Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [74]
He stared at me for a space of heartbeats. He very carefully, very slowly licked the side of the woman’s neck, strange green eyes staring at me the whole time. It was a dare. If he thought I was bluffing, he’d picked the wrong girl.
I let my breath out until my body was quiet, and I could hear my pulse in my ears. I sighted down my arm, down the gun, and . . . he was gone. He’d moved so suddenly it startled me. I moved my finger off the trigger and pointed the gun skyward, waiting for my heart to stop pounding.
He was standing just at the edge of the light, leaving the woman empty-faced, waiting. Damian stared at me.
“Are you going to interrupt our entertainment every night?” he asked.
“I don’t like it,” I said, “but pick a volunteer, and I have no quarrel with you.”
“A volunteer,” he said, turning in a circle to view the audience. They all stared at him. He licked his lips, and hands went up.
I shook my head and put the gun up. I took the woman’s hand. “Release her, Damian,” I said.
He glanced back at her and did it. Her eyes flew open wide, searching frantically like someone awakened from a nightmare to find it real. I patted her hand.
“It’s all right. You’re safe now.”
“What’s happening? What’s happening?” She caught sight of Damian and started sobbing hysterically.
Jean-Claude appeared on the edge of the light. “You have nothing to fear from us, fair lady.” He glided towards us.
She started screaming.
“He won’t hurt you,” I said. “I promise. What’s your name?”
She kept screaming. She was taller than me, but I touched her face, putting a hand on either side, forcing her to look at me. “What’s your name?”
“Karen,” she whispered, “my name’s Karen.”
“We’re going to walk off this dance floor, Karen, and no one will hurt you. You have my word.”
She nodded over and over, breath coming so fast I was afraid she was going to pass out.
Cassandra walked into the light, but stayed back. “Can I help?”
Jean-Claude had not moved since Karen started screaming. He just looked at me, and I still couldn’t read his expression.
“Yeah,” I said, “I could use some help.”
Karen shied away from her. “She’s not a vampire,” I said.
She let Cassandra take her other arm, and we led her off the dance floor away from the light. Jean-Claude stepped onto center stage, and his voice followed us into the darkness. “Did you enjoy our little melodrama?” There was a puzzled silence. His voice was like fur wrapping the crowd in the dark, breathing in their fear, giving them back desire. “We do not tease here at Danse Macabre. Who would like to experience the reality of Damian’s kiss?” Someone would take him up on it. Someone always did. If anyone could salvage the show after the woman’s hysterics, Jean-Claude could.
Liv came to help, I think. Karen took one look at the muscle-bound vamp and fainted dead away. She was not a small woman, and it surprised both Cassandra and myself. She sagged to the floor. Liv started to come closer, but I waved her off.
A woman from the crowd came towards us, hesitantly. “Can I help?” she asked. She was about the same size as Cassandra and me, small, with long reddish hair that swung to her waist, straight and fine. She was dressed in a pair of dark brown dress slacks, the kind that run large and have cuffs and are usually linen. For a shirt she wore only a vest with a silk camisole under it.
I glanced at Cassandra. She shrugged. “Thanks, if you could take her feet.” Cassandra could have flung the woman across her shoulders in a fireman’s carry, but most lycanthropes didn’t like to show off their strength. I could have carried her, too, even if she was so bloody tall. I could still have carried her for a short distance, but not fast, and not too far.
The woman shoved her clutch purse under one arm and took the unconscious woman’s feet. We got moving a little awkwardly,