Page 6 of Rafael (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 28)

“He’s not my boo either,” I said, and wondered if I was protesting a bit too much.

Rafael gave me a look, as if he was wondering the same thing, which pissed me off and made me draw my face back, so I wasn’t resting on his hand.

Benito said, “If he is so unimportant to you, then why do you risk Rafael’s life because of the mess Asher has caused with the local werehyenas?”

“Benito, it is not your place...” Rafael started to say.

“If not mine, then whose, my king? It is my sworn duty to keep you safe, but I cannot fight your challenges for you. If Anita would make you her rat to call, you would gain enough power to win against any challenger.”

“Why did you get another challenger this soon?” I asked.

It was Rafael’s turn to look away from me, as if he wasn’t sure what I’d see in his eyes. I grabbed the tank top and used it to pull him toward me. “You just fought a duel out of town two weeks ago. You’re a good king, a great leader, why is this one challenging you again so soon?” I’d learned that any challenger for rulership amongthe wererats, the rodere, had to give a reason for it, and the reason had to make sense to enough of the wererats for them to vote on it. If a challenger had a bogus reason for the fight, then they could just vote that the reason wasn’t good enough to risk their king.

“Tell her, Rafael,” Benito said.

“I am king here, not you!” His anger brought his beast like a line of heat across my skin. I had to let go of him and step back so I could do a few deep, even breaths. I couldn’t change shape for real, but I still carried the beasts inside me, and one of those was rat.

“You are my king, but she needs to know what is happening.”

“One of you tell me, because it’s starting to make me nervous.”

Rafael motioned at Benito. “You want to tell her, tell her.”

Benito looked startled as if he hadn’t expected that, but he recovered quickly and gave me very serious eyes. Whatever he was going to say, he didn’t expect me to like it. “The reason given for this challenge is that they are afraid that once you make Rafael your rat to call, all the wererats in the United States will be slaves to the vampires through Jean-Claude’s ties to you as his human servant.”

“The local clan here would know that’s not true,” I said.

“But I am no longer just the king of the St. Louis clan. I am king to all the wererats in this country, so they are all voting.”

I frowned at him. “How are all the wererats voting in time for the fight tonight?”

“Online, we created a poll online,” he said.

“How’s the voting going?”

“I am losing.”

“Jesus, I guess I can understand that if they don’tknow me or Jean-Claude personally, they’d be worried. They have no idea that we’re not evil bastards.”

“They know your reputation as a legal executioner of us, and they have seen the videos that people took in Colorado when you raised a zombie army,” Rafael said.

“If I say the bad necromancer raised his army of the undead first and I had to stop him, does that make it any better?” I smiled, hopefully playing to the fact that I was small and if I was willing to stoop to it, I could be adorable. I’d hated it for years, but some of the women in my life had taught me that feminine wiles weren’t just about sex, cuteness was its own superpower. If only I’d known about it years ago, or been willing to stoop to use it.

Rafael laughed, but Benito was made of sterner stuff. “Your reputation is fearsome, Anita. If you were Rafael’s mate, it would make him powerful, but you are engaged to Jean-Claude, you will be queen to the vampire king of this country. It frightens our people.”

“I carry just as much shapeshifter magic as vampire inside me,” I said.

“But they have seen you with your zombies online from people filming you with their phones. They have seen you on Jean-Claude’s arm in the engagement video and more and more interviews as the wedding gets closer, but you do not change form, and they have not seen you with us. They have not felt your power as leopard queen to Micah’s king. They have not felt the pull of your inner rat. They feel you feed on them through Rafael, and that scares the hell out of them.”

“I think that’s the longest speech I’ve ever heard you make,” I said.

“I must speak up for Rafael, for he will not.”

“The threat has to be serious for you to push like this, Benito. Is this new guy a really good fighter or something?”

Benito nodded.

“How good?” I asked.

---