Page 5 (1/2)

Chapter Seven

REQUIEM GLIDED IN wearing a long, hooded cloak as black as his hair He was the only vamp I&039;d ever met ore a cloak like that

Byron ca a towel that see but his G-string There was still rinned at me "Hi, duckie"

"Hey, Byron"

He always talked like he had just stepped out of an old British movie: lots of loves and duckies He talked that way to everyone, so I didn&039;t take it personally He up-ended the towel on the couch beside ht," Nathaniel said

Byron nodded and started taking the"Jean-Claude used that sweet, sweet voice of his during ive it up for hi some bills flutter to the floor I used to protest the nudity in front of me, but they were strippers, and after a while either you stopped being bothered by the casual nudity, or you didn&039;t hang at the club Nudity didn&039;tis about the illusion that the customers can have them - the illusion of sex, not the reality of it It had taken me a while to understand that

Byron used the towel to dry some of the sweat off his body He winced, and turned to show bloody scratches high on one buttock "Got me from behind, just at the end of ive you extra money for it?" Nathaniel asked

"Hit-and-run"

I must have looked puzzled, because Nathaniel explained "A hit-and-run is when a custo intimate, and we don&039;t knoho did it, and they don&039;t pay for it"

"Oh," I said, because I didn&039;t knohat else to say I didn&039;t like watching ers It was another reason I stayed away

" &039;The evening star, love&039;s harbinger, sits before me, and does not even waste a s to me It wasn&039;t what he always said, but it was typical He&039;d started callingstar"

"You know, I looked up the quote It&039;s John Milton&039;s Paradise Lost I&039;m not sure, but I think it&039;s your very poetic way of co sure the cloak showed nothing but the long oval of his face, and even that was mostly hidden by the Vandyke-style beard andblue of his eyes: the richest, deepest, medium blue I&039;d ever seen

"I knohat I am to you, Anita"

"And that would be?" I said

"I am food" He bent over ave was on the cheek and not the ht me on it, but the kiss was eive your aunt But I&039;d made certain it wouldn&039;t beme that he&039;d just accepted the rebuff and not tried tome harder than he was; I&039;dthe cheek bother me? God only knows, because I had no idea I wasanything Even in lided away to sink into the empty chair near the desk He made sure the cloak covered hi out "Why the frown,star? I did exactly what you wished ht not to frown harder, and probably failed "You bother me, Requiem"

"Why?" he asked, simply

"Why, just why, no poetry?" I asked

Nathaniel pattedto stop ht Either way, it worked, because I closed ot on my nerves lately, but he did He was one of my lovers He was food But I didn&039;t like it, any of it He onderful in bed, but there was always that feeling froh Never what he wanted me to do There was a constant, unspoken pressure fro to have a "relationship" with a man, it was a pressure you didn&039;t deserve, or wouldn&039;t respond to He was food, and ere lovers; he was Jean-Claude&039;s third-in-command I&039;d tried to be his friend, but somehow the sex had ruined that I think without the sex we could have been friends, but with it with it ere neither friends, nor boyfriend or girlfriend We were lovers, but I had no words for rong between us, but I could feel it, like an old ache in a wound you thought had healed

"You toldpoetry&039; to you I&039; simply"

I nodded "I remember, but I feel like you&039;re unhappy with me, and I don&039;t knohy"

"You have allowed me into your bed I share the ardeur once more What could any man desire above that?"

"Love," Nathaniel said

Requiem looked past me to the other man There was a flash of blue fire in the vaer, power Requiem hid it, but I&039;d seen it We&039;d all seen it

" &039;Where both deliberate, the love is slight: Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?&039; "

"I don&039;t knoho you&039;re quoting," Nathaniel said, "but Anita doesn&039;t love at first sight, or at least she didn&039;tfrom Hero and Leander by Christopher Marlowe," Byron said The other va the money he&039;d rained down on the couch He had his back to the other va him is that he thinks he&039;s wonderful, and he can&039;t understand why you don&039;t love hier seeks only a target," Requiem said

Byron turned with his stacked and countedbut telanced at me "He hates it when you quote back at hiue doth overstep your purpose, Byron," Requie

"My purpose," Byron said, his gray eyes flashing with aHe laid his money on the lacquered coffee table and turned to face the other valib and oily art, To speak and purpose not" He sat in Nathaniel&039;s lap, putting his legs across my lap

Nathaniel put an araveon? but since I didn&039;t know, I had no answers It was like we&039;d stepped into a fight I hadn&039;t knoas happening I had nore the nudityin s My ability to ignore just wasn&039;t that good

"What&039;s going on?" I asked, s, because I felt stupid keeping my hands in the air If he&039;d been ht have just du he&039;d involved Nathaniel, too, and that meant I couldn&039;t si was sorun, but in the short run, it felt so much better

"Ask Byron," Requie like this"

I patted Byron&039;s calf and said, "Why are you sitting in our laps?"

