a saying," I said.
He sighed then, and the sound of it shivered over my skin. This time it was sexual. He could use some of his powers on me and still shield like a son of a bitch. I couldn't. When I shielded that tight, I was cut off from a lot of my abilities. "Stop that. Don't try to distract me with your voice. What is it that Malcolm can't speak of without being killed?"
"You will not like my answer, ma petite."
"Just tell me."
"I cannot tell you. I am under the same vow as Malcolm, as all the vampires everywhere are."
"All vampires?"
"Oui."
"What, or who, could force an oath like that from all of you?" I thought about it for a second, then answered my own question. "The vampire council, of course, your ruling body."
"Oui."
"So you aren't going to tell me anything about what's happening?"
"I cannot, ma petite."
"Well, that is just frustrating as hell."
"You have no idea how frustrating, ma petite."
"I am your human servant; doesn't that make me privy to all your secrets?"
"Ah, but this is not my secret."
"What does that mean, not your secret?"
"It means, ma petite, that I cannot discuss this with you unless I am given permission."
"How do you get permission?"
"Pray that I am never able to answer that question, ma petite."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that, if I am able to speak about this openly, then we will have been contacted, and we do not wish to be contacted by this."
"This, a thing, not a person?"
"I will say no more."
I knew I could push against his shields, and sometimes crack them. I thought about it, and it was as if he read my mind, and maybe he had. "Please, ma petite, do not push me on this."
"How bad is it?"
"Bad, but I think it is not our bad. I believe Malcolm will come to vampire justice for his crimes, whether we do it or not."
"So whatever, or whoever, this is, is hunting Malcolm?"
"Perhaps. It is certainly he and his congregation that have the attention."
"Would whoever this is really frame Malcolm's people and set up me and the other vamp executioners to do their dirty work?"
"Perhaps. This legal status is very new. I know some of the older levels of vampire politics are puzzled by it. Perhaps some decided to use it to their own advantage."
"I had a case of that just two months ago, where one vamp framed another for a murder of a woman. I don't want to kill someone who's innocent."
"Is any vampire truly innocent?"
"Don't give me that fundamentalist shit, Jean-Claude."
"We are monsters, ma petite. You know that I believe that."
"Yeah, but you don't want us to go back to the bad ol' days and have it be open season on you guys."
"No, I do not want that." There was something in the dry tone of his voice.
"You're shielding so hard, I can't tell what you're feeling. You only shield this hard when you're scared, really scared."
"I am afraid that you will pick from my mind what I am forbidden to tell you. There is no, how do you say, fudging, on this... rule of law for us. If you learned this secret even in my mind, by accident, it might be grounds to slaughter both of us."
"What the hell is this secret?"
"I have told you all I can."
"Do I need to sleep at the Circus of the Damned with you tonight? Do we need to circle the wagons?"
He was quiet again, then finally said, "No, no."
"You don't sound sure."
"I think it would be a very bad thing for you to sleep with me tonight, ma petite. Sex and dreams are the times when shields drop, and you might learn what we cannot afford for you to know."
"Are you saying that I'm not going to see you until this is resolved?"
"No, no, ma petite, but not tonight. I will think about our situation and decide a course of action by tomorrow night."
"Course of action? What are the possibilities?"
"I dare not say."
"Damn it, Jean-Claude, talk to me." I was a little angry, but the tight feeling in my stomach was mostly fear.
"If all goes well, you will never learn this secret."
"But it's something that the council could have sent to kill Malcolm and destroy his church?"
"I cannot answer your questions."
"Won't, you mean."
"Non, ma petite, cannot. Has it not occurred to you that this could be a ploy of our enemies to give them an excuse under vampire law to destroy us?"
I suddenly felt cold.