Crimson Death

by Laurell K. Hamilton

  "Don't you mean that you shouldn't be this slow?" Nicky said; his voice already held an edge of growling to it.

  "Yes, that is exactly what I mean, lion. Only the Harlequin are so swift that another wereanimal cannot see them move." Scaramouche kicked at him, but Nicky moved out of the way of it, no need to block. Scaramouche moved in suddenly with a rain of blows and kicks that were just a blur of motion. I couldn't follow it all, but it was as if Nicky's hands, arms, and legs were just there, where they needed to be. Scaramouche was a dark blur, but Nicky was so fast my eyes couldn't even see the blur of his motion. The last time I'd seen anyone that fast, it had been some of the Harlequin before we killed their dark queen. All but one of those particular Harlequin had died rather horrible deaths, so the preternatural wonder speed hadn't helped them all that much, but I'd never seen one of our people be this fast.

  Frustration in a fight can lead to four things: You give up, you fight harder, you fight worse, or you cheat. Scaramouche was Harlequin; they didn't give up. He fought harder, but when that didn't get him past Nicky's guard, his arm swung a little too wide. Nicky landed a fist on the exposed ribs.

  I felt the warm rush of power, and for the first time, it was my inner rat that responded to the energy as Scaramouche lashed out. Nicky rocked back and his cheek was bleeding, but Scaramouche hadn't hit him. I'd have seen that.

  Jake was between them, moving so fast, it was as if he'd just appeared to separate them.

  "No claws--you know that, Scaramouche."

  I saw the claws curling from the fingers of his gloves now; both hands had sprouted claws, which meant he was powerful enough to shift just that much and no more. Micah could do it, but he was Nimir-Raj; Nicky couldn't do it, and he was Rex. Nicky touched fingertips to the small cuts on his face. He'd kept the claws from doing much more than touching his skin.

  Jake started to stop the fight, but Nicky said, "Let's do this."

  "No claws, no shifting," Jake said.

  "Only because the Rex is not powerful enough to do a partial shift."

  "And you aren't good enough to beat me without shifting," Nicky said.

  Scaramouche made a low evil sound that I think was a rat equivalent of a growl, because again a small, dark-furred shape inside me reacted to his beast. Rafael had shared his beast on purpose with me, but it was still new.

  "I can defeat you without changing form."

  "Prove it," Nicky said.

  Jake made the wererat show his hands, making sure his fingers were just human digits again.

  "Are you certain you both want to do this?" Jake asked.

  "Oh yeah," Nicky said.

  "Very much so," Scaramouche said.

  "If you bring out your beast again, I will finish the fight in Nicky's place. Is that clear, Scaramouche?"

  The wererat's eyes widened a little, but he bounced in place to loosen his body up and said, "I will defeat the lion fairly."

  "Scaramouche," Pierette said, but he ignored her as if she had not spoken.

  Nicky did his own bounce. Jake stepped back and said, "Fight."

  They took Jake at his word; even blocking the punches and kicks had force to it. They both made harsh involuntary noises, but there was none of the yelling that they teach you in some martial arts classes. Yelling when you didn't have to was for show. The two men weren't putting on a display. This was a fight, a real fight. Only their combined skill kept it from being even more violent because neither was able to get through the other's guard. They were both so fast, I couldn't follow all of it.

  Nicky's fist came through all Scaramouche's punches and caught him in the mouth. It staggered the wererat, and I saw blood. Nicky followed it up with a hook to the ribs that he blocked, but Nicky landed a knee to the other man's thigh. Scaramouche covered up as much of himself as he could as Nicky blew into him, raining punches, kicks, and elbows down on him.

  People were looking at Jake to step in and call it, but he didn't.

  Scaramouche came up under everything that Nicky was throwing at him and hit him with an uppercut right on the chin. He'd taken the damage until Nicky got carried away and gave an opening, and then he'd gone for it. It staggered Nicky and rang his bell hard. If it had been a real UFC fight they might have called a knockout, because his one blue eye was not focusing. He was still standing.

