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Chapter 19

I could feel dawn pressing against the s like a cool hand e got back to my room It was very near Jean-Claude se to share a hotel rooh "Things never work as I plan with you, ma petite"

"Maybe that&039;s a hint," I said

"Perhaps" He glanced at the closed drapes "I o, ma petite Until darkness" He shut the bedrooht pressing around the building I&039;d noticed over the years of hunting vamps that I&039;d become aware of dawn, and sunset There had been tiled frorowing pressure of light could sweep the sky and save my cookies For the first tier instead of a blessing

After he&039;d closed the door I realized my suitcase was in the bedroom Damn I hesitated, and finally knocked No answer I opened the door just a crack, then farther He wasn&039;t in there Water ran in the bathrooht showed under the door What did varabbed my suitcase from the floor and carried it out before the bathrooain I did not want to see what happened to hih to pulse against the closed drapes like pale leed into a t-shirt and jeans I had a robe with reet both Larry and Jason I wanted to be wearing some pants

I called down for extra blankets and a pillow No one bitched that it was a quarter past dawn, and a strange tiht the stuff True class The lance at the closed bedroom door

I spread the blanket on the couch and stared at it It was a pretty couch but didn&039;t look terribly comfortable Oh, well, virtue had its punishments Of course, maybe it wasn&039;t virtue that kept me out of the bedroom If it had been Richard curled up in the next room, then only moral fortitude would have kept me out With Jean-Claude I had never seen him after dahen he was dead to the world I wasn&039;t sure I wanted to see I knew I didn&039;t want to cuddle up next to him while the warmth left his body

There was a knock on the door I hesitated It was probably Larry, but then again I went to the door with the Browning naked in ht Paranoia, or caution; hard to tell the difference sometimes

I stood to one side of the door and said, "Yes"

"Anita, it&039;s us"

I hit the safety and put the barrel of the Browning down the front of un to wear in an inner pants holster, but for te, that worked

I opened the door

Larry leaned against the doorja rumpled and tired He had a McDonald&039;s sack in one hand, and four cups shoved into one of those Styrofoam holders Two of the cups held coffee, the other two sodas

Jason had a large leather suitcase under each arht hand, and a second McDonald&039;s bag in his left He didn&039;t look the least bit tired AHis eyes flicked to the gun shoved in my waistband He noticed, but he didn&039;t comment Point for hiun

"Food?" I asked

"I didn&039;t eat ry, too," Larry said He ca the drinks and food on the wet bar None of us drank; good to use the bar for soh the door sideith the suitcases and food, but there was no effort to it He wasn&039;t straining one little bit to carry it all

"Showoff," I said

He sat the luggage on the floor "This isn&039;t even close to showing off," he said

I locked the door behind thele-handedly"

"No, but not because it&039;s heavy It&039;s just too long The balance isn&039;t right"

Great Super olf Though for all I knew, all lycanthropes could lift that ht Maybe Richard could lift coffins with one arht

Jason started laying food out on the bar Larry had already cliar into one of the coffees

"Did you just leave the coffin in the lobby?" I asked I had to lay the Browning on the bar to sit down I was just too short-waisted to have it down my pants

Larry sat the unopened coffee in front of "

I stared at him "You found the suitcases but not the coffin?"

"Yep," Jason said, as he finished dividing the food into three piles He&039;d pushed some of it in front of both of us, but the lion&039;s share was in front of hi?"

"I&039;ry," he said He looked at me sort of expectantly

I let it slide It was too easy

"Come on, I fed you that one," he said

"You don&039;t seeed, and slid onto a bar stool "What do you want me to say? I&039;ve seen soot hysterical every ti, every time someone I knew died, I&039;d be in the loony bin by now"

"I thought fights for dominance in the pack, except for pack leader, weren&039;t to the death," I said

"People forget," he said

"I&039;ll have to talk to Richard when I get back in town He hasn&039;t beento mention," Jason said "Just business as usual"

Great "Did anybody see who took the coffin?"

