one side. An eye had been rolling in a bare socket. Compared to that, Asher was a GQcover boy. The thing that made the scarring worse somehow was that the rest of him was so perfect. It made it worse somehow, more obscene. They'd left his eyes pure, and the midline of his face, so his nose, the fullness of his mouth, sat in a sea of scars. Jean-Claude had saved him before the zealots killed him, but Julianna had been burned as a witch.
Asher never forgave Jean-Claude for the death of the woman they both loved. In fact, last I'd heard, he was asking for my death. He would kill Jean-Claude's human servant as revenge. The council had refused him up until now.
"Step away from the Jeep, slowly," I said.
"Would you shoot me for leaning against your car?" He sounded amused, pleasant. The tone in his voice, the way he chose his words, reminded me of Jean-Claude when I'd first met him. Asher pushed to his feet using just his body. He blew a smoke ring at me and laughed again.
The sound slithered across my skin like the touch of fur, soft and feeling--oh, so slightly--of death. It was Jean-Claude's laugh, and that was unnerving as hell.
Jean-Claude took a deep, shuddering breath and stepped forward. He didn't block my line of sight though, and he didn't tell me to put the gun down. "Why are you here, Asher?" His voice held something I'd seldom heard, regret.
"Is she going to shoot me?"
"Ask her yourself. I am not the one holding the gun."
"So it is true. You do not control your own servant."
"The best human servants are those that come willingly to your hand. You taught me that, Asher you and Julianna."
Asher threw the cigarette on the ground. He took two quick steps forward.
"Don't," I said.
His hands were balled into fists at his side. His anger rode the night like close lightning. "Never, never say her name again. You don't deserve to speak her name."
Jean-Claude gave a shallow bow. "As you wish. Now, what do you want, Asher? Anita will grow impatient soon."
Asher stared at me. He looked at me from head to toe, but it wasn't sexual, though that was in there. It was like he was looking me over, like I was a car he was thinking of buying. His eyes were a strange shade of pale blue. "Would you really shoot me?" He turned his head so that I couldn't see the scars. He knew exactly how the shadows would fall. He gave a smile that was supposed to melt me into my socks. It didn't work.
"Cut the charm and give me a reason notto kill you."
He turned his head so that a sheet of golden hair spilled over the right side of his face. If my night vision had been worse, it might have hidden the scars.
"The council extends their invitation to Jean-Claude, Master of the City of St. Louis, and his human servant, Anita Blake. They request your presence this night."
"You may put up the gun, ma petite. We are safe until we see the council."
"Just like that," I said. "Last I heard, Asher here wanted to kill me."
"The council refused his request," Jean-Claude said. "Our human servants are too precious to us for them to agree."
"Very true," Asher said.
The two vampires stared at each other. I expected them to try vampiric powers on each other, but they didn't. They just stood there, looking at one another. Their faces gave nothing away, but if they'd been people and not monsters, I'd have told them to hug and make up. You could feel their pain on the air. I realized something I hadn't before. They had loved each other once. Only love can turn to such bitter regret. Julianna had been their link, but it hadn't just been her they loved.
It was time to put the gun up, but irritatingly, I'd have to flash the parking lot. I was really going to have to invest in more dressy pants suits. Dresses just sucked for concealed carry.
There was no one else but the three of us in the parking lot. I turned my back on both of them and raised the dress enough to put up the gun.
"Please, don't be modest on my account," Asher said.
I smoothed the dress into place before I turned around. "Don't flatter yourself."
He smiled, and the look on his face was amused, condescending, and something else. That "something else" bothered me. "Modest. Were