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He grinned, as he started trying to wriggle out of the pile. “Better actually, but if you tell her I said so, I’ll deny it.”

“Tell me who I’m supposed to be nice to, and I will.”

He was opening a box of moist towelettes. Wiping a little of the sweat, and other things, off his body, he said, “Have you met all of the Cape Codders?”

“Samuel and his family, yeah.”

Jason shook his head. “Not the family, the entourage.”

“There was a man and woman with them.”

“Her name is Perdita. Perdy.” He stuffed the towelettes into an empty garbage bag, apparently there for the purpose. “Jean-Claude wanted to know some of what you could expect when you fuck Sampson.”

“He sent you to fuck one of the mermaids so I’d be forewarned?”

Nathaniel got up slowly. Jason tossed him the box of towelettes, and dragged the plastic off our clothes. Hadn’t really needed the plastic. We hadn’t been that messy.

“He didn’t send me to fuck her, just to find out what the transformation of a mermaid, and maybe male siren, could entail.” He grinned at me. “Jean-Claude left it to me to decide how to get that information.”

I’d forgotten that I’d agreed to try to bring Sampson’s powers. So much had been happening; it was hard to keep track. It was always especially hard to keep track of things that made me uncomfortable. Having agreed to have sex with Sampson qualified.

“If the bite is a sample, ouch.”

“It wasn’t all ouch. I’ll give you a full report after we’ve survived the ballet.”

We got cleaned up as best we could. An emergency makeup kit for touch-ups had been in the limo. I’d thought maybe I’d smear my lipstick. It was a little more extensive than that, but we managed.

We were dressed, and almost as fresh as when we started the evening. Requiem had gone to report to Jean-Claude, or maybe he just hadn’t wanted to watch. Nathaniel and Jason escorted me back inside. Lisandro was rear guard. Claudia and Truth met us at the Fox club entrance.

Underneath those stoic bodyguard faces I saw worry. But I didn’t need their faces to tell me; I could feel it. It wasn’t Marmee Noir, or Belle Morte. It was the vampires we’d invited to town. I wasn’t sure what they were doing, but whatever it was, it was powerful.

Jason and Nathaniel shivered on either side of me. “What the hell are they doing up there?” Jason whispered.

“I don’t know,” I said, “but we’re going to find out.” I started up the stairs on Nathaniel’s arm, with Jason’s hand in mine. Normally, I’d have tried not to hold on to too many men at once in public, but the hell with it. One, we all needed the comfort. Two, my reputation couldn’t get any more trashed than it already was.

52

OUTSIDE THE CURTAINS to the seats, I had to let go of Jason’s hand so he could go back to Asher’s box. I didn’t want to let go of him. I wanted to wrap both him and Nathaniel around me like a security blanket. I put my arm around Nathaniel’s waist, tucking myself in under his arm. He hugged me, and whispered against my hair. “You all right?”

I nodded. Jason would have called me a liar, but Nathaniel just accepted it. He might not believe me, but he wouldn’t call me on it. Nathaniel parted the curtains. The music swelled around us and the world was suddenly golden. The air sparkled with glitter. Out of that scintillating cloud a vampire floated. It was Adonis, the vamp who had almost rolled me with his gaze earlier. His costume had changed to a ballet version of 1700s dress, which meant: fairly accurate from the waist up, and tights from the waist down. I’d seen vampires fly before, but not like this. He hung in the air as if he could have hung there forever. Other vampires appeared out of the glitter, hanging in the air as if they’d been pinned there. Adonis hovered just outside our box, so close I could see his blond curls moving in the wind. What wind? The wind of his own magic.

Jean-Claude and Damian turned from that vision to look at me. Jean-Claude let me see a moment of relief in his eyes, before his face became the blank, perfect mask that he would wear for the public