Larry answered, his voice sluggish even with the caffeine and sugar There&039;s only so much you can do on no sleep at all "No one saw anybody take it In fact, the only guy left froht shift said, &039;I just turned away for a second, and it wasn&039;t there Just the luggage standing there by itself&039;"

"Shit," I said

"Why take the coffin?" he asked He drankMcMuffin sat untouched in front of him They&039;d put hotcakes in front of me with a little tub of syrup beside it

"Your breakfast is getting cold," Jason said

He was enjoying himself too much I frowned at him, but I opened my coffee I didn&039;t want the food "I think thea little muscle What do you think, Jason?" I kept my voice casual

He smiled at me around a mouthful of food, sed, and said, "I think whatever Jean-Claude wants me to think"

Maybe ive up on subtlety; I just wasn&039;t good enough at it "Did he tell you not to talk to me?"

"No, just to be careful what I said"

"He says juh; is that it?"

"That&039;s it" He ate a bite of scra, his face peaceful

"Doesn&039;t that bother you?"

"I don&039;t "

"And it doesn&039;t bother you?" I asked

He shrugged "Soht it?"

"I don&039;t understand that at all," Larry said

"Me either"

"You don&039;t have to understand it," he said He couldn&039;t have beenIt was the look of someone who&039;d seen a lot, done a lot, and not all of it nice It was the look I was dreading to see on Larry&039;s face soe; what had people been doing to Jason to give him such jaded eyes?

"What do we do now?" Larry asked

"You&039;re the vampire experts I&039;m just Jean-Claude&039;s pet"

He said it like it didn&039;t bother hi to call the cops, then get so to tell the to tell them about Xavier"

"Did Jean-Claude say you could tell the cops?"

I looked at him "I didn&039;t ask for permission"

"Jean-Claude wouldn&039;t like you bringing in the police"

I just stared at him

He blinked at me "Don&039;t do it just because I said that, please"

"He knows you pretty well for someone who&039;s only met you twice," Larry said

"Three times," I said "Two out of three times, he&039;s tried to eat me"

Larry&039;s eyes widened a little "You&039;re kidding"

"She just looks so tasty," Jason said

"I&039;ve had about enough of you," I said

"What&039;s wrong? Jean-Claude and Richard both tease you"

"I&039; you"

"Maybe you&039;ve got a thing for uy"

I stared at him "No," I said, "you can&039;t That&039;s why you&039;re not alpha That&039;s why you&039;re Jean-Claude&039;s pet, because you aren&039;t scary enough"

Sory and dangerous Sitting there with his forkful of scras, and a Coke in one hand, he was suddenly different It was hard to put into words, but it raised the hair on the back of my neck

"Ease doolf-boy," I said My voice was soft, careful I was sitting less than a foot away fro was an inch away froun, but I&039;d never get it pointed in time I&039;d seen hih Lack of sleep was

A low, trickling growl rumbled out of hiun was suddenly pointing past my nose at the olf&039;s face "Don&039;t," Larry said His voice was low and even, and very daing the Browning with ht next to un at Jason&039;s chest, one-handed, alain"

Jason stared attowards the shore

"You start going furry, and I won&039;t wait to find out if you&039;re bluffing," I said

Larry had one knee on the bar stool, gun still pointed nice and steady I hoped he didn&039;t fall off the bar stool and accidentally shoot Jason If he shot him, I wanted it to be on purpose

Jason&039;s shoulders relaxed His hands unclenched, leaving the fork and the drink on the bar He closed his eyes and sat very still for nearly a full uns still pointed Larry&039;s eyes flicked to me I shook my head

Jason opened his eyes and let out a deep, sighing breath He looked norrinned "I had to try"

I took another step back, putting un Larry hesitated, but followed my lead

"So you tried; nohat?"

He shrugged "You&039;re dominant to me"

"Just like that," I said