Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [214]
I came to myself, kneeling on the parking lot with Jean-Claude’s hand grasped in mine. “Ma petite, ma petite, are you all right?”
I just shook my head. I didn’t trust my voice yet. I’d forgotten how much I hated being rolled by their gaze. Forgotten how helpless I felt. My own power was making me careless around the damn things.
Liv leaned against the side of the Jeep. She seemed tired, too. “I almost had you.”
I found my voice. “You didn’t have anything. It wasn’t your eyes I was being sucked into. It was his.”
She shook her head. “He promised me the power to do you, Anita. To take your mind.”
I let Jean-Claude help me to my feet, which tells you how shaky I was feeling. “Then he lied, Liv. It’s not your power, it’s his.”
“You fear me now,” she said. “I can feel your fear in my head.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m scared. If that makes you happy, then laugh it up.” I started backing away from her. More weapons. I needed more weapons.
“It does make me happy,” she said. “You’ll never know how happy it makes me.”
“His power has left you, Liv,” Jean-Claude said.
“It will return,” she said.
I was on the other side of the Jeep. I was headed for the back of it, but I didn’t want to be within touching range of Liv right this second. I’d broken free, but I didn’t want to keep pushing my luck.
“The power may return, Liv, but Anita has broken his bond with you. She has pushed his power aside.”
“No,” Liv said. “He has chosen to let her go.”
Jean-Claude laughed and it chased along my body, and I knew that Liv felt it, too. “The Traveler would have kept ma petite, if he could have held her. But he could not. She is too big a fish even for his net.”
“Liar!” Liv said.
I left Liv and Jean-Claude to argue between themselves. I’d broken free of the Traveler’s power, but it hadn’t been pretty, or easy. Though come to think of it, as soon as I started to struggle, it had broken. The sad truth was I hadn’t tried to shield myself. I’d stared into Liv’s eyes empty and waiting, confident that she couldn’t roll me. It had been stupid. No—arrogant. Sometimes there isn’t a whole lot of difference between the two.
I walked to the rear of the Jeep. I crawled in the cargo area. Edward, assassin of the undead, had persuaded me to let an acquaintance of his remodel my Jeep. The wheel well on one side was now a secret compartment. Inside was my extra Browning and extra ammo. I’d felt silly when he’d talked me into it. I didn’t feel silly now. I opened the compartment and found a surprise. A mini-Uzi complete with shoulder strap. There was a note taped to the gun.
“You can never have too much firepower.”
He hadn’t signed it, but it was Edward. He’d started his career as a normal assassin, but humans became too easy so he switched to monsters. He did love a challenge. I had another mini-Uzi at home. It had been a gift from Edward, too. He had the best toys.
I took off the coat and slid the Uzi’s strap across my chest. When I slipped the coat back on, the Uzi hung at my back. Not perfect but not too noticeable. The second Browning Hi-Power was in the compartment, too. I put it in my pocket and two extra clips of ammo in the other pocket. When I slid to the ground, the coat hung funny, but it was so big on me that it wasn’t conspicuous.
The vampires weren’t arguing anymore. Liv leaned against the Jeep looking sullen, as if Jean-Claude had had the last word, or won the argument.
I stood watching her. I wanted to shoot her. Not because she’d betrayed us, but because she’d scared me. Not a good enough reason. Besides, it had been my own carelessness that let her scare me. I tried not to punish other people for my mistakes.
“I can’t let you go unpunished, Liv,” Jean-Claude said. “The council would see it as a weakness.”
She just looked at him. “Hit me if it will make you feel better, Jean-Claude.” She pushed away from the Jeep and crossed the distance between them with