Part 35 (2/2)
”What does that mean?”
”It means that I don't think I can blame Anita for anything. I just want to please her.”
Pride looked back at me. ”So he really is a Bride in the full sense of the term.”
I shrugged. ”Apparently.”
”But you don't like it. It bothers you that he has no free will,” he said.
”Yes.”
”Why?” he asked.
”Wouldn't it bother you?” I asked.
He just shook his head, and his brother did the same. Though maybe I was jumping the gun on that one. ”Are you brothers?”
”Cousins,” Pride said.
”There's a strong family resemblance,” I said.
”Not as strong as with Wicked and Truth,” he said.
”True,” I said. I looked at Jake. ”They don't want to be charming and neither do I, so how do we do this?”
”Ask us?” Pride said.
I turned back to him. ”Fine, you don't like me and I don't like you, apparently, but I'm supposed to find out how my inner tiger feels about yours, so how do you want to do this?”
”Jake said you were blunt.”
”This isn't blunt, Pride, not yet.”
He looked at me and there was something in his eyes now, interest maybe. ”I look forward to seeing blunt, then.”
I smiled, couldn't help it. ”You say that now.”
Voices sounded from farther down the hallway. Damian and Cardinal came in with her on his arm, very much the happy couple. She was talking excitedly with another woman who could only be the other weretiger. The family resemblance was too great for anything else. She had long yellow and white curls that spilled around her shoulders. Her eyes were the same blue and gold of Mephistopheles' eyes. She was tall and curvy, and gave off a roll of energy when she saw me sitting there. There was emotion to it; it was fear. Why was she afraid of me?
”The rooms are nice,” she said, but even her voice held a thread of nervousness.
Jean-Claude said, ”We're glad you like them. Anita, this is Envy.”
”Envy?” I made it a question.
”Yes,” he said.
”Pride and Envy, two of the deadly sins,” I said.
”Yes,” Pride said.
”Is she your sister?”
”Cousin.”
”The seven deadly sins and Mephistopheles. What's the theme for your clan names, selling your soul to the devil?”
”Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe,” Pride said. ”We're all named after characters in the play.” by Christopher Marlowe,” Pride said. ”We're all named after characters in the play.”
”Someone must be a serious Marlowe fan,” I said.
”Jake's master is,” Pride said.
I glanced at Jake. ”It couldn't be Shakespeare?”
”He prefers Marlowe,” Jake said.
”Are you making fun of our names?” Mephistopheles asked, with that arrogant pout to his lower lip.
”Trying hard not to, actually.”
”What's that supposed to mean?” he asked.
”Fine, what do your girlfriends call you? I mean they can't call out Mephistopheles in the heat of pa.s.sion, it's too long. You've got to have a nickname.”
He actually blushed.
I had an awful idea. I looked at Jake. ”Please tell me that they aren't virgins.”
”That's a question for them, Anita.”
I took a deep breath, let it out, and turned to the men. ”Well?”
”We're not,” Pride said.
I looked at Mephistopheles, who didn't seem to want to make eye contact. ”He seems awfully uncomfortable.”
Mephistopheles stood up, and his power flowed through the room like someone had just turned on a hot bath. ”We're trained to meet the needs of every bloodline, and that includes Belle Morte.”
I had to think about it for a moment, then said, ”So, trained in s.e.x for Belle Morte. Combat for the Dragon. What did you train in for the Master of Beasts, and the Lover of Death?”
”The Lover of Death is combat, and the Master of Beasts is weak,” Pride said. ”We knew no one in his line would ever come for us. The Earthmover never made enough vampires to be a bloodline that would come for us. The Traveller's line is all but dead. He can't make more of his own bloodline unless he uses his original body, and he won't do that. He won't risk it being destroyed.”
”What about the Mother of All Darkness?” I asked.
”She's not a bloodline,” Pride said. ”She's the enemy.”
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