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The security guy hadn&039;t liked stripping I told him he could do it in privacy with just , or he could do it on one of the stages His choice He&039;d looked like he didn&039;t believeto risk it He was clean, no vamp bites On the one hand, shit, because a master vamp is harder to catch, harder to keep, and harder to kill On the other hand, great, because the list of vamps that could do this was pretty small Or it was if I understood the deal between Malcolm and Jean-Claude Okay, technically it had been a deal struck between Malcolkilled her, I&039;d sy to owe her a da But Jean-Claude had honored her treaty with the church, on a few conditions One, noit by Jean-Claude So either Malcoled on the deal, or he didn&039;t know that he had someone that powerful in his community Or neither Malcolm nor Jean-Claude had felt someone that powerful enter their territory If that last were true, ere in deep, deep trouble, because that would raise the power level to so none of us would want to deal with

Or had Jean-Claude approved athat there would be no blood oath to keep control of it? I had sothem answered until Jean-Claude woke for the day I drove back to St Louis in dawn&039;s early light, happy I had sunglasses withdirectly east The indirect brightness was bad enough

The Circus was closer than my own house, so that&039;s where I went I bunked there sometimes to have a date with Jean-Claude, but often just because it was closer to crash My eyes were so tired they burned, and my body had that achiness that feels al up all its reserves to keep you awake andlot of Circus of the Da There were three other cars in the lot One was Jason&039;s, and I didn&039;t know the others on sight But it had to be people who didn&039;t just work here, but also lived here, and kne to drive That narrowed it down I thought Meng Die drove, and maybe Faust, but I just wasn&039;t sure, and was too tired to care

I walked across the parking lot in the fast growing light, and fought off an urge to hunch my shoulders I used my key on the back door, and I pushed e rooainst it for a second or two Not long ago there hadn&039;t been a lock on the back door at all, you had to have someone let you in, but I&039;d had them put in a better door, reinforced steel, with a lock Without the lock they&039;d had to keep someone in a little lookout up near the roof The lookout would send someone down if the person at the door needed in I said it seemed silly, since there was a lock on the outer doors in front It just et in, and besides there was a smalljust before dahen sometimes the lookout was eing on the door at dawn just got discouraging

I made sure the door was secure behind h the boxes that were always there, to the big door that led to the stairs The stairs went down, a long way down I was tired enough that if there&039;d been an elevator I would have taken it But there wasn&039;t The stairs were actually part of the defenses of the Circus One, it was a lot of stairs, so you had to be fairly serious to go down the the way that we could set up ambushes if we needed to Three, the stairs were oddly inally been s, or at least hadn&039;t been the size of a hu If you didn&039;t knohat awaited you down below, youwhat used these stairs Actually, just vamps and wereanimals, but our eneed the ruer, less huuessing

By the ti iron door at the bottoed my keys back out The key to this door wasn&039;t hard to find It was the only huge, old-fashioned key on the ring It looked like a giant a dwarves compared to the modern keys

I put the key in, and the lock es were just as quiet, though probably if I had only been huht of the door It was s than hands

I closed it behindbar in place If anyone else was dragging their ass in this late, they were out of luck But you were usually safe this far after dawn to set the bigger lock in place The fact that it hadn&039;t been set probably ured I&039;d co, silky curtains that forive old and white and silver furniture, or the painting above the faux fireplace Sleep was the only thing on my mind, now that the outer door was locked

I went to Jean-Claude&039;s room, but I should have known better I found him and Asher curled under the sheets Both of theolden waves lay like metallic foam upon a white pillow His eyes were closed, so I couldn&039;t see his pale blue eyes, like the eyes of a Siberian husky As pale a blue as Jean-Claude&039;s were a dark blue Asher lay on his side, so that the unscarred side of his face was up to the light They&039;d left a light on for ht, the rooainst Asher&039;s back, one ar the scars on the right side of Asher&039;s body Asher had been the blond beauty to Jean-Claude&039;s brunette once, then so church officials had captured him and used holy water to drive the devil out of him Holy water acts on vampire flesh like acid on ours Those same officials had burned Asher&039;s human servant and love, Julianna, at the stake Christianity is a fine religion, but sos done in the name of it aren&039;t so nice

I touched Jean-Claude&039;s face, moved a stray lock of his hair behind one pale shoulder His skin was cool to the touch, and would just get colder I kissed Asher&039;s forehead, and it was like kissing the dead Vampires didn&039;t sleep at dawn, they died They truly were animated corpses I just wasn&039;t sure what exactly animated them

I couldn&039;t sleep in the bed with two corpses The cooling flesh just creeped me out I wasn&039;t sure I&039;d ever be able to sleep with a va what bed to use If there&039;d been a couch in the room, I would have used it, but there wasn&039;t Until I&039;d asked, there hadn&039;t even been chairs When you&039;ve got a bed this big, I guess ants to sit in a chair?

