Burnt Offerings

by Laurell K. Hamilton

Chapter 52~53

  52

  Fernando tried to make a break for it but he was outmanned. Or would that be out-monstered? They bound him with silver chains and gagged him. The last was to stop his constant begging. He just couldn't believe his father had betrayed him.

  Liv didn't fight. She seemed to take it almost resignedly. What seemed to surprise her most was the fact that I didn't kill them both where they stood. But I had other plans for them. They'd insulted the pack. It would be pack justice. That was sort of a group activity. Maybe we'd invite the wererats and have a cross species jamboree.

  When they were led away, a silence so deep and wide that it thundered in the ears filled the room. Yvette stepped into that silence. She was smiling and lovely, fresh and beautiful on Jason's blood and our mingled power.

  "Jean-Claude must still answer for his traitorous ways," she said.

  "What are you babbling about?" the Traveler said.

  "My master, Morte d' Amour, has accused him of trying to start another council in this country. A council that will steal our power and make us but laughable puppets. "

  The Traveler waved it away. "Jean-Claude is guilty of many things but that is not one of them. "

  Yvette smiled, and the smile was enough. She was going to say something bad. "What say you, Padma? If he is a traitor, then we can execute him for it. He can be an example to all others who would dare usurp the council's power. "

  Padma was still on the ground, cradled in the arms of his two servants. He still wasn't feeling too good. He stared at our little group. We were still huddled on the floor, too. The six of us were not going to be dancing tonight. The look in Padma's eyes said it all. I'd humiliated him, scared the hell out of him, and forced him to give up his only son to sure death. He smiled, and it wasn't pretty. "If they are traitors, then they must be punished. "

  "Padma," the Traveler said, "you know this is false. "

  "I did not say they were traitors, Traveler. I said ifthey were traitors. If they are traitors, then they must be punished. Even you must agree to that. "

  "But they are not traitors," the Traveler said.

  "I use my master's proxy to call a vote," Yvette said. "I think I know what three of the votes will be. "

  Asher came to stand near Jean-Claude and us. "They are not traitors, Yvette. To say so is a lie. "

  "Lies are very interesting things. Don't you think. . . Harry?" She held out her hand as if it were a signal and Harry the bartender joined her. I didn't think I could be surprised anymore tonight. I was wrong.

  "I see that you know Harry," Yvette said.

  "The police are looking for you, Harry," I said.

  "I know," he said. At least he had trouble meeting my eyes. Didn't make me feel much better, but a little.

  "I knew Harry was one of your line," Jean-Claude said, "but he is truly one of yours. "

  "Oui. "

  "What is the meaning of this, Yvette?" the Traveler said.

  "Harry leaked the information to those awful fanatics so they would kill monsters. "

  "Why?" the Traveler asked.

  "My question exactly," I said.

  "My master is frightened of change, like many of the old ones. Making us legal is the most sweeping change we've ever been threatened with. He fears it. He wants it stopped. "

  "Like Oliver," I said.

  "Exactement. "

  "But the vampire killings didn't stop it," I said. "If anything, it's given the pro-vamp lobby a boost. "

  "But now," she said, "we shall have our revenge, a revenge so bloody and awful that it will turn everyone against us. "

  "You cannot do this," the Traveler said.

  "Padma has given me the key. The Master of the City is weak, his link to his servants weaker still. He would be easily killed now if someone would challenge him. "

  "You," the Traveler said, "you could challenge Jean-Claude, but you could never be Master of the City, Yvette. You will never have enough power on your own to be a master vampire. Your master's power has made you try to rise above your station. "

  "It is true that I will never be a master, but there is a master here who hates Jean-Claude and his servant. Asher. " She said his name like it was planned.

  He looked at her, but he seemed startled. Whatever she planned, he didn't know about it. He stared down at Jean-Claude. "You want me to kill him while he is too weak to fight?"

  "Yes," she said.

  "No," Asher said, "I do not want Jean-Claude's place, not like this. Beating him in a far duel is one thing, but this is. . . treachery. "

  "I thought you hated him," Yvette said.

  "I do, but honor means something to me. "

  "Implying I suppose that it doesn't to me?" She shrugged. "You're right. If I could be master of this city, I would do it. But I could live another thousand years and I will never be a master. But it is not honor that stops you. It's her. " She pointed at me. "There must be some alchemy in you that I do not see, Anita. You bewitch every vampire that comes near you and every shapeshifter. "

  "You've had a big taste and don't seem too taken with me," I said.

  "My tastes run to things even more exotic than you, animator. "

  "If Asher will not take the city as Master, then you cannot control the city's vampires. You cannot make them do some terrible deed to the humans," the Traveler said.

  "I did not trust Asher's hatred to make our plan work. It would have been useful to have control of the city's vampires but it is not necessary. The carnage has already begun," Yvette said.

  We were all silent, staring at her, all of us thinking one thing. I said it out loud. "What do you mean, it's already begun?"

  "Tell them, Warrick," she said.

  He shook his head.

