“Wicked, I just finished saying, nobody travels alone.”
“If they can take me on my own, then they’re going to kill us all, so if I don’t make it, you get out of town, and take our people with you.”
“Are you setting yourself up as bait?”
“No; are you sure you’re worried about my safety, or about the fact that you might have to have sex with me?”
“That’s not fair, Wicked. You know why I’m trying to cut down.”
“I know, I’m not on the meal plan. Turns out neither of the other two vamps are really that good at flying. And you scare my brother.”
“I don’t scare him; he just doesn’t want to be food.”
“You’re right, he doesn’t, but I’m right, too. You scare him, and Truth isn’t scared by much.”
“And you’re not afraid I’ll possess you, or something?”
“I’ll take my chances. Besides, you said it yourself, you’re in control right now. I’m just in case.” He sounded bitter.
“Wicked.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t need attitude from you, too.”
“You can order me around, and I have to take it, but you can’t dictate how I feel.”
He had a point, but… What I wanted to say was that I didn’t understand why all the men wanted to be on the feeding list. I had a mirror; I knew what I was seeing, and though I was pretty, and maybe even beautiful given the right outfit, it wasn’t the same level of gorgeous of the men that were chasing me. But every time I tired to say it out loud, they accused me of being humble, or lying. I didn’t think it was humility, just honesty.
“I will not apologize for trying to keep my list of feeds from growing, Wicked. Jean-Claude made noises that he didn’t want to share me with any new men, and now he sends me nothing but, almost. What’s with that?”
“He’d rather see you and all his people back home in St. Louis, alive, then save his ego.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means that he agreed with your assessment of Vittorio. If he sent anyone who could be used as a hostage and couldn’t handle themselves in a fight, it might be too tempting. Especially considering that his choice of victims is mostly strippers, and most of your closest lovers are also strippers.”
That made my stomach clench tight.
“I feel your fear, Anita. He thought you’d reasoned that out.”
“I had, just not that bluntly.”
“I’m surprised; usually you’re the more blunt of the two of you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, “but I don’t feel like I’m about to lose control right now.”
“Then I will ride back with you and the nice executioners. But when you get back to a hotel, you are going to have to feed on someone.” His careful vampire voice held self-mockery, and I knew that wasn’t how he felt. It was his tone when he was hiding what he felt. “But if you feed on vampire tonight, then in the morning you are going to have to pick one of the wereanimals, because vampire only works after dark when we’re above ground.”
“I know that.”
“I’m just saying, be thinking about your menu choices, because I do not want you losing control of the ardeur because you’ve gone squeamish.”
“I am not squeamish.”
“If you weren’t, then you’d have already slept with Haven.”
I let that go because he was probably more right than I wanted to admit. “How many other people with you are ones I’ve never slept with?”
“Most of the wereanimals.”
I made an exasperated sound.
“Anita, you said not to send anyone that you’d care about too much, and only to send peole that could fight. That cuts out most of your regulars. Either they mean too much to you, or they can’t fight worth a farthing.” For a moment there was an echo of an accent, mostly lost long ago. “Fight off the ardeur, and you don’t have to touch us.”
“It’s not that, damn it. It’s just that I’m trying to trim down the list of men, not add to it.”
“I understand that, too, but that you not only can resist my charms, but are actively disturbed by the thought of sex with me, now that does hurt an old vampire’s heart.”
“Damn it, Wicked, don’t make this about hurt feelings.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Wicked…”
“I will wait by the car, outside the house, so I don’t compromise your investigation.” He hung up.
“I didn’t know Wicked was on the menu for you,” Edward said.
“He’s not.”
Edward gave me a look, one pale eyebrow raised.
“Don’t you start, too.” I curled into the corner of my seat, crossed my arms, and let myself pout. Yes, it was childish, but every time I thought I was getting control of my powers, I was wrong. I did not want to add to the men I was sleeping with, honest. Why didn’t I want to sleep with gorgeous men who were usually pretty good in bed? Because though I’d found I could have sex with this many men, I couldn’t “date” them. I couldn’t be their emotional rock. I was trying, and failing, but I seemed incapable of just fucking and feeding. Jean-Claude was right; I had to either stop needing so much, or stop trying for emotion with my sex. I just didn’t have a clue how to do that. If it didn’t matter emotionally, why have sex at all? Oh, because you are a succubus, and would die and drain the life out of people you loved, so they died first. Yeah, that was reason enough. I guess Wicked was right; I was still trying to pretend that it wasn’t my reality.
“So a vampire is going to meet us at the witness’s house?” Bernardo asked.
“Yes. He’ll be waiting by the car when we get out.”
“Won’t his car be there, too?” Bernardo asked.
“He’s going to fly,” I said.
“Fly… oh, you mean fly.” Bernardo actually flapped his arms a little.
“Yeah, but they don’t actually flap their arms. It’s more levitation than actually flying.”
“Like Superman,” Olaf said.
I glanced back at him in the darkened car. “Yeah, I guess so, like Superman.”
“Are you feeling shaky enough to need them to meet us out here?” Edward asked.
“No, but he’s right, it’s going on fourteen hours. Let’s just say I love you like a brother; I’d rather not have to explain that whole incest taboo to Donna and the kids.”
“So, if you lose control…” He didn’t finish the sentence.
“It could go badly,” I said. I made myself sit up straighter. I would not pout in the corner, damn it.
“You mean, you could just lose control of this ardeur?” Bernardo asked.
“Yes,” I said, and let the first hint of anger into that word.
“How much loss of control?” Olaf asked.
“Let’s hope none of you find out.”
“We’re at the house,” Edward said.
“Let’s put on our cop faces,” I said brightly, “and pretend that one of us isn’t a living vampire that feeds on sex.”
“Don’t let the other cops make you feel bad about it, Anita.”
“Edward, it is bad.”
“Everything that has happened to you happened because you were trying to save someone else. The vampire powers are the same as a gunshot wound, Anita. You got both in the line of duty.”
I looked into his face, studied it. “Do you really believe that?”
“I don’t say things I don’t mean, Anita.”
“You lie like butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth, Edward.”
He smiled. “I don’t lie to you.”
“Really,” I said.
The smile became a grin. “Okay, not most of the time, anymore.” His face sobered. “I’m not lying now.”
I nodded. “I’ll take that.”
“I feel like a voyeur,” Bernardo said.
We both frowned at him, together. He raised his hands. “Sorry to ruin the touching moment, but honestly, if you want to have the heart-to-heart talks, let us get out of the car first. I’m not kidding on the voyeur part.”