Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson #4)(52)
Author: Patricia Briggs

Mary Jo saw the resemblance and grinned. She turned to say something to Paul, I thought, when a surprised look came over her face, and she just dropped. Alec caught her before she hit the floor as if this wasn’t the first time she’d done something like that. Leftovers from the close brush with death, I hoped, not something the vampires were doing.

Stefan left me for Mary Jo. He touched her throat, ignoring Alec’s silent snarl.

"Relax," Stefan told the wolf. "She will take no harm from me."

"She’s been doing that a lot," Adam told him. That he didn’t step between his vulnerable pack member and the vampire was an unsubtle message.

"She’s waking up," Stefan said just before her eyes fluttered open.

And only after Mary Jo was clearly awaken did Stefan look at Marsilia.

"Come to the chair, Soldier," she told him.

He stared at her for so long that I wondered if he would do it. He might love her, but he didn’t like her very much at the moment – and, I hoped, didn’t trust her either.

But he patted Mary Jo’s knee and walked out to where Marsilia waited for him.

"Wait," she told him before he sat down. She looked at the stands across from us, where the vampires and their food sat. "Do you want me to question Estelle, first? Would that make you happier?"

I couldn’t tell who she was speaking to.

"Fine," she said. "Bring Estelle here."

A door I hadn’t noticed opened on the far side of the room and Lily, the gifted pianist and quite insane vampire who never left the seethe and Marsilia’s protection, came in carrying Estelle like a new groom carried his bride over the threshold. Lily was even dressed in a frothy white mass of lace that could have been a wedding dress to Estelle’s dark suit. Though I’d never seen a bride with blood all over her face and down her gown. If I were a vampire, I think I’d only wear black or dark brown – to hide the stains.

Estelle hung limp in Lily’s arms, and her neck looked like a pack of hyenas had been chewing on her.

"Lily," Marsilia chided. "Haven’t I told you about playing with your food?"

Lily’s sapphire eyes glittered with a hungry iridescence visible even in the overly brightly lit room.

"Sorry," she said. She skipped a couple of steps. "Sorry, ‘Stel." She smiled whitely at Stefan, then she plopped Estelle’s limp form on the chair, like a doll. She moved Estelle’s head so it wasn’t flopped to the side, then straightened her skirt. "Is that good?"

"Fine. Now be a good girl and go sit next to Wulfe, please."

Lilly had been in her thirties, I thought, when she was killed, but her mind had stopped developing far earlier. She smiled brightly and skipped over to Wulfe and bounced down to the seat beside him. He patted her knee, and she put her head on his shoulder.

As with Bernard, Marsilia stuck Estelle’s hands on the thorns. The limp vampire came to shrieking, screaming life as soon as her second hand was pierced.

Marsilia allowed it for a minute, then said, "Stop," in a voice that fired like a.22. It popped but didn’t thunder.

Estelle froze midscream.

"Did you betray me?" Marsilia asked.

Estelle jerked. Shook her head frantically. "No. No. No. Never."

Marsilia looked at Wulfe. He shook his head. "If you control her enough to keep her on the chair, Mistress, she can’t answer with truth."

"And if I don’t, all she does is scream." She looked into the bleachers. "As I told you. You can try it yourself if you choose? No?" She pulled Estelle’s hands off the chair. "Go sit by Wulfe, Estelle."

A Hispanic man came to his feet on one of the seats behind me. He had a tear tattooed just below one eye and he, like Wulfe, hopped down to the floor via the seats, though without Wulfe’s grace. It was more as if he fell slowly down the bleachers, landing on hands and knees on the unforgiving floor.

"Estelle, Estelle," he moaned, brushing by me. He was human, one of her sheep, I thought.

Marsilia raised an eyebrow, and a vampire followed Estelle’s human at three or four times his speed. He caught up to him before the man had made it halfway across the floor. The vampire had the appearance of a very elderly man. He looked as though he’d died of old age before being made a vampire, though there was nothing old or shaky in the hold he kept on the struggling man.

"What would you have me do, Mistress?" the old man said.

"I would have had you not allow him to interrupt us here," Marsilia said. I glanced at Warren, who frowned. She was lying then. I’d thought so. This was part of the script. After a thoughtful moment Marsilia said, "Kill him."

There was a snap, and the man dropped to the ground – and every vampire in the place who had been breathing stopped. Estelle fell to the ground, four or five feet from Wulfe. I glanced away and unexpectedly caught Marsilia staring at me. She wanted me dead; I could see it in the hungry look she had. But she had more pressing business just now

Marsilia gestured at the chair in invitation to Stefan. "Please, accept my apologies for the delay."

Stefan stared at her. If there was an emotion on his face, I couldn’t read it.

He’d taken a step forward, and she stopped him once again. "No. Wait. I have a better idea."

She looked at me. "Mercedes Thompson. Come let us partake of your truth. Witness for us the things you have seen and heard."

I folded my arms, not in outright refusal – but I didn’t go waltzing over either. This was Marsilia’s show, but I wouldn’t let her have the upper hand completely. Warren’s hand closed over my shoulder – a show of support, I thought. Or maybe he was trying to warn me.

"You will do as I say because you want me to stop hurting your friends," she purred. "The wolves are more worthy targets… but there is that delicious policeman – Tony, isn’t it? And the boy who works for you. He has such a big family, doesn’t he? Children are so fragile." She looked at Estelle’s man, dead almost at her feet.

Stefan stared at her, then looked at me. And once I saw his eyes, I knew the emotion he was trying to hold back… rage.

"You sure?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Come."

I wasn’t happy about doing it, but she was right. I wanted my friends safe.

I sat on the chair and scooted forward until my arms wouldn’t be stretched out trying to reach the sharp brass. I slammed both hands down and tried not to wince as the thorns bit deep – or gasp as magic pulsed in my ears.

"Yum," said Wuife – and I nearly jerked my hands away again. Could he taste me through the thorns, or was he just trying to harass me?

"I sent Stefan to you," Marsilia said. "Will you tell our audience what he looked like?"