The Harlequin   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

I have to admit that having a picture to go with it made me feel more like an assassin. A picture so I'd get the right one.

«Are you so certain of that?»

I blinked at him, the slow blink that gave me time to think but didn't look like I was thinking furiously. «What are you trying to say, Malcolm? I'm not good at subtle; just tell me what you came to say.»

«Something powerful, someone powerful, came to my church last week. They hid themselves. I could not find them in the new faces of my congregation, but I know that someone immensely powerful was there.» He leaned forward, his calm exterior cracking around the edges. «Do you understand how powerful they would have to be for me to sense them, use all my powers to search the room for them, yet not be able to find them?»

I thought about it. Malcolm was no Master of the City, but he was probably one of the top five most powerful vampires in town. He'd be higher, if he weren't so terribly moral. It limited him in some ways.

I licked my lips, careful of the lipstick, and nodded. «Did they want you to know they were there, or was that part an accident?»

He actually showed surprise for a moment before he got control of his face. He played human too much for the media; he was beginning to lose that stillness of features that the old ones have. «I don't know.» Even his voice was no longer smooth.

«Did the vamp do it to taunt you, or was it arrogance?»

He shook his head. «I do not know.»

I had a moment of revelation. «You came here because you think Jean-Claude should know, but you can't let your congregation see you going to the Master of the City. It would undermine your whole freewill thing.»

He settled back into his chair, fighting to keep the anger off his face, and failing. He was even more scared than I thought, to be losing it this badly in front of someone he disliked. Hell, he'd come to me for help. He was desperate.

«But you can come to me, a federal marshal, and tell me. Because you know I'll tell Jean-Claude.»

«Think what you like, Ms. Blake.»

We weren't on a first-name basis anymore. I'd hit it on the head. «A big, bad vamp checks your church out. You aren't vampire enough to smoke him out, and you come to me, to Jean-Claude and all his immoral power structure. You come to the very people you say you hate.»

He stood up. «The crime that Sally is accused of happened less than twenty-four hours after he, it, they came to my church. I do not think that is a coincidence.»

«I'm not lying about the second order of execution, Malcolm. It's in my desk drawer, right now, with a driver's license picture of the vampire in question.»

He sat back down. «What name is on it?»

«Why, so you can warn… them?» I'd almost said her , because it was another female vamp.

«My people are not perfect, Ms. Blake, but I believe that another vampire has come to town and is framing them.»

«Why? Why would someone do that?»

«I don't know.»

«No one has bothered Jean-Claude or his people.»

«I know,» Malcolm said.

«Without a true master, a true blood-oathed, mystically connected master, your congregation are just sheep waiting for the wolves to come get them.»

«Jean-Claude said as much a month ago.»

«Yeah, he did.»

«I thought at first that it was one of the new vampires who has joined Jean-Claude. One of the ones from Europe, but it is not. It is something more powerful than that. Or it is a group of vampires combining their powers through their master's marks. I have felt such power only once before.»

«When?» I asked.

He shook his head. «We are forbidden to speak of it, on penalty of death. Only if they contact us directly can we break this silence.»

«It sounds like you've already been contacted,» I said.

He shook his head again. «They are tampering with me, and my people, because technically I am outside normal vampire law. Did Jean-Claude report to the council that my church had not blood-oathed any of its followers?»

I nodded. «Yes, he did.»

He put his big hands over his face and leaned over his knees, almost as if he felt faint. He whispered, «I feared as much.»

«Okay, Malcolm, you're moving too fast for me here. What does Jean-Claude's reporting to the council have to do with some group of powerful vamps messing with your church?»

He looked at me, but his eyes had gone gray with worry. «Tell him what I have told you. He will understand.»

«But I don't.»

«I have until New Year's Day to give Jean-Claude my answer about the blood-oathing. He has been generous and patient, but there are those among the council that are neither of those things. I had hoped they would be proud of what I had accomplished. I thought it would please them, but I fear now that the council is not ready to see my brave new world of free will.»

«Free will is for humans, Malcolm. The preternatural community is about control.»

He stood again. «You have almost complete discretion on how the warrant is executed, Anita. Will you use some of that discretion to find the truth before you kill my followers?»

I stood up. «I can't guarantee anything.»

«I would not ask that. I ask only that you look for the truth before it is too late for Sally, and my other follower, whose name you will not even give me.» He sighed. «I have not sent Sally running out of town; why would I warn the other?»

«You came through the door knowing Sally was in trouble. I'm not helping you figure the other bad guy out.»

«It is a man, then?»

I just looked at him, glad that I could give full eye contact. It had always been so hard to do the tough stare back when I couldn't look a vamp in the eyes.

He straightened his shoulders as if only now aware that he was slumping. «You won't even give me that, will you? Please tell Jean-Claude what I have told you. I should have come to you immediately. I thought morals kept me from running to the very power structure I despise, but it wasn't morals, it was sin; the sin of pride. I hope that my pride has not cost more of my followers their lives.» He went for the door.

I called after him. «Malcolm.»

He turned.

«How big an emergency is this?»

«Big.»

«Will a couple of hours make a difference?»

He thought about it. «Perhaps; why do you ask?»

«I won't be seeing Jean-Claude tonight. I just wanted to know if I should call him, give him a heads-up.»

«Yes, by all means, give him his heads-up.» He frowned at me. «Why would you not see your master tonight, Anita? Aren't you living with him?»

«Actually, no. I stay over at his place about half the week, but I've got my own place still.