43
Even over the phone, I could tell Jean-Claude was shocked at my idea of turning to the council for help. Call it a guess. He was literally speechless. It was nearly a first.
"Why not ask for their help?"
"They are the council, ma petite," he said, voice almost breathy with emotion.
"Exactly," I said. "They are the leaders of your people. Leadership doesn't just mean privileges. It has a price tag."
"Tell that to your politicians in Washington in their three-thousand-dollar suits," he said.
"I didn't say that we did any better. That's beside the point. They've helped make this problem. They can, by God, help fix it." I had a bad thought. "Unless they're doing it on purpose," I said.
He gave a long sigh. "No, ma petite, it is not on purpose. I did not realize that it was happening to the others."
"Why isn't it happening to our vampires?"
I think he laughed. "Our vampires, ma petite?"
"You know what I mean."
"Yes, ma petite, I know what you mean. I have been protecting our people."
"Don't take this wrong, but I'm surprised you had the juice to keep the council from messing with your people."
"In truth, ma petite, so am I."
"So you're more powerful than Malcolm now?"
"It would appear so," he said quietly.
I thought about that for a minute. "But why the early rising? Why the increased hunger? Why would the council want that to be happening?"
"They do not want it, ma petite. It is merely a side effect of their proximity."
"Explain," I said.
"Their very presence will give unprotected vampires extra power: early rising, perhaps other gifts. The more voracious appetite and lack of control of the younger ones could mean that the council has decided not to feed while in my territory. I know the Traveler can take energy through lesser vampires without possessing them."
"So he takes part of the blood they drink?"
"Oui, ma petite."
"Are the others feeding?" I asked.
"If all of the Church's members are experiencing this difficulty, I would think not. I think the Traveler has found a way to drain energy for all of them, though I cannot imagine Yvette going for even a night without causing pain to someone."
"She has Warrick to pick on." The moment I said it, I realized I hadn't had a chance to tell Jean-Claude about Warrick's little daytime excursion, or his warning. Jean-Claude had woken from his sleep while I was at the hospital surrounded by wereanimals. Since then I'd been moving from one emergency to another.
"Warrick came to visit me while you were out for the day," I said.
"What do you mean, ma petite?"
I told him. All of it.
He was silent. Only his soft breathing let me know he was still there. Finally, he spoke. "I knew that Yvette gained power through her master, but I did not realize he was dampening Warrick's abilities." He laughed suddenly. "Perhaps that is why I did not realize I was a master vampire while I was with the council that first time. Perhaps my master, too, was preventing my powers from blossoming."
"Does Warrick's warning change our plans?" I asked.
"We are committed to a formal entertainment, ma petite. If we refuse to pay the price for your wereleopards, then we will give Padma and Yvette the very excuse they need to challenge us. Breaking faith once your word is given is an almost unforgivable sin among us."
"I've endangered us," I said.
"Oui, but being who you are, you could not do less. Warrick a master vampire, who would have thought it? He has been Yvette's plaything for so very long."
"How long?" I asked.
Jean-Claude was quiet for a heartbeat or two, then, "He was a knight of the Crusades, ma petite."
"Which crusade? There were several," I said.
"So nice to talk to someone who knows their history, ma petite. But you have been near him. What age is he?"
I thought about it. "Nine hundred, give or take."
"Which would mean?"
"I don't like being quizzed, Jean-Claude. The First Crusade in the late 1000s."
"Exactement."
"So Yvette was old even then," I said.
"Do you not know her age?"
"She's a thousand years old. But it's a soft one thousand. I've met vamps her age that scared the hell out of me. She doesn't."
"Yes, Yvette is terrifying but not because of her age, or her power. She can live until the end of the world and she will never be a master among us."
"And that gripes her ass," I said.
"Crudely but accurately put, ma petite."
"I'm going to ask the Traveler for help."
"We have bargained for all the aid we will ever get from them, ma petite. Do not put yourself further in their debt. I beg this of you."
"You've never begged anything of me," I said.
"Then heed me now, ma petite. Do not do this."
"I'm not going to bargain," I said.
He let out a breath as if he'd been holding it. "Good, ma petite, very good."
"I'm just going to ask."
"Ma petite, ma petite, what have I just told you?"
"Look, we're trying to save vampire lives here, not just human. Vampires are legal in this country. It doesn't just mean you get privileges. It comes with a price. Or it should."
"You are going to appeal to the council's sense of justice?" He didn't bother to keep the incredulity out of his voice. In fact, he played on it.
Put that way it sounded silly, but. . "The council is partially to blame for what's happening. They've endangered their own people. Good leaders don't do that."
"No one has ever accused them of being good leaders, ma petite. They just are. It is not a question of good or bad. We fear them, and that is enough."
"Bullshit. That isn't enough. It isn't even close to enough."
He sighed. "Promise me only that you will not bargain with them. Make your request but do not offer them anything for their aid. You must swear this to me, ma petite. Please."
It was the «please» that did it, and the fear in his voice. "I promise. It's their job to do this. You don't bargain to get someone to do what they're supposed to do in the first place."
"You are a wondrous combination of cynicism and naivetй, ma petite."
"You think it's naive to expect the council to help the vampires of this city?"
"They will ask what is in it for them, ma petite. What will you say?"
"I'll tell them it's their duty, and call them honorless bastards if they don't do it."
He did laugh then. "I would pay to hear this conversation."
"Would it help for you to listen in?"
"No. If they suspect it is my idea, they will demand a price. Only you, ma petite, could be this naive before them and hope to be believed."
I didn't think of myself as naive, and it bugged me that he did. Of course, he was nearly three centuries older than I was. Madonna probably seemed naive to him. "I'll let you know how it goes."