Part 36 (2/2)

”Yeah.”

”Ramirez?”

”The one and only,” Carlos told him.

”You're armed,” he said.

”Heavily,” I replied.

He grimaced, nodded, and said, ”Get in the car, please.”

”Why?” I asked him, oh so innocently.

Ramirez gave me a sharp look, but said nothing.

”I was told to collect you,” the bodyguard said.

”It isn't far to the house,” I said. ”We can walk.”

”Ms. Raith asked me to a.s.sure you that, on behalf of her father, you have her personal pledge of safe conduct, as stipulated in the Accords.”

”In that case,” I said, ”Ms. Raith can come tell me that her personal self.”

”I'm sure she will be happy to,” the bodyguard said. ”At the house, sir.”

I folded my arms and said, ”If she's too busy to move her pretty a.s.s down here, why don't you go ask her if we can't come back tomorrow instead?”

There was a whirring sound, and one of the back windows of the Rolls slid down. I couldn't see much of anyone inside, but I heard a velvet-soft woman's laugh saunter out of the night. ”You see, George. I told you.”

The bodyguard grimaced and looked around. ”They've done something to the gate. It's open. You're exposed here, ma'am.”

”If a.s.sa.s.sination was their intention,” the woman replied, ”believe me when I say that Dresden could already have done it, and I feel confident that his companion, Mr. Ramirez, could have managed the same.”

Ramirez stiffened a little and muttered between clenched teeth, ”How does she know me?”

”Ain't many people ride zombie dinosaurs and make regional commander in the Wardens before they turn twenty-five,” I replied. ”Betcha she's got files on most of the Wardens still alive.”

”And some of the trainees,” agreed the woman's voice. ”George, if you please.”

The bodyguard gave us a flat, measuring look, and then opened the door of the car, one hand resting quite openly on the b.u.t.t of the pistol hanging under one arm.

The mistress of the White Court stepped forth from the Rolls-Royce.

Lara is... difficult to describe. I'd met her several times, and each meeting had carried a similar impact, a moment of stunned admiration and desire at her raw physical appeal that did not lessen with exposure. There was no one feature about her that I could have pointed out as particularly gorgeous. There was no one facet of her beauty that could be declared as utter perfection. Her appeal was something far greater than the sum of her parts, and none none of those were less than heavenly. of those were less than heavenly.

Like Thomas, she had dark, idly curling hair so glossy that the highlights were very nearly a shade of blue. Her skin was one creamy, gently curving expanse of milk white perfection, and if there were moles or birthmarks anywhere on her body, I couldn't see them. Her dark pink lips were a little large for her narrow-chinned face, but they didn't detract-they only gave her a look of lush overindulgence, of deliberate and wicked sensuality.

It was her eyes, though, that were the real killers. They were large, oblique orbs of a.r.s.enic grey, highlighted with flecks of periwinkle blue. More important, they were very alive eyes, alert, aware of others, s.h.i.+ning with intelligence and humor-so much so, in fact, that if you weren't careful, you'd miss the smoldering, demonic fires of sensuality in them, of a steady, predatory hunger.

Beside me, Ramirez swallowed. I knew only because I could hear it. When Lara makes an entrance, no one looks away.

She wore a white silk business suit, its skirt less than an inch too short to be considered dignified business wear, the heels of her white shoes just a tiny bit too high for propriety. It made it difficult not to stare at her legs. A lot of women with her coloring couldn't pull off a white outfit, but Lara made it look like a G.o.ddess's toga.

She knew the effect she had when we looked at her, and her mouth curled into a satisfied little smile. She walked toward us slowly, one leg crossing the other at a deliberate pace, hips s.h.i.+fting slightly. The motion was... awfully pretty. Sheer, sensual femininity gathered around her in a silent, unseen thundercloud, so thick that it could drown a man if he wasn't careful.

After all, she had drowned her father in it, hadn't she.

All is not gold that glitters, and how well I knew it. As delicious as she looked, as pants-rendingly gorgeously as she moved, she was capital-D Dangerous. More, she was a vampire, a predator, one who fed on human beings to continue her very existence. Despite our past cooperation, I was still human, and she was still something that ate ate humans. If I acted like food, there would be an enormous part of her that wouldn't care about politics or advantage. It would just want to eat me. humans. If I acted like food, there would be an enormous part of her that wouldn't care about politics or advantage. It would just want to eat me.

