Laurell Hamilton: Affliction

I said a prayer of gratitude for my own happiness, and a prayer for Micah’s dad, and let God go back to taking care of His love life as He saw fit. I called Fredo to arrange the guards and shook my head at my own weirdly romantic religious thoughts; so girly, to wonder if God needed a Wife. That was above my faith pay grade. Picking out dangerous men to guard our backs, that I understood.

Micah texted me that he’d called Nathaniel to pack for us so he could meet us at the airport. I let him know I’d gotten his message and called the other third of our couple. Nathaniel answered on the second ring.

‘Hey, Anita.’

‘Hey, pussycat.’ No, most men wouldn’t have liked that as a nickname, but he wasn’t most men. ‘Micah told me you’re packing for all of us. Can you bear in mind we’re meeting his family for the first time, with the clothes?’

‘I am,’ he said.

‘I need some shirts that aren’t low-cut, okay?’

‘We love your breasts,’ he said, his voice holding that upward lilt that said he was smiling.

I smiled. ‘I appreciate that, I even approve, but let’s not overwhelm his family with my assets the first time.’

‘Would I pack so that all that creamy goodness was on display in every shirt?’ he asked in that fake innocent voice.

‘Yes,’ I said, and laughed.

‘I promise to pack some regular T-shirts, but most of your dressy tops are low-cut.’

‘That’s because the plain silk shell blouses don’t lie right when I wear them,’ I said.

‘They aren’t designed for someone with a triple-E cup, Anita. I didn’t even know that you could have that big a cup size and be as lean as you are without surgical help.’

‘Genetics is a wonderful thing,’ I said.

‘Yay, genetics!’ he said with so much enthusiasm it made me laugh. ‘I’ll pack so we’ll match but won’t embarrass Micah. Promise.’

‘Thank you. You’re the only one I’d trust to pack for all of us.’

‘I’ll even wear a suit so we all match when we get to the hospital.’ Nathaniel had beautiful designer suits, but since his regular job was as an exotic dancer he didn’t have to wear them to work like Micah did. The suits were for special occasions like weddings and certain business meetings where all of Jean-Claude’s main people had to show up looking businessy.

I realized that Nathaniel was strangely happy. It didn’t quite match the reason for the trip. I thought about asking why his mood was so up, but my phone let me know there was another call trying to come through. ‘I’ve got another call; let me make sure it’s not Micah.’

‘I’ll wait,’ he said, and again it was cheerful. Was it too cheerful, or was he just better at handling these emergencies than I was?

It was Jean-Claude on the phone. ‘Hey, what’s up?’

‘Are any of the guards you have arranged werewolves?’

‘Yes, it’s Micah’s rule and yours that we try to use as many wereanimals for our public bodyguards as possible.’

‘You will need to make other arrangements, ma petite .’

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘The local wolves have requested that you not bring anyone in who could challenge them. If there is need of a funeral, then they will understand us bringing in our wolves to call, but until that sad necessity they would like none of our wolves, as a sign of good faith.’

‘Are you letting them boss us around too much?’ I asked.

‘If you want this initial visit to be about Micah and his dying father, no. If you want to have to deal with the local werewolves politically, and perhaps even frighten them enough to have it turn to violence, then by all means keep your wolf guard.’

‘Okay, I’ll switch the guard roster.’

‘Good,’ he said.

‘Is there anything else I need to know?’

‘The master vampire of the area has forgone the usual politics and wishes our Micah well. In fact, he offered to put his people at our disposal for transportation and errands so that you could all concentrate on Micah’s family.’

‘That was very nice of him,’ I said, and couldn’t keep the suspicion out of my voice.

‘It was nice of him, ma petite , but we are no longer just visiting masters from out of town. We are council members, or their people, and thus we are owed both allegiance and a certain deferential treatment.’

‘So, now that you’re on the council we don’t have to do all the vampire political shit?’

‘In part, yes, but on the other hand, it means we have to be even more conscious of other masters and their egos, unless you wish to feed the whispers of rebellion among them?’

‘You know I don’t,’ I said.

‘Then remember that when you are dealing with him and his people, please.’

‘Are you afraid I’ll be rude and spook them?’

‘You, rude, ma petite , why would I fear that?’ The sarcasm was not that thick, but the very delicate touch of it brought it home.

‘I’ll be good. It’s nice of them to help us out at short notice.’

‘They have little choice; the old European council would have seen a refusal of such niceties as a grave insult and would have acted accordingly.’

‘What does “act accordingly” mean in this context?’

‘You have met envoys from the council, ma petite . What do you think they would do to a master who was discourteous to them?’

‘Scare the hell out of him, torment, torture, overthrow him maybe if they had someone to put in his place, or in some cases just for the hell of the chaos it would cause.’

‘On one hand we are hampered by the old council’s actions; it makes the others fear a council here in the United States. They fear we will go mad with power, but on the other hand, they will offer up service and courtesy in hopes of placating us and keeping us from having a reason to be angry with them.’

‘So, on one hand the old council’s reputation makes things harder for us and scares everyone, and on the other hand they’ll probably behave better because they’re more afraid of us.’

‘Exactement,’ he said.

‘Wait, we had to offer food to visiting council people. Are they going to offer us food for the ardeur ?’

‘I have not arranged it, but if they do not then it is a sign that they are not giving us the same respect that they gave the old council.’

‘You’re using this as a test to see how Fredrico behaves toward us, toward you.’ I fought not to sound accusatory.

‘I did not engineer this visit, ma petite , but now that we have it, yes, it is a test for the local master. We must discover how well we rule, or how weak our rule is, so that we can decide how tightly we wish to hold the reins of power.’

‘I’d rather not use visiting Micah’s dying father as a test of loyalty for the local vampires.’

‘Not just vampires, ma petite , but local wereanimals. Our Micah travels the country talking to various animal groups, helping them deal with their problems. He promotes better relations between normal humans and the lycanthrope community. He has become the public face of the movement and is often called to handle disputes hundreds of miles from our lands.’

‘What are you saying, Jean-Claude?’

‘We learned that the reason you have no other king of any other animal group as attached to you as Micah is that metaphysically you have your furred king. Through you, he has ties to many more animals besides the leopards.’

‘I know, I know, we have ties to all sorts of wereanimals, and Micah is a real leopard king in the metaphysical sense, able to rule by supernatural power and not just force of will and actions. If I hadn’t had a wereanimal in my bed that was a true king, then it wouldn’t have worked that way, but I thought that was just here in St Louis. You’re saying that the other wereanimals across the country are being attracted to Micah’s power and don’t even realize it?’