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of two bloodlines, Jean-Claude; don’t you see that we must tame her?” Padma said.

“She carries the power of Belle’s line,” Jean-Claude said.

“She calls beasts like she is one of mine, Jean-Claude. Don’t you understand yet how dangerous she is to us all? She gains power from every vampire that attacks her. She touched me once, used her ties to wolf once against me, felt me call beast once, and now she is able to call beasts as I do.”

“I was attacked by a panwere,” I said.

“And why was he attracted to your city, Anita? Why did he attack your people? He was drawn to you, necromancer.”

Funny, it had never occurred to me that my ability to call animals came from the Master of Beasts. I’d blamed it all on Chimera, a panwere who cut me up and gave me the same kind of lycanthropy he’d had, one that adapted to any beast that bled me.

“You’re giving me too much credit,” I said.

“The Mother of All Darkness wanted Anita, wanted to possess her body,” Jean-Claude said. “You ate some of her power, and now you are obsessed with Anita, too. The Mother would defy the council, but the two of you would never do anything so rash. What you are doing could turn the rest of the council against you and your people. It would be civil war among the vampires. Why would you risk all that when we are in America? We are not trying to take anything from you. Why would you risk so much when we are no threat to Europe?”

“The American vampires petitioned the council for permission to kill you, Jean-Claude,” Belle said.

Padma said, “They do not need to know that.”

“If the council had agreed to our destruction, you would not be doing this behind the other council members’ backs,” Jean-Claude said.

“Why do they want us dead?” I asked.

“They fear you,” Belle said.

“Belle Morte, do not answer their questions.”

Something passed over her face, some thought, some idea.

It was Jean-Claude who put the pieces together. “Who among the council voted in our favor?”

Belle simply answered, “The Dragon, the Traveller, and me.” She put her hands over her mouth.

I felt Jean-Claude settling in against the bed, felt some tension in him ease. “Padma wishes us dead, but you want to save us, don’t you?”

She just stared at him with her hands across her lovely mouth. I realized she was fighting not to answer his questions. What was going on?

Asher stirred and said, “Do you miss Jean-Claude and me, Belle Morte?”

She couldn’t leave that alone. “If I had missed you, Asher, I could have had you again any time in the last century. I do not bed the ugly.”

Jean-Claude and I moved toward Asher as a unit, and I realized that it was Jean-Claude’s thought first, but it didn’t matter; I agreed with it. We wrapped ourselves around Asher, his body slick with the thick lubricant that Nicky had gotten on us all. We held him and stared up at the vision of Belle Morte.

“Do you miss being with both of us together?” Jean-Claude asked.

She struggled not to answer. It showed on her face, but in the end she said, “Yes.” Then she was angry, so angry, her rage filled her eyes with brown fire, and she threw power into me again. “If I cannot tame you, I will destroy you.”

The claws struck, raising fresh welts on my stomach, but then Jean-Claude was there, his power, no, our power, spilling over all of us. He drew the power of both triumvirates to him and used it to shield us.

“Thank you, Padma, for showing us how to control the triumvirates better.”

“I did not show you.”

“Anita is my human servant. I have been able to gain vampire powers simply by having them used against us. Until now the power did not stay with me, but I think this time it will. I think you have shown me how to do what I’ve been wanting to do, to bind multiple triumvirates into one thing, one power. Thank you.”

Belle Morte screamed, “No!” She thrust that power and there was no lust to it; it was all about anger, rage, and underneath that was pain. I, we, tasted her regret like something bitter and sweet on our tongues. I reached out to all that anger without thinking about it. It was like seeing something shiny and just reaching for it. I felt Jean-Claude at my back, but it was Damian’s hard-won control that steadied us.