"Hamilton,.Laurell.K.-.Anita.Blake.-.12.-.Incubus.Dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Laurell K)

I was the first human Nimir-Ra in the wereleopardsТ long history. Though since I raise the dead for a living and am a legal vampire executioner, there are people whoТll argue the human part. TheyТre just jealous.
I started to pull him in against me for a hug, but he gave a small shake of his head. He was right. He was right. If just holding his hand sped my pulse like candy on my tongue, then a hug would be bad. Through a series of metaphysical accidents, I held something close to the beast that lived in Micah. That beast and MicahТs beast knew each other, knew each other in the way of old lovers. That part of us that was not human knew each other better than our human halves. I still knew almost nothing about him, really. Even though we lived together. On a metaphysical level we were bound tighter than any ceremony or piece of paper could make us; in real everyday life, I was wondering what to do with him. He was the perfect partner. My other half, the missing piece. He complemented me in almost every way. And when he was standing this close, it all seemed so right. Give me a little distance and I would begin to wonder when the other shoe would drop and he would stop being wonderful. IТd never had a man in my life yet that didnТt spoil it somehow. Why should Micah be different?
He didnТt so much kiss me as lay the feel of his breath against my cheek. He breathed, УUntil later.Ф That one light touch made me shiver so violently that he had to steady me with a touch on my arm.
He smiled at me, that knowing smile that a man gives when he understands just how much his touch affects a woman. I didnТt like that smile. It made me feel like he took his time with me for granted. The moment I thought it, I knew it wasnТt true. It wasnТt even fair. So why had I thought it at all? Because I am a master at screwing up my own love life. If something works too well, IТve got to poke at it, prod it, until it breaks, or bites me. I was trying not to do that anymore, but old habits, especially bad ones, die hard.
Micah moved off down the line, and Detective Arnet gave me a questioning look out of her heavily painted but lovely eyes. She opened her mouth as if to ask if I were alright, but the next person in line distracted her. Nathaniel was distracting, no doubt about that.
Jessica Arnet was a few inches taller than NathanielТs 5Т6Ф, so she had to look down to meet that lavender gaze. No exaggeration on the color. His eyes werenТt blue, but truly a pale purple, lavender, spring lilacs. He wore a banded-collar shirt that was almost the same color as his eyes, so the lavender was even more vibrant; drowningly beautiful, those eyes.
He offered his hand, but she hugged him. Hugged him, because I think for the first time she was in a public situation where no one would think it was strange. So she hugged him, because she could.
There was a fraction of a momentТs hesitation, then he hugged her back, but he turned his head so he could look at me. His eyes said clearly, Help me.
She hadnТt done that much yet, just a hug where a handshake would have done, but the look in NathanielТs eyes was much more serious than what sheТd done. As if it bothered him more than it should have. Since in his day job heТs a stripper, youТd think heТd be used to women pawing him. Of course, maybe that was the point. He wasnТt at work.
She stayed molded to his body, and he stayed holding, with only that mute look in his eyes to say he was unhappy. His body seemed happy and relaxed in the hug. He never showed Jessica Arnet his confused eyes.
The hug had gone on longer than was polite, and I finally realized what part of the problem was. Nathaniel was the least dominant person IТd ever met. He wanted out of the hug, but he could not be the first one to pull back. Jessica had to let him go, and she was probably waiting for him to move away, and getting all the wrong signals from the fact that he wasnТt moving away. Shit. How do I end up with men in my life who have such interesting problems? Lucky, I guess.
I held out my hand toward him, and the relief on his face was clear enough that anyone down the hall would have seen it, and understood it. He kept his face turned so Jessica never saw that look. It would have hurt her feelings, and Nathaniel didnТt want to hurt anyoneТs feelings. Which meant that he didnТt see her shining face, all aglow with what she thought was mutual attraction. Truthfully, IТd thought Nathaniel liked her, at least a little, but his face said otherwise. To me, anyway.
Nathaniel came to my hand like a scared child whoТs just been saved from the neighborhood bully. I drew him into a hug, and he clung to me, pressing our bodies tighter than I would have liked in public, but I couldnТt blame him, not really. He wanted the comfort of physical contact, and I think heТd figured out that Jessica Arnet had gotten the wrong idea.
I held him as close as I could, as close as IТd wanted to hold Micah. With Micah, it might have led to embarrassing things, but not with Nathaniel. With Nathaniel I could control myself. I wasnТt in love with him. I caressed the long braid of his auburn hair that fell nearly to his ankles. I played with the braid, as if it were other more intimate things, hoping that Jessica would take the hint. I should have known that a little extra hugging wouldnТt have done the job.
