Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [514]
Richard leaned over to me and whispered, “Are you running your foot up and down my leg?”
I looked at him. “No.”
Richard scooted his chair back with a loud scrape. He moved closer to me, one arm going around the back of my chair. “Once you own the land, Niley, you can bulldoze it, and we can’t stop you. The only thing we can do is stop your purchase.”
“Richard, you disappoint me. After our little tête-à-tête in the bathroom, I thought we were friends.”
Richard blushed almost purple from his neck to the roots of his hair. “Why did you kill Betty?”
“Why, to frame the trolls for the death of a person. I thought you would have figured that out by now.”
“Why Betty?”
Linus answered in his high, musical voice. “She was a liar, a traitoress, and a wanton thing. She opened herself to evil.”
Power breathed off of Richard from the arm against my back. An almost visible aura of heat rose around him. It clicked with something deep inside of me. I put a hand on his thigh. He jumped until he realized it was me, then settled back. I thought soothing thoughts at him. But what he was thinking of was Betty, and the thought was strong enough that he made me flash on her body. I had one quick visual of her torn breasts, and he stood so abruptly his chair fell to the floor. His hands were on the table, and he swayed softly. I thought he might faint.
I started to touch him, but was afraid to, afraid he’d see more. Shang-Da came to take his arm.
The voices around us had quieted, hushed. Everyone was looking. “Please, Richard, sit down,” I whispered.
Shang-Da helped him sit. We all waited quietly, watching each other until the voices around us rose and everyone went back to eating. Howard whispered, “Your auras converged for a moment. They became one piece and flared. What are you to each other?”
Richard’s voice squeezed out, “Betty wasn’t perfect, but she didn’t deserve to die like that.” He leaned his face down toward the table, and I realized he was crying.
I touched his back, tentatively, rubbing it in small circles. “Your plan to blame her death on the trolls is a bust. Now what?”
“It doesn’t matter what we’re going to do next, Anita. You will be out of town.”
“We told Wilkes we were leaving,” I said.
Richard took off the sunglasses and wiped at his eyes with his palms.
“Look at me, please, Richard,” Niley said.
Maybe it was the please; for just an instant, Richard looked across the table. For an instant, Niley saw his eyes. “Such pretty brown eyes. You are a lucky woman, Anita.”
Richard started to push to his feet. I laid a hand on his arm. His muscles were hard and so tense they thrummed with, I think, a desire to jump across the table and hurt Niley.
“I want to make sure that you are gone. Lately, the spirits have told Howard of a beast that will aid the lady. I think I am looking at the beast.”
“How did you find out?” I asked.
Richard slid the glasses back in place and slid his chair back into the table. His shoulders were hunched so hard, the T-shirt was straining at the seams.
“The local vampires don’t like you much,” Niley said. “I approached them, trying to gather information about the spear. Some of them have been in this area for long enough to have witnessed the event. Sadly, they had not, but they told me interesting things about you and Richard and the Master of the City in Saint Louis. They said you were a ménage à trois, though Richard seems reluctant to admit an interest in men.”
“Don’t believe everything that you’re told, Niley, especially from people who don’t like us. Your enemies always make up better rumors than your friends.”
Niley pouted. “Oh, dear. Then my advances have been very unwanted indeed.” He laughed. The smile faded. “I think it is time for the threat.”
“Knock yourself out,” I said.
“I think a tranquillizer dart from a distance for Richard. When he wakes, he will be bound by silver chains and on his stomach, naked. I will rape him, and I will enjoy