"Take me to the coffin room," I said.
"Why?" Jean-Claude asked. There was something in the way he said that one word that made me stare at him.
"Because I asked."
"How would my flock feel if I allowed the Executioner to enter their private chamber while they slept helpless?"
"I'm not going to kill anybody today, not on purpose."
"I do not like the way you said that, ma petite."
"Uncontrolled power is unpredictable, Jean-Claude. All sorts of unpleasant things can happen. I need to see where the vampires will be resting. I want to try and put them back in a controlled manner."
"What sorts of unpleasant things?" Richard asked.
It was a good question. Since I was pretty much flying blind, I didn't have a good answer. "It takes less power to put back than it does to raise. If we just call it up wild and try to will them back..." I shook my head.
"You could extinguish their life force," Cassandra said.
I looked at her. "What did you say?"
"You're going to put them back in their coffins as you would a zombie, but with a zombie you will it to be dead again, correct?"
I hadn't really thought of it that way, but she was right.
"If you will the vampires back in their coffins, you're in effect willing them dead again like a zombie, right?"
"Yeah."
"But you don't want them permanently dead."
My head was beginning to hurt. "No, I don't want them permanently dead."
"How do you know so very much about necromancy, Cassandra?" Jean-Claude asked.
"I have a master's degree in magical theory."
"That must be useful on a resume," I said.
"Not in the least," she said, "but it might be useful now."
"Did you know your newest pack member was so well-educated, Richard?" Jean-Claude asked.
"Yes," he said, "it's one of the reasons I gave her permission to move here."
"Permission to move here?" I said. "Why did she need your permission?"
"A werewolf has to get the permission of the local pack leader before they can enter a new territory. If they don't, it's considered a challenge to his authority."
"Did she have to ask your permission or Marcus's?"
"Both," Cassandra said. "Most werewolves won't come near Saint Louis while this power struggle is going on."
"Why did you come, then, my wolf?" Jean-Claude asked.
"I liked what I heard about Richard. He's trying to bring the pack into the twentieth century."
"Did you come planning to be his lupa?" I asked. Yes, a little twinge of jealousy had reared its ugly head.