Janos stood near the throne with Larry. They'd tied his hands behind his back with one of the cords that held the drapes. A piece of cloth was shoved in his mouth. Janos had one pale spider hand around Larry's neck.
Serephina was propped on her throne, black blood pouring out of her. I'd never seen anyone lose so much blood so quickly. Her chest was torn open so wide I had a glimpse of a frantically beating heart.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"No, ma petite." Jean-Claude struggled to move and couldn't. "It is a trap."
"Tell me something I don't know."
"She wants you, necromancer," Janos said.
I let that sink in for a minute. "Why?"
"You have stolen her immortal blood from her. You will take its place."
"It wasn't immortal," I said. "We proved that."
"It was powerful, necromancer, as you are powerful. She will drink you up and live."
"What about me?"
"You will live forever, Anita, forever."
I let the "forever" part go; I knew better.
"She will take you and kill him anyway," Jean-Claude said.
He was probably right, but what could I do? "She let the girls go."
"You do not know that, ma petite. Have you seen them alive?" He had a point.
"Necromancer." Janos's voice jerked me back to him. Serephina lay propped on the throne beside him. Blood had drenched the white dress, turning it black, plastering it to her thin body.
"Come, necromancer," Janos said. "Come now, or the human suffers."
I started forward and Jean-Claude yelled, "No!"
Janos slashed outward with one pale spider-hand, just above Larry's body. Larry's white shirt sliced open, and blood soaked it. He couldn't scream with the gag, but if Janos hadn't held him, he'd have fallen.
"Drop all your weapons and come to us, necromancer."
"Ma petite, do not do this. I beg you."
"I have to do this, Jean-Claude. You know that."
"She knows that," he said.
I looked at him, struggling helplessly under three times his body weight in vampires. It should have been ridiculous, but it wasn't.
"She doesn't just want you for herself. She doesn't want me to have you. She will take you to spite me."
"I invited you to come play this time, remember?" I said. "It's my party."
I walked towards Janos. I tried not to look behind him, not to see what else I was moving towards.
"Ma petite, don't do this. You are an acknowledged master. She cannot take you by force. You must consent. Refuse."
I just shook my head and kept going.