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Chapter Forty-five

RICHARD FELL TO his knees His head bowed toward the floor, his hands rising to his head, as if he could shut out the doubt in his own ht Columbine&039;s power He was alone, but eren&039;t

Damian&039;s hand in mine drew him into the circle of our power He had some of the same issues with the other men that Richard had, but Daainst me, so that Jean-Claude had to move his arm to let the other vahts It wasn&039;t a fate worse than death, no matter what happened with Jean-Claude and the rest of thethat ould do with him would be half so awful as what he&039;d endured at her hands The other thought, before Jean-Claude grabbed the reins of all our ood hting for Then Jean-Claude settled into the driver&039;s seat of our metaphysical bus, and calm, ere all suddenly so calainst Jean-Claude When he&039;d drawn Damian and me in, he&039;d turned us, like a dance movement, smooth and inevitable, so that we stood in the circle of his arm Jean-Claude held us both My hand had just slid around Daainst the side of ether from shoulder to hip His own arain we fitted together in a way I didn&039;t remember Jean-Claude&039;s ar Nathaniel, as cuddled against his side, so that one arm traced the front of my body I wasn&039;t sure where Nathaniel&039;s other arm was, but I knew that Asher was still at Jean-Claude&039;s back

Columbine stood just on the other side of the pulpit in her old Her tricorn hat was gold, with only a cluster of multicolored balls to echo the colors in her clothes Her human servant stood at her back, all in black He looked like a shadow beside her brilliance

"You are very good, Columbine," Jean-Claude said "I did not even feel you roll our ic is very subtle"

"Such a pretty co the small half-skirt of her pants outfit to the side as if it were a er piece of cloth

I should have been nervous, at the least, but I stood there in the circle of everyone&039;s arms, and was so relaxed It was a little like you feel when they give you drugs before an operation, calm, almost a liquid warht, It&039;s what they do to you just before soht just drifted away on the warm calm

"You attacked the audience as a diversion," Jean-Claude said in that voice that could make your skin shiver, but it didn&039;t make me shiver It was as if whatever he&039;d done to us, the people he was touching, protected us frohed, but it had none of the touchable quality of Jean-Claude and Asher&039;s laughs Even through the near anesthetic haze that he had created around us, the laughter felt flat, human even Or maybe the reason it sounded flat was the anesthetic haze I couldn&039;t tell whether I was still able to sense a little through what Jean-Claude had done, or if his poas protecting hter died abruptly on that criray and as serious as death "Oh, no, Jean-Claude, it wasn&039;t a diversion, but I admit that I may have underestimated you, and your servant If I could have won the audience froh power to defeat you easily"

"And now?" He made it a question, with a lilt of his voice

"I think a more direct assault on you, personally, is needed"

"If you are too direct, then you will simply be executed," he said, his voice mild

"My power can be subtle, but do not be deceived I too can be direct As direct as the power you hold in your arestured with one slender hand, and the love and laid his bare hand in hers "You are not the only master whose touch awakens more power in their servant, Jean-Claude," she said

"I did not think I was," he said His voice was as mild as her own, but his poas not h us, as if ere cards in his hand What should he play? I&039;d had Jean-Claude drive the metaphysical bus before, but I&039;d never felt it like this, never been so aware of how terribly aware he was of his power, of my power, of the poe all offered hi of logic, because eh our talents, like Edould have looked through his gun safe Which gun will do the job? Which will make this shot? I had a moment to feel a thrill of fear, a thread of real doubt He squashed it, shut it tight away from me, from us, because it wasn&039;t just my mind that had felt it I knew that Daht it, felt it, too He feared that we had no weapon to protect from this We had already nearly been destroyed by her poithout her servant&039;s touch He shut the doubts away, but they were there It wasn&039;t the coldness of va, it was the coldness of necessity Doubt was her weapon You do not arered us, as if ereat wind to blow your world apart It was like having your mind and heart ripped open, wide, so you had to feel, kno you truly felt Most of us live because we don&039;t shine the light too brightly inside ourselves Suddenly, Jean-Claude, Dahtest light in the world

