Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #29)(106)

Dev looked at him and growled. I’d gotten used to hearing animal sounds coming out of human throats, but Dev was one of the least likely to fight for dominance. He was very much go along to get along, but I guess everyone has their line in the sand.

“There is a way to finish both marks before dawn,” Jake said.

Jean-Claude shook his head. “We cannot use the ardeur to speed things up, Jake. I must be in control, and using the ardeur will strip me of that, along with ma petite and Richard.”

“The fourth mark doesn’t have to be sex,” Jake said.

“For Belle’s bloodline it must be.”

“But you are your own bloodline now, Jean-Claude, you do not have to do things as your old mistress taught you.”

“I . . . I do not know how to do it without. Belle said that a sexual exchange was the fourth mark because blood was done at the third mark.”

“It doesn’t even have to be blood, you only need to exchange body fluid while the master vampire says the words; if the words were not needed, a kiss and an exchange of saliva would be enough,”

Jake said.

“When I marked Damian and Nathaniel it was sex and blood, because it’s hard to take blood from two people at once.”

“True, it is traditionally done one at a time, either beast or servant first,” Jake said.

I remembered a vampire who had done the fourth mark with me, it hadn’t been sexual at all. I’d killed that vampire knowing I’d probably die with him rather than letting him control me forever.

Now here I was volunteering for it, but I was in love with this vampire. The other one years ago had taken by force what I was offering freely. Sex and magic is like that; force and free will make all the difference. “It won’t be as fun sharing just blood, but if Jean-Claude cuts himself twice, then Richard and I can both take his blood into us while he says the words over us.”

Jean-Claude looked up at the ceiling, but I knew he was looking further than that, he was sensing all the way up to the sky. Night was losing its strength. Whatever we were going to do, we needed to do it now.

Dev looked from one to the other of us. “We’re all out of time for anything but a quickie.”

“I just got back to them, I won’t give up my place to you, or anyone else,” Richard said.

“Then you shall be first,” Jean-Claude said.

Dev growled again, but Jean-Claude turned to Dev and put a gentle kiss on the side of his cheek.

“I will mark you this night, my Devil, have no fear that I will leave such bounty untouched.”

Angel pulled his arm and drew him away from Jean-Claude so that Richard and I were left standing with him. I heard her murmur “You’re next.”

He said, “I’m tired of being everyone’s second and no one’s first.”

I might have gotten distracted, but Jean-Claude let go of me to spill the dress down my arm. I would have rather gotten dressed again, but dawn was trembling close. Modesty could wait—they were all shapeshifters and nudity didn’t mean to them what it meant in human society. Jean-Claude took us to the wall so he could sit down. “You will have to kneel or lie on the floor to reach the traditional cuts. I would have done this in our bed in comfort if there were more time.”

“I thought you didn’t know where the traditional cuts for the fourth mark were supposed to be,”

Rodina said.

“I have seen other bloodlines do it; I still do not know if it will work for us, but there is no time. I need a blade.”

“I don’t have one on me for once,” I said.

“We can see you are unarmed,” Rodina said, and made it disdainful. I ignored her, because arguing with her would take too much precious time.

Ethan drew the Emerson folding blade from his pocket, the quick release hooking on the edge of the cloth like it was supposed to, so that it was straight and locked in place when he offered it handle first to Jean-Claude. I’d given him the knife one of the first Christmases he’d been with us because he’d admired the one I had. I vowed to not be the one without a blade next time.

Jean-Claude settled his back against the wall, then took the offered knife. He set the tip near the burn scar on his chest where some human long ago had tried their best to save their life and failed.

Once I’d been in sympathy with them; now I was just glad he hadn’t died centuries before I could have met him. “Does it have to be on the left side?” he asked, looking past us kneeling to Jake.

“No, anywhere on the chest, or even the wrist.”

Jean-Claude moved the knife higher on his chest to leave the burn scar untouched. He drew the tip of the blade high on his left pectoral, leaving a thin red line behind on his pale, white skin. He raised the knife, then moved to the right side and mirrored the cut. The left side had started to bleed down his chest by the time he was finished with the right. He handed the bloody knife back to Ethan with a thank-you. Ethan wiped it clean on the side of his pants, then put it back in his pocket. “It’s my honor to serve.”

“Come, my loves, take of my blood while I say the words over us,” Jean-Claude said, reaching his arms out to us.

I hesitated for a second, watching the bright blood flow down his chest; I wasn’t really a fan of drinking blood unless one of the supernatural hungers had gotten triggered. “I will not force this upon you, ma petite, it must be willing or not at all.”