Byron wrapped his ar his face next to his He stared at ht off a shiver Not a shiver of fear, but one that was all about sex Nathaniel looked faintly puzzled as their faces pressed next to each other It was the blatant sex look that s and stand up "I don&039;t knohat game this is, Byron, but Nathaniel and I don&039;t want to play"

Byron slid off Nathaniel&039;s lap and knelt on the far side of him, so that I could still see the two of the Byron flirted, but not seriously,casual about the look on his face

He slid his hand along Nathaniel&039;s neck, then grabbed his braid Grabbed it, and yanked Nathaniel&039;s neck backward at a painful angle Nathaniel&039;s breath ca in his throat

My gun was just init I didn&039;t re in un pointed at Byron&039;s face He was staring at ht on, face still serious, but not threatening I didn&039;t knoas going on, but whatever it was, soet hurt if it didn&039;t stop

"Let hiun pointed at his forehead I had a sense of Lisandrotoward us I wasn&039;t sure if I wanted the interference, or even if I needed it

"He doesn&039;t want o, do you, Nathaniel?" Byron&039;s voice was very careful, even, as if he finally realized that his game could turn deadly

Nathaniel&039;s voice cale of his neck, and the force of the vampire&039;s hand on his hair, but what he said was, "No, no, don&039;t stop"

I finally let lance at Nathaniel I didn&039;t norun at, but there was no sense of , I wasn&039;t sure it was about violence Nathaniel&039;s hands were gripping Byron&039;s ar hi on But it was the look on Nathaniel&039;s face that un to point at the floor

Nathaniel&039;s lips were half parted, his eyes fluttering closed, his face slack with pleasure His body was tense with anticipation He was enjoying the pain, enjoying being o of Nathaniel abruptly, alesture Nathaniel fell back onto the couch, gasping for breath, his eyes rolled back into his head behind fluttering eyelids His spine bowed, throwing his head back, ainst the back of the couch

Byron stood there and watched hi your boy"

He was right I&039;d have liked to argue it, but he was right The proof of neglect rithing on the couch in soin to understand I liked a little force now and then, but it didn&039;t do this for row quiet, eyes still closed, and a smile on his face I understood for the first time that the violence could be sex for him, really, truly could

I looked at Byron "And your point?" I was pretty sure I knehat the point was, but I&039;d be damned if I&039;d help him make it

"I heard ru dominance and submission with the boy, but I didn&039;t believe it I e and submission is the boy&039;s bread and butter"

I nodded, and putyourself shot?"

"I did once I saw your gun pointed at ain, so serious, and then he sot off on the fact that I dahed a little at the end, but it was a nervous laugh

"Not got off the way that Nathaniel does, but I like to be dominated sometimes" He sat down on the couch, squeezed between Nathaniel and the couch arain, though he was sitting on his knees so that he couldn&039;t put their faces next to each other Nathaniel cuddled in against him, a peaceful look on his face It creeped hter around him, as if he were his favorite teddy bear He&039;d never liked Byron that much, and now just a little abuse and he was his best buddy I did not get it, I just didn&039;t

Byron hugged him back and stroked the side of his hair "I&039;m a switch, Anita, in every sense of the word"

I frowned at hiht?"

"There&039;s anotherfor it, duckie"

"Just tell ood at subtle"

"It means that I&039;m both a sub and a dom"

"Submissive and dominant," I said

He nodded

"What are you offering?" I said

"I could help you tame your kitty-cat here"

"How?" I let the word hold all the suspicion it could

He laughed "You can put so much menace and doubt into one word, duckie"

"Answer the question," I said

"Feed the ardeur on me and Nathaniel, while I abuse hi"

"And what do you get out of it?"

