We walked with me supporting Edward. It meant a lot to me that he was trusting enough to let me help him. In the main room the vamps, wolves, and leopards sat waiting for us. All eyes turned to us. It was unnerving. I could only imagine how Edward felt.
“Belle’s gone for sure this time,” I announced. Jean-Claude nodded. “She didn’t want to let go of Edward, so we came to an agreement.”
“What sort of agreement, ma petite?” asked the dark-haired vampire.
“I told her we’d try our best not to kill any more of the Council or her people, unless it’s self defense. And she has to meet our requirements with whatever people she sends here.”
“Very good. Belle Morte is very persistent when it comes to getting her way in things.”
“So everyone’s okay?” I asked the group. “I don’t have to play exorcist anymore?” They all shook their heads and murmured thanks. “I’m going to brief Edward. Again. Then I’m leaving. Whoever wants to stay can stay; everyone else can go home with me.” That said, I led Edward to one of the sitting rooms where we could have some privacy.
I sank down into one of the overstuffed chairs. He sat stiffly on the room’s couch. Blank mask in place, he watched me with cold eyes. “Alright, Anita. Start explaining.”
“I’ll go over everything that’s happened this week. You can ask questions when I’m done. No interrupting.” He nodded and I began. “You came to me after a cryptic phone call, saying you needed a friend to talk to. We talked. Then you revealed that you’d been attached by a lycanthrope, a leopard, bad enough to probably be infected. You asked, at gunpoint, to kill you or you’d do it yourself. After calming down, we discussed the options. You left; I talked to the pard. Later you came back, and the ardeur hit. I was able to go after Cherry instead of you. But then you went ape shit, saying you were in love with me and had to be with me. Zane knocked you out with tranquilizer and we tied you up, put you in the basement. Oh, did I mention that you told me you’d gotten attached on purpose so you would be my leopard?”
“I what?” he asked in disbelief.
“Let me finish. I went to check on you and the ardeur struck again.” I squirmed, uncomfortable with telling him what had happened next. “We…had sex. That’s when I sensed that Belle Morte was in your mind. She’s the head of Jean-Claude and Asher’s bloodline. She is one powerful bitch. I called Jean-Claude and he said to bring you to the Circus. I tranqued you again, and Asher helped me transport you. The vamps and I tried to figure out Belle’s plan. Jean-Claude attempted to break his Master’s control of you, but ended up getting sucked in. So did Asher, but not until later. The weres reconvened at my house and we did some more planning. Ultimately, we ended up back at the Circus. Micah, Damian, and I managed to raise enough power to drive Belle out of the vamps. We thought you were okay too, at first. Then you tried to kill me. Again.” I swear I saw a grin on Edward’s face. “Belle was still controlling you, and I made a deal with her to get her to leave. She left, and that brings us up to date.” I paused to breathe. “Now you can ask questions.”
“Did I get attacked by a lycanthrope or not?”
“You don’t remember?”
He shook his head. “I remember getting a call about a hit. I remember traveling out of state. I even remember killing something. But everything after that is jumbled. I think I was in a warehouse set up like a makeshift hospital. There were a few different people coming and going.”
“I was hoping you would remember everything once you were back to normal. I can ask Jean-Claude if there’s anything we can do to jog your memory. We can also take you to the lycanthrope hospital and have Dr. Lillian give you a blood test.”
“No, I don’t need a test,” he said. “It was just a panther that attacked me. Not a were. I’m not infected.”
Relief washed through me. “Good.”
“Let’s go back to the part where we had sex.”
Shit. “Do you know what the ardeur is?”
‘No.”
“It’s a side effect of the marriage of the marks between me and Jean-Claude. Basically it’s the need for lust, to feed off of it like a vampire would blood. I had the bad luck of inheriting it. I thought I had it under control, but since Belle is master of Jean-Claude and me by default, she can control it as well. She made me go after you. We’re still not sure why. Jason and Asher thought that maybe she was trying to get me pregnant.”
“You’re not, are you?” There was genuine concern on Edward’s face. In fact, he looked a little green.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think so. I bought a pregnancy test to take next week if I need to.”
“I’m still not clear on why I got picked to be possessed by some crazy vampire bitch.”
“Neither is anyone else. The only thing I can think of was that she was trying to get us to kill each other. With Death and the Executioner out of the way, it’d be easier for her to take over St. Louis. Plus she likes to make trouble. I’d say she succeeded.”
Edward frowned. “So that’s it? Everything is back to normal?”
“Yup.”
“I’m not a wereleopard, you’re not pregnant, I’m not in love with you, nobody else is possessed, we’re not going to kill each other…right?”
“That just about sums it up.”
He slowly shook his head. “This has been one fucked-up week,” he said. I agreed.