Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter #16 - Blood Noir (12 page)

He let go of my hand long enough to hug her. She wrapped her arms around him, her hand patting the back of his hair as she broke away from him. She tugged at his suit, putting it back in place as if she’d mussed him.

“You look good,” she said.

Jason nodded, and reached back for me. I came to his hand. “This is Anita Blake. Anita, this is my mom, Iris.”

I shook Iris Schuyler’s hand. It was about the same size as mine. Her handshake was a bare touch, then away, as if she didn’t shake hands much.

“I’m being silly,” she said, and she hugged me. I fought not to be stiff in the embrace. I don’t like being touched by strangers. I also wondered if she’d find the gun, but luckily she hugged like she shook hands: barely. It was a nice awkward hug on both sides. I did my best, and found the suit loose on her frame, as if she’d lost a lot of weight recently.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Schuyler,” I said, as I got to go back to Jason. Unlike his mom, I could lie with the best of them.

“Iris, please, call me Iris.”

“Then you have to call me Anita,” I said.

“Anita,” she said, and she touched me again, on the arm.

I managed to keep my smile, but it was a little strained. God, was his family one of those touchy families? Richard’s family was like that. I’d made peace with the fact that Richard’s mother would hug me, and touch me, but I never liked it. The men behaved better because of the whole sexual taboo thing. But Richard’s mother and his sister were both touchers. Eeeh. file://L:\Azures L_Disc Shared Dowloads\EBooks\Anita Blake Series 1-17\(Book16] - Bl... 10/18/2009

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Jason put his arm around my waist and drew me tight in against him. Either he’d picked up my discomfort or his own had gotten worse. Either way, I was okay with it. Jason had permission to touch me.

Jason’s mother took his free hand and led us toward the room she’d come out of. I didn’t like her leading him by the hand like a child. But I let it go; one, I wasn’t really his girlfriend-girlfriend, and two, her husband was dying, so maybe she’d earned the right to hold her son’s hand. A woman whose hair was almost as black as my own came out of the room. She was tall and broad-shouldered, but still gave the impression of delicacy of bone. She wore jeans and a T-shirt with some sort of slogan on it. She saw us and gave a glad cry of “Jason!”

The next thing I knew, she and Jason were hugging. She damn near smothered him in a nice chest. The height difference was considerable, with her on the tall end. Jason drew back enough to say, “Anita, this is my sister Julia.”

Sister? No one in my family hugged their brother like that. Then I got a Julia hug, and realized it wasn’t the least bit sexual. She was just one of those enthusiastic huggers. I was the same height as Jason, so I had more proof than I wanted that she was about as well-endowed as I was. Dear God, even Richard’s family wasn’t this touchy-feely.

Jason laughed and rescued me. “Let her breathe, sis.”

Julia backed off, but kept an arm around my shoulders. “It’s just so good to see you, little brother. And I don’t think you’d have brought a girl home if it wasn’t serious.” She hugged me again, a little less furiously, but still I was really wondering how to get away from her. Her shirt said
Browning and Schuyler Gardening Center
with a few plants done in line art. The shirt was a shade of yellow that most people couldn’t have worn, but it looked fine with her coloring, and great with her summer tan. It looked like she’d tan almost as dark as Richard’s family, and they had American Indian in their background.

I wondered if Julia was a half-sister.

“You run the gardening center?” I asked, hoping to distract her from the hugging.

“Me and my hubby, Brian. He’s minding the store so I could come visit Dad.” The sunshine faded a little from her big brown eyes. It was like watching a flower sag from lack of water; you just knew if some good news came soon she’d perk back up.

“Let—Anita—go—sis.” Jason said it laughing. He took my hand and drew me away from his sister.

She flashed him a grin. I knew that grin. It was a totally different face, but the grin, that was Jason’s.

I slid an arm around Jason’s familiar waist with a sense of relief. Strangers hugging me, aah.

“Hello, Jason.” A woman who looked too much like Julia not to be another sister stood in the doorway. She was wearing a navy business skirt suit with a white shell. Sort of a more conservative version of what I was wearing. I was betting she wasn’t wearing a gun under hers, though. file://L:\Azures L_Disc Shared Dowloads\EBooks\Anita Blake Series 1-17\(Book16] - Bl... 10/18/2009

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“Roberta, hi. This is Anita.” He led me forward, and she moved to meet us. I tensed for another hug, but she offered a hand instead.