I walked back out and closed the door softly behind me, not that it would wake them, but just out of habit I went to Jason&039;s room I&039;d bunked with him before I didn&039;t knock, because I expected everybody to be asleep, and I was right Jason was curled up tight on the far edge of the bed, his blond hair showing just above the covers Soainst his back, and for just a second I thought I&039;d goofed, and it was a woman, but I knew that spill of auburn hair Nathaniel was bunking here for the night Again, not the first tiht on, with the door opened a crack I wasn&039;t sure if it was for my benefit, or so Nathaniel would knohere he was if he woke in the ht The first few times I&039;d woken in absolute darkness in one of these less rooht

I&039;d cleaned the otto be mud-free It was nearly athe heels in the mud I took off the leather jacket and folded it nicely There was no chair, so I sat flat on the floor and unzipped the boots and stripped off the hose, putting theainst a wall, so no one would stumble over them The skirt was stiff with dried blood The fact that none of the va about it said either that they couldn&039;t s on it would have been too barbaric

I left the skirt in a pile by itself I wasn&039;t even sure dry cleaning could save it

I took off the white T-shirt and made a third pile for clothes that were actually clean The bra went in that pile I put the T-shirt back on and kept the thong underwear, too I&039;d have slept better without the thong, but the T-shirt wasn&039;t enough clothes I&039;d never slept nude with Nathaniel, and I had with Jason only once, when I&039;d passed out that way I needed ja in that moment was to wrap as much of my tired body around Nathaniel&039;s body as I could, and sleep

I crawled under the sheets on the far side of the bed and moved until I touched Nathaniel&039;s bare back The moment I touched hi his, until I spooned hihts at ho It wasn&039;t a comment on sexual orientation for Nathaniel and Jason It was a co wereanimals Wereanimals just didn&039;t see the point in clothes, not if they could go without theainst Nathaniel&039;s body, and he snuggled himself between my body and Jason Who never so ainst Nathaniel&039;s hair, and the vanilla scent of it was enough I was ho woke me I wasn&039;t sure what I was just suddenly awake in the diainst Nathaniel, and Jason was a died, so what had wokento listen There was nothing to hear It was just the boys&039; quiet breathing, the rustle of a sheet when Jason moved in his sleep The roo? Then I did hear so in the bathroom

I slidwas there in its holster If I wasn&039;t at houn holstered and snapped, just in case It&039;d be a shame if someone&039;s hand accidentally offed the safety, and another hand hit a trigger, and well, you get the idea I unsnapped the holster, drew out the gun, and put a hand over Nathaniel&039;s mouth

He jerked awake, eyes wide I un toward the crack of the bathroom door He nodded and touched Jason&039;s shoulder, as I slipped out of the bed and moved toward the bathrooun held two-handed, pointed at the ceiling It could have been one of the other shapeshifters come to borrow a shower It would be like theht It&039;d be a hell of a thing to kill so shower

I crossed wide around the door, so h probably with the dark room behind me, that wouldn&039;t happen But better careful than not I had to ball the black silk robe up over one ar over it I didn&039;t ree side of the door, and I went to one knee, because if someone was on the other side with a weapon, her than ainst the doorjaan to ease the door open withto give ht, before whoever it was noticed the doorI knew better than to siht I&039;d be blind for a second or two If I&039;d been sure it was a bad guy, I&039;d have fired blind, but I wasn&039;t sure

There ater seeping out from under the door, the robe under ht had been the shower running was the bathtub I could hear the difference now So on?

I had the door flat against the wall now, and there was no one to be seen There was just the bathtub ater spilling over its sides and the water still rushing out of the faucet at full blast The lower part of s were soaked It was cold, so cold Like they&039;d turned on only the cold Who took a bath in only cold water?

There was just the sink area, a partial wall, the stool, and the bathtub/ shower The roolance There was no place to hide Was this joke? Had soed the bathtub, and turned on the water? Did they think we&039;d notice before it flooded? Did they care? Stupid joke

I got to h the water It was ankle deep, and that see I ht in the water, pulled in the current, like I ading through a stream It was like ice, so cold, so very cold

I was standing over the bathtub now, and the water was cloudy I couldn&039;t see to the botto It wasn&039;t that deep It was a white tub, and this was clear water Why couldn&039;t I see through it?