Columbine specialized in doubt and pain, but Giovanni, hersense of loss, when you think you&039;ll die with the person as buried Somehow she knew that we had all suffered losses, and she ain But it wasn&039;t just our personal losses; Jean-Claude had bound us together, so that instead of one loss, we got them all I heard Julianna scream as the fire consumed her I heard her scream Jean-Claude&039;s name as she died Asher screamed in the here and now, and Jean-Claude joined him We stood before a pyre of cold ash and knew that it was all that was left of the woman who had been our heart Daain His screams haunted us Damian fell to his knees as if he&039;d been hit We were s The baseball batsound He fell on the floor, reached out to us Blood was everywhere, and the iant above us Nicholas said, "Run, Natty, run!" Nathaniel screamed, "No!" in the here and now

As a child, he had run He raised his face up, but he was a child no longer, and said, "I won&039;t run" I looked into his eyes, those lavender eyes; they were real, not this memory of pain and death Tears stained his face, but he whispered, "I won&039;t run"

I was eight again, and my father was about to say the words that would destroy my life My mother was dead But I hadn&039;t run then Nathaniel had run because his older brother told him to run, but he wasn&039;t little anymore It had been my father who had collapsed He had wailed her loss, not me I did not run I did not run then, and I would not run now

I found my voice, and said, "We won&039;t run"

Nathaniel shook his head, still crying "No, on&039;t"

Jean-Claude and Asher had slid to the ground with Daht of sorrow No one else was close to us on the stage The guards, even Richard, had fled froht of horror and loss Fled so it did not spread to theuess I couldn&039;t blame Richard, but I would later, I kneould Worse yet, later he would blaht movement in the aisle close to us Micah was the closest, the only one brave enough or stupid enough to get close to the emotional therhtwas that Olaf was beside him

Nathaniel touched my arm He smiled at me; with tears still wet on his face, he smiled It made my heart hurt, but not in a bad way, in that way that sometimes happens when you love someone, and you just suddenly look up and realize just how much Love, love to chase back the pain It washed over my skin like a ind, love, life, that spark that et back up It poured down the metaphysical links between Nathaniel and me, and the other men Love, love to raise their faces and make them look at us Love to help them to their feet, love and our hands to steady them, to help dry their tears We finally stood, perhaps a little shaky around the edges, but we all stood and turned to Columbine and her Giovanni

"Love conquers all, is that it?" she said, her voice thick with disdain

"No, not all," I said "Just you"

"I ahts seeht, ate it Twilight filled the church, a soft edge of darkness, spread out froe

"What is that?" Micah asked He was beside the stage now

Jean-Claude, Asher, and Damian said, "The Mother of All Darkness"

Nathaniel and I said, "Marmee Noir"

That which we call the Mother of All Vaerous

Chapter Forty-six

THE VAMPIRES IN the audience made a panicked run for the far doors It was as if even Malcol Their screauess I shouldn&039;t have been surprised; the Queen of All Darkness was co she could do?

Micah leapt upon the stage like grace overthat he didn&039;t have to be in leopard forraceful He touched my arm, and the emotion we&039;d raised to save ourselves leapt to him He was no one&039;s servant, no one&039;s master, but the love spread to him in a warm rush

Jean-Claude looked at us with tears still painting faint pinkish streaks on his face "You love his, I frowned at him "Yes, I do"

Jean-Claude shook his head "I mean, ma petite, that your love for him" He waved a hand and let me see inside his head, so much quicker Because I loved Micah, Jean-Claude could feed off the energy of that love It was as if his powers through Belle Morte&039;s line had found a neay to think She and her vampires were all about lust, love, but no one had ever been able to use love like fuel, the way the ardeur could use lust It was like an intuitive leap in math, or science You start with this bit of reality and suddenly you understand how to er reality Love, love was power in more than just a metaphorical way

"Love won&039;t conquer her" It was Richard froe

I looked at him and wasn&039;t sure I wanted him to touch me in that moment Would the love spread to hih that he&039;d killed s for him? If he had, then he would be no help here He&039;d hurt ic