  She sighed. "Fine, I will tell them. Warrick was a holy warrior before I found him. He could call the fire of God to his hands, couldn't you?"

  He wouldn't look at any of us. He stood there, this huge figure in shining white, head down like a little boy who's been caught playing hooky.

  "You set the fires in New Orleans and San Francisco, and here. Why no fires in Boston?" I asked.

  "I told you I began to feel stronger the longer I was away from our shared master. In Boston I was still weak. It wasn't until New Orleans that I felt God's grace return to me for the first time in nearly a thousand years. I was drunk on it at first. I was deeply ashamed that I burned down a building. I did not mean to, but it felt so wonderful, so pure. "

  "I caught him at it," Yvette said. "I told him to do it other places, everywhere we went. I told him to kill people, but even torture wouldn't make him do that. "

  He did look up then. "I made sure no one was injured. "

  "You're a pyrokinetic," I said.

  He frowned. "I was given a gift from God. It was the first sign of his favor to return to me. Before, I think I feared the Holy Fire. Feared it would destroy me. But I do not fear my own destruction now. She wishes me to use God's gifts for evil use. She wanted me to burn down your stadium with all the people inside tonight. "

  I said, "Warrick, what have you done?"

  He whispered, "Nothing. "

  Yvette heard him. She was suddenly beside us, white skirts swinging. She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. "The entire point to burning the other buildings was to leave a trail of evidence that would culminate in tonight's little sacrifice. A little burnt offering to our master. You burned the stadium as we planned. "

  He shook his head, blue eyes wide, but not frightened.

  She hit him hard enough to leave her hand in a red outline on his cheek. "You holy-rolling bastard. You answer to the same master that I answer to. I will rot the skin from your bones for this. "

  Warrick stood very straight. You could see him preparing for the torment to come. He stood shining and white and he looked like a holy warrior. There was a peace in his face that was lovely to look upon. r />
  Yvette's power surged forward and I got just the faintest backwash. But Warrick stood there untouched, pure. Nothing happened. Yvette turned to all of us. "Who is helping him? Who is protecting him from me?"

  I realized what was happening. "No one's helping him, Yvette," I said. "He is a master vampire and you can't hurt him anymore. "

  "What are you talking about? He is mine. Mine to do with as I see fit. He has always been mine. "

  "Not anymore," I said.

  Warrick smiled and it was beatific. "God has freed me from you, Yvette. He has finally forgiven me for my fall from grace. My lusting after your white flesh that led me to hell. I am free of it. I am free of you. "

  "No," she said. "No!"

  "It seems our brother council member was limiting Warrick's powers," the Traveler said. "As he was giving you power, Yvette, he was keeping it from Warrick. "

  "This is not possible," she said. "We will burn this city to the ground and take credit for it. We will show them we are monsters. "

  "No, Yvette," Warrick said. "We will not. "

  "I don't need you for this," she said. "I can be monster enough on my own. I'm sure there is a reporter out there somewhere that I can embrace. I'll rot in front of his cameras, on him. I will not fail our master. I will be the monster he wants us to be. The monsters we truly are. " She held out her hand to Harry. "Come, let us go find victims in very public places. "

  "We cannot allow this," the Traveler said.

  "No," Padma said. He pushed to his feet with Gideon and Thomas's help. "We cannot allow this. "

  "No," Warrick said, "we cannot allow her to tempt anyone else. It is enough. "

  "No, it is not enough. It will never be enough. I will find someone to take your place at my side, Warrick. I can make another of you. Someone who will serve me for all time. "

  He shook his head slowly. "I cannot allow you to steal another man's soul in my place. I will not ransom another man into the hell of your embrace. "

  "I thought it was hell you feared," Yvette said. "Centuries of worry that you'll roast in punishment for your crimes. " She pouted at him, exaggerating her voice. "Centuries of listening to you whine about your purity and your fall from grace, and the punishment that awaited you. "

  "I no longer fear my punishment, Yvette. "

  "Because you think you've been forgiven," she said.

  He shook his head. "Only God knows if I am truly forgiven, but if I am to be punished, then I will have earned it. As we all have. I cannot allow you to put another in my place. "

  She came to him, trailing fingers across his white tunic. I lost sight of her behind his broad back, and when she came back around she was rotting. She trailed decaying hands down his white suit leaving black and green globs, slimy trails like obscene slugs. She laughed at him with a face covered in sores.

  Richard whispered, "What is happening to her?"

  "Yvette's happening," I said.

  "You'll return to France with me. You'll continue to serve me even though you're a master now. If anyone would make such a sacrifice, it is you, Warrick. "

  "No, no," he said. "If I were truly strong and worthy of God's grace, then perhaps I would return with you, but I am not that strong. "

  She wrapped her rotting arms around his waist and smiled up at him. Her body was running to ruin, leaking dark fluids over her white dress. Her rich pale hair was drying out before our eyes, turning to crinkling straw. "Then kiss me, Warrick, one last time. I must find your replacement before dawn. "

  He encircled her with his white robed arms, hugging her against his tall body. "No, Yvette, no. " He stared down at her and there was something almost like tenderness on his face. "Forgive me," he said. He held his hands out in front of him.

