Crimson Death
Page 112

   “One of the best things about having the tiger clans come to stay in St. Louis is them helping the other wereanimals through pregnancies,” Nathaniel said.
   “I’m not sure I’d put that in the best thing category,” I said.
   “But I would. It’s made so many people so happy.”
   I smiled at him. “We both want that.”
   “Everyone to be happy,” he said.
   I nodded and couldn’t stop from smiling more. Then I frowned.
   “What’s wrong?” Nicky asked.
   I looked out the window of the plane. The sky was still black and star-filled, but I felt the press of dawn. It was the same way I could feel it deep underground in the Circus, or in the pitch-black of a cave when I knew that if I could just fight until dawn the vampires would collapse where they were and we could kill them. Of course, now I knew that if the vampire was old enough, strong enough, and underground far enough they might not “die” at dawn. Damian wasn’t the only vampire I knew that could daywalk either. If you read the original book Dracula by Bram Stoker, he has Drac walking around in the daylight, only adding a pair of darkened glasses, so dawn isn’t a guarantee of safety from vampires and it does nothing to protect you from their servants and allies, but dawn still meant good things to me. It didn’t to Giacomo and Echo, though. Damian didn’t burn in the sunlight anymore, but the light still frightened him.
   Damian said, “Anita is feeling the sun start to rise.”
   Fortune and Magda started closing all the blinds over the windows. Ethan started to help. Since one of my issues with planes is that I’m claustrophobic on top of being afraid to fly, it didn’t make me happy. In fact, my pulse started to speed up, the first beginnings of panic pumping through my veins.
   “Look at me, Anita,” Damian said.
   I looked into his green eyes, but I didn’t fall into a peaceful place again. The fear continued to bubble through me. My breath started to get too fast. “It isn’t working this time,” I said.
   “I’m sorry. I’m afraid of the dawn too.”
   “Sunlight doesn’t hurt you,” Nathaniel said.
   “But that’s a new power for me, Nathaniel. I spent centuries terrified of the light; that kind of fear doesn’t just go away.”
   “You can walk in daylight now. It should make you brave,” Giacomo said.
   Damian looked up at the other vampire. “It should, but right now it doesn’t.”
   Ethan had stopped closing the blinds and was looking at me. “I understand Damian being afraid, but you’re afraid, really afraid.”
   I nodded. “I don’t know if I can ride in the plane with the windows shut.”
   Giacomo said, “I cannot ride with them open, nor can your beautiful Echo.” He had finished closing the windows just behind me, so that the only window left open was the one by me. I was leaning toward it like a flower anticipating the sunrise.
   “I know we have to close them. I’m just saying that my claustrophobia is kicking in, that’s all.”
   “We could strap Giacomo, Damian, and me into seats in the back of the plane and you could have your window open,” Echo said.
   I looked up into that delicate triangle of a face, those blue eyes that could look as light as cornflowers, a blue that was so rich it was almost violet. I unbuckled and all the men let go of me so I could move out into the narrow aisle and reach her. She took my offered hand. The plane wavered slightly in the air, and I had to swallow and clutch a little tighter at her small hand, almost as small as mine. Nathaniel steadied me with a hand on my hip. I patted his hand and then put my hand against the soft paleness of Echo’s cheek and kissed the small bow of her mouth. She hesitated and then wrapped her arms around me and kissed me back. I thought, as I always did when I kissed her, how small her mouth was; only Jade’s had been smaller, but it may have been the difference in how they reacted to a kiss. Jade had kissed like she did most bedroom things, tentatively, waiting for me to take the lead. Once I made my intention clear, Echo melded her body against mine and didn’t need to be led anywhere.
   We broke from the kiss at almost the same time, so that we were staring into each other’s eyes from inches away. I wondered if I looked as startled as she did. I studied her face and the feel of us holding each other, arms still wrapped around each other’s backs. In my high-heeled boots I was almost the same height as she was, and I liked that, too. I had enough tall in my life.
   “I value this face more than I fear the window being closed,” I said.
   She gave me the smile that seemed shy but managed to fill her eyes with pleasure. I was never sure if it was a real smile or one that she thought would please without committing too much emotion. A lot of the older vamps got to a point where they had very few natural facial expressions, because raw emotion had been punished out of them. Jean-Claude had been cautious around me at the beginning, too. I wanted someday to get a smile from Echo that made me sure it was really what she was feeling.
   “We should be perfectly safe in the back of the plane,” she said.
   I shook my head. “Accidents happen, so not worth it.”
   “So, you do not admire my beauty, too,” Giacomo said, and struck a pose, tilting his face up and to the side to show off the scar that cut across his eye.
   I laughed, like he meant me to, and said, “You are quite lovely, but I’m not sleeping with you, so I don’t care as much.”
   He looked at me and grinned, and again I wasn’t sure if it was all he was feeling, or the expression that was expected. But he could keep his emotional secrets; I’d worry about the people I was trying to have relationships with first.
   Fortune came over and wrapped her arms around both of us, so it turned into a group hug. She kissed me, and her mouth was wider than Echo’s, the lips a little less full, so that it was more like kissing one of the men once my eyes were closed. Though the breasts pushed in against my shoulder reminded me she so wasn’t one of the guys.
   “Am I the only one having trouble not making girl-on-girl jokes?” Dev asked.
   “No,” Nathaniel said.
   “Yes,” Pride said.
   “I enjoy the sight of three beautiful women together as much as any man, but dawn is near,” Kaazim said.
   Fortune turned to him, still hugging both of us, and said, “You aren’t moved by the three of us together. I honestly don’t know what moves you, Kaazim.”
   “To serve my queen and her kings to the best of my abilities.”
   “Bullshit,” I said.
   Fortune grinned down at me, then said, “I agree with Anita: bullshit.”