Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #29)(89)

“That’s fair,” I said.

“I want my kiss of reassurance, but I feel like I’m watching a therapy session, and that should be private,” Damian said.

“We don’t have time for this tonight,” Truth said.

We looked at him.

“Damian is right, the personal issues should be private. We were attacked tonight and barely won.

Why are we not talking about strategy for the next battle?”

Wicked stepped forward and added, “What darkness remains to us needs to be about securing our power base and planning for Deimos’s next attack, not doing couples therapy.”

“You’re not usually this chatty, but especially when you’re on duty,” I said.

“Bodyguards are meant to be seen and not heard,” Jake said.

“Have you ever been a guard for one of the bloodlines descended from Belle Morte?” Truth asked.

“I have not.”

“Then trust us when we say that silent observation hasn’t been working.”

“We’re going to help keep you all on target,” Wicked said.

“And if we do not wish for such help? If I wish to spend the rest of this night rejoicing in the people I love instead of planning for war, what then?” Jean-Claude said with that tone in his voice that master vampires just seem to have somewhere inside them. It wasn’t yelling, but the threat was still in there somewhere.

“You are our king, Jean-Claude,” Wicked said, “do you not understand that as powerful as you were tonight it was still sex magic, and that will not save us from this new enemy. He is a dragon, an intelligent, undead, fire-breathing dragon. We caught him off guard, but the next attack will use other weapons in his arsenal that sex magic will not prevail against. Do you not see the danger we are all in, Jean-Claude?”

Jean-Claude took his hands back from both of us and strode into the room, whirling so that his robe spilled around him like a cape. “Yes, I know how much danger we are in, and yes I know that sex magic will not save us, and that is all the magic I have to offer. I was convinced by my hubris and others that I was the best choice to lead vampirekind into a modern world, but modern sensibilities, modern rules, only work if everyone plays by them. I felt the mind of Deimos deep inside mine tonight. He is playing by very old rules, the ones that say if you want to rule a kingdom and are strong enough to take it, then it is yours by right.”

He turned toward Jake, hands clutching and unclutching as if he was fighting not to make fists. “I would not have allowed myself to blood-oath all the other American masters to me if I had not been assured that there were no ancient vampires to challenge me. You and the other Harlequin promised me that there were no vampires left like Deimos.”

“I believed what I said to you, my word of honor on that,” Jake said.

“But now here we are with him out there, and he will attack again. Wicked is correct, Deimos will choose something else for his next foray, something that I have no defense against, that we have no defense against.”

“Tonight caught us off guard,” I said, “but sex magic isn’t the only type of magic we have.”

“It is all that I have, ma petite, and it will be I who is challenged. It is my defeat that will give him my crown, or my body to drain of power and possess.”

“It’s too late for him to challenge you to a formal duel now,” I said.

“Better that than attacking us with his full strength and no rules forcing him to restrain the worst of his damage against us, the city, and all the people in it.”

“I remember the rules from when the Earthmover came to town, Jean-Claude. If he had just caused mayhem in general then he could challenge you to a duel, but attacking you directly without a formal challenge first means that there are no rules,” I said.

“Without rules, he will destroy us,” Jean-Claude said, and I felt his fear full bore. It tightened my throat and made my stomach so tight I thought I might be sick.

I took a deep breath in and out to get control of the fear, because I didn’t believe it. That belief helped steady me. “Not if we find him first,” I said.

“It is a dragon, ma petite, if you have never seen a real dragon then you do not understand.”

I couldn’t help myself, I asked, “When did you see a real dragon?”

“I’ve seen dragons in the wild,” Richard said.

“Non, non, you have seen mindless lizards, some with wings, but none with the abilities of true dragons.”

“They aren’t lizards, or any reptiles, they’re warm-blooded,” Richard said. He was right, but it didn’t matter right now. We could talk nonessential biology later.

“How could anything breathe fire without burning itself up?” I asked.

Edward came through the far curtain wall with Peter at his back. They didn’t look alike physically at all, but how they moved echoed each other as if Peter had absorbed parts of Edward just from close proximity, no genetics needed.

Edward said, “Did I hear the words ‘dragon’ and ‘fire-breathing’?”

“You did,” I said.

“A for-real fire-breathing dragon. I thought they were just legends,” Peter said.

“Deimos is very real,” Jake said.

“You said he couldn’t fit in the alley behind the club, so how big is he in full dragon form?” I asked.