Crimson Death

“Then why are you holding a knife to him?”

“To prove to him that power won’t keep him safe from a trained attacker.”

“I think you’ve made your point,” Domino said; he was walking farther into the room as he talked. He was close enough now that I could see his guns clearly against the black-on-black clothing. Some of the guards carried knives; he didn’t like blades, but I knew he had a collapsible baton, an ASP, on him somewhere. I could see his fire-colored eyes; of all the clan tigers, the black and red had the most inhuman-looking eyes. He was part black tiger and his eyes and black curls showed that. The white tiger part of his mixed heritage only showed in the few white curls scattered through the black.

“Now I’m doing it because his friend’s behind me with a knife.”

“Damian, would you really stab him?” Domino asked.

“If he hurts Nathaniel, yes.”

“Are you really going to hurt Nathaniel, Bobby Lee?”

“I guess not.”

“Then everyone put their knives up,” Domino said.

“Yeah, what he said,” I said, because I had no idea how things had gotten so out of hand. Normally I’d have picked someone to take out and de-escalate without needing help, but it was Nathaniel and Bobby Lee. One I didn’t want to hurt, and the other one I didn’t want to throw down on, because I wasn’t sure I’d win. They were usually two of my most dependable and reasonable people. Damian was usually reasonable, too, and usually had to obey any direct order I gave him. What the hell was wrong with all of them?

“If Damian puts his knife up, I’ll be happy to,” Bobby Lee said.

Domino was standing nearly beside the vampire as he said, “How about it, Damian?”

He stared down at the knife in his hand, as if he’d just seen it. “I don’t know why I did that.”

Nathaniel’s voice was very careful, and suddenly I could feel the press of the blade against his throat as if it were mine. “I think it was my fault.”

“First, Damian puts his knife away, and then Bobby Lee is going to take the knife away from Nathaniel’s throat, and then we’re going to talk about what just happened and try to figure out why,” I said; my voice wasn’t as steady as Domino’s, but it was clear and understandable.

“I don’t have to obey you anymore,” Damian said, and he sounded almost befuddled, not himself.

“I’m not telling you as your master vampire. I’m telling you to put the knife up as your queen, your boss, or your boss’s wife. I don’t care, but I know that I have more authority in this room than anybody else, and we are not going to be this stupid. Put the fucking knife up, now!” My anger came fresh and hot and my beasts coiled around it as if they were warming their hands on it. They threw little bits of their own frustration, trying to make it blaze higher. Trapped. We’re trapped. We need out. How dare they threaten our mate? How dare they threaten us? How dare they . . .

I must have lost a few minutes fighting for control, because when I could “see” the room again Nathaniel and Bobby Lee were standing beside each other, not fighting. Damian must have handed his blade over to Domino, because he was holding a naked blade, and he had a gun still nicely holstered and visible.

Damian said, his voice calm and even, the way you talk someone down off a ledge, “I don’t know what made me draw my knife on Bobby Lee, so I gave it to Domino until we figure this out.”

I nodded, and let out a long, slow breath. My beasts were still huddled around my anger, eager to make it worse, so they could come out to play. The newest beast, the rat with its black eyes shining in the dark, wasn’t getting along well with everyone else. Rats would eat anything, including people, but they were prey animals, too. My beasts didn’t like having food inside with them, especially food that they couldn’t rend and tear and eat.

We’d wanted to give me a beast that could come and help me in its natural form if I lost all my guards, but no one had asked how my inner leopard, wolf, lion, hyena, and rainbow of tigers felt about adding a new beast. It had never occurred to me to go into meditation as I’d been taught by my spiritual mentor, Marianne, and get everyone else’s furry opinion. This was the first time I’d taken a new beast on voluntarily, and could have asked first. It had never occurred to me to ask until this moment when they exploited a weakness of mine to be loud enough to demand to be heard. Fuck.

“What’s wrong, Anita?” Nathaniel asked, and his voice sounded like him again. He was part of my calm center again.

I shook my head. “One problem at a time. What did you mean about Damian and all this being your fault?” I asked.

“I was angry, but part of me knew that Bobby Lee is better than I am at fighting, so I was scared and angry.”

“I felt that,” Damian said, “and I knew I needed to protect you.” He sounded like he was repeating a memory, not something that had just happened.

“And the anger may have been me,” I said. They all looked at me. “The emotions just now stripped some of my control away and let my beasts talk to me.”

All the wereanimals in the room said in unison, “Talk to you?”

“I translate it to words, but I’m not sure . . . Anyway, they’re upset about the newest addition.”

“What do you mean, the newest addition?” Damian asked.

“You mean the rat?” Bobby Lee asked.