Лорел Гамильтон - Danse Macabre

His lips twitched. He was fighting not to smile.

«This isn't funny.»

He let himself smile. « Ma petite , there have been women over the centuries who traded lands, titles, their honor, everything, for one more night in Requiem's bed. His master in London used him much as Belle Morte used Asher and me. Though because Requiem only did women, he wasn't as flexible as we.»

I let that last part go. I still wasn't completely sure how I felt about Jean-Claude doing Auggie. At the time I hadn't minded — in fact, I'd liked it. I'd liked us both doing him at the same time. We'd fucked him in every way possible, physically and metaphysically, and it had felt a-fucking-mazing. That last part was probably going to bug me the most. But one disaster at a time.

«Are you saying you're surprised I turned him down?»

«No, it is typical of you to turn a man down at first.»

«At first?» I said, and sounded a little outraged.

He laughed, and it was that touchable sound, as if it were the sound of pure sex, and it went through my head and all the way down my body. «Stop that,» I said.

He smiled, face lit with suppressed laughter, but he stopped. «To my knowledge, the only man you have never said no to is your Nimir-Raj, Micah. But the ardeur was newly woken, and so I do not think we can count that one completely. It was your exception, not your rule.»

«Fine, but I'm still lost. I have avoided Requiem. Graham made some remark that Requiem was refusing Meng Die's bed and somehow that was my fault.»

«Apparently, Requiem told Meng Die that he would not be her lover any longer, because you do not share your men with other women. He seemed to believe that his being in her bed was what kept you from accepting his offer to be your new pomme de sang .»

I shook my head. «He shouldn't have assumed that.»

He nodded. «Because that isn't why you refused him, is it?»

I shook my head hard enough to move the water around my body. «No. And if Requiem had asked me why I was saying no, I would have told him it wasn't because he was screwing Meng Die.»

«Then why?»

«What does it matter?»

«Because he has left his lover's bed in the hope that you will take him to your bed. He is third in rank among my vampires, and second, or perhaps third, in power. Meng Die is powerful enough to be my second-in-command, but her temperament is not suited to it. As she demonstrated today. You have set two of my most powerful vampires at each other's throats, ma petite . I need to know why.»

«I did not start that fight,» I said.

«No, but you were the cause of it, and if you are to convince Requiem that you will not take him as your pomme de sang , then you must give him a reason that does not include his being Meng Die's lover. His reasoning was sound, ma petite . You have refused all the pomme de sang candidates who have a female lover.»

«Graham, Clay, and Requiem are all Meng Die's lovers,» I said.

He gave that wonderful Gallic shrug that meant everything and nothing. «So. Is it that you will not take Meng Die's seconds?»

I shook my head. «No, that's not it. You know why not Graham; he might do for a meal, but he'd be a disaster as a permanent member of the household.»

«Agreed,» he said.

«Clay is in love with Meng Die, she's just about broken his heart, but he wants her, and I say more power to him.»

«And Requiem?»

I leaned back against the side of the tub, out of reach. The bath had stopped being comforting. «Did we have to do this tonight?»

«Meng Die threw both Requiem and Asher around like dolls in front of humans. We will be lucky if your police do not come calling and asking questions. She tried to kill Requiem, ma petite , not wound him. She did not care that there was an audience, but Requiem and Asher did not want to kill her in front of an audience. I had the same problem when I arrived on the scene.» He was angry now, the first thread of it filling his eyes with light. «She is even now locked in a cross-wrapped coffin. But it is a temporary measure. I must let her out tomorrow night, or kill her. She will see one night as a fit punishment, but beyond that it will be an insult, and she is too powerful to eat such an insult.» He fixed those brilliant eyes on me. «So, I ask again, what will you tell Requiem when he tells you that he is free of Meng Die? What excuse will you give?»

«I'm dating three men, living with two more, and having occasional sex with two others. That's seven men. I'm like a pornographic Snow White. I think seven is plenty.»

«But it is not, ma petite . Emotionally it may be too many, but metaphysically, and for the sake of our power base, seven is not enough. You must add a lover who is not metaphysically connected to you, and you must pick a new Pomme de sang now that Nathaniel is your animal to call.»

«I thought this was optional — you're making it sound like it's almost an emergency. And wait, did you say add a lover and a pomme de sang ? I thought I was adding just one, if I added anybody.»

«I tasted your power tonight, ma petite ; it needs to be fed and fed well. You are like one of those dieting women that thinks she can survive on lettuce leaves and water. It may feel like food, but your body dies anyway.»

«I'm not dying,» I said.

«No, but your power is seeking a new pomme de sang . Don't you understand what is happening, ma petite ? The ardeur is seeking for you.»

«Okay, I'm confused now.»

«It is not like Augustine to lose control. He is over two thousand years old, ma petite; one of the first vampires Belle made. You do not thrive for so long if you make such mistakes as he did this night.»

«Belle messed with him, and with me.»

He shook his head. «He raised your ardeur first, before she appeared, did he not?»

«Yeah, he said now he could do what he'd wanted to do all along, and no one could be mad at him.»

Jean-Claude laughed, and it was just humor this time. He could control his laugh if he worked at it. «He doesn't know you very well yet. But when I said Augustine is my friend, I meant it. He would not have overstepped his bounds as my guest, not without something being wrong.»

«And what's wrong?»

«The ardeur needs more food, ma petite , and like any predator it is seeking prey.»

«It's just a metaphysical ability, Jean-Claude, not its own entity.»

He gave me a look, and it was eloquent. «You know exactly what the ardeur is, ma petite . You know that it has a mind of its own, similar to the beasts you carry. But I believe that the ardeur can do something your beasts cannot. It is, I believe, putting out the welcome mat.»

«Welcome mat?»

He sighed, and slid down in the water until his chin touched it. «You may not like Meng Die, but she is… proficient in bed. I find it inexplicable that Requiem would leave her body, on only the chance that he might be your lover. As I find it inexplicable that Augustine would purposefully insult me by raising the ardeur in you. He, in effect, attacked you, and through you, me.»

«He told me to feed from him, because then I'd win the fight, and once you got into the room he said you'd lose.»

Jean-Claude sat up so abruptly that he sloshed water in my face. I brushed my eyes clear, while he said, «He said that?»

I blinked at him, still trying to keep water out of my eyes. «Yes.»

«Then it is as I have feared. The ardeur is seeking what it needs.»

«Are you saying that the ardeur is putting out, what, pheromones?»

«I do not know this word.»