So I did my best to look bored as she approached and offered me her hand, palm down.

I took her cold (smooth, pretty, deliciously soft-dammit, Harry, ignore your p.e.n.i.s before it gets you killed!) fingers in mine, bent over them in a little formal bow, and released them without kissing her hand. If I had, I wasn't sure I wouldn't take a few nibbles, just to test out the texture as long as I was there.

As I rose, she met my eyes for a dangerous second and said, ”Sure you don't want a taste, Harry?”

A surge of raw l.u.s.t that was-probably-not my own flickered through my body. I smiled at her, gave her a little bow of my head, and made a small effort of will. The runes and sigils on my staff erupted into smoldering orange h.e.l.lfire. ”Be polite, Lara. It would be a shame to get cinders and ashes all over those shoes.”

She tilted her head back and let out a bubbling, throaty laugh, then touched the side of my face with one hand. ”Subtle, as always,” she replied. She lowered her hand and ran her fingertips over the odd grey material of my Warden's cloak. ”You've developed... an eclectic taste in fas.h.i.+on.”

”It's the same color,” I said, ”on both sides.”

”Ah,” Lara said, and inclined her head slightly to me. ”I'd hardly respect you otherwise, I suppose. Still, should you ever desire a new wardrobe...” She touched the fabric of my s.h.i.+rt lightly. ”You would look marvelous in white silk.”

”Said the spider to the fly,” I replied. ”Forget it.”

She smiled again, batted her lashes at me while my heart skipped a beat, and then slid on to Ramirez. She offered him her hand. ”You must be Warden Ramirez.”

This is the part where I got nervous. Ramirez loved women. Ramirez never shut up about women. Well, he never shut up about anything in general, but he'd go on and on about various conquests and feats of s.e.xual athleticism and- ”A virgin?” virgin?” Lara blurted. Lara blurted. She turned her head to me, grey eyes several shades paler than they had been, and very wide. ”Really, Harry, I'm not sure what to say. Is he Lara blurted. Lara blurted. She turned her head to me, grey eyes several shades paler than they had been, and very wide. ”Really, Harry, I'm not sure what to say. Is he a present?” a present?”

I folded my arms and regarded Lara steadily, but said nothing. This was Ramirez's moment to make a first impression, and if he didn't do it on his own, Lara would regard him as someone who couldn't protect himself. It would probably mark him as a target.

Lara turned to walk a slow circle around Ramirez, inspecting him the way you might a flashy new sports car. She was of a height with him, but taller in the heels, and there was nothing but a languidly sensual confidence in the way she moved. ”A handsome young bantam,” she murmured. She trailed a finger across the line of his shoulders as she moved behind him. ”Strong. Young. A hero of the White Council, I've heard.” She paused to touch a fingertip to the back of his hand, and then shuddered. ”And power, too.” Her eyes went a few shades brighter as she completed the tour. ”My goodness. I've recently fed, and still still ... Perhaps you'd care to ride with me back to the estate, and let Dresden walk. I promise to entertain you until he arrives.” ... Perhaps you'd care to ride with me back to the estate, and let Dresden walk. I promise to entertain you until he arrives.”

I knew the look on Ramirez's face. It was the look of a young man who wants nothing so badly as to discard the complex things in life, like civilization, social mores, clothing, and speech, and see what happened next.

Lara knew it, too. Her eyes glittered brightly, and her smile was serpentine, and she pressed closer.

But Ramirez apparently knew about glittery gold, too. I didn't know he'd hidden a knife up his sleeve, but it appeared in his hand an instant before its tip pressed into the bottom of Lara's throat.

”I,” he said very quietly, ”am not food.” And he met her eyes.

I hadn't seen a soulgaze from the outside before. It surprised me, how simple and brief it looked, when one wasn't being shaken to the core by it. Both of them stared, eyes widening, and then shuddered. Lara took a small step back from Ramirez, her breathing slightly quickened. I noticed, because I'm a professional investigator. She could have been concealing a weapon in that decolletage.

”If you meant to dissuade me,” Lara said a moment later, ”you haven't.”

”Not you,” Ramirez replied, lowering the knife. His voice was rough. ”It wasn't to dissuade you.”

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