Read Online Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton - Free Book Online

Jason’s case, a kept man.
    â€œI thought it was a faux pas to ask to feed on someone else’s pomme de sang ,” I said.
    â€œIt can also be a great courtesy and honor,” Asher said. “You may trust Musette to turn custom into torment if she is able.”
    â€œSo she’s not offering up her pomme de sang to honor Jean-Claude, she’s doing it because she knows he won’t want to share Jason?”
    â€œ Oui ,” Asher said.
    â€œGreat, just great. What other little vampire customs are going to come up and bite us on the butt tonight?”
    He smiled and raised my hand to his lips for a quick, chaste kiss. “Many, I would think, ma cherