"Don't back out now," Nathaniel said.
"Another girl would be nice for the other guys."
I turned in the circle of his arm and looked at Nicky. "But not for you?"
"I told you my reasoning, Anita."
"There are women in town who like sex as rough as or rougher than Anita does," Nathaniel said.
Nicky gave him a look like, Prove it.
Nathaniel looked at me. "If you really wanted another play partner for Nicky, I could find him someone."
I looked at Nicky. "Do you want another woman to dominate?"
"It depends on how much work it is. I like to do rough sex; I don't want to do the whole dominant with you all day twenty-four seven. Once we leave the bedroom, or the dungeon, I don't want to be in charge of your ass, or any other part of you."
I smiled. "Good to know."
Nathaniel frowned. "I know some women you could play with for a night, but you couldn't do a relationship with them because they would want more domination than just rough sex."
"And that is why I'm happy with Anita; she bottoms hard, but once we're done she doesn't need the upkeep. True submissives are fucking exhausting."
"To the right dominant they're energizing," Nathaniel said.
"I'm not the dominant they're looking for."
"Me, either," I said.
Nathaniel grinned at me. "That's right, Nicky missed all that time I was trying to get you to be my dominant in every way."
"It was exhausting," I said.
"See?" Nicky said.
Nathaniel laughed. "And I found out that I'm not that kind of submissive, I'd just been trained up that way."
"Let's take our happy dominant, submissive, and switches asses inside and shop for weretigers," I said.
"Girl weretigers?" Nathaniel said.
I smiled at the look on his face; I couldn't help it. "Yes, some girl weretigers, too. Who knows, maybe we'll meet the woman of all our dreams."
"Not possible," Nicky said.
"Why not?" I asked.
He leaned over and kissed me. "Because we've already found her."
It took me a minute to realize he meant me, and then I wanted to protest, but in the end I just took the compliment like I was supposed to. I wasn't sure I'd ever believe I was the woman of anyone's dreams. I was good, and I tried, but dream women/men were perfect and I would never be that.
17
DINO HAD PARKED the truck and trailer, then waited near the back door for us, far enough away to give us some privacy, but not so far away he couldn't still do his job as bodyguard, so the four of us walked through the back door into what had been a storage room. Now it was more like a mini-guard post complete with a coffeemaker and a mini-fridge. There were almost always two guards in the room to keep track of the back door, the door that led out into the public area of the Circus, and the door to the underground that had the living quarters.
It was usually newer guards here, so we did a quick greeting and kept moving. If they'd been slacking on duty then it would have taken longer, but since it was either Claudia or Fredo who interviewed people for the job we didn't get a lot of that. We went through the far door and were on the stairs leading down. There was no elevator to the underground; you had to physically take a half-mile of stone steps leading up and down. It was like the best glute workout ever, and it meant that if you were bad guys you had to come down a very long expanse of steps, which took time, and only had one turn the whole way, so we could sit at the angle and shoot up at you, and at the door and shoot down at you. Guards at top and bottom could take turns firing volleys into anyone we didn't want coming down the stairs. It was the first defense for the Master of St. Louis's lair, and a damned fine one.
Nicky, Nathaniel, and I walked three abreast with Dino bringing up the rear. He said in a voice that was a little winded, because cardio was never his strong suit, "What's with these stairs?"
I glanced back at him, forcing Nathaniel to pause as we stepped down. Nicky and I weren't holding hands on the stairs, because our height difference or maybe inseam difference made the stairs harder.
He took the opportunity to stop walking, which may have been why he said something at all. "I thought at first the steps were carved by someone who was taller, had a really long stride, you know."
We all nodded at him.
"But it's not that, is it?"
"No," I said.
"It's like the stairs weren't made to fit anyone's stride."
"I think maybe that's part of the point," Nathaniel said.
"What do you mean?" Dino asked, leaning against the wall just a little.
"It's more of a challenge to go up and down them, because there's no natural rhythm to the steps."
"So it's even more of a deterrent to try to break into the underground," I said.
He nodded.
"Have you tried coming down the steps in leopard form?" Nicky asked.
Nathaniel shook his head.
"I've done it in lion form and the steps work better."
"What does that mean?" Dino asked.
"I think whoever made the steps didn't make them for anything bipedal."
"Bipedal," Dino said. "Bipedal? Who uses that as a word?"
"It means exactly what I wanted to say," Nicky said.
Dino was looking at him with a puzzled frown.
"Or did you just think I wasn't smart enough to know the word?"
"No, that, no, I mean . . . it's just a little, I don't know, college professor for . . ."
"Me," Nicky said.
"No, just no." Dino was shaking his head as he pushed away from the wall.
"Does everyone think I'm not that bright?"
"I did not say that." Dino was nervous.
"You worried that Nicky will hold a grudge next time on the practice mat?" I asked.
"Maybe."
Nicky grinned and started walking again. "Let's do double time down the rest of the steps."
"Aww, don't be like that," Dino said.
Nathaniel and I grinned and followed Nicky down the steps like we were in the gym. There'd been a reason I kept my hiking shoes on and had the high heels in my bag along with the plastic-wrapped coveralls. There was always laundry to do after a zombie raising.
Dino called after us, "Come on, don't do this."
"Catch up, Dino," Nicky called back.
He muttered something, but he started down the last long steps. The three of us were all waiting beside the last big door by the time he lumbered/ran down to us. "Hate you all," he panted as he leaned against the wall.
"You really do need to hit the cardio harder, Dino," Nicky said.
"I know."
Nathaniel's text tone went off and he checked it. "It's Sin, he wants me to help him dress for the party tonight."
I wondered if that was really what the message said, or if it was more like "Why is Anita looking at other tigers when I'm already here," but I didn't press. I'd have to deal with Cynric soon enough; I wasn't jumping the gun early, and besides I had other things to worry about.
Watching one of our bodyguards pant that hard after coming down stairs that hadn't winded the three of us, I decided that maybe I should talk to Claudia about Dino's fitness level. He was great in a fight, but if he had to dash for cover or keep up with the other guards at a run, could he? Being in good shape wasn't just for fitting into skinny jeans, if your job depended on you being in fighting shape. On a heavy bag Dino was one of the hardest-hitting we had, but I was going to need to have him sparring with the other guards, because speed counted when you were almost always fighting shapeshifters and vampires.
I looked at Nicky trying to decide if he'd teased Dino just to tease, or if he'd wanted me to see the problem. Dino was half bent over, still breathing hard. Was this a problem that affected Dino's job? Nicky made eye contact with me and that was enough; he'd wanted me to see it, because a demonstration like this spoke louder than just bringing it up to me. I gave a small nod; Nicky gave one
back and moved to the big dungeon-worthy door. He knocked hard twice. Short of serious explosives the door was proof against almost anything, so we'd taken to locking it and using it as the barrier it was supposed to be. But locked meant that there had to be guards always posted on the other side to let you in. We had the manpower for it, but I didn't like the new security measure. It slowed things down, and that usually made me antsy.
There were already two guards at the head of the stairs, and more in a sort of hidden crow's nest in the top of the warehouse building with a sniper rifle, and more up above circling through the permanent Circus tent, freak show, and carnival midway that was the public business of the Circus of the Damned. We had one or two bodyguards assigned to all our principals, and now we had two more guards tied up on the other side of the big door. Yes, we had the manpower, but when Fredo had come to me with the suggestion that we lock the door and put guards on it, I just hadn't realized how much it would irritate me to be on the other side of the door so often.
There was an answering knock. Nicky stood closer to the door, putting his bare hand against the big lock with its huge keyhole, so the guard on the other side would catch his scent. It was clever as hell, but I was getting really tired of it, as the door finally pushed open, and Kelly Reeder held the door open for us. She was five-five to my five-three, but I'd seen what those extra inches of leg and arm could do on the practice mat when we all worked out. If everyone is equally trained, reach matters in hand-to-hand combat.
She'd put her long blond hair back in a high, tight braid, so that her face looked pale and unadorned, as if she were waiting to put on makeup. The black shoulder rig with its gun and extra ammo was almost invisible against the black-on-black T-shirt and jeans. She was wearing black boots like I wore to crime scenes. The unrelieved black that was the guards' regular uniform was always severe against her pale yellow hair and paler blue eyes, but today her cheeks looked almost hollow; the muscles in her arms stood out, not like she'd done it on purpose, but as if she'd lost too much weight for her health.
Nathaniel gave me a quick kiss. "I'll go help Sin get ready."
I squeezed his hand and let him go, because there was something wrong with Kelly. I'd take care of the person in front of me, and save the rest for later.
"You okay, Kelly?" I asked, because somehow in the division of labor I'd ended up in charge of the emotional well-being of our guards. I wasn't always good at it, but I was girl enough to ask if something was wrong, when most of the men wouldn't ask unless invited. It was a girl/guy difference that had saddled me with the emotional caretaking, but I just couldn't walk past Kelly looking like that and not ask. Maybe I was better socialized than I liked to admit.
"I'm fine," she said, but it was automatic and totally not believable. She held the door for us, but when she'd shut and locked it behind us, she went down on one knee in front of us, head slightly down, but eyes rolled upward so she could still see us.
I started to say What are you doing? but she said, "I kneel before my king, my Rex, and offer all that I am for him to do with as he sees fit."
I just stared at her and I knew my surprise showed on my face, but I couldn't hide it in time. This was brand-new to me. What the hell was going on?
Nicky held his left hand out to her, as if he had a ring for her to kiss or something.
Kelly's head drooped a little and then she reached out and touched fingertips to his hand. He said, "I accept this tribute from my lioness, for she is faithful and strong."
I looked at Nicky, feeling even more like I'd missed something, maybe something important. I wanted to say What the hell? and I might have except that there was one more person in the room and she was giving me enough grief without me admitting that I, the queen of all I surveyed, didn't know what the hell was going on.
Lita was five-eight and managed to be slender, curvy, and muscular. She wasn't as muscled as I was, because she didn't like lifting weights. She did it because we insisted all our guards do it, but she did the minimum; but then she was a wererat and I was still mostly human. I had to work harder to play with the big dogs, because I wasn't one. I was stronger than human-normal, but so were most of the people who gave me grief, both on my job as a U.S. Marshal for the Preternatural Branch and here at home.
Lita was beautiful and both knew it and was insecure about it, which made her issues all over the board. Her skin was the color of that first nice brown that a good tan can give you, but her "tan" was with her year-round, though she'd probably tan darker if she ever went out into the sun enough. Her dark brown eyes were edged with thick lashes and a little too much eye makeup for my taste, but she could carry it off, and we were both wearing lipstick so red it looked like blood, so who was I to bitch? Her wavy black hair fell to her waist, held back only by a slender headband that was a black so close to her hair color that I only knew it was there because I knew hair like hers didn't stay away from your face without something forcing it back. The black T-shirt tucked into black jeans, waist made tinier with a black belt with a silver buckle, and knee-high boots that were more club wear than military made her look like the gun at her hip and the AR on its shoulder strap were props for some kind of cosplay at a science fiction convention rather than the real deal. She was barely twenty-one but looked older in that lush, I-blossomed-early sort of way.
Her red lips quirked in that smile that some of the men thought was sexy, but if you looked at her eyes when she did it, they were always cold, even cruel. No, that smile wasn't about sex; it was about power. Claudia, who was one of our guard leaders, and I had decided it'd be nice to have more female guards. I'd forgotten what that might mean for the wererats. Lita and two others had come from L.A.; they were all members of a street gang there. The last new guard we'd brought in who'd had a gangster background had been Haven. He'd ended up shooting Claudia and Nathaniel and killing one of our werelions, Noel. I still blamed myself, because I had been wishy-washy with Haven. I believed that if I'd been hard enough, clear enough, from the beginning that Noel would still be alive and have his master's in English lit by now, maybe even his doctorate. He'd died trying to keep Nathaniel alive, so I owed Noel. It's hard to pay a debt to the dead, so I'd decided to pay it forward and never let another person with a certain background doubt who was in charge. I wasn't sure how to make that clear to Lita yet, but I was pretty sure she'd give me an opportunity.
Kelly started to stand, but winced hard enough that Nicky had to catch her arm, or she might have fallen. That was it; I had to say something.
"What's going on, guys? Why is Kelly hurt?"
"You smelled surprised when they did the formal greeting, Anita," Lita said with that cruel little smile on her face.
Rats actually have some of the best scenting noses in the animal kingdom. How do you hide your reaction from someone who can smell it? Answer: You don't. But you can ignore her, and that's what I did.
"Answer me, Nicky," I said, and because he was Bride he had to do exactly what I said. He had more independence and could fight me, but a direct order, or question, was still very hard for him to refuse.
"I don't know why she has fresh wounds hidden under her clothes, but I can guess."
"Then guess, and tell me why the formal greeting. That sort of shit is usually reserved for when we have company, or when someone needs to assert dominance."
Nicky's shoulders flexed before he turned more squarely toward the drapes. Dino moved apart from us, so he was closer to the drapes than we were; so nice that everyone knew their jobs. Kelly and Lita were both paying attention, too, when the drapes parted and Meng Die walked through.
She was one of our vampires, which made her on our side, and she was, but in the end Meng Die was always on her own side. She was shorter than Kelly, slender and altogether delicate with straight black hair caressing her shoulders as she walked. Her up-tilted eyes were a paler brown than Lita's, or mine come to that. She was wearing a black vinyl catsuit that screamed sex, and dominatrix. The first w
as true, the second not, at least not in a fetish or professional way. She wanted to be everyone's mistress if it meant being the boss, the queen, the big cheese, but the outfit meant she was working upstairs in the Circus of the Damned tonight. She made great scenery for some of the acts. Trouble was that the burning intelligence and ambition in her eyes weren't happy with being set dressing. She wanted more, a lot more. She wanted to go back home to San Francisco, but her old master wouldn't have her back. She'd probably been days away from staging a palace coup, and he knew it. Jean-Claude had refused her permission to go back and take over the territory by force. We were looking for a territory that needed a new master vampire but didn't dare send her in as anyone's second-in-command, because she wouldn't be second for long.
She gave a disdainful look at Dino as he towered over her, and walked past him as if he wasn't almost broader through the shoulders than she was tall. "Anita, did you really think you could just dump that many high-level lycanthropes and vampires into our little pool and not have repercussions?" Meng Die asked.
I didn't understand what she meant, and tried to decide if I wanted to admit I was that lost.
"Of course you did. You're so powerful that you think you can handle anything, but the rest of us only get the dregs of your power. We struggle more when you make these sweeping changes without telling us first."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, finally. I was too lost to bluff and I was technically the boss of her, so I could admit weakness. She wouldn't think less of me for it, because she thought so little of me already.
"The Harlequin, Anita, the Harlequin; you killed their dark mistress, the queen of us all, and they went from being her spies-assassins-bodyguards to belonging to Jean-Claude and you. You dumped over twenty of the finest warriors ever to grace vampirekind into our territory, but the real insult was that you dumped in their animals to call, as well. They'd lived hundreds, or thousands, of years because their masters and mistresses were undying."
"Yeah, they're powerful and they're a pain in the ass sometimes, there's always a learning curve," I said.
She laughed, high and brittle. "You call it a learning curve; have the werelion show you her wounds. Ask her how she likes being behind the curve."
I looked at Kelly, and in looking I saw Lita's face, too. Lita didn't look any happier with Meng Die than I did. I'd have thought they might bond over their mutual disdain for me, but apparently not. I filed that away for later, and looked at Kelly.