"Drunk?" I asked. "What the f**k are you talking about?"
"Ah, ma petite, you do have a way with words."
"Shut up."
"Losing a quantity of blood makes you grumpy," he said.
"Fuck off."
He laughed, and the sound was sweet. It had a taste just outside description, like some forbidden candy that was not just fattening but poisonous. But what a way to go.
Magnus stayed kneeling, staring at the laughing vampire. "You won't taste me?"
Jean-Claude shook his head, as if he didn't trust himself to speak. His eyes glittered with suppressed laughter.
"The blood has been offered." Magnus crawled back towards me. His hair had spilled forward on one side so one eye was lost, glittering like a jewel through his hair. Eyes just weren't supposed to be that color. He crawled up to me until our faces were inches apart. "A pint of blood, a pound of flesh." He whispered it, leaning in towards me as if for a kiss.
I leaned back, away from him, and overbalanced. I ended up on my back on the floor. It was not an improvement. Magnus crawled over me, still on all fours, hovering. I pressed the Browning into his chest.
"Back off, or bite it."
Magnus crawled backwards, but not very far. I sat up, keeping the gun on him one-handed. The barrel wavered a lot more than normal. "What was that all about?"
Jean-Claude said, "Janos spoke of taking blood and flesh from us this night. As an apology, Serephina offers us blood, and flesh."
I stared at Magnus, still on all fours, still looking feral and dangerous. I lowered the gun. "No, thanks."
Magnus sat back on the floor, smoothing his hands through his hair, brushing it back from his face. "You have refused Serephina's peace offerings. Do you refuse her apology as well?"
"Take us to Serephina, and you will have done what was asked of you," Jean-Claude said.
Magnus looked at me. "What of you, Anita? Are you content that I take you to Serephina? Do you accept her apology?"
I shook my head. "Why should I?"
"Anita is not a master," Jean-Claude said. "It is my vengeance, my pardon, you should be asking."
"I am doing what I was told," he said. "She challenged Ivy to a test of wills. Ivy lost."
"I didn't throw her across the room," I said.
Jean-Claude frowned. "She resorted to brute force, ma petite. She could not win by force of will or vampire wiles against a human being." He looked suddenly very serious. "She lost... to you."
"So?"
"So, ma petite, you declared yourself a master, and proved that claim."
I shook my head. "That's ridiculous; I'm not a vampire."
"I did not declare you a master vampire, ma petite. I said you were a master."
"A master what? Human being?"
It was his turn to shake his head. "I do not know, ma petite." He turned to Magnus. "What does Serephina say?"
"Serephina says to bring her."
Jean-Claude nodded and stood like he was pulled by strings. He looked fresh and new, if a little bloodstained. How dare he look so good when I felt like shit?