Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 11-15 - Laurell K. Hamilton [763]
“I thought that Requiem’s master fled France so Belle wouldn’t keep him.”
“His master met with an accident, and Belle was able to collect all the vampires of her line that the old master had made.”
“The way you say accident makes it sound like you don’t mean accident at all,” I said.
“It was an accident,” Requiem said, softly. He spoke with his face in my lap. “The carriage we were in overturned in a storm. We were on a cliff edge, and somewhere during the fall, a piece of wood went through his heart. It was such an ordinary death.” His voice sounded relaxed, distant. “We tried removing the wood, but he did not revive. We learned later that the carriage maker was Wellsley.”
“Who’s Wellsley?” I asked.
Elinore answered, “He manufactured carriages in London for many years. He was a devout man, and hated the idea of his carriages being used for evil purposes, so he had them blessed. He would make a batch of them and have one of the local clergy bless them. When the blessing is fresh, some of them glow around us.”
“The blessing wears off?” I made it a question.
“If enough ‘evil’”—and she made quotation marks in the air with her fingers—“happens in the carriage.”
“Like a cemetery that’s been out of use for a while, or had black magic used in it too much,” I said. “You have to reconsecrate the ground.”
“The analogy will do,” she said.
I looked down at Requiem. “And when your master was dead, Belle could call you to her?”
“Yes,” he said, “and if Jean-Claude had not given me a home here, she would have done so again.”
“How did you get away from her the second time?”
“Jean-Claude has the right of it. Ligeia and I were sent far away to seduce some nobles Belle wished to control. We did her bidding, and they did what Belle wished, but Ligeia and I fell in love with each other. When we returned to Belle’s court, I was no longer drawn to her.”
“Love,” Jean-Claude said, “love is the only cure.”
“You and Asher aren’t besotted with me, not like this.”
“Jean-Claude is your master, and he holds the ardeur as well. As for Asher”—she looked at Jean-Claude—“I think love protects him.”
I looked at Jean-Claude, too, and he would not meet our gaze. I sort of assumed now that Jean-Claude and Asher were doing it like bunnies when I wasn’t around, but I’d never asked. Don’t ask, don’t tell worked just fine for me. Last night, seeing him with Auggie, made me wonder if I needed to ask, or if it was confirmed. Too complicated for me.
I literally waved the thought away, and said, “I can’t count on Requiem falling in love any time soon.”
“Non, ma petite.”
“What do I do?”
“Take him as your lover,” Elinore said.
“Easy for you to say; no one’s making you share yourself with anyone but your knight.”
“And one of the reasons I came to Jean-Claude was that he would let me be with the man I love, and not force me into the beds of others. I am more grateful for that than I can ever say.” She turned those cold blue eyes on me. “But I do not carry the ardeur. I am not an addiction.”
“Ma petite, you must meet this obligation.”
I stared at him. “Obligation?”
“You have addicted him to you. Would you be as cruel as Belle Morte herself and cast him away, with this desire riding him?” He shuddered. “I have been as one addicted, and cast out for some minor infraction. I have felt my body ache for want of her, and no amount of sex with anyone else satisfied that need.” He moved so he could lay his hand over mine where I stroked Requiem’s hair. “He is my third-in-command. He is a good and honorable man. You need more and more powerful food, ma petite. I think if you feed the ardeur well enough, it will quiet. But until you find food to its liking, it will seek its own.”
“You want me to sleep with Requiem?”
“I want you to feed the ardeur from him, oui.”
“I thought you weren’t happy sharing me with so many men. I mean, you once threatened to kill Richard.”
“I did not understand the nature of our