Blood Noir - Laurell K. Hamilton [15]
Jason told him, then handed the bedside phone to me. “He wants to talk to you.”
Jason got up and padded toward the bathroom. Nathaniel stayed where he was beside me. “Hey, Jean-Claude.”
“Ma petite, I am surprised that you would agree to this.”
“Me, too.”
He laughed, that wonderful, touchable laugh. It made me shiver and not from fear. Nathaniel cuddled closer to me, as if he’d gotten a taste of it.
“Thank you for taking care of Jason in a way that I could not.”
“So you’re not going to talk us out of it?”
“Do you wish me to?”
I realized that yes, I did. Now that I’d said yes, I was feeling awkward about it, and even more foolish. “It’s going to be sort of awkward.”
“It will be difficult for you. You will be his only emotional support in a very traumatic situation.”
“You sound like therapy-speak, Jean-Claude.”
“What would you have me say?”
“What you’re actually thinking?”
He gave that laugh again, and my shields dropped enough so that I knew he was sitting in his bed wearing nothing but the silk sheets. I got a glimpse of that curling black hair over the perfect white of shoulders. I closed the shields down before I could literally see the midnight blue of his eyes.
I took a deep breath in, and let it out slow and counted as I did it. If I wasn’t careful the tie between him and me could distract me, a lot.
“What are you thinking about, ma petite?”
“You, and trying not to. Where is Asher?”
“He is running late, but he will be here.”
“Jason wants to leave in the morning. Who will you feed on while we’re both gone?”
“There are always willing blood donors, ma petite.”
I didn’t like the way he said that. A small spurt of jealousy came and I clubbed it to death before it could sound in my voice. “Don’t eat anything that disagrees with you.”
“Are you jealous, ma petite?”
“Maybe.”
“I, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“You will be going home to meet Jason’s family. You will be doing something very ordinary, very human, that will forever be denied me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“My family died long before you were born, ma petite. I cannot introduce my mother to you, or my sister. I cannot give you the very normal experience of seeing where I came from, and who my people are.”
“I’ve met the head of your bloodline, Jean-Claude. I figure that Belle Morte is your people.”
“Non, ma petite, she is my master, or was, but she was never family. She was lover and goddess, if you will, but that is not the same.”
“You’re jealous that Jason has living family to take me home to.”
“Oui.”
I lay there with the phone to my ear, and just thought about that. “I never thought that would be important to you.”
“I do not regret what I am, ma petite, but I do regret some of what I do not have. I would give a great deal to have you meet my mother, and my sister.”
“No father,” I said.
“He died when I was very young. I don’t have many memories of him.”
Again, something I hadn’t known. Tonight was just chock-full of new discoveries about people I thought I knew intimately.
“Are you upset that I haven’t taken you home to meet my family?”
He made a small sound. “No, I…” He laughed, but it wasn’t sexy, more laughing at himself. “I think I may be. Maybe I feel you do not think me good enough.”
“I think my Grandmother Blake would chase you out of the house with a crucifix and holy water, is what I think.”
“She is a devout woman?”
“Fanatical. I’ve been informed she’s praying for my soul because of you.”
“Have I estranged you from your family, ma petite?”
“No, I was already estranged, if that’s how you want to put it. Let’s say Grandma Blake was praying for me about the whole raising-zombies-from-the-grave thing. My sleeping with the undead is just another symptom of my damnation.”
“I am sorry, ma petite, I did not know.”
I shrugged, knew he couldn’t see it, and said, “It’s okay.”
“So you will go with our Jason and meet his family, be his girlfriend.