"I get to have sex with you, duckie"

I shook ain, Byron You like boys a lot et to have sexual contact with Nathaniel"

I felt my eyes narrow at him "You&039;ve never acted like Nathaniel was your type before"

"I know that he&039;s unhappy, and I want my friends to be happy"

"That&039;s not all of it," I said

"Don&039;t knohat you mean, lover" He settled into the corner of the couch Nathaniel and he cuddled like they had done it before, though I didn&039;t think they had

"He&039;s doing it for my benefit," Requiem said

I looked at the other vampire, who had never moved from his chair "Explain," I said

"Tell her, Byron, tell her why you&039;re offering"

"Where has all your poetry gone, Requiem?" Byron asked

" &039;In chains and darkness, wherefore should I stay, And mourn in prison, while I keep the key?&039; " Requiem said

"That&039;s better," Byron said "Have you thought about ending it all, duckie? Is the fact that Anita doesn&039;t adore you that painful to you?"

Requie in that look made Byron shiver I wasn&039;t sure if it was a shiver of fear or of other things If he wasn&039;t afraid, he should have been I&039;d never seen Requiem look at anyone with that coldness before

"This has the set people hurt Since part of et hurt, talk to me," I said

Byron looked at ive it to hiet to supervise but you don&039;t have to do the dirty work"

"Did Nathaniel talk to you about this problem?"

"I knohat it&039;s like, Anita, to want a certain kind of touch and be denied it I spent centuries being given to ive a damn what I wanted or needed You love Nathaniel and he loves you, but eventually, needs left unanswered can curdle love like milk left to spoil in the sun"

"So this little demonstration is out of the kindness of your heart," I said, and let my tone say how little I believed that

"He&039;s tried to tell you, duckie, but you didn&039;t understand"

"I&039;m not sure I understand now," I said

"But did it help, my little show?"

I wanted to say no, but it would have been a lie Most vamps could smell or feel a lie, so why bother? "Hate to adain, but you&039;velower on the couch, so that he and Nathaniel were more intertwined If it bothered Nathaniel to be that up close and personal with a naked man, it didn&039;t show Okay, a naked man asn&039;t one of our sweeties Had just a little hair pulling made hireat, or had I just neglected his needs thatthat I wasn&039;t willing to do He hadn&039;t done anything bad Would it be so bad to just tie Nathaniel up and have the sex ould have had without the tying up? Was that so awful? I looked at the two ether, the look of peaceful contentment on Nathaniel&039;s face, and realized that I&039;d been arrogant I&039;d assu the ending That I&039;d du In that instant I realized that he h to ht I loved hiineto do to keep hiet there? I&039;d had sex with Byron once before I&039;d fed the ardeur off him Could Byron teach me how to dominate Nathaniel? Maybe, : that I needed someone to show me how Nathaniel worked I would never have drea a little force behind it, would get such an a reaction out of hi too hard, lover"

"I&039; about your little show; isn&039;t that what you wanted?" I asked

"I wanted it to excite you, but that&039;s not excitement in your eyes" It was his turn to frown

"She is not easily captured," Requiem said

"She likes two men at once"

"Not just any two leabout me like I&039;m not here; I really hate that," I said

"Sorry, duckie, but I was hoping that the sight of Nathaniel andfor you"

"It puzzled hed, and it ht have been at a human fifteen when a vampire found him and made sure he&039;d never see sixteen "Puzzlement wasn&039;t exactly what I had in ed "Sorry"

He shook his head "Not your fault, dearie I don&039;t do it for you"

"I don&039;t do it for you either," I said

He laughed again "The sex was lovely"

"But you&039;d have liked it better if it had been Jean-Claude"

A look slid through his eyes He actually looked down, lowering his eyes in a show of coyness to hide the look When he raised his gaze toblankness that he hid behind "Jean-Claude loves you, duckie; he&039;s ht have asked what he meant by that, but the door opened and the vah His clothes had just looked dark in the club; his usual black The clothes were black, but they weren&039;t usual

He earing a tuxedo coh once you made it out of leather, was it still a tuxedo? Braces like silk suspenders slid over the bare flesh of his chest I stared at that bare skin the way some men stare at a woman&039;s breasts It wasn&039;t like me I mean, it was a nice chest, but to stop there and not look at his face was just wrong Because as nice as the chest was, the face was better I raised aze to that face The hair fell past his shoulders in black curls The line of his neck was encircled with a black velvet ribbon and a caht for him Up to the kissable curve of his , all grace and S&039;s wing? What the hell did that mean? I would never have described anyone&039;s jawline like that

"Ma petite, are you well?"

"No," I said, softly, "I don&039;t think I am"

He moved closer and I had to aze It was like back at the movies when I&039;d first seen Nathaniel I was too fascinated, too taken with him I actually had to close my eyes so the vision of him didn&039;t distract before I could say, "I think so with me"

"What do you mean, ma petite?"