  Scaramouche came up and around with a roundhouse kick aimed at the side of Nicky's head. Nathaniel's hand squeezed mine tight. Sin gasped. Nicky's hand was there just in time to keep the kick from connecting and to grab the leg and get a joint lock on the knee. Scaramouche dropped to the ground trying to unbalance Nicky, but the werelion had more mass and stayed firm. Scaramouche ended up with his hands on the mat as he swung his other long leg up in a kick for Nicky's face. Nicky didn't try to block it; he finished the joint lock. I heard the wet, meaty pop. Scaramouche screamed, even as his kick bloodied Nicky's mouth.

  Jake stepped in then and stopped the fight. He helped Nicky lay Scaramouche on the mat. His leg was bent in a way that legs aren't meant to bend. Scaramouche was trying not to writhe in agony. He looked green with pain and was probably trying not to throw up.

  Pierette knelt beside him. Hortensio stood glaring at Jake and Nicky. "What was that supposed to be?"

  "That was not sparring," Pierette said from where she knelt.

  "No, it was a lesson," Jake said, and his voice was as cold and threatening as I'd ever heard it.

  "A lesson about what?" she demanded, holding Scaramouche's hand.

  "That the Harlequin must learn to respect our new comrades in arms," he said.

  Scaramouche's voice was strained with pain. "They have not spent centuries earning our respect."

  Nicky took out his bloody mouth guard and said, "I'm fine with earning your respect by beating the shit out of you."

  "You are not king over me, lion," he said between gritted teeth.

  I'd walked out on the mat with Nathaniel shadowing me, though I'd made him drop my hand. Tempers were high, and I wanted both my hands free just in case. Magda and Sin were at my back. I wasn't sure how much help Sin would be, but the lioness at my back would make them think twice before doing something stupid in our direction. I'd have liked to think that I'd give them pause, but I knew better. Most of them considered me a poor substitute for their lost queen; no matter what my title was, I was just not good enough for some of the Harlequin.

  "How about me? I'm supposed to be your queen," I said.

  "You are Jean-Claude's fiancee, but you are not a vampire. How can you rule us as one?"

  "Anita is Nimir-Ra, to the wereleopards, too," Nathaniel said. "She is Queen to Micah's Nimir-Raj."

  "She does not shift into leopard form; I will not acknowledge a Nimir-Ra who is trapped in human form," Pierette said.

  "She may not change shape, but she is still a necromancer and our new dark queen," Jake said.

  "No. No, she is not. She is not our dark mistress. It was luck that allowed her to drink down the power that was ours, and now she has given it to him." She pointed a dramatic finger at Nicky.

  "Not just him," Magda said, in a low voice.

  "No, all the Harlequin that sleep with you and Jean-Claude have kept their powers, or regained them," Pierette said.

  Hortensio made a sound that was half laugh and half snarl. "Scaramouche wanted to be your moitie bete, your rat to call, and your lover. He said he would show you what a true moitie bete can do for a queen. That boast is why your Bride crippled him."

  I glanced from Nicky to Jake. Nicky said, "Scaramouche bloodied me first. I just ended it." I looked at Nicky for a minute. "Do you want him to think he can win you like a prize?"

  I turned back to Scaramouche. "I'm sorry you're hurt, but even if you managed to take the crown from Rafael, your rat king, I would not make you my beast half, or my lover. If what you want is to be closer to Jean-Claude's throne and me, then hurting my lovers gains you nothing."

  Green with pain, his leg bent damn near backward,
he glared up at me from his dark brown eyes with more anger than pain, and more arrogance than I'd have been able to manage if it had been me. "I would make a better king for the rats, and do not turn down what you have not tasted, for I know that what I would serve you would be far sweeter than anything you have had before."

  "Wow," Sin said, "with four of us standing right here and you're going to insult all of us."

  "I know my worth," Scaramouche said.

  Hortensio said to Sin, "You are a boy. He"--motioning at Nathaniel--"is a catamount more skilled with men than women. The Rex is as brutal in bed as he is in the ring. No woman wants that kind of brutality."

  Nathaniel, Sin, and Nicky all laughed at the same time. I said, "You've got to know your audience, and you obviously don't."

  "What about me?" Magda asked.

