.

«Why isn't it affecting you?» I asked.