Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [344]
“Pain will not bring you to me,” Padma said. “Shall we dispense with the games, Ulfric? Shall I feed now?”
“Just get it over with,” Richard said.
Padma smiled, and there was something in his smile that I didn’t like. As if he had everything under control, and everything was going as planned.
He stood behind Richard and dropped gracefully to his knees. He smoothed his hand down the side of Richard’s neck, turning his head to the side for a good clean strike. One arm slid across Richard’s chest, pinning him to his body; the other hand pressed his face to one side.
Padma leaned over him and whispered something in his ear. A spasm ran the length of Richard’s body. He tried to break free of Padma, but the vampire was amazingly quick. He slid both arms under Richard’s, fingers clasped behind Richard’s neck. A classic full Nelson. Richard’s struggles ended with him on the ground and the vampire on top of him. If it had been a wrestling match, Richard would have been pinned, lost. But no referee was coming to say “time.”
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“I warned Richard,” Rafael said, “but he’s always been so strong.”
“What?” I asked.
“He is calling Richard’s beast, ma petite,” Jean-Claude said. “I have seen him do it before.”
Richard’s body spasmed so violently, his head hit against the floor with a sharp crack. He rolled on his side, but the vampire stayed on him, whispering, whispering.
“Did he manage to call your beast like this?” I asked Rafael.
“Yes.”
I looked at him.
He stared at the show, not meeting my eyes. “He called my beast like water pouring over my skin, then drained it away. He did it over and over, until I passed out. I woke as you found me on the rack, being skinned.” His voice was neutral as he told it all, as if it were a story about someone else.
“Help him,” I said, turning to Jean-Claude.
“If I enter that circle, Padma will use it as an excuse to challenge me. If it is a duel, I will lose.”
“He’s baiting you, then,” I said.
“He is also enjoying himself, ma petite. Breaking the strong is his greatest joy in this existence.”
A scream poured from Richard’s mouth. A scream that ended in a howl.
“I’m going to help him.”
“How, ma petite?”
“Padma can’t challenge me to a duel, and he can’t call my beast. Touch makes the marks stronger, right?”
“Oui.”
I smiled and started walking towards Richard. Jean-Claude didn’t try to stop me. No one did. Richard had managed to get to his knees with the vampire still molded to his back. Richard’s eyes were amber wolf eyes, and he was close to panicking. This near, I could feel his beast like a huge shape just below the surface of some dark lake. When it broke the surface, it would take him with it. Rafael seemed to have accepted his loss, but Richard wouldn’t. Richard would take the defeat and beat himself with it.
“What are you doing, human?” Padma asked, staring up at me.
“I’m his lupa and his third. I’m doing my job.” I held Richard’s face in my hands, and that was enough. The physical touch was all it took to strengthen his control. I felt his heart slow, the pulsing of his body ease. I felt that great shape sink back into the depths. Richard drew on my mark like a drowning man with a rope, coiling it around himself.
“No,” Padma said. “He is mine.”
I smiled at him. “No, he’s mine. Whether we like it or whether we don’t, he’s mine.”
Richard’s eyes bled back to their normal brown, and he mouthed the words, “Thank you.”
Padma stood in a rush, so quick it was almost like magic. He grabbed my wrist, hard enough to bruise, and I said, “You can’t challenge me, because I’m not a vampire. You can’t feed off of me, because I can only play victim once tonight, and Asher was my once.”
Richard lay on the floor, one arm braced so he wasn’t actually lying down, but I had a flash of how bone-weary he was, so tired, so weak.
“You know our rules well, Anita,” Padma said. He jerked me close to him, bodies almost touching.