"You mean like at the movie theatre," Nathaniel said His voice was closer than the couch He must have moved toward us

I nodded, eyes still closed

Jean-Claude&039;s voice caht in front of me "What happened at the theatre?"

Nathaniel explained "She had to get her cross out before it got better"

"But I&039; my cross now," I said

"It&039;s inside your shirt now It was in plain sight before," Nathaniel said

"That shouldn&039;t matter unless the va it into the light," Jean-Claude said

I opened ly beautiful, but I could think again "That shouldn&039;t ht into those wondrous eyes They were just eyes, beautiful, captivating, but not literally "It&039;s gone again"

"What&039;s going on, duckies?" Byron asked He walked up to us, looking from one to the other

"Lisandro, leave us," Jean-Claude said

Lisandro see, but he didn&039;t He just asked, "Do you want o back to the club?"

"The door, I think," Jean-Claude said

"Don&039;t our guards need a heads-up?" I asked

"This is not the business of the rodere"

"Lisandro raised a point before you caer theht to knohy"

Jean-Claude looked at Lisandro It was not a coave hi about when Anita picks another ani about your orders, Jean-Claude"

"All that concerns erous purr to his voice

Lisandro shifted a little and visibly let out a breath "No offense, but don&039;t you want her to pick a stronger beast next time? Someone ill help your power base?"

Jean-Claude stared at hiht to both look at the vampire and not look - a trick that I&039;d lad I&039;d becoh when you can&039;t look soth the concern of the rats?" Jean-Claude asked

"Yes," Lisandro said

"How?" One word, flat and unfriendly

"Your strength keeps us all safe The wererats remember what St Louis was like when Nikolaos was Master of the City" Lisandro shook his head, face darkening "She didn&039;t protect anyone or anything but the vampires You think about the entire preternatural community, Jean-Claude"

"I think you will find it is s"

"She&039;s your human servant," Lisandro said "Her actions are your actions Isn&039;t that what the vampires believe, that their human servants are just extensions of their masters?"

Jean-Claude blinked andme by the hand as he moved "A pretty conceit, but you know that ma petite is her own person" His hand in mine felt solid, real, and the world was suddenly safer Just the touch of his hand and I feltwith es somehow, but still here"

"What do you mean, ma petite?"

"When you touched me, I felt more solid Your touch chased back a fuzziness I didn&039;t even knoas there"

He drewI caressed the butter softness of his leather lapels "Is that more solid still?" he asked

I shookskin to skin," Requiem said

He had stayed in the chair by the desk We&039;d moved until ere close to him, not intentionally, at least not on my part

I kept one hand in Jean-Claude&039;s, but the other I put against his bare chest The ood "Even better," I said I traced my hand over the smooth, firm muscles of his chest I traced the cross-shaped burn scar Better still

"Why did you want to speak to Byron andfor blankness but failing around the edges He reclined in the chair, body at ease, but his eyes gave hiht, careful

"You&039;ve seen this before, haven&039;t you?" I asked

"Once," he said, his voice more neutral than his eyes

"When?" I asked

He looked at Jean-Claude "The wererat should leave"

Jean-Claude nodded "Go, for now, Lisandro If we can tell you more, ill"

Lisandro looked at ht I was the one ht

Chapter Eight

BYRON LOOKED AT all of us His usual joking face was utterly serious "Someone talk to us poor little peons, please"

"Did you receive a gift?" Requieift?" Byron asked

"A mask," Jean-Claude said

Byron paled; he&039;d fed tonight so he had enough color to do it "No, no, fuck ain"

"What color was it?" Requiem said in a voice that had fallen away to emptiness, the way some of the old vampires could do

"White," Jean-Claude said

Byron relaxed so suddenly he almost fell Nathaniel offered him a hand that he took "I&039;m all weak-kneed, duckies Don&039;t scare me like that White, we&039;re safe hite"

Nathaniel helped him back to the couch, but didn&039;t stay by him He moved back toward us

"What color did your et?" I asked

"Red first, then black," Requiem said

"What does red mean?" I asked

"Pain," Jean-Claude said "It is typically a bid to punish ahihtly"

The name fell into the room like a stone dropped doell You strained to hear the splash I leaned ainst Jean-Claude&039;s chest There was no heartbeat to hear He would breathe only when he needed to speak I raised my head away froainst a silent chest

Byron broke the silence "Red means they fuck with you"

"Like soht?" I asked

"Yes," Requiem said

"And black?" I asked

"Death," Requiem said

"But doesn&039;t white mean they just observe us?" Nathaniel said