Page 54 of Rafael (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 28)

Neva looked at me and there was a moment of staring into the starlit darkness of her eyes. The first time I’d looked into eyes like that I’d been rolled so completely that the vampire could have done anything to me, but now I stared into them and did not fall into them, because I had an answering power in my own eyes. I might owe one would-be goddess in New Mexico a thank-you note.

“What of our small brethren?” she asked.

“I thought your magic was controlling normal rats, but whatever they are, they aren’t normal.”

“They have always been here,” Neva said.

“The rats are part of the power here,” Claudia said.

“The magic has changed them as it changed me,” Neva said.

“Just to be clear, Claudia, you’re saying that Neva’s eyes have always glowed like this, it’s not new?”

“Since I first joined the rodere at eighteen.”

“And all the witches of the rodere have eyes like this?” I asked.

“When the power rides them.”

“Good to know,” I said out loud; in my head I thought,Good to know she’s not possessed by the same vampire that’s got Hector.

“It is getting late, we need to get Anita inside,” Claudia said.

“Yeah, if I have to fight my way through the crowd, we best get started,” I said.

“The fighting has already begun, Anita Blake,” Neva said. She walked past us, and the rats made room for her, spilling wide around her so she could walk and not worry about stepping on them. She walked away without glancing back at us, but one of the rats stood on its haunches and looked back for her. Could she see through its eyes? I looked at the rat and it looked back at me. We stared at each other. Its fur was black, darker than most of the others’. It stretched up tall, showing a small spot of white on its chest and a white paw. Its nose wiggled as it sniffed the air; did my magic smell different to it, or did Obsidian Butterfly’s power smell just like home? It settled back on all fours and looked at me. Again, there was that sense of too much mind staring back at me from the small body.

“The rat is looking at you,” Pierette said.

Claudia came to stand beside me. “We need to go inside,” she said.

I nodded at the profoundly serious-looking rat. “Is this normal for the rats here?”

“No, they never pay this much attention to anyone but the brujas.”

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I want you to come inside with me,” Claudia said.

“I’m asking him,” I said.

“You mean the rat?”

“Yes,” I said, still staring at the small pointed face.

It made a noise that I think that was supposed to be a squeak but sounded lower-pitched, like it would sing bass in rat choir. It turned and walked away, body longer and sleeker, as if it had lost some mass in the last few seconds.

“Bye,” I said, as if it could understand me.

The rat stopped and turned its upper body to look back and squeaked at me before racing away into the shadows.

“Did that sound like he saidbye?” I asked.

“No,” Pierette said.

“They don’t talk,” Claudia said.

“If you say so,” I said.

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