Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 11-15 - Laurell K. Hamilton [364]
“You look like you can take care of yourself.”
“If it’s just strong-arm stuff, yeah, but Primo isn’t a brute, Anita, he’s dripping with power. I even agree with him that Jean-Claude isn’t using him well. He’s too powerful to be down here doing this, and he doesn’t have the temperament for it.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s more likely to start fights than stop them. He’ll take money from men to get in, then he’ll throw their asses out.”
I shook my head. “You know, Buzz, this doesn’t sound like a problem that Jean-Claude would let go this far.”
“Not normally,” he said, “but it’s like Jean-Claude is waiting to see what we’ll do before he steps in. I’d just as soon not be dead before he does it.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“The women out there were okay, but we’ve had one dancer that was stalked. Another one had an irate husband go after him with a knife, because he was jealous that his wife was a member of the dancer’s fan club.”
“The dancers have fan clubs?”
“The headliners do.”
“Nathaniel has a fan club?” I made it a question, because it seemed like it should be.
“Brandon has a fan club, yeah.” He looked at me and laughed. “You didn’t know.”
“I don’t really pay attention to the day-to-day business here.”
He nodded. He was back to looking worried.
I’d never liked Buzz. I didn’t exactly dislike him, but he wasn’t my friend. But, if his version of what was going on with Primo was accurate he was in a bad spot. A spot that I didn’t understand. Jean-Claude was a good business vampire, and this didn’t sound like good business.
“I’ll talk to Jean-Claude, Buzz. I’ll find out what his thinking is about Primo.”
Buzz sighed. “Well, I can’t ask for more.” He grinned, suddenly flashing those fangs again. “In fact, until now I thought you didn’t like me.”
It made me smile. “If you thought I didn’t like you, then why pour your problems in my ear?”
“Who else do I have to go to?”
“Asher is Jean-Claude’s second in command.”
He shook his head. “I work here, problems stay here, all the businesses are run that way.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said. It was probably a holdover from the days when each business was run by a different vamp. “So, because I visit all the businesses, I’m what, an ambassador?”
He gave that fang-flashing grin again. “Kind of.”
“I’ll try to find out what’s going on, that’s the best I can do. If Jean-Claude is really setting you up for a power struggle with Primo, I’ll tell you.”
He looked relieved. “I just need to know where I stand, ya know.”
I nodded. “I know.”
A black-shirted man came running through the door at the end of the hallway, accompanied by a sudden blast of music and noise. He was blond and looked like a college student, but he ran down the hallway like he was on springs. Lycanthrope of some kind.
He was talking before he got to us. “We got a problem out there. Primo let a bunch of guys in, they started heckling Byron. You said come get you the next time it got ugly. It’s ugly.”
Buzz was already moving down the hall, not exactly running. I hesitated for a second, then started trotting with them.
Buzz glanced at me. “You coming along?”
I sort of shrugged. “I’d feel funny just walking away.”
“Our job is to tone things down a notch,” he said. “Not make it worse.”
“Are you saying you don’t want me?”
“Hell no,” the blond said. “The Executioner on our side. I’ll take that.”
“Who are you?” I asked, running to keep up with their fast walk.
“Clay,” he said, offering his hand over the front of Buzz’s body.
“Be sociable later,” Buzz said. He hesitated at the door, as if he were gathering himself. There was suddenly a faint hum of energy coming off of Buzz. I’d never felt anything from him before. His gray eyes glowed—if gray could glow. “I am so tired of this shit,” he said, and opened the door.
34
THE MUSIC WAS still playing, a pulsing beat, but the man on stage wasn’t dancing, because he wasn’t the show anymore. The show was a small