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I stood with my back to the closed door, the others fanned out around h s The ht The Ferris wheel towered over the haunted house andcarnival that didn&039;t travel It ss, funnel cakes

Two e circus tent that took up one entire corner They walked towards us side by side The taller man was about six foot, square-shouldered, with hair that was soht, thick, and just long enough to trail the edge of his shirt collar White dress shirt tucked into white jeans, complete hite belt He hite loafers, no socks He looked like he should have been walking along a beach in a credit-card commercial, except for his eyes Even fro odd about his eyes They were orange-ish People didn&039;t have eyes that color

The second old hair cut very short A brownish raced his upper lip and curved back to meet brownish sideburns Nobody had worn a mustache like that since the 1800&039;s His white pants were tight and slid into polished black boots A white vest and a white shirt peeked out from beneath a red jacket He looked like he should have been riding to the hounds, chasing small furred animals

His eyes were a nice norer the closer he came to us His eyes were yellow--not a from the pupil like a pinwheel of color They were not human eyes, no way, no how

If it hadn&039;t been for the eyes, I wouldn&039;t have recognized hiave it away I&039;d seen pictures of tigers with eyes like that

They stopped a little distance from us Richard moved up besideat each other If I hadn&039;t known better I&039;d have said that the two men looked uncomfortable or embarrassed

The smaller man said, "I am Captain Thomas Carswell You must be Richard Zeeman" His voice was British and upper-crust, but not too upper-crust

Richard took a step forward "I&039;m Richard Zeeman This is Anita Blake, Jamil, and Zane"

"I am Gideon," the man with the eyes said His voice was alrowled The sound was so low that it ory?" I said

Captain Thomas Carswell blinked and looked at me He didn&039;t look happy about the interruption "Nearby"

"First," said Gideon, "we need your gun, Miss Blake"

I shook ed glances "We cannot allow you to go forith a gun in your hand, Miss Blake," Carswell said

"Every tiun, itto do so I don&039;t like"

"Please," Gideon said in his gravelly voice "Surely you must understand our reluctance You do have a certain reputation"

"Anita?" Richard said, half-question, half-soun and held it out to Gideon I had two

Gideon took the gun from me and stepped back to stand beside Carswell "Thank you, Miss Blake"

I nodded "You&039;re welcoo?" Carswell said He offeredme to dinner

I stared at hi to ask what he thought without asking

He gave a half-shrug

I slidvery civilized about this," I said

"There is no reason to lose all good s have become somewhat extreme"

I let him lead me towards the tent Gideon fell into step with Richard They were aly that came off the each other&039;s power, tasting each other without doing anything at all but lowering their hard-won control Jaood soldiers

We were al on ht hand behind un

"There is so that is not a purse" His grip on , but I kneouldn&039;t let go, not without a fight

I swung the ht hand and put the barrel into his chest, not shoving, just there, like his hand on my other arm

"Everybody be calm," I said

The other ive you your people, Miss Blake," Gideon growled "There is no need for this"

"Tho hih to call me by my Christian name, Miss Blake," Carswell said

I blinked at him There was no fear in hione--but there was no fear I stared into his brown eyes and saw only sadness A tired sorrow as if he&039;d almost welcome it

I shook my head "Sorry, Captain Carswell"

"We cannot possibly let you go inside the tent with this weapon" His voice was very calm, matter of fact

"Be reasonable, Anita," Richard said "If things were reversed, you&039;d want them without weapons"

The trouble was I had to take off the coat to take off the un If I took off the coat, they&039;d see the knives I didn&039;t want to lose the knives Of course, I&039;d still have the Firestar

I let the ht "I&039;ll have to remove my coat"

Carswell released rabThe jacket was too tailored for a shoulder holster, the pants had no pockets, but he could have had so at the small of his back

"I&039;ll remove my coat if you remove yours," I said

"I have no weapons, Miss Blake"

"Rehed and slid out of the red jacket, then turned in a full circle, arms spread to his sides "As you see, no weapons" To be really sure I&039;d need to pat hi the favor, so I let it go

I slipped out of the coat and watched his eyes widen at the wrist sheaths "Miss Blake, I am impressed and disappointed"

I let the coat fall to the floor and slipped the strap over un, but I did understand They&039;d been doing awful things to Gregory and Vivian I wouldn&039;t necessarily trust un if I were in their place I took the clip out of the gun and handed the weapon to Carswell

His eyes widened a little "Fearful that I will turn on you and your friends?"

I shrugged "Can&039;t bla cautious"

He smiled, and it almost reached his eyes "No, I suppose I cannot"

I slid one of the knives out of its sheath and handed it to him hilt-first

He waved it away "You may keep your knives, Miss Blake They will only be protection if soets very close, very personal I think a lady should be allowed to defend her honor"

Daun and he found out later, he ht not be so nice "Damn," I said

Carswell frowned

"I have one un"

"It hed again "Inconveniently so, yes Do you want it or not?"

He glanced back at Gideon, who nodded "Yes, please, Miss Blake"

"Everybody turn their backs"

Amused or bemused looks all around

"I have to raise the dress and flash the rooht, it was stupid and juvenile, but I still couldn&039;t just raise the dress in front of five ht me up better than that

Carswell turned without being asked a second tiot some very amused looks, but everyone turned, except for Gideon "I would be a poor bodyguard if I allowed you to shoot us in the back while ere defending your ht, I&039;ll turn un out for the last ti in the other coat pocket when I got it back I was tired of un to Gideon He took it, still looking a except for the knives?"

"Yes," I said

"Your word of honor?"

I nodded "My word"

He nodded, too, as if that was enough I knew already that Carsas soenuine article, a British soldier of Queen Victoria&039;s army But until that moment I hadn&039;t known that Gideon was as old Lycanthropes don&039;t age that slowly He was getting help from somewhere or he was more than just a shapeshifter

"Lycanthrope," I said, "but what else are you?"

He ss top and bottos like that had been Gabriel You get things like that if you spend too much time in animal form

"Guess," he said in a whisper so low and ru it made me shiver

Carswell said, "May we turn around, Miss Blake?"

"Sure," I said

He slid his jacket back on, s it in place, and offered me his arm once more "Shall we, Miss Blake?"

"Anita, my name&039;s Anita"

He smiled "Then you may call me Thomas" He said it as if he didn&039;t let a lot of people call him by his first name

It made me smile "Thank you, Thomas"

He tucked my arm more securely in the crook of his own "I do wish Anita, that ourcould be under better circumstances"

Ito my people while you delay hed "I a he will be finished before alk in upon theht fit for a lady"

I tried to pull htly His eyes weren&039;t sad any I couldn&039;t read "Know that this is not o of me, Thomas"

He let me draw my arm free of him I was suddenly afraid of as inside the tent I&039;d never spoken with Vivian, and Gregory was a perverted piece of shit, but I suddenly didn&039;t want to see what had happened to them

Gideon said, "Thomas, should she?"

"Let her," he said "She has only the knives"

I didn&039;t exactly run, but I was close when I reached the closed flap of the tent I heard Richard say, "Anita"