Incubus Dreams - Laurell K. Hamilton [226]
I made sure the door was secure behind me, then I wound my way through the boxes that were always there, to the big door that led to the stairs. The stairs went down, a long way down. I was tired enough that if there’d been an elevator I would have taken it. But there wasn’t. The stairs were actually part of the defenses of the Circus. One, it was a lot of stairs, so you had to be fairly serious to go down them. Two, there were places along the way that we could set up ambushes if we needed to. Three, the stairs were oddly made, as if whatever they’d originally been made for hadn’t walked on two legs, or at least hadn’t been the size of a human being. If you didn’t know what awaited you down below, you might start wondering what used these stairs. Actually, just vamps and wereanimals, but our enemies didn’t know that. Jean-Claude encouraged the rumors that there were other things down here, bigger, less human things. Fine with me, keep your enemies scared and guessing.
By the time I got to the big iron door at the bottom, my vision was blurry from lack of sleep. I dragged my keys back out. The key to this door wasn’t hard to find. It was the only huge, old-fashioned key on the ring. It looked like a giant among dwarves compared to the modern keys.
I put the key in, and the lock moved, smooth and well-oiled. The hinges were just as quiet, though probably if I had only been human strong I might have had to struggle with the weight of the door. It was meant to withstand battering by bigger things than hands.
I closed it behind me, and locked it, and set the big bar in place. If anyone else was dragging their ass in this late, they were out of luck. But you were usually safe this far after dawn to set the bigger lock in place. The fact that it hadn’t been set probably meant Jean-Claude had figured I’d come here for the day.
I passed through the long, silky curtains that formed the walls of the living room. I actually didn’t give much attention to the gold and white and silver furniture, or the painting above the faux fireplace. Sleep was the only thing on my mind, now that the outer door was locked.
I went to Jean-Claude’s room, but I should have known better. I found him and Asher curled under the sheets. Both of them beautiful in death as in life. Asher’s golden waves lay like metallic foam upon a white pillow. His eyes were closed, so I couldn’t see his pale blue eyes, like the eyes of a Siberian husky. As pale a blue as Jean-Claude’s were a dark blue. Asher lay on his side, so that the unscarred side of his face was up to the light. They’d left a light on for me, probably. Without a light, the room was dark as a cave. No windows. Jean-Claude lay spooning against Asher’s back, one arm over the other man’s waist, his hand trailing along the scars on the right side of Asher’s body. Asher had been the blond beauty to Jean-Claude’s brunette once, then some well-meaning church officials had captured him and used holy water to drive the devil out of him. Holy water acts on vampire flesh like acid on ours. Those same officials had burned Asher’s human servant and love, Julianna, at the stake. Christianity is a fine religion, but some of the things done in the name of it, aren’t so nice.
I touched Jean-Claude’s face, moved a stray lock of his hair behind one pale shoulder. His skin was cool to the touch, and would just get colder. I kissed Asher’s forehead, and it was like kissing the dead. Vampires didn’t sleep at dawn, they died. They truly were animated corpses. I just wasn’t sure what exactly animated them.
I couldn’t sleep in the bed with two corpses. The cooling flesh just creeped me out. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to sleep with a vampire, I mean