"You&039;ll need a wolf, like last tiht, but He held out his hand

The dimness breathed around us, as if the roorabbed my hand His hand areous inch of him, but the power did not travel fro my hand, and his touch did not move me I&039;d never had him touch me where it didn&039;t move me The other men, even Damian was like a press of tenderness at my back, but Richard was cold to my heart

"Anita" He whispered it

What could I say? "You said ere nothing to you You said you didn&039;t want the ardeur"

"This isn&039;t the ardeur", he said

I nodded "Yes, it is, Richard You never understood that for me the ardeur wasn&039;t just about sex This is the ardeur"

"I can se of it, it&039;s as if love had a scent"

"It&039;s the ardeur, Richard, what it&039;s become"

"If I&039;d stayed by your side, you&039;d be spilling love all over me?" He made it a question

"I don&039;t know"

"Ma petite, could we discuss this later?"

We looked at him, still hand-in-hand "Sorry" I said

Richard scented the air, and for ato scent what love smelled like "It doesn&039;t smell like her"

I scented the air, too "No, she sht There&039;s no scent to this" The darkness wasn&039;t growing darker It should have been It ilight, and power breathed through the rooh power, not for her

I turned back to Columbine and her servant "Belle Morte said that the Harlequin are the servants of the Dark Mother Did she mean that literally?"

"All of us bear a piece of the original darkness inside us, little girl Feel the power of the night given human form and know true terror"

I shook my head and said to Richard, "It&039;s not her"

He moved up besideto be quite a crowd again "If I hadn&039;t been in your dreaht be scary"

I nodded "But we&039;ve felt the real deal, and this ain&039;t it"

"This isn&039;t the Mother?" Asher said He&039;d gotten to his feet, scrubbing at tears on his face

"No, it&039;s a shadow of her, barely that," I said

Nathaniel drew in a large breath "I s cat, and jass This has no scent, it&039;s not real"

The darkness began to press down like a shadowy hand, but it was only a shadow The little va at the doors, screamed louder It had cleared the pews out so that there was no one but our guards in the aisles The guards, and our vampires

"The Dark Mother will consume you all, unless you lay down your arms and submit to us"

The shadow of dark tried to crush us Damian made a small sound "Don&039;t be afraid," I said "It&039;s barely a shadow of her power It can&039;t hurt us"

Colu invisible in her hand The shadowy darkness tried to squeeze down around us, but I thought, Love, warrow brighter again

Requiem spoke from a small distance away "This is not the darkness that hunted land This is smoke and mirrors compared to what came for him in the end"

"Sician&039;s illusion Hoe know you&039;re the real Columbine, a real Harlequin? All vampires know the rules, the masks Anyone could pretend," I said

"You uppity little bitch," she said "How dare you?"

"That would explain the the rules," Nathaniel said "They tried to kill you guys without giving you a blackus to prove we are of the Harlequin?" Columbine asked

"Yeah, I a for you?"

"I a forokay

"I wanted to own you, not destroy you, but if you insist," she said A piece of blackness unwound itself fro, but none of us had noticed it It was like soe black snake, if snakes were formless and could float Oh, hell, it wasn&039;t a snake, but I didn&039;t knohat else to call it It was a ribbon of blackness that hts went out, as if the light was eaten by the coht air," Micah said, in his growling voice

"It does," Nathaniel and Richard said at the same time They didn&039;t even look at each other The three wereani I couldn&039;t hear, or see, or smell Then I felt it, a cool line of wind, and I did sht air, damp, but not rain Damp, but not rain I drew in a deep breath "Where&039;s the jashts on one side of the church had been engulfed by the sinuous streaation had made a huddle of themselves on the other side of the church, as far from the dark as the closed doors would allow

Requiem had pulled his cloak up around his face, but he was beside the stage now "This is the darkness that killed my master"

"How did it kill him?" Micah asked

"The darkness covered hiave a terrible cry, and e could see again, he was dead"