She had a firm, but not too firm handshake. It felt like she shook hands a lot. I gave her a smile, grateful she hadn’t touched me more.

Conservative but nice makeup brought out the brown eyes that dominated her face. It was her best feature. Where Julia had a delicacy to her height, Roberta was tall. The bones of her face were too square for beauty. She’d done well with the makeup to sort of carve out the face she wanted you to see. She was attractive, but it was an almost masculine beauty, for lack of a better word. Where Julia’s hair had been carelessly cut just above her shoulders, Roberta’s was carefully styled past her shoulders.

“Are you really his girlfriend?” she asked me.

I let myself look startled. “Why would you ask that?”

Iris came up, touching Roberta’s arm. “You’re being rude.”

“No, I don’t want Dad upset.” She turned those eyes back to me. “Are you really Jason’s girlfriend, or just someone he brought here because Mom panicked?”

I looked at Jason. I was trying to figure out how to answer this question and not lie. I guess I simply hadn’t expected anyone to be this bold about it. “You in the habit of bringing girls home who aren’t your girlfriend?”

“I brought home a few fuck buddies, but other than that, no.”

“Jason,” his mother said, in that tone that mothers have that lets you know you’ve been naughty.

“Why are you being mean, Bobbi?” Julia asked.

“My name is Roberta,” she said, as if she had to say it a lot, “and I’m not being mean. I just want to be clear. Dad will know if you’re lying, Jason, and that will bother him more than the truth.”

The admin shook some hands and made herself scarce, going for the elevator. Peterson and the suit took up posts in the hallway. The young suit looked like he’d rather have taken the elevator with the admin. Peterson gave great blank face; all in a day’s work. Roberta’s dark eyes glanced at the men, then back to Jason. “You finally have your own guards, just like the rest of the Summerlands.”

“Roberta.” Iris said it like she meant it. That one word cracked into the sudden silence with more force than I thought Mrs. Schuyler had in her. Under that delicate exterior there were tougher bits. Good to know.

Roberta gave her mother a look almost as angry as the one she was flashing at Jason. I was beginning to think Roberta just wanted to be pissed at someone, anyone. Sometimes grief will do that to you, make you attack random targets.

“Tell Dad the truth, Jason,” she said in a softer, but still tight voice. file://L:\Azures L_Disc Shared Dowloads\EBooks\Anita Blake Series 1-17\(Book16] - Bl... 10/18/2009

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“And what is the truth, Roberta?” he asked, and his voice was flat and unfriendly. I don’t know if I’d ever heard him sound quite like that. No love lost between him and this sister.

“You’re gay, Jason.”

He laughed, but not like it was funny. “You and Dad have believed that since high school. I don’t know why, but you have. Mom says come home; bring a girlfriend if you’ve got one, so your father can die in peace. Can’t let him die thinking his only son is a faggot, can we?”

“He’d rather you just admit it.”

I raised a hand. “Can I say something here?”

Jason said, “Yes.” She said, “No.”

“Yes,” Jason said more vehemently.

“I’m his very good friend, Roberta. Your mother called him yesterday. I dropped everything to get on a plane and come out here with Jason. I wouldn’t do that if he wasn’t important to me.”

She gave me a look of damn near rage. I had no idea where this anger was coming from. “He always had a lot of fag-hag girlfriends.”

Iris and Julia both said, “Roberta!”

I stared at her openmouthed for a second.

“Thanks, Bobbi, love you as much as you love me,” Jason said.

She turned that rage-filled gaze to Jason. “I know you slept with girls in high school, but you slept with boys, too. That makes you gay, Jason.”

“Technically, that would make me bisexual, Bobbi. Would you or Dad tell me why you are convinced I slept with guys in high school?”

“I saw you.”

“One night, you think you saw me, and you told Dad, who always thought I was gay anyway. I told you then and I’ll tell you now, I wasn’t there. I don’t know what or who you think you saw, but I was with someone else.”

“Who? Just tell me who, and maybe I’ll believe you.”

“I promised her no one would ever know, and I keep my word.”