I kept the gun up, but reached to turn off the water I half-expected sorab my hand, but it didn&039;t The faucet just turned off, and the silence that folloas deafening S around the roolass of water from a tap when there&039;s tooto the botto out of theinto focus

A pale hand, a spill of red hair, and I was staring down into Damian&039;s face His eyes ide and dead, but it was daylight He was dead He didn&039;t need to breathe He could be under water It wouldn&039;t hurt hi there, I did what I would have done if he&039;d been huun to the floor and plunged rabbed handfuls of his shirt, and I started to pull hih the water, but it was as if the water was heavier than it should have been So heavy and so cold He was almost at the top, almost when I realized it wasn&039;t water, it was ice He was frozen in a huge block of ice, and my arms were frozen with him, trapped with him

"Anita, Anita," Nathaniel&039;s voice, his hand on my shoulder, and I woke to Jason&039;s bedroo me I sat up and stared around The bathroom door was open a crack but there was no sound of water Dream, just a dream

I started to shiver Except that I was still freezing So cold, so very cold "I dreamed, dreamed of Damian He was so cold, in ice"

"Your skin is like ice," Nathaniel said

Jason was sitting up, his short blond hair tousled and his eyes heavy with sleep "What&039;s wrong?"

Nathaniel wrapped his arainst my cold arms "When did you eat last, Anita?"

"With you, the drive-up"

"That was over twelve hours ago" He looked at Jason "She needs food now"

Jason didn&039;t ask questions, just crawled over the bed and dropped to his knees beside the e that acted as one of his bedside tables He pulled out a bowl of fruit--apples, bananas

"I don&039;t like cold fruit," I said

"Anita, you dreay Eat a banana," Nathaniel said

I suddenly kneas right The cold wasme stupid Jason handed me the fruit But Nathaniel helped otten worse, and I couldn&039;t peel it Shit

Nathaniel fed it to me in pieces, while et it down, the shivering was a little less, but not a lot "Meat, protein," Nathaniel said

Jason lifted out a carton of Chinese takeout, but shook his head without offering it "Too old" He got out a flat foauey, from yesterday"

Nathaniel opened it, lifted out a piece of the beef with his fingers, and held it close to my mouth "Eat"

I ate, and the ood, even cold The meat seeh the grilled onions and peppers, and ate the beef When my skin wasn&039;t cold to the touch, and I&039;d stopped shivering, I slowed down, then shook my head "I can&039;t eat any more"

"You&039;ve eatenbeside the bed, his ar on his ar Day?"

I nodded

"Jean-Claude said that you&039;d formed a second triumvirate with Nathaniel and Damian"

"Apparently," I said

"I take it there&039;s a learning curve," he said

"You could say that This is the second time in less than twenty-four hours that I&039;ve almost killed Damian"

Jason&039;s eyes ide "How?"

"She&039;s trying to do what she always does," Nathaniel said, handing the now closed box to Jason "Barely eat, barely sleep, not do anything to take care of herself except exercise"

"I can&039;t tell the cops, oh, sorry, I need a nap," I said

"No, but I told you that you needed to eatmore like a lycanthrope than a vah another drive-up There are all-night drive-ups"

I didn&039;t like his tone "I didn&039;t think of it I just wanted to get to sleep I was so tired I was nauseous"

"Or ," Nathaniel said, and he was angry, "but you didn&039;t think of that did you?"

"No, I didn&039;t Happy?"

"No," he said, "because once Da next?" He was so angry that his eyes had darkened, so they were alry back, because the nightain had scared ht to eat, when Nathaniel had explained it to me I&039;d just been so tired Come to think of it, I&039;d been more tired than I should have been, hadn&039;t I? I wanted to be angry at him, because it waswrong, especially this wrong

"You&039;re right, you&039;re right I&039;ue?" Jason asked

"Why argue when I&039;ll lose? I was careless It&039;s not just the triumvirate, or the new one, it&039;s the ardeur I&039;ve finally got it conquered, sort of"

"What does &039;sort of e of the bed He was nude He&039;d been nude the whole tiave hiood eye contact

"It means that the ardeur doesn&039;t rise on its own anyht?" Jason said, he was studying my face like he was puzzled by ood news," I said, "the bad news is that the ardeur doesn&039;t rise, but it still needs to be fed It won&039;t remind me, it&039;s time to be fed That&039;s what happened with Damian earlier I hadn&039;t fed the ardeur in over twelve hours, a lot over, but it hadn&039;t raised either"

"So you didn&039;t feed it," Nathaniel said, softly

"Exactly," I said

"And you started sucking energy off of Damian," he said

I nodded "He called inside my head, sort of"

"Then you fed the ardeur,&039;" Jason said

I nodded

"Before you got to the club," Nathaniel said, and his voice was soft

"Yes" I turned and looked at him, and what I saw in his eyes both made me feel bad and pissed me off He looked hurt, and it wasn&039;tit wasn&039;tsoht to be tired ofeveryone but him

"I did the minimum for a snack, just to tide me over," I said

"With who?" he asked, and his eyes ide and careful

"Requie off of Day, then you needed to have fed the ardeur earlier, right?" Jason said I think he actually wanted to know, but I think he was also trying to stop a fight before it started I wasn&039;t sure ere going to fight, but I wasn&039;t sure eren&039;t, either

I thought about Jason&039;s question and finally said, "Yeah, I guess so"

"You gain energy through the ardeur, right?"

"Yeah"