Asher rose from the chair where he'd sat and entertained our guests. There were half a dozen black-garbed guards scattered throughout the room. Claudia and her crew followed behind us like an honor guard. I think she'd decided no more taking chances tonight. We had enough manpower to fill a room, so she was going to do it. None of us were going to argue.
Asher glided toward us, and it was almost as if his feet didn't touch the ground, as if he were floating. He was always graceful, but not like that. He was one of the best at levitating that I'd ever seen, so that he could do what the legends say: Asher could fly. Tonight it was as if he could barely force himself to walk when he knew he had wings and longed to use them. He was like some earthbound angel waiting to fling himself skyward. His clothes helped the angelic illusion. He was all in white with gold and copper thread worked through the frock coat, and along a pair of silk pants that ended at his knees, where white hose took up, and ended in white high heels with golden buckles. The shoes reminded me that the original high heel was meant for men.
His hair was the color of the gold thread in his clothes, as if the seamstress had used his own hair to decorate the cloth. He used that hair like a shield, to hide the scars on the right side of his face. He'd been so worried about what the other masters, many of whom knew him before the scarring, would think of him, that he had requested we take down all the paintings that showed him before. The side of the face that showed beside that fall of truly golden hair was the face of some medieval angel, if you liked your angels sensuous, and a little fallen. That full, kissable mouth smiled at us all. His eyes managed to be both pale blue, and a vibrant color, as if a winter sky could burn with pale, clear blue. Only one eye showed clear; the other one seemed to wink and burn when glimpsed through the hair, as if light were glancing off glass.
He offered his hand first to Jean-Claude, and said what Jean-Claude usually didn't like to hear. «Master, our friend from Cape Cod begs a word.» His words were utterly polite, but his face glowed with some suppressed excitement. Something had filled our usually solemn Asher with delight, but what?
Jean-Claude arched an eyebrow, as if he wanted to ask what was up, too.
Asher's voice floated through my mind. «The new power level is amazing.»
I felt Richard jerk, as if he'd been hit.
I looked at him, and saw from his wide eyes that he'd probably heard it, too. The next mind whisper held a trace of laughter to it. «My apologies. I only meant Jean-Claude to hear, but I confess to having some trouble controlling all the new abilities.»
Jean-Claude squeezed my hand, and it was his voice that came next. «Calm, we must all be calm for our guests.»
Richard let his breath out slow, and gave a small nod. His abilities didn't lie with the dead, so he wasn't used to vamps, other than Jean-Claude, talking mind-to-mind with him. Even I wasn't used to them doing it by accident. How much power had he gained from this one feeding, and how much had others of our vampires gained? There were one or two I wasn't sure I wanted more powerful than they already were. Meng Die, for one.
Samuel and Sampson stood in front of the love seat. Asher led us to the couch across from them. The white carpet seemed emptier than normal. Oh, the coffee table was missing. Had we broken it after the ardeur rose? I couldn't remember.
I had my best professional smile plastered on my face, the one that's bright and cheery as a lightbulb, and about as warm. But it was the best I could do. I'd had about all the out-of-town visitors I could deal with for one night.
«Samuel, Sampson, you have not met our Richard.»
Samuel bowed toward us. «Ulfric, it is good to meet you at last.»
Sampson bowed a little lower than his father, and let him do the talking. They both looked way too solemn for my tastes, as if something else had gone wrong.
«Samuel, what brings you back to us tonight?» Jean-Claude asked. If he was tired of visitors it didn't show in his voice. He sounded pleasant, welcoming, the perfect host.
«First, the apology I owe you on behalf of my wife. I worry that something about her nature affected your servant, and may have helped cause what happened tonight.»
I blinked at him, felt my smile slip a notch. Was this all someone else's fault? Was I going to have someone else to blame? Goody.
Jean-Claude sat down on the white couch, not so much pulling me down with him as leading, as you do in a dance. He sat, and I followed his lead, and Richard followed mine. Jean-Claude kept my hand in his, but Richard let go, and put his arm along the back of the couch. He was touching mostly me, but his hand moved along Jean-Claude's back, and ended lost in the thick curls of his hair.
«Where is your lovely wife, and your other sons?» Jean-Claude asked.
Asher sat in the overstuffed chair closest to us. He matched the chair and pillows perfectly, all white and gold. He still looked entirely too pleased with himself, like the proverbial cat with cream.
Samuel sat down on the love seat, and Sampson followed his father's lead. «They are at a hotel along with our two guards. I did not feel it wise to bring Thea and Anita together again tonight.»
«What did she think of the show?» I asked.
Jean-Claude's hand tightened on my hand, where he held it in his lap. The squeeze was enough: Be nice, he was saying. I'd be nice. My version of it.
Richard had gone very quiet beside me, his arm tensed against my back. But it wasn't a warning to be careful, because his body temperature went up, as if he was thinking what I was thinking: was there someone else to get angry with, someone besides ourselves? Richard and I both preferred to be angry at other people.
«Thea was much impressed,» he said, and his voice was mild, empty. His tone told nothing.
«If she was so impressed,» I said, «then why isn't she here?»
Sampson smiled, and had to turn away to hide it.
«What's so funny?» I asked.
His father gave him an unfriendly look. Sampson fought to control his face, but finally burst out laughing. Samuel gave him his best ancient vampire disdain. «I'm sorry, Father,» Sampson said in a voice still choked with laughter, «but you must admit it is funny. 'Impressed' does not begin to cover Mother's reaction to what Anita and Jean-Claude did tonight.»
His father gave him a stony face, until the laughter faded round the edges. Then Samuel said in a voice that held an edge of injured dignity, «My son has been indiscreet, but he is accurate. You ask why Thea and my other sons are not here; simply put, I did not trust her near the two of you.»
«She liked the show,» I said.
Samuel shook his head, gave his son another disapproving look. «More than liked, Anita. She is all ablaze with speculative plans. Would it be possible for her and I to do what the two of you did? I find that unlikely, for though Thea carries something similar to the ardeur, I do not. I believe what you did to Augustine required similar gifts between the two of you.»
Jean-Claude gave a small nod, face still empty. «I believe so.»
«She is now convinced that Anita could bring our sons into the full strength of their siren's powers.» Something crossed his face, too faint to read, but with such an empty face, it was strangely noticeable. «I do not share her certainty. What I felt from you tonight, Anita, is a different element of passion. It is like the difference between fire and water. They will both consume you, but in very different manners.»
I looked at Sampson's face, still softly amused. «What did your mother actually say?» I asked.
He glanced at his father before he answered. Samuel sighed, then nodded. Sampson grinned at me, and said, «I don't think you really want to know what she said, but what she meant was that if she had her way, Tom and Cris would both be here. She'd be here, too. She'd be offering us all to you any way you wanted us.» His face sobered around the edges. «She can get carried away sometimes, our mother. She means well, but she doesn't think entirely like a human being, do you understand?»
«I hang around with vampires, so yeah.»
He shook his head, his hands clasped on his knees. «No, Anita, vampires start out human, as do shapeshifters, and necromancers» — he said that with a smile — «but Mother was never human. She thinks like…«He seemed unsure what to say.
Samuel finished for him. «Thea is other, and she reasons in ways that do not always make much sense to those of us who began life as human beings.» He didn't sound entirely happy about it, but he stated it as truth.