Page 7 of Rafael (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 28)

“Good enough that I am frightened for my king and my friend.”

That scared me because Benito didn’t talk that way.

“Do you have so little faith in me in the fighting pit?” Rafael asked.

“You are good, incredibly good, my king. You were fierce today in practice.”

“But you do not think I am fierce enough to win against Hector.”

“I think you can win, but if the vote goes against you, then all the next challenger has to do is use the same excuse and they can simply challenge you time after time. No one is good enough to withstand that; eventually everyone loses. In a fight to first or even third blood it is a loss of reputation, but it is not fatal.”

“Can fights for the crown be to just third blood, the way lesser challenges are?” I asked. I couldn’t help looking at the black crown branded into Rafael’s forearm. It was the mark of kingship among the rodere and gave the St. Louis clan its name, the Dark Crown Clan.

Benito just shook his head.

“Is there anything else I need to know, while we’re being chatty?” I asked.

“Yes,” Benito said.

“No,” Rafael said.

“Benito,” I said.

“Please, my king, my friend, she must know that you broke one of our most sacred rules.”

“She does not change form, she is not a true wererat, so the rule does not apply.”

“Someone tell me the rule, so I can decide if it applies to me or not.”

The two men glared at each other. Claudia called from down the hallway. “Anita deserves to know.” I looked to see if Kane was with her, but she was alone. She musthave seen me look for him, because she added, “Helios is taking Kane through a new weight routine. I’ve got two extra guards with them. They’ll all get their weight lifting in for the day, and Kane will have enough people to sit on him if it’s needed.”

“If Kane is that dangerous to Anita, he must be put down,” Benito said.

“We can’t risk killing Asher,” I said.

“But you will risk killing Rafael,” he said.

“Benito, enough,” Rafael said.

“Please, Rafael, please, Anita needs to know,” Claudia said.

Claudia didn’t plead with anyone for anything. My stomach was suddenly tight with anxiety. Then I realized that Benito and Rafael had already given me enough clues. “I know that other than a few attack survivors or freak accidents, there is only one way to become part of the rodere. You must fight for it. I didn’t think about that applying to me, because I wasn’t asking to join the rodere.”

Claudia said, “Yes, if you were a normal human being who wanted to be one of us, you would have blades and fight one of us in half-beast form.”

“Not fight, Claudia,” Rafael said, “simply draw blood once, before one of us can bloody them three times.”

It was interesting that Rafael didn’t think of that as a fight, but I didn’t debate it, just said, “That’s one of the reasons you are all such bad-ass fighters, because you have to be to even get into the clan.”

“Exactly, but our king brought you over as if he was a leopard, or a lion, or any other animal group with a lover,” Benito said.

“It’s the only form of Therianthropy that I volunteered to take on, all the others were accidents or attacks.”

“I hate the new politically correct vocabulary,” Rafael said.

“The idea was that lycanthropy meant just werewolves, but Therianthropy means all forms,” I said.

“I know what the words mean, but we all understood thatlycanthropehad become the generic for all of us.”

---