Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [130]
The glow was fading. Staring at the partially rotting zombies, it was hard to regain the mood. “My zombies usually hold together better than this,” I said.
“If you had pulled this much power from two other necromancers, the zombies would be better,” Dominic said.
“Perhaps it was the lack of control,” Jean-Claude said.
I turned and looked at him. “I think Dominic means that some of the power that raised them was taken from a dead man.”
“Do you believe I am a dead man, ma petite?”
I stared into that lovely face and nodded. “The vampires I raised are just corpses. Whatever you are, it’s a form of necromancy. Necromancy only works when you start with a dead body.”
He cocked his head to one side. “I hear your words, ma petite, but I do not think you believe them, not completely.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what I believe anymore.”
“Actually,” Dominic said, “I don’t believe it matters that Jean-Claude is a vampire. I think it is more that neither he nor Richard know anything of raising the dead. That is your talent alone. I think with practice, you could channel the power into perfect zombies, but in a way, Jean-Claude is right. The wildness of it, the lack of control, made the zombies less perfect.”
Something must have shown on my face, because he said, “You had too many things to control to pay attention to all the details. I think you instinctively let the zombies go, because it was the part you were most sure of. You have excellent instincts.”
“Thanks, I guess,” I said.
He smiled. “I know time is growing short. As we can see from Jean-Claude’s presence, not all vampires sleep until full dark. I fear that if one of the vampires passes its waking hour, that he or she will be lost. But I would ask Anita to do one thing for me that has nothing to do with her problem, but everything to do with mine.”
“What problem?” I asked.
“Sabin,” Jean-Claude said.
Dominic nodded. “Sabin’s time is running short.”
“Sabin, the vampire at the club?” Cassandra asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “What do you need, Dominic? Make it quick, and I’m your girl.”
Dominic smiled. “Thank you, Anita. Concentrate on one of your zombies. Try to bring it closer to perfection.”
I frowned at him.
“Heal one of your zombies, ma petite.”
“You can’t heal the dead,” I said, “but I can make them more lifelike.”
Dominic nodded. “That would do very nicely.”
“I usually do that during the initial rush of power. I’ve never tried to fiddle with my dead once they were raised.”
“Please try,” Dominic said.
“We could raise the power between the three of us, then try it,” I said.
Dominic shook his head. “I am not sure what that would do to the spell. I think it would be taking a great risk with your companions.”
I stared at him for a heartbeat or two. “You’d risk leaving Sabin to rot to save our friends?”
“You asked for my help, Anita. I think you are not a woman who asks for help often. It would be poor payment of such a compliment if I let you risk your friends for mine. If you can heal your dead cold, as it were, so be it. If you cannot, we will proceed to save these three vampires.”
“A very honorable sentiment,” Jean-Claude said.
“There are moments when honor is all that is left,” Dominic said.
The vampire and the man seemed to have a moment of near perfect understanding. A wealth of history, if not shared, then similar, passed between them. I was odd woman out.
I looked to Richard and we had our own moment of perfect understanding. We valued our mortal life span. The fatalism in Dominic’s voice had been frightening. How old was he? I could usually tell with a vampire, but never with a human servant. I didn’t ask. There was a weight of years in Dominic’s brown eyes that made me afraid to ask.
I looked at Jean-Claude’s lovely face and wondered