'I hadn't planned on taking Damian. He's part of my power base, but he's not our sweetie.'
'He is your lover on occasion.'
'If I took everyone who was my lover on occasion, we'd need a bigger plane.'
He laughed, that wonderful, touchable sound that thrilled down my skin as if he were touching me over the phone. It made me shiver. His voice still held that deep edge of masculine laughter as he said, 'Very true, ma petite, very true.'
I had to swallow past the pulse in my throat. He'd made me breathless with just his voice. 'God, Jean-Claude, stop that. I can't think when you do that.'
He laughed again, which didn't help at all. I realized he was doing it very deliberately when I felt the weight deep inside my body like the promise of orgasm. 'Don't you dare!'
The power began to retreat. He'd never been able to make me do the full-blown orgasm over the phone with just his voice until he'd been made head of the new American version of the vampire council. I'd known that it meant that all the master vampires had to make a fealty oath to Jean-Claude as their leader, but I hadn't understood that it came with a power bump, or what that might mean. We'd had no choice. It was us in charge or someone else, and I trusted us.
'I am sorry, ma petite, this new power level is a heady thing. I can see why the other masters fear the head of the council, because to be head and take the oaths of their leaders means we have a little bit of all their power. It is a great deal of power.'
'You're saying if you weren't a better person that power corrupts and this much power would corrupt you absolutely?'
'I am not always certain that it is I who am the better person, ma petite, but together we are the better person.'
'I don't think I'm always the civilizing influence, Jean-Claude.'
'Nor do I, but through all the metaphysics we have Richard's conscience, Micah's sense of fellowship, Nathaniel's gentleness, Cynric's sense of fair play, and Jade's memories of the terrible use that her master made against her of his ultimate power. The people we have gathered and bound to us have helped make us powerful, but they also help me remember that I am not a monster and do not wish to be.'
'Can you not be a monster just by deciding not to be one?' I asked, and he knew me well enough to know that it wasn't his impending monsterhood I was worried about.
'You are not a monster, ma petite, and if we are both conscious of the possibility I believe we can avoid becoming such.'
'So, what do we need to do before Micah, Nathaniel, and I show up at the hospital?'