I drew back from the hug first, and he kept his gaze on my face. I could study his face and understand what she saw there, so handsome, so amazingly beautiful. His shoulders had broadened in the last few months, from weight lifting, or just the fact that he was twenty and still filling out. He was luscious to look at, and I was almost certain he would be nearly as luscious in bed. But though he was living with me, cleaning my house, buying my groceries, running my errands, I still hadnТt had intercourse with him. I was really trying to avoid that, since I didnТt plan on keeping him. Someday Nathaniel would need to find a new place to live, a new life, because I wouldnТt always need him the way I did now.
I was human, but just as I was the first human Nimir-Ra the leopards had ever had, I was also the first human servant of a master vampire to acquire certain . . . abilities. With those abilities came some downsides. One of those downsides was needing to feed the ardeur every twelve hours or so. Ardeur is French for flame, roughly translates to being consumed, being consumed by love. But it isnТt exactly love.
I stared up into NathanielТs wide lilac eyes, cradled his face between my hands. I did the only thing I could think of that might keep Jessica Arnet from embarrassing them both at the reception to follow. I kissed him. I kissed him, because he needed me to do it. I kissed him because it was strangely the right thing to do. I kissed him because he was my pomme de sang, my apple of blood. I kissed him because he was my food, and I hated the fact that anyone was my food. I fed off Micah, too, but he was my partner, my boyfriend, and he was dominant enough to say no if he wanted to. Nathaniel wanted me to take him, wanted to belong to me, and I didnТt know what to do about it. Months from now the ardeur would be under control and I wouldnТt need a pomme de sang. What would Nathaniel do when I didnТt need him anymore?
I drew back from the kiss and watched NathanielТs face shine at me the way Jessica ArnetТs face had shone at him. I wasnТt in love with Nathaniel, but staring up into that happy, handsome face, I was afraid that I couldnТt say the same for him. I was using him. Not for sex, but for food. He was food, just food, but even as I thought it, I knew it was partly a lie. You donТt fall in love with your steak, because it canТt hold you, canТt press warm lips in the bend of your neck, and whisper, УThank you,Ф as it glides down the hallway in the charcoal gray slacks that fit its ass like a second skin and spill roomy over the thighs that you happen to know are even lovelier out of the pants than in. When I turned to the next smiling person in line, I caught Detective Jessica Arnet giving me a look. It wasnТt an entirely friendly look. Great, just great.


2

The Halloween Theme continued into the reception hall. Orange and black crepe paper streamers dangled everywhere; cardboard skeletons, rubber bats, and paper ghosts floated overhead. There was a fake spiderweb against one wall big enough to hang someone from. The table centerpieces were realistic looking jack-o-lanterns with flickering electric grins. The fake skeletons were long enough to be a hazard to anyone much taller than I was. Which meant most guests were having the tops of their hair brushed by little cardboard skeleton toes. Unfortunately, Tammy was 5Т8Ф without heels, with heels she got her veil tangled with the decorations. The bridesmaids finally got TammyТs veil unhooked from the skeletal toes, but it ruined the entrance for the bride and groom. If Tammy had wanted the decorations safe for the tall people, she shouldnТt have left it to Larry and his brothers. There wasnТt a one of them over 5Т6Ф. DonТt blame me. Groomsman or not, I hadnТt helped decorate the hall. It was not my fault.
There were other things that I was going to get blamed for, but they werenТt my fault either. Well, mostly not my fault.
IТd escorted Jessica Arnet into the room. She hadnТt smiled at me as I led her into the room. SheТd looked way too serious. When TammyТs veil was safely secure once more, Jessica had gone to the table where Micah and Nathaniel were sitting. SheТd leaned into Nathaniel, and when I say leaned, I mean it. Like leaned on him, so that the line of her body touched his shoulder and arm. It was bold and discreet at the same time. If I hadnТt been watching for it, I might not have realized what she was doing. She spoke quietly to him. He finally shook his head, and she turned and wove her way through the small tables full of guests. She took the last empty seat at the long table where the wedding party was trapped. The last empty chair was beside me. We got to sit down in the order weТd entered. Goody.
In the middle of the toasts, after LarryТs brother had made the groom blush, but before the parents had had their turns, Jessica leaned over close enough that her perfume was sweet and a little too much.
She whispered, УDoes Nathaniel really live with you?Ф
IТd been afraid the question would be hard. This one was easy. УYes,Ф I said.
УI asked if he was your boyfriend, and he said that he slept in your bed. I thought that was an odd way to answer.Ф She turned her head so I was suddenly way too close to her face, those wide-searching hazel eyes. I was struck again by how lovely she was, and felt stupid for not noticing sooner. But I didnТt notice girls, I noticed boys. So sue me, I was heterosexual. It wasnТt her beauty that struck me, but the demand, the intelligence, in her eyes. She searched my face, and I realized that no matter how pretty she was, she was still a cop, and she was trying to smell the lie here. Because she had smelled one.
She hadnТt asked me a question, so I didnТt answer. I rarely got in trouble by keeping my mouth shut.
She gave a small frown. УIs he your boyfriend? If he is, then IТll leave it alone. But you could have told me sooner, so I wouldnТt have made a fool of myself.Ф
I wanted to say, You didnТt make a fool of yourself, but I didnТt. I was too busy trying to think of an answer that would be honest and not get Nathaniel and me in more trouble. I settled for the evasion heТd used. УYes, he sleeps in my bed.Ф
She gave a small shake to her head, a stubborn look coming over her face. УThat isnТt what I asked, Anita. YouТre lying. YouТre both lying. I can smell it.Ф She frowned. УJust tell me the truth. If you have a prior claim, say so, now.Ф
I sighed. УYeah, I have a prior claim, apparently.Ф
The frown deepened, putting lines between the pretty eyes. УApparently? What does that mean? Either heТs your boyfriend, or heТs not.Ф
УMaybe boyfriend isnТt the right word,Ф I said, and tried to think of an explanation that didnТt include the words pomme de sang. The police didnТt really know how deeply involved with the monsters I was. They suspected, but they didnТt know. Knowing is different from suspicion. Knowing will hold up in court; suspicion wonТt even get you a search warrant.
УThen what is the right word?Ф she whispered, but it held an edge of hiss, as if she were fighting not to yell. УAre you lovers?Ф
What was I supposed to say? If I said, yes, Nathaniel would be free of JessicaТs unwanted attentions, but it would also mean that everyone on the St. Louis police force would know that Nathaniel was my lover. It wasnТt my reputation I was worried about, that was pretty much trashed. A girl canТt be coffin-bait for the Master of the City and be a good girl. Most people feel that if a woman will do a vampire, sheТll do anything. Not true, but there you go. No, not my reputation at stake, but NathanielТs. If it got out that he was my lover, then no other woman would make a play for him. If he didnТt want to date Jessica, fine, but he needed to date someone. Someone besides me. If I wasnТt going to keep Nathaniel forever, like almost death-do-you-part ever, then he needed a bigger social circle. He needed a real girlfriend.
So I hesitated, weighing a dozen words, and not finding a single one that would help the situation. My cell phone went off, as I fumbled for it, to stop the soft, incessant ringing, I was too relieved to be irritated. It could have been a wrong number at that moment, and I still would have felt I owed them flowers.
It wasnТt a wrong number. It was Lieutenant Rudolph Storr, head of the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team. He had opted to be on duty during the wedding so that other people could attend. HeТd asked Tammy if she was inviting any nonhumans, and when sheТd said she didnТt like that term, but if he meant lycanthropes, the answer was yes, Dolph had suddenly decided heТd be on duty and not come to the wedding. He was having a personal problem with the monsters. His son was about to marry a vampire, and that vampire was trying to persuade DolphТs son to join her in eternal life. To say that Dolph was not taking it well was an understatement. HeТd trashed an interrogation room, manhandled me, and damn near gotten himself brought up on charges. IТd arranged a dinner with Dolph, his wife, Lucille, their son, Darrin, and future daughter-in-law. IТd persuaded Darrin to put off the decision to join the undead. The wedding was still on, but it was a start. His son still being among the living had helped Dolph deal with his crisis of faith. Deal with it enough that he was talking to me again. Deal with it enough that he called me in on a case again.
His voice was brisk, almost normal, УAnita?Ф
УYeah,Ф I whispered, cupping the phone with my hand. It wasnТt like every cop in the place, which was most of the guests, wasnТt wondering who I was talking to, and why.
УGot a body for you to look at.Ф
УNow?Ф I made it a question.
УThe ceremony is over, right? I didnТt call in the middle of it.Ф
УItТs over. IТm at the reception.Ф
УThen I need you here.Ф
УWhereТs here?Ф I asked.
He told me.
УI know the strip club area across the river, but IТm not familiar with the club name.Ф