Danse Macabre

"And you did not just step away from me to go to anyone this submissive."

"Do you ever want to experience the ardeur again, Auggie?"

He looked puzzled for a moment, but I knew in a way diat that was an act. He might have been truly puzzled, but he worked at human facial expres­sions. "You know I do."

"Move the hand, or you won't ever touch me again."

We stared at each other for a moment, then he let me go. "I heard you were dangerous, powerful, and quick to kill. What none of my spies caught, is that your force of will is the most dangerous thing about you. God, your eyes, the determination in your eyes." He shook his head. "You mean it. You would truly cut me off because of this."

"Damn straight."

"Why, because I grabbed your arm?"

"Because you're acting like you own me. Nobody owns me."

Micah got off the love seat and started toward us. It drew Auggie's gaze

to him. "Your lion injured Travis and abused Noel. I think you owe them some consideration."

"Spoken like a leopard," Auggie said, "so practical, so willing to negoti­ate." He made those all sound like bad things.

"You really are very much your animal to call, aren't you?" Micah said.

Auggie nodded.

"For those of us who are confused, could you explain a little more?" I said.

Micah said, "Lions are the most aggressive society among all the cats. To be a lion is to be always ready to defend your place in the pride. Unless you are very dominant or very strong, or make people fear you enough to be left alone. Noel and Travis are lesser, and Auggie treats them as if he were a dominant lion. A few dominant lions in most prides mate with all the fe­males."

"Joseph's pride isn't run like that," I said, "it's closer to how the leopards run things."

Micah nodded. "Joseph's pride is the exception, Anita. Remember, I spent years trapped with a mixed group. It can take forever to do business with lions because everything is a pissing contest. Joseph thinks more like a leopard— very reasonable, especially for a lion."

"Pussy-whipped is what I heard," Auggie said. "His wife wouldn't toler­ate sharing."

"You know, Auggie, almost everything coming out of your mouth is just digging the hole deeper."

"What does diat mean?"

"You're on her shit list," Micah said, "and you keep digging yourself a deeper pile of shit." He actually smiled.

"What are you smiling at?" Auggie asked.

"I thought you might be a threat to our domestic arrangement, but you won't be able to behave yourself long enough to be a threat to any other man in Anita's life."

"Jean-Claude has already invited me down to sample the wares again."

"Sample the wares," I said, "what the fuck does that mean? Am I wares, things to be sampled? I don't fucking think so."

"See," Micah said, "you keep this up and you won't ever get the ardeur again."

Jean-Claude joined us. "You are being exceptionally careless with your words, Augustine. It isn't like you to be so impolitic."

"He's scared," Nathaniel said. He came in behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, pressing his nakedness against my back. I didn't have to

see his face to know the look. It was a look he'd only recently worn around me. Possessive, it said, mine, it said. I'll share, but it's mine. He usually only brought the look out when someone was behaving badly, or he didn't like them. I think we were all agreed on what we thought of Auggie. He was such bad news.

"Afraid of what, pussycat?" Auggie asked, disdain thick in his voice.

"Wanting Anita as badly as you do," Nathaniel said.

The comment made me tense, but he pressed himself even closer, and I relaxed against him. He rested his face touching mine, so we probably looked like one of those posed engagement shots. Auggie was right about one thing; Nathaniel could play games when he wanted to. He played less and less as he got more comfortable with his life, and himself, but he hadn't forgotten how to play.

"You don't like wanting anyone that much. You see it as a weakness," Nathaniel said, "and you're begi

I turned and looked at him, forcing him to move his head enough for us to make eye contact. "Do you find me difficult?"

He gri

I started to say how hard I'd worked to ensure that he wasn't dominated, then realized what the grin meant. He was teasing me. I tried to glare at him, but I wasn't serious enough for it to work.

"Do not let your unease be your undoing in this, Augustine," Jean-Claude said.

"What's that mean?" he asked.

"It means that if you continue to say and do such things to ma petite, then I will not be able to offer you the ardeur from her."

Auggie had a moment where something flashed through his eyes. For just a second I would have said it was fear. "Maybe I am being stupid, but I came to her looking for a Julia

Jean-Claude's face went very still. "Why would you say that?"

"I only saw you love two women in nearly six centuries, Jean-Claude. You don't choose to love Belle Morte, she chooses it for you. You chose to love Julia

"Did you come here thinking that if you pushed ma petite hard enough she would crack open and be gentle and feminine in the way of Julia

"It wasn't just you, Jean-Claude, but Asher, too. He never seemed to have a physical type, but personality; he liked gentle, laughing, comfortable women. Belle used to accuse him of being addicted to peasants, when it came to women."

"And you reasoned that if one woman had kept both of us happy, she must meet the criteria for both of us."

Auggie nodded.

"Logical," Jean-Claude said. "Wrong, but logical. I had forgotten that about you."

"Forgotten what?"

"That you tried to make of love and emotions something logical, some­thing that could be understood."

Auggie frowned at him. "You're making fun of me."

Jean-Claude shook his head. "No, but I would remind you that Asher went on his own and found Julia

"So I've got faulty data."

"If you like," Jean-Claude said.

Auggie looked at me, with Nathaniel still wrapped around me. "Micah's right. I think like a lion. I don't see Nathaniel as a problem, because he's sub­missive. I do feel the need to prove myself more dominant than the other dominants in your bed. But, damn, there are a lot of them."

I shrugged, holding Nathaniel's arms like you'd keep a shawl from spilling down your arms. "Is that why you tried to grab Micah, and why you stared at him like he was some kind of hooker?"

Auggie shrugged. "Maybe."

"I don't dig the macho shit, Auggie. Flex your dominance on your own time, not on mine."

Auggie pointed behind us, turning us all to look at Noel. He was still on all fours waiting to be noticed. "You say your local Rex doesn't run his pride the way most do."

"He doesn't," Micah said.

"His lion is reacting like he knows the rules."

"Joseph's pride know how to be lions. They just don't do that whole Serengeti-plains-dominance-fight at each kill," Micah said.

"That's what it means to be a lion," Auggie said.