Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 11-15 - Laurell K. Hamilton [955]
Micah looked up at Richard. “Nathaniel would have been trapped in leopard form for hours.”
I couldn’t see Richard’s face because I was turned to Micah, and it seemed like too much effort to turn my head the other way. But I heard the disbelief in his voice. “It’s supposed to cost if you change back before six hours, sometimes longer. Aren’t you exhausted?”
“No,” Micah said.
“Are you disoriented at all?”
“I wouldn’t want to jump to my feet, but give me a few minutes and I’ll be fine.”
“I’ve never seen anyone who can shift back and forth like that.”
“I’ve seen one other who was better,” Micah said.
“Who?”
“Chimera,” and just saying it caused Micah’s face to take on that serious, sorrow-filled expression that I knew too well.
I reached up to touch his arm. I’d have liked to touch his face, but those extra inches seemed too much effort. He smiled down at me, as if he knew what even that small effort had cost.
A woman’s voice said, “If this guy could change shape easier than that, I’d have liked to meet him.”
Soledad came to stand over us. She wasn’t as tall as some of the guards, well under six feet, but from flat on the floor, she looked tall enough. She was slender but curvy, with hair cut boy short and dyed a shade of yellow that didn’t occur in nature. With the hair you’d expect more makeup, but she usually did lipstick and just enough liner to accent her brown eyes. She stared down at me with that look she usually had, like she thought something was funny and would laugh any minute. I’d realized a few days ago that it was her version of a blank face.
I might have asked her what she was thinking, staring down at me, but the tiger flashed inside the darkness in me. No, please, no, I thought.
Soledad stared down at me. The smile slipped away from her face, and I saw something I hadn’t expected for a moment: fear. I might have asked what she was afraid of, but the tiger started racing up that long dark hallway inside me. I reached up to her.
She hesitated.
Claudia said, “Do your job, Soledad.”
She leaned over to take my hand, saying, “In this world I would rather live two days like a tiger than a hundred years like a sheep.”
I might have asked what she was quoting, but the moment her hand touched mine, the tiger sped up. It bounded down that hallway, and I braced for the impact.
14
THE IMPACT NEVER came. The tiger hit my skin, my body, and kept going. I didn’t give my beast to Soledad; it just washed out of me and into her. It didn’t hurt me; it was as if all that went down my hand to hers was power. It just happened to look like a tiger. I wasn’t sure that was it at all because Soledad didn’t change shape. She half-collapsed around me, catching herself with her free hand so she didn’t fall on top of me. Her breath came in sharp pants, as if something hurt, but I wasn’t feeling it. I was just holding her hand and watching her face.
She managed to whisper, “You don’t hold tiger inside you.”
“I think you’re right,” I said. My voice still sounded hoarse from all the screaming, but at least I could talk above a whisper.
“What’s wrong?” Claudia asked from behind us.
“I think Marmee Noir couldn’t turn me into a tiger,” I said. I kept looking at Soledad’s face, though. She still looked hurt. I asked, “Are you all right?”
She nodded, but her lips were pressed in a tight, thin line. I think she was lying to me about being all right.
“I think she’s hurt,” I said.
Claudia knelt beside us. “Soledad, are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“Tell me you aren’t hurt,” Claudia said.
Soledad just kept shaking her head. Claudia helped the other woman to her feet, and Soledad’s knees wouldn’t hold her. Claudia had to