  Blue fire sprang from his hands, a strange pale color, paler even than gas flame.

  Yvette turned her rotting face to look behind her at the fire. "You wouldn't dare," she said.

  Warrick closed his arms around her. Her dress caught first. She screamed, "Don't be stupid, Warrick! Let me go!"

  He held on, and when the fire hit her flesh she went like she'd been doused in kerosene. She burned with a blue light. She screamed, and struggled, but he had her pinned to his chest. She couldn't even beat at the flames with her hands.

  The fire bathed Warrick in a nimbus of blue, but he didn't burn. He stood there yellow and white surrounded in blue fire, and he did look like a saint. Something holy and wonderful and terrible to behold. He stood there shining and Yvette began to blacken and peel in his arms. He smiled at us. "God has not forsaken me. Only my fear kept me in thrall to her all these years. "

  Yvette twisted in his arms, tried to get away, but he held her tight. He dropped to his knees, bowing his head while she fought him. She burned, skin peeling back from her bones, and still she screamed. The stench of burning hair and cooking flesh filled the room, but there was almost no smoke, just heat building. Making everyone in the room move back from them. Finally, mercifully, Yvette stopped moving, stopped screaming.

  I think Warrick was praying while she shrieked and writhed and burned. The blue flames roared almost to the ceiling, then changed color. They became pure yellow-orange, the color of ordinary flame.

  I remembered McKinnon's story of how the firebug had burned once the fire changed color. "Warrick, Warrick, let her go. You'll burn with her. "

  Warrick's voice came one last time. "I do not fear God's embrace. He demands sacrifice, but he is merciful. " He never screamed. The fire began to eat at him, but he never made a sound. In that silence we heard a different voice. A high-pitched screaming, low and wordless, pitiless, hopeless. Yvette was still alive.

  Someone finally asked if there was a fire extinguisher. Jason said, "No, there isn't. " I looked at him across the room, and he met my gaze. We stared at each other and I knew that he knew exactly where the fire extinguisher was. Jean-Claude, whose hand I was still holding, knew where it was. Hell, I knew where it was. None of us went running. We let her burn. We let them both burn. Warrick I would have saved if I could have, but Yvette--Burn, baby, burn.

  53

  The council went home. We had the word of two members that we would not be bothered again. I wasn't sure I trusted them, but it was the best we were going to get. Richard and I are meeting regularly with Jean-Claude, learning how to control the marks. I still can't control the munin, but I'm working on it, and Richard is helping me. We're trying to be less nasty to one another. He's gone out of state for the rest of the summer to finish work on his master's degree in preternatural biology. Hard to work on the marks from that big a distance.

  He's approached the local pack there for possible lupa candidates. I don't know how I feel about that. I'm not even sure it's Richard that I would miss. It's the pack, the lukoi. You can always find another boyfriend, but a new family, especially one this strange, that's a rare gift. All the wereleopards have come on board my bandwagon, even Elizabeth. Surprise, surprise.

  The leopards call me their Nimir-Ra, leopard queen. Me and Tarzan, huh?

  I gave Fernando and Liv to Sylvie. Other than a few pieces that Sylvie kept for souvenirs, they're both gone.

  Nathaniel wanted to move in with me. I'm paying for his apartment. He seems lost without someone to organize his life. Zane, who recovered from his gunshot wounds, says that Nathaniel needs a master or a mistress, that he's what the S & M crowd call a pet. The term means someone who is a step below slave, someone who can't function alone. I'd never heard of such a thing, but it seems to be true, at least for Nathaniel. No, I don't know what I'm going to do with him.

  Stephen and Vivian are dating. Truthfully, I'd begun to assume Stephen liked guys. Shows how much I know.

  Asher stayed in St. Louis. Here, strangely, he's among friends. He and Jean-Claude reminisce about things I'd only read about in history books or seen in movies. I suggested Asher see a plastic surgeon. He informed me that the burns could no
t be healed because they were caused by a holy object. I said, what does it hurt to ask? When he got over the shocking idea that modern technology might be able to do something his own wonderful body could not, he asked. The doctors are hopeful.

  Jean-Claude and I did christen the bathtub at my new house. Picture white candles glowing everywhere, the light gleaming on his naked chest. The petals of two dozen red roses floating on the surface of the water. That's what I came home to one morning at about three A. M. We played until dawn, when I tucked him into my bed. I stayed with him until the warmth left his body and my nerve broke.

  Richard is right. I can't give myself completely to Jean-Claude. I can't let him feed. I can't truly share a bed. He is, no matter how lovely, the walking dead. I keep shying away from anything that reminds me too strongly of that fact, like blood-drinking and low body temperatures. Jean-Claude certainly has the keys to my libido, but my heart. . . Can a walking corpse hold the keys to my heart? No. Yes. Maybe. How the hell should I know?