Page 4 (1/2)

8

Dessert was raspberry-chocolate cheesecake A triple threat to any diet plan Truthfully, I preferred ht Fruit, except for strawberries, and chocolate just muddied the pure cream cheese taste But Jean-Claude liked it, and dessert took the place of the wine I&039;d refused to order with dinner I hated the taste of alcohol So Jean-Claude&039;s choice of dessert Besides, the restaurant did not serve plain cheesecake Not artistic enough, I guess

I ate all the cheesecake, chased the last chocolate curl across the plate, and pushed it away I was full Jean-Claude had laid his arm across the tablecloth, rested his cheek on his ar to savor every last taste He blinked aton his arm, "You have left some whipped cream, ma petite"

"I&039;m full," I said

"It is real whipped crealides across the palate"

I shook my head "I am done If I eat any -suffering sigh and sat back up "There are nights when I despair of you, ma petite"

I s about you so a small bow "Touche, ma petite, touche" He stared off past my shoulder and stiffened The smile didn&039;t fade from his face It iped clean His face was its blank unreadablearound that soed to drop ht hand I drew the Firestar When I sat back up, the gun was inup Demiche&039;s seemed like a bad idea But hey, it wouldn&039;t be the first bad idea I&039;d had

I turned to see a couple walking towards us through the tables and crystal The woli Stiletto, four inches I&039;d have brokento walk in the, and more expensive than un Her hair was a white-blond so pale it matched the dress and the simple white mink stole curled around her shoulders The hair was piled in a mound atop her head with a sparkle of silver and the crystal fire of diamonds to frame the hair like a crown She was chalk-white, and despite the expert ht

The y to him that made me want to take back the human part He was tanned that wonderful rich brown that olive skin canbrown, shaved short on the sides, but done so it fell in curls near his eyes The eyes were pure brown and watched Jean-Claude steadily, joyously, but it was a dark joy He was dressed in a white linen suit, complete with silk tie

They stopped at our table like I knew they would The ht as well have not been there He had very strong features, froh cheekbones to an almost-hooked nose An inch either direction and his face would have been ho, handsome in an utterly masculine way

Jean-Claude stood, hands loose at his side, face beautiful and e ti time, Jean-Claude You remeingly slid it around her waist He planted a chaste kiss on her pale cheek He looked at me then for the first tiotten from a man If it had been a woman, I&039;d have said she was jealous The valish was perfect Her accent was pure French

"Of course, I remember him," Jean-Claude said "Time spent with Balthasar was always memorable"

The h to keep you with us" He, too, sounded French, but there was an undercurrent of so purple

"I am master of my own territory It is what everyone dreams of, is it not?"

"Some dream of a seat on the council," Yvette said Her voice was still mildly a in dark water when you know there are sharks

"I do not aspire to such lofty heights," Jean-Claude said

"Really?" Yvette said

"Truly," Jean-Claude said

She smiled, but her eyes stayed distant and e to see, Yvette I am content where I a to fear froardless," I said I smiled when I said it

Both of the trick I was really beginning not to like either of them

"Yvette and Balthasar are envoys of the council, ma petite"

"Bully for them," I said

"She doesn&039;t seem very impressed with us," Yvette said She turned full-face to reen, with tiny flecks of a round the pupils I felt her try to suck me under with those eyes, and it didn&039;t work Her power raised goose bumps on my skin, but she couldn&039;t capture me with her eyes She was powerful, but she wasn&039;t a e like an ache in my skull A thousand years, at least The last vamp I&039;d met as that old had cleaned my clock But Nikolaos had been Master of the City, and Yvette would never be that If a vamp hadn&039;t attainedto A vae, but there was a limit Yvette had reached hers I stared into her eyes, let her power tickle across my skin, and wasn&039;t impressed

She frowned "Impressive"

"Thanks," I said

Balthasar stepped around her and went to one knee in front of me He put one hand on the back of my chair and leaned into me If Yvette wasn&039;t a master, then he wasn&039;t her human servant Only a master vaed to soet the feeling I&039;d bethat someone soon?

"My master is a council member," Balthasar said "You have no idea what kind of power he wields"

"Ask er flared across his face, darkening his eyes,just above my knee and started to squeeze I&039;d played with the th feels like His fingers dug intountil muscle popped and he bared rabbed his silk tie and pulled him close, and shoved the barrel of the Firestar into his chest I watched the surprise chase across his face from inches away

"Bet I can blow a hole in your chest before you can crush "

"You wouldn&039;t dare"

"Why not?" I asked

A touch of fear flowed through his eyes "I am the human servant of a council member"

"Not impressed," I said "Try door number two"

He frowned at me "I don&039;t understand"

"Give her a better reason not to kill you," Jean-Claude said

"If you shoot o to jail"

I sighed "There is that" I jerked hih that our faces almost touched "Take your hand off er Keep hurting me, and I&039;ll take my chances with the police"

He stared at me "You would do it, you really would do it"

"I don&039;t bluff, Balthasar Remember that for future reference, and maybe I won&039;t have to kill you"

His hand eased, then moved sloay froh un had never made it out from under the tablecloth We&039;d been the soul of discretion

The waiter came over anyway "Is there a problem?"