“Isn’t that convenient. I know what I saw.”

Jason’s hand started rubbing back and forth on my hip, gently. He was doing it to comfort himself, like all the lycanthropes do. The Browning at the small of my back forced him to put his hand low enough to touch my hip. My waist was used up with the hardware.

“Touch her all you want in public, it doesn’t change the truth.”

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“Look,” I said, “I don’t know what family problem I’ve walked into, but Jason and I are lovers.”

“And how many men are you sharing him with?”

“None,” I said.

She gave Jason a withering look. “You’ve got her fooled.”

Julia got between them at that point. “Bobbi, stop it. I know you’re hurt about Dad, but hurting Jason won’t save him.”

Roberta looked away from us. She shook her head. “I’ve got to get out of here.” She went, not for the elevator, but down the hallway. We watched her walk around the corner out of sight.

“I am so sorry, Anita,” Iris said.

Julia hugged Jason. “I believe she’s your girlfriend.”

“Thanks, but I’m betting that Dad will agree with Bobbi.”

Julia hugged him a little tighter, but her face showed the same thought. Julia, like her mother, I’d have played poker with any day of the week. Roberta, I wasn’t sure about yet. A deep voice came from the open door. “If you’re going to fight, do it where I can see it.”

Jason sighed and leaned in against me. He put his face against my neck. He breathed in the scent of my skin, the way you get a last breath of oxygen before diving into the depths. Iris went ahead of us, saying, “Frank, be nice.”

I was betting that Bobbi took after her father. Fun, fun, fun. file://L:\Azures L_Disc Shared Dowloads\EBooks\Anita Blake Series 1-17\(Book16] - Bl... 10/18/2009

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17

FRANK SCHUYLER TOOK
up most of the bed, so that his feet were sort of stranded over the edge of it, as if they hadn’t been able to find anything big enough to fit him. Even lying down he was obviously over six feet. But the cancer had left him almost nothing but the height. The strong bones of his face that had shown in Roberta’s face were prominent in the way that skeletons are. His eyes were deep sunken brown caves. He still had a head full of black hair and a mustache just as dark. Apparently, either he’d refused chemo or they hadn’t found the cancer in time for it to be worthwhile. He was hooked up to tubes in his arms and nose. The smell of death was heavy, but not worse than the corridor. Whatever was killing him hadn’t taken all his dignity with it, not yet at least.

“Jason’s come to visit, and he brought his girlfriend, isn’t that nice?” Iris tried for happy, but it came out strained.

“Hi, Dad,” Jason said in a flat voice.

“Why did you come?” his father asked.

Jason took a stronger grip on my hand. “Mom asked me to come.” His voice was still careful.

“You don’t have to hold the girl so tight,” the man in the bed said, in a voice that was so deep it was almost painful to hear. “You don’t have to pretend for me, Jason.” His voice was a lot less hostile than his eyes. Maybe he just couldn’t help the eyes.

Jason let go of my hand and put his arm around my waist, one hand on my hip below the gun. I played my hand back and forth on his side underneath his jacket, trying to give what comfort I could.

“I’ll hold Anita any way I like.”

“Roberta’s right, boy, you can touch the girl all you want in public. It’s what you do in private that matters.”

“What do you think I’ll be doing in private that I don’t do in public…Dad?” Jason asked, softly.

“Your mother told you to bring a girl home so I could die happy thinking my only son wasn’t a—” He stopped as if he wasn’t sure what word to end the sentence with.

“A what?” Jason said, still soft, but with an edge of anger to it. His otherworldly energy was beginning to creep along my skin where I touched him. Not good.

“A fruit,” Frank said.

“A fruit,” I said, and fought not to laugh. It was just one of those moments when the tension gets too high and you want to laugh.

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He looked at me as if I’d just appeared. “Sorry,” I said.

“You think it’s funny that my wife told him to bring you and lie to me. To lie to me on my deathbed, you think that’s funny?”

I bumped my head against Jason. “What do you want me to do?”

“Be yourself.”

I moved away enough to look at him. “You sure?”

He smiled. “Positive.”

I shrugged, still with my arm around him. I looked back to the man in the bed. I tried to think of a polite way to begin. “I think it’s funny that you think Jason is gay.”