Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter #16 - Blood Noir (46 page)

We sat there in our chairs, me holding Jason’s hand, him with his big hand on his son’s leg. The room was very quiet, only the whirrs and hush of the monitors on Jason, the faint drip of the various IVs, his and Jason’s. It was the kind of quiet that stretches out and makes your hair itch, because you know you need to say something, but nothing comes to mind. This wasn’t my father. This wasn’t my mess, but somehow I was the one sitting inches away from a dying man while he looked at his injured son.

“You’re not like most women,” he said.

I actually jumped a little, just from him breaking the silence. “What do you mean?” I asked. There, that was a good question, make him talk again.

“Most women need to talk. They hate silences.”

“Sometimes, yes, but I’m okay with quiet, especially when I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t know what to say to me?” he asked, giving me the full weight of those deep-set eyes.

“Not really,” I said.

He smiled, and squeezed Jason’s leg at the same time. “But you admit it, most people wouldn’t.”

I shrugged. “I’m not most people.”

“I heard you killed three men to save Jason,” he said, and this time he looked at Jason, not at me.

“Two vampires and one man, yes.”

He looked back at me, when he asked, “Does it matter to you that two of them were vampires?”

“Vampires are harder to kill; it makes the story more impressive.”

He almost smiled. “You are a strange woman.”

“Would any other kind be able to keep up with your son?”

He looked at Jason then, and a look more tender than anything I’d expected to see filled that harsh face. “We’ve always been too different to get along. I blamed, well, you know what I blamed.”

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I had no idea what he blamed, but I kept it to myself. I had the sense that I might learn something if I kept quiet.

“Why did they do this to Jason?” he asked.

“He took another beating for Keith Summerland, just like in school.”

“They did this because they thought Jason was Keith?”

“Yes.”

“Why did they want to do this to the Summerland boy?”

“Apparently, Keith was messing with someone else’s wife, and the husband took exception.”

Something crossed Frank Schuyler’s face, some pain that flitted through those dark, hooded eyes. “You know, don’t you?”

“I know a lot of things,” I said. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

He reached up to Jason’s hand, which was still in mine. He hesitated, as if he might put that large hand over both our hands. That seemed disturbing, so I moved my hand. I left Jason’s hand empty, and Frank Schuyler wrapped his big hand around Jason’s. He held his hand as if they were any father and son. It was a shame that Jason wasn’t awake to see it.

“Iris and I had separated. My fault, I’ve always had a temper. We dated while we were separated like most couples do, and when she got pregnant with Jason, we got back together. He was our reconciliation baby.” He held Jason’s smaller hand in his large one, and stared down at his son.

“A lot of people get back together that way,” I said. I wasn’t sure where the story was going, but I wanted to hear it.

“I thought I finally had a son of my own. I thought that he just looked like Iris, until I saw the Summerland twins. Then I knew, I knew she’d been with Summerland.”

“Have you seen the kids in this town, Mr. Schuyler, most of Jason’s friends look like they were chipped off the Summerland block.”

He gave me an unfriendly look. “I asked Iris, and she didn’t deny that she’d dated him. The Summerlands were separated at the same time we were. It was a rough year in the town, tempers short. We all got back together because we thought we were going to have children.” He rubbed Jason’s hand with his fingers.

I realized then that I’d been slow. Jason had hinted at it, and there had been other things, but so many of the girls in the wedding had looked just as much like Jason. His mother looked like the Summerlands, for God’s sake.

“Jason said you were always mad at him, no matter what he did.”

He nodded. “That’s fair. It wasn’t just that he looked like the twins. He didn’t do sports. He danced. He was just so…”

“Not the son you wanted,” I finished for him.

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He gave me an unfriendly look again; this one had some real anger back in those dark eyes.

“You have no right to say that.”

Maybe it was because I was tired, or because I loved Jason and couldn’t understand why his own father didn’t love him, but I said what I was thinking, “I said it because it’s true.”