  "You are a woman," Hortensio said. "You are not competition in this arena."

  I felt the warm rush of energy from her before the low, soft growl trickled from between her human lips. "You have always been a fool."

  Hortensio took a step toward her, which put him closer to me, but he was looking over my head at Magda. "Back up," I said. He ignored me. I hit him with a short jab in the solar plexus. He'd been totally unprepared, so it took all the wind out of him and doubled him over. I grabbed the back of his head and pulled it down as I drove my knee up as fast and hard and as many times as I could. I'd caught him completely by surprise, so he never even tried to fight back. When I saw blood pouring over my leg and onto the mat, I shoved him away from me and he crumpled to his side on the floor. He didn't move. His lower face was a mass of blood so thick that I wasn't even sure how much damage I'd done. I knew his nose was broken. His eyes were open, but like after the punch that had staggered Nicky, they weren't focusing.

  Pierette looked pale and a little less sure of herself. Scaramouche still looked angry and arrogant, in pain and nauseous, but there was something new in his dark eyes. I think it was uncertainty. He'd made his plans on the idea that I wouldn't be able to fight back. I think he was reevaluating that. Good.

  "I am your queen, Hortensio; that means when I say back up, you back the fuck up!"

  "I don't think he can hear you," Sin said.

  "Then Pierette and Scaramouche can repeat it to him later, right?" I said, looking at Pierette mostly.

  She let go of Scaramouche's hand and knelt in front of me, putting her head to the floor in front of my feet; it was about as low a bow as she could make. Her hands were politely back near her shoulders so that her head was the only thing near my feet. It was the real deal, but then she'd had centuries to practice bowing in all sorts of ways.

  "She'll stay like that until you tell her to rise," Jake said.

  "That sort of works for me right now," I said.

  Jake made a little movement with his mouth like I'd surprised him but pleased him at the same time. "You are the queen."

  "That's right, I am, and the next time one of you forgets that, it won't be my knee that I use to bloody you. Is that clear, Scaramouche?"

  "Are you saying you will kill us yourself?"

  "No, that is not what she is saying," Jake said, quickly.

  "I don't want to kill you, damn it. It's a waste of centuries of talent and power, but if you force me to make the decision, I will."

  "I believe you," Scaramouche said.

  Pierette's voice was muffled against the floor as she said, "Yes, my queen."

  "Get up, Pierette."

  She raised her head slowly, cautiously. "Do you wish me to stand, my queen?"

  "Stay with Scaramouche, or stand. I don't care; just don't do anything stupid."

  "Yes, my queen."

  "You have tamed another leopard, Anita," Scaramouche said.

  "How about you, Hortensio? Are you still going to be a pain in my ass, or have I made myself clear?"

  He had his hands pressed gingerly over his nose. It made his voice sound odd, but it was understandable as he said, "Very clear, my queen."

  I looked down. "And you, Scaramouche? Are you tamed?"

  "I will never be tamed by anyone save my master."

  "Then are we clear?"

  He wasted a serious hate-filled look at Nicky, then looked back at me. "You and your Bride have been most clear."

  "Great, then we won't have any more problems between us."

  "We will not disrespect you, but we have a problem, our queen."

  "And what would that be?" I asked.

  "That the people you are having sex with have acquired our old speed and skills, or regained them in the case of Magda and other Harlequin in your bed, while those of us not in your graces continue to lose both skills and power."

  I opened my mouth, closed it, and looked at Jake. "Is he right?"

  Jake sighed, shrugged, and then said, "It is not a hundred percent certain, but as a hypothesis it has unfortunate merit."

  "Well, fuck," I said.

  "Not enough," Scaramouche said.

  "We can't fuck everyone."

  "If I cannot regain my former glory with a plan worthy of a warrior and a king, then I would agree to whatever arrangement Jean-Claude wishes."

  I stared at the wererat. "Do you understand what you're saying?"

  "Or is the pain speaking for you?" Jake added.

  "I know what I am saying, and for the return of my power, I would be whatever Jean-Claude needed me to be," Scaramouche said.

