Blood Noir - Laurell K. Hamilton [111]
“But the baby will still be human, right?”
“If it’s one of their children it will show signs of their clan at birth. Eye color, hair color that matches their tiger shape. They don’t usually shift until puberty, but there have been cases where they shifted as early as nine. That’s why Alex feels that the baby would need the clan for the first few years. Also, the baby would be with other children just like he, or she, is.”
“If it’s so great, then why did he leave his clan?”
“It’s a little, no, a lot restrictive. It’s almost like a religious cult. They homeschool the kids. They marry within the clan. It’s only been in the last few years that they’ve been allowed to marry outsiders to bring in fresh blood. Modern genetics has let them realize that a pure clan is a sickly clan.”
“Jesus, Jason.”
He nodded. “I know.” He started to say more, then stopped. He looked away from me.
“What, what is it?”
“There is a way to avoid the whole tiger clan mess.”
“Yeah, a morning-after pill.”
He gave a quick flash of smile. “Yeah, Richard mentioned you were planning that. The reporter, Pinn, is fine with that. It’s your body. But Crispin says no. He hasn’t bred before, so if it’s his child, then according to clan rules you can’t get rid of it.”
“What do you mean, can’t?”
“Apparently, the white tiger clan, and Max the Master of the City of Las Vegas, would take a very dim view of you destroying a potential weretiger of their bloodline.”
“They don’t have a choice. It’s my choice.”
“Yes, it is, but Max is pretty freaked, Anita. He made some vague talk about going to war with Jean-Claude.”
“It’s just talk, Jason. The vampire council declared that no Master of the City could battle another because it might fuck up the whole vampires-being-legal thing. Besides, you only fight about territories that border your own. It’s about expanding so your lands touch. Vegas is too far away from St. Louis.”
“Normally, you’d be right, but apparently, Max isn’t doing the challenge by vampire law. He’s called up some obscure weretiger law. Apparently, they think they’re within their rights to block you from doing anything to a potential baby, and you need to be with the clan during the pregnancy so you don’t lose the baby.”
I moved back out of the water so I could see his face more clearly. “This isn’t about weretigers, is it?”
“My opinion?” Jason asked.
“Please.”
“I think Max knows that Jean-Claude hasn’t given you the fourth mark. Which means, Anita, that if he’s powerful enough to break the marks that Jean-Claude has on you, and he gets to the fourth mark first, he thinks he can keep you as his human servant. You’re the first true necromancer in centuries. Any vampire who can truly control you will be unstoppable.” Jason shrugged. “That’s my theory.”
“How did he know I don’t have the fourth mark?”
“There are enough people who know, Anita. It’s hard to keep a secret once enough people know.”
He was right. Damn it, but he was. “Shit, Jason, would Max really start a war with Jean-Claude over this?”
“I think he might.”
“Just because I want to make sure I’m not pregnant.”
“Apparently so. Frankly, I think it’s an excuse to make a play for your power, but I could be wrong. He’s married to the queen tiger of Vegas. She might be pressing him. She might truly be more interested in the child than in you.”
“Don’t call it a child. I may not be pregnant at all.”
“Sorry,” he said.
I couldn’t think of it as a child, because if I did, I’d start second-guessing myself. I couldn’t afford to hesitate right now. I needed a doctor and a prescription today.
“There may be a way around the tigers,” Jason said.
I looked at him. He looked away again. “What could be so bad that you keep looking away?”
“I’m afraid