He glared at me, and I gave him empty cop eyes back. I was too tired to be angry. Finally, he looked away. “Maybe, all right, yes. Every man dreams of what his son will be like. I guess I wanted someone to carry on, and he seemed to be carrying on the Summerland values, not mine.” He kept holding Jason’s hand while he said it, though.

“Jason’s values are just fine,” I said.

“I’ve half-hated him all his life, blamed him for not being what I wanted him to be. When I heard he…I made them bring me down when he came into emergency. I saw him hurt.” He held on to Jason’s hand, tight. “I didn’t think,
There’s that Summerland bastard
. I thought,
There’s my boy,
dying
. I remembered his first Christmas, and how happy I was. It was before I knew. But when I saw him like that, I thought about him when he was little. I thought about him in the plays and musicals in school. I realized that I’ve missed a lifetime with my son. I missed it and he was right here.”

I stared at him. It was a Hallmark moment. I didn’t trust Hallmark moments; they were usually fake. I watched the first tear glitter down Frank Schuyler’s face, and had to believe that he meant it. I guess sometimes miracles really do happen.

Then we got our second miracle. Jason said, “Dad,” in a voice that sounded so weak, so unJasonlike, but his eyes were open, and he repeated it. “Dad.”

Mr. Schuyler held his hand tight and said, “Jason, I’m here.”

I got up to leave them alone. Men need privacy when they finally break down. Jason said, in that weak voice, “Anita.”

I turned and looked at him. “I’ll be back.”

He managed a very weak smile, then said, “Love you.”

I smiled. “Love you, too.” I wasn’t sure if the love was for his father’s benefit, to prove his heterosexuality, or if it was simply true. We’d never be each other’s one and only, but I think we might always be each other’s now and then. I was okay with that, and so was Jason. What more did we need?

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56

JASON HEALED ENOUGH
to fly home. His father has had one of those amazing remissions that you get sometimes with cancer. The doctors don’t explain it, they can’t, but they’re giving him a little longer to live. Not cured, no, but months instead of weeks, maybe. A little less pain to deal with. Jason’s planning on flying back alone to visit them all in a week or so. My excuse for not going is work; besides, I think that Jason and his family can handle it on their own. The Master of the City of Charleston, South Carolina, mysteriously died. His human servant was Edmond, and his legal wife is Lorna. She’s free to marry Keith now, and if what I saw on the news is any indication, he’s going to do it. The marriage to Lisa is off, and I think Lisa is well out of it. So are the governor’s plans to run for president on a family conservative ticket. You can’t have your son being an adulterer with a vampire’s wife, and even worse marrying a vampire, and have it play well in the press.

Peterson told me that it was Chuck who used our room and us as a stalking horse for the vampires. Chuck’s defense: he thought we’d win. I guess no one expects vampires to use flash-bang grenades and tranquilizer darts. I’m still hoping to hurt Chuck in some way. I just haven’t figured out a justification for it that doesn’t seem petty, or illegal. If he vanished now, I think the cops would come knocking on my door.

J. J. is planning on visiting St. Louis and spending a few days with her old friend Jason. He’s the one man she’s never really gotten out of her system, and she’s the girl he might have married if she hadn’t liked girls as much as he did. They’re both still looking for Ms. Right. Maybe they’ll look together for a while. It was Jason’s fear of commitment that saved me from Richard’s version of the
ardeur
. But he’s pretty thrilled that J. J. is coming to visit. She’s already made noises that she’s cool with the vampire thing. Good to know.

I was cleared on the shooting. The two vampires actually had records as humans. They’d been bad guys when alive, and being dead had made them worse. The one guy really was a torturer. Someone you called in when you wanted information. He’d worked for some very bad people over the years. Apparently, in private, I’d done the world a favor. In public I was cleared, but we weren’t allowed to be so cheerful about it. I sleep just fine about killing them. My sleep is a little disturbed about Jason. I’ve had a few dreams where I find him on the floor again, or I realize it’s not Jason and it’s one of the other men in my life. Jason’s bunked over a couple of times; he’s sleeping rough, too. But he sleeps better when someone’s there to wake him from the nightmare, and cuddle him back to sleep, or as on a couple of mornings, get up with him and drink coffee in the kitchen. Nathaniel and I have been taking turns watching dawn come up through the trees with him. Jason is my wolf to call, which raises the possibility that I’ll be able to have an animal for each of my metaphysical beasts. Only the Master of Beasts, a vampire council member, has been able to do animals to call that are both canine and feline, oh, and he does rats, too. We’ll see how I do. file://L:\Azures L_Disc Shared Dowloads\EBooks\Anita Blake Series 1-17\(Book16] - Bl... 10/18/2009