"No proble our check," Jean-Claude said

"Right away," the waiter said He watched a little nervously while Balthasar got to his feet Balthasar smoothed down the wrinkles in his linen pants, but there&039;s only so much you can do with linen It really isn&039;t meant to be knelt in

"You have won the first round, Jean-Claude Be careful that it does not become a Pyrrhic victory" Yvette said She and Balthasar left without ever taking a table Guess they weren&039;t hungry

"What&039;s going on?" I asked

Jean-Claude sat back down "Yvette is a council toady Balthasar is the human servant of one of the most powerful council members"

"Why are they here?"

"I believe it is because of Mr Oliver"

Mr Oliver had been the oldest vampire I&039;d ever met The oldest one I&039;d ever heard hinted at He&039;d been a ive or take For all those with a head for prehistory, yes, that does mean he wasn&039;t Ho the day, though I never saw hiht He&039;d been the only va he was human, which is nicely ironic, since he wasn&039;t human at all He&039;d had a plan to take out Jean-Claude, take over the vahter huhter like that would force the authorities to ht vahts and take over the hureed with hiht have worked if I hadn&039;t killed hi story, but I&039;d ended up in a coone, so close to death that the doctors didn&039;t kno I survived Of course, they hadn&039;t been too clear on why I was in a co vampire marks and Homo erectusvampires

I stared at Jean-Claude "The crazy son of bitch that tried to take you out last Halloween?"

"Oui"

"What about him?"

"He was a council hed "No way He was old, older than sin, but he wasn&039;t that powerful"

"I told you he agreed to limit his powers, ma petite I did not knoho and what he was at first, but he was the council member known as the Earthmover"

"Excuse me?"

"He could cause the earth to shake by his power alone"

"No way," I said

"Yes way, reed not to cause the earth to s the city because it would be bla to be blamed on vampires You real An earthquake would not do that A bloodbath would No one, not even you, believes that a mere vaht, I don&039;t" I stared at his careful face "You&039;re serious"

"Deadly serious, ma petite"

It was too nore and be terribly unimpressed "So we took out a council member, so what?"

He shook his head "There is no fear in you, er we are all in?"

"No, and what do you er besides us?"

"All our people," he said

"Define &039;all,&039; " I said

"All my vampires, anyone that the council considers ours"

"Larry?" I asked

He sighed "Perhaps"

"Should I call hier?"

"I am not sure No one has ever slain a council member and not taken their place"

"I killed him, not you"

"You are my human servant The council sees all that you do as an extension of my actions"

I stared at him "You mean anyone I kill is your kill?"

He nodded

"I wasn&039;t your servant when I killed Oliver"

"I would keep that bit of knowledge to ourselves"

"Why?"

"They may not kill me, ma petite, but a vampire hunter who killed a council member would be executed There would be no trial, no hesitation"

"Even though I&039;ht save you It is one of our ent laws not to destroy another&039;s servant"

"So they can&039;t kill me because I&039;m your servant"

"But they can harm you, ma petite They can harm you so very much that you may wish for death"

"You mean torture?"

"Not in a traditional sense But they areit against you They will use your desires against you and twist everything you are into a shape of their choosing"

"I&039;ve met master vaainst you"

"Everything you have seen of us before, ma petite, is like a distant dreaht that even we fear"

"Yvette and Balthasar didn&039;t seem that scary to me"

He looked at me There was no expression on his face It was a hten you, ma petite, it is only because you do not know them Yvette is a toady of the council because they are powerful enough to give her a ready supply of victi about human prey, are you?"

"It can be human But Yvette is considered perverted even by other vampires"

I wasn&039;t sure I wanted to know, but"Perverted in ays"

He sighed and looked down at his hands They lay very still on the tablecloth It was like he was pulling away fro back into place He was rebuilding himself into Jean-Claude, Master of the City It was a shock to realize that there had been a change It had been so gradual that I hadn&039;t realized that with me, on our dates, he was different I don&039;t know if he was ht I wanted hi him put on his public face while I sat across fro

"Yvette loves the dead"

I frowned at him "But she&039;s a vampire That&039;s redundant"

He stared at me, and it wasn&039;t a friendly look "I will not sit here and debate with you, ma petite You share my bed If I were a zombie, you would not touch me"

"That&039;s true" It took me a handful of seconds to understand what he&039;d just said "Are you tellingcorpses?"

"As, yes"

I couldn&039;t keep the disgust off my face "Good Lord, that&039;s" Words failed me Then I found a word "She&039;s a necrophiliac"