And there it was: This beautiful, amazing man could still feel insecure, still wonder if I loved him, or at least how much. Since we could all feel each others' emotions when we weren't shielding like sons of bitches, it was interesting that we could all still be insecure sometimes. In Jean-Claude, whom I'd once thought the ultimate ladies' man, it was endearing and made me love him more.
'I love you, Jean-Claude; I wouldn't know what to do without you in my life, my bed, my heart.'
'Very poetic for you, ma petite.'
'I've been hanging out too much with Requiem, I guess.'
'When this crisis is taken care of, we will need to decide if he should return to Philadelphia permanently.'
'And become Evangeline's second banana for good,' I said.
'Yes,' he said.
'You know, my dad used to breed beagles when I was little. I never wanted to give up any of the puppies, and when I got old enough I always worried the new owners wouldn't take care of them the way we did.'
'I did not know that,' he said.
'We're giving away a hell of a lot more than puppies, Jean-Claude. These are our people, our lovers, our friends, and we're sending them away. I don't mind the ones who are going to rule their own territories as new masters, but the ones we're giving over to other masters as second-in-command, that sort of bugs me.'
'That is why we have a trial visit, or three, to make certain it is a good fit and that our people are being well treated.'
'Requiem doesn't love Evangeline,' I said.
'No, he loves you.'
I sighed. 'I didn't mean for him to fall in love with me.'
'And I did not mean for you to acquire the power of my ardeur, my fire of lust, and become a living succubus to my incubus, but the damage is done. We are what we are, and now you know the power that you possess during sex when you feed the ardeur.'