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Jean-Claude let it be known through the undead grapevine that Jason and I will be punished for our indiscretion, once he’s healed. I already felt punished, and I hadn’t even done anything wrong. But we are doing what Jason had suggested, confirming the rumors. We’ve started with Asher, because that’s the easiest. Now it’s a matter of asking which of the men are okay with it being confirmed. Have you tried asking a heterosexual man if he’s okay that he and you acknowledge publicly that he’s bisexual, and does men? Not an easy sell.

Asher would be more thrilled if the truth were really the truth. We’ve set up a date between the three of us—Jean-Claude, Asher, and me—to see if that boundary can really come down, or if my head will explode. We’ll see.

I’ve agreed to be less of a pain in the ass in the outward vampire community so that it looks more like I’m being a good little human servant to Jean-Claude. Yeah, I know, how long can I behave myself? But I am trying. Jean-Claude says I get points for trying, since he knows it is opposite my personality. Gotta love a man who loves you in spite of, and sometimes because of, your little foibles. Rowe is being charged with kidnapping and attempted murder. You don’t have to wield the knife to be charged; just helping the killer get his victim is enough legally. Why did he do it? Some money, but mostly I scared him in the hallway with the
ardeur
. He was convinced I was a vampire and the only way to save himself was to get rid of me. Was he always a bad guy, or had the
ardeur
and I done something to him? No way to tell, but I take some blame for Rowe.

Max is still pissed I rolled Crispin, but Jean-Claude made noises that once Max knew how much our Jason looked like the Summerland boy, he should have warned us. Because, of course, Max knew about Keith and Lorna’s elopement. Max would never admit that he didn’t know, so the two Masters of the City traded insults, but we have a truce. We also have plans for Crispin to visit St. Louis. Not sure how I feel about that, but I did roll him, and at twenty-one, and very mortal, he doesn’t have the strength of will to break free of me. I owe him something, even if it was all accidental on my part. The weretigers cut me some slack because of the whole kidnapping hospital thing. But they are coming to St. Louis. Apparently, Crispin and Alex Pinn have gained power from being with me—

powers that are only legend among the tiger clans now. But it isn’t me who did it. I know it was Marmee Noir. I don’t know what she’s up to, but she wants the tigers, and she’s using me to get them. The call has gone out, and to the tigers I made the call, so I’m stuck with the results, but I know who really called them. She woke me up when I was drugged. She helped me save Jason, sort of. She also cut me from a great distance with the claw of a cat that hasn’t walked the earth for a few thousand years. The marks are healing, but her being able to cut someone up from a distance is a power she hasn’t had in a while. Maybe the tigers aren’t the only ones gaining powers from dealing with me. The vampire council is voting on whether to kill her before she wakes. If anyone were asking me, I’d say do it. But I think she knows what they’re planning. I think the Mother of All Darkness is afraid. She’s still weak, still trapped somehow in that false sleep. If they try to kill her, will it work?

Can you kill the darkness itself? Can the night die? I don’t know. The really scary thing is that I don’t think the vampires know the answer either. Some are even afraid that if she does die, all vampires will die. That somehow she’ll take them all to the grave with her.

All I know for certain is that I asked for and got extra charms. I sleep, bathe, everything but make love to vampires in a cross and that charm. So far, so good, but good has nothing to do with the Mother of All Darkness. No, bad is definitely more her style. She saved my life, and by accident, file://L:\Azures L_Disc Shared Dowloads\EBooks\Anita Blake Series 1-17\(Book16] - Bl... 10/18/2009