Rafael (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #28) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,52
of us rode in the back of a big SUV with two of the wererat bodyguards in front. I knew that there would be other vehicles out of sight, scent, and hearing range waiting in case I gave the signal. They were full of bodyguards that weren’t wererats, because all of them that we’d want to fight on our side would be at the fight tonight.
I also knew that there were Harlequin guards scattered in the shadows doing what they’d done for thousands of years: be the best spies and assassins the vampire world had to offer, though half of them were wereanimals like Pierette. Her vampire master, Pierrot, was out there hearing and seeing what she did. They had one of the smoothest and closest connections of any master and moitié bête I’d ever met.
The fighting pits were in a warehouse by the Mississippi River, but I felt the energy of the rodere blocks before we got close to the river. It reminded me of the energy of the lupanar when all the werewolves were there waiting in the woods around their throne of carved rock, the only thing that had survived the destruction of their culture under the last leaders. I’d never thought before that a group of shapeshifters that had a throne carved of solid stone must have a story behind it. Damn thing was too heavy to move, so how did it come to be sitting in the middle of the Missouri woods? It was like I was suddenly wondering, What were the cultures that all the other animal groups had lost? Could we get them back? Did we want them back?
Pierette said, “You are very quiet, my queen.”
“I can feel the energy.”
“Of what?”
“The rodere.”
“Already?” Claudia asked from the other side of me.
I looked at her. “Yeah, can’t you?”
She shook her head.
“Why should I feel it more than you do?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Do you feel the werewolves this way?” Pierette asked.
“Yes, but not this strong. It’s like the leopard, but more, so much more energy.” I rubbed my arms and realized I was already goose-bumped.
“Should we tell Jean-Claude she’s feeling it like this?” Claudia asked.
“He knows,” Pierette said.
“Micah, then?”
“Jean-Claude will tell him if he thinks he needs to know,” I said.
“Why are you feeling it this far out?” Claudia asked.
“Not sure, but I think it’s because I made Rafael my moitié bête and he’s king in a way that Richard isn’t for the wolves.”
“Micah would be this for the leopards if you weren’t all so . . .” She stopped.
“What? Just say it, Pierette.”
“Broken.”
“Broken how?”
“There are rituals and ways for our kind, too, my queen.”
“We’ll talk about some of the leopard culture we’re missing after this is over.”
“If you wish.”
“I wish,” I said, and took her hand in mine and squeezed it. “I want to be the best queen I can be for everyone. Help me do that, Pierette.”
She smiled in her red lipstick that not only matched mine but was mine. We were sharing a tube of it tonight as if we were on a date at a club and had only a tiny purse to hold everything, so consolidating lipstick was just practical. It wasn’t her usual color, but if we wanted to be able to kiss tonight and not ruin each other’s color, it had to match, or at least complement.
“I would help you set the moon in the sky, my queen, if you but ask.”
That made me smile and lean in for a careful kiss. It was as I drew back from the kiss that I realized the skin-thrumming energy of the wererats was less the moment I touched her hand. I told her and Claudia, and we spent the last few minutes of the drive experimenting. A finger on her skin wasn’t enough, but a hand against her skin, or hers on mine, was enough to dim it. Holding hands or kissing or hugging calmed it so that I could feel it like an echo.
“I think with more people who aren’t rat I might be able to shut it out completely.”
“I’m even happier that you have Pierette with you tonight then, because if you are this attuned to our energy now, wait until you’re surrounded by us.”
“I’m a little worried about that now,” I said.
“Maybe the energy won’t bring your beast, my queen; maybe it is just the energy that Rafael feels and through him you feel it, too.”
“Maybe,” I said, and then I felt it like a great beating