  Pierette just shook her head and looked scared. She wasn't willing to be whatever was needed, and I didn't blame her. That was too much carte blanche to give anyone.

  "I will not be Jean-Claude's catamite," Hortensio said; his voice sounded worse as his nose continued to swell. He coughed and started to choke, having to struggle to sit up enough to throw up blood on the mat, which made his face hurt so that he moaned with the pain.

  "We need to get them to medical," Jake said.

  "Yeah," Nicky said, "they're bleeding all over the mat."

  I looked to see if he was making a joke. His mouth was still bleeding enough that he was having to dab at it with the back of his hand. He'd taken off his gloves sometime during all of this. If he was being sarcastic his face didn't show it. The marks on his cheek weren't nearly as bad as his mouth.

  "Or everybody could shapeshift and heal themselves," I said.

  "They'll get goopy stuff all over the mats," Sin said. "Claudia has told us we aren't allowed to shift in the gymnasium."

  "Fine. The hallway will work."

  "I dare not, my queen," Scaramouche said.

  "It's a dislocated knee. Shifting should heal it."

  "Yes, but in my beast form I would need food to regain the energy I expended in the rapid healing."

  "Yeah, so you walk down to the area where the live food is kept."

  "No, my queen. If I shifted form, I could not guarantee that I would not see you and others as food for my beast."

  "Are you saying that you wouldn't have enough control of your animal form to keep from attacking us?" I asked.

  "I am ashamed to admit it, but it is true."

  "You are the Harlequin, the ultimate spies and assassins. That means you have ultimate control over yourself, or that's what I thought it meant."

  "Once that was exactly what it meant, but when our powers began to fade, so did our control of our inner demons."

  I looked from him to the other two troublemakers. Pierette bowed her head and wouldn't meet my gaze. Hortensio was rolling around in fresh pain; apparently he'd squeezed his nose too hard.

  "Are you saying that none of you can control your beast half?"

  "When we first turn, we must eat flesh. Once we have eaten, we come back to ourselves and can control the beast, but until that first feeding we are mindless and will attack as if we are new lycanthropes who have not gained control of ourselves yet."

  I looked at Jake and Magda. "Is this true of all of you?"

  "I have not diminished in my abilities," she said.

  "Because
you are sleeping with them," Pierette said, her voice bitter. She stared down at the floor as soon as she said it, as if afraid of her own reaction.

  Jake's face was as blank and unreadable as he could make it. "I have retained my abilities as well, and I am not sleeping with our new leaders. Kaazim is also fine and not their lover."

  "Wait, Jake, Magda. Are you saying that neither of you knew about this either?" I asked.

  "I did not know," he said.

  Magda just shook her head.

  "You guys are supposed to report to Jake," I said, looking down at the others.

  "He is one of the ones who betrayed our Dark Mother," Scaramouche said.

  Hortensio found his voice again, though it was thick and harder to understand as his nose continued to swell. "He helped hide the golden tigers from us. If they had been killed as the Mother of All Darkness commanded, then you would never have been able to rise to power. You had to possess the power of the Father of Tigers and become the new Father of Dawn, and for that you needed the gold cats."

  Scaramouche said, "Jake and Kaazim were both part of the traitors who knew the gold tigers had not been slaughtered, and now that they have won they still have their powers, while those of us who were ignorant of their plot do not."

  "So maybe it's more than just sex with Jean-Claude and the rest of us," I said.

  "Perhaps," he said, but not like he believed it, or maybe he didn't want to believe it, because if sex wouldn't fix the problem, then they were screwed in more ways than one.

  "Does Micah know about this?"

  Scaramouche and Pierette shook their heads. "We have told no one of our shame," he said.

  "If we had decided to send you out on a mission like Kaazim just came back from, would you have told anyone then?" Nicky asked.

  "We don't owe you an answer, Bride," Hortensio said.

  "Then pretend I asked it, because it's a good question and I want the answer."

  "None of the leaders here trust us enough to send us out," he said.

  "We are trapped here in this small city when we had the world to travel for centuries," Pierette said, and she looked--grief-stricken was the only word. I had for the sudden haggard look on her eternally youthful face.

  "I guess it is a change," I said.