“Yes.”
“By whom? Because it wasn’t one of us that complained,” Rafael said.
“Another marshal,” I said.
“If Anita would fight in the pits to just first blood with one of us, then she would have earned her place and that would slow the challenges,” Benito said.
“As her bodyguard, I can’t agree,” Claudia said.
“You guard her, but you are sworn to serve Rafael.”
“If we let them bully us into making Anita fight in the pit, our enemies could maneuver us into Anita being forced to fight a true battle. Not against one of us, but against one of our kind who could take the chance offered and hurt Anita badly.”
“Are they allowed to kill the human who’s fighting them?” I asked.
“No,” Claudia and Benito said.
“But the wererat is within their rights to demand that the human draw to third blood just as they must,” Rafael said.
“What happens if I lose?” I asked.
“Normally you would simply not be allowed to become one of us. If the next full moon doesn’t see the defeated human turn, then it is over,” Rafael said.
“And if a defeated human turns on the full moon?” I asked.
“They are hunted down and killed,” Benito said.
“Because they didn’t earn it,” I said.
He nodded.
“That is our way,” Rafael said.
“I don’t turn, I can’t turn, so even if I lose, I should be fine.”
“Jean-Claude will never allow you to risk yourself on the sands of our fighting pits,” Rafael said.
“He’s not the boss of me yet,” I said.
Rafael smiled. “I am not certain anyone will ever be the boss of you, Anita Blake, but I would not risk the alliances we have built up between all of us on something that will not stop the duels for kingship.”
“It would show that you still honor the ways of the rodere and that Anita respects our ways. That would calm some of the worst fears that you are abandoning our culture in favor of Micah and his leopards,” Benito said.
“Why Micah in specific?” I asked.
“He travels the country as head of the Coalition that is bringing unity to all the animal groups,” Benito said.
“Yeah, Micah is the poster boy for the cause of better relations between humans and Therianthropes, and all the flavors of shapeshifter,” I said.
“Some among my people think it should have been me in charge of the Coalition.”
I looked at Rafael. “You travel for the Coalition almost as much as Micah does now.”
“But I am still not the head of it, which has led to some saying I am his second-in-command. That Micah is becoming high king to all the beasts, as I became high king to all the wererats.”
“You run the wererats. Micah stays out of rodere business unless you ask for his help.”
“You know that and I know that, but the fearful among my people do not believe that, and my enemies actively tell the fearful that I am but a puppet for Micah and his lover Jean-Claude.”
“They are not lovers,” I said, automatically, but not like I expected anyone to believe it. You can’t prove someone didn’t do something, especially if it’s a really good rumor.
“Everyone standing here knows that,” Rafael said.
“It’s not if Micah is fucking Jean-Claude that is the problem, it is that our enemies say that Rafael is fucking him,” Benito said.
I stared up at him. “That’s a new rumor,” I said.
The three of them shook their heads.
“Okay, it’s new to me.”
“It reinforces the idea that if Rafael becomes even more closely bound to you and Jean-Claude, we will all be his for the taking,” Benito said.
“Jean-Claude isn’t into rape,” I said, and in my head I thought he’d suffered too much and too often at the hands of more powerful vampires over the centuries; it had left him with no taste for forcing himself where he wasn’t wanted, though admittedly he was around six hundred years old, so his idea of seduction was a little less than politically correct, but he did not do rape. Somewhere before the last deed was done the person had to say yes.
“Again, we have seen how fair Jean-Claude is, but our enemies have not,” Rafael said.
“Make Rafael your moitié bête, Anita. Give him enough power to defeat our shared enemies so decisively that they will fear to challenge him to the pits,” Benito said.
“You know why I haven’t.”
“Because Narcissus has sworn to kill Kane if you make me your rat to call before you make him your hyena to call,” Rafael said.
“Which risks killing Asher,” I said.
“I say again that Rafael is more important than the vampire,” Benito said.
“That is not your decision to make,” Rafael said.
“Wait, if I make Rafael my rat, won’t that just invite more challengers for the same reason as tonight’s fight? I mean he really will be more closely tied to Jean-Claude afterward.”
“They will challenge him afterward, but once they see what his new power level can do to an opponent, that will be the end of the duels,” Benito said.
“There is no way to know that for certain, Benito,” Rafael said.
“I am certain of it.”
“That whole Asher problem,” I said.
“Then make Narcissus your hyena to call and then Rafael your rat to call. You are not like most vampires, Anita, you can have as many moitié bêtes as you have beasts inside you.”
I’d have liked to argue the whole vampire question, since I didn’t feed on blood, but I did have to feed on either anger or lust, or I stopped healing as well. I didn’t make the legal definition of vampire, but then no energy vampire met the legal criteria. “I don’t want to tie myself to Narcissus, he’s almost as crazy obsessive with Asher as Kane is, so no thanks. I don’t want that much drama llama tied to me for all eternity.”
“Then tell Narcissus that and seal your bargain with us, Anita,” Benito said.
“It’s not that simple, Benito.”
“Everything is simple if you do not complicate it,” he said.
I wasn’t sure what I would have said to that, because Rafael said, “I would take your kisses and more with me tonight. I do not want to argue away the time we might have.”