cry,” I said.
He started to cry harder, and then suddenly Jean-Claude and I were holding him, and he was saying over and over again, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
I said the only thing I could say. “It’s all right, Asher, I forgive you.”
And that was how the rest of the “war council” found us. There was a time in my life when I’d have been embarrassed to be found in tears holding on to anyone, but there wasn’t anyone in the room who didn’t know the history between us all. They would either understand, or they could go to hell.
11
WE DRIED OUR tears and made our battle plan, but Narcissus surprised us by agreeing that the mystery vampire was a danger to us all. “I will step aside and let you make Rafael your rat to call, if I have your word that you will feed the ardeur on me later.”
“We’ve been through this before, Narcissus; you’re a gay man and I’m a woman—sex isn’t going to work for us.”
“If Jean-Claude is with us to distract me, I’ll do my best to close my eyes and think of England.”
The comment made me laugh. “Think of England, you mean close your eyes and it will be all over soon?”
“Yes,” he said, and he wasn’t laughing.
“I know you have both parts, but it’s the guy part we’ll need for me; won’t not liking lady parts mess with your concentration?”
“To bring more power to my hyenas and to me, I’m willing to try.”
Jean-Claude said, “To be very clear between us: for one feeding of the ardeur you will step aside and bring no reprisals when Anita and I bring Rafael over as her moitié bête?”
“I’m not stupid, Jean-Claude, any vampire that could hide from you and Anita has to be incredibly powerful. For them to come to St. Louis in the heart of your power and expect to go unnoticed by not just you but all of us in the supernatural community, they are either insane, insanely arrogant, or so powerful they aren’t afraid of any of us. That means they’re ancient, Jean-Claude; I don’t want an ancient vampire to be in charge of St. Louis. Unlike Rafael and you, this is my only territory. I can’t leave the city to some new master vampire and regroup—if I’m taken out here, my clan and I are gone, dead, or enslaved. My clan and I lived through Chimera taking us over, but only because Anita and the wererats came to our aid. I know I have not behaved as if I remember that debt, but I do. I will try to be the leader my clan needs and not some love-crazed fool.”
I looked into his eyes and there was the serious man to go with the power I felt rolling off him. We agreed to feed the ardeur on him later, after we took out the threat that was hovering just out of sight over all that we loved, or even over those we hated.
12
“ANITA CAN’T GO to the fighting pits without bodyguards,” Micah said.
“You are one of the few we have ever allowed inside our inner sanctum that was not one of us, but that does not mean you can dictate to us,” Rafael said.
“I would never have agreed for Anita to go tonight if I had thought you meant to hold her to the usual rules.”
“Guys, guys, I feel like I’ve missed something,” I said.
“The leaders of the rodere are not allowed bodyguards inside the warehouse where the fighting pits are located,” Micah said.
“So? I go around all the time without bodyguards,” I said.
Micah shook his head. “You don’t understand, Anita; from the moment you step outside the car you are surrounded by wererats, and if one of them picks a fight with you, then it’s your fight. No one can interfere. No one can help you.”
“If you are not strong enough to fight your way through the crowd, then you are not worthy to lead,” Rafael said.
“But Anita isn’t a real shapeshifter, she doesn’t have all our speed and strength and she absolutely doesn’t heal as well as we do,” Micah said.
“Rafael, I would not have agreed or formed a plan around this much risk to Anita,” Jean-Claude said.
“And I would not have suggested it if I did not think she could do it.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence, Rafael, but Micah is right. I’m good, but I’m not in the same league as you guys. I’m still too human.”
Jean-Claude