I finally understood where we were heading. "You can't hurt us without our cooperation. You treacherous son of a bitch."
He smiled. "Answer me, lad. Would you take her place?"
Larry nodded.
I grabbed his arm. "No."
"Surely it is his choice," Janos said.
"Let go of my arm, Anita."
I stared at his eyes, searching to see if he understood what he was doing. "You don't know what a whip will do to human flesh. You don't know what you're offering."
"We can remedy that," Janos said. The vampires ripped the backs of the girls' blouses with a harsh, quick tearing.
The blonde screamed.
"We can't just watch," Larry said.
He was right; whether I liked it or not, he was right.
"I've seen what a whip can do," Jason said suddenly. "Don't hurt them."
I stared at him. "You don't strike me as the self-sacrificing kind."
He shrugged. "We all have our moments."
"Would it make this an easier choice if I swore that if your young man takes the girl's place we will not cripple him?"
"How about kill him?" I said. "You can die of shock from a whipping."
"No killing, no crippling. We simply want our pound of flesh, and a quart of blood."
Something must have shown on our faces, because he laughed. "Figuratively speaking, of course. You will wear scars until you die, but no greater harm."
"This is ridiculous," I said. "We aren't going to do this."
"If we pull our guns, can we take them?" Larry asked.
I looked away from his earnest eyes. He touched my arm. "Anita?"
"We can take some of them with us," I said.
"But we'll still be dead, and once we're dead who'll help the girls?"
I shook my head. "There's got to be a better way."
Larry looked at Jean-Claude. "Will he keep his word? Will they not kill me?"
"Janos's word has always been reliable, or at least it was a couple of centuries ago."
"Can we trust them?" Jason asked.
"No," I said.
"Yes," Jean-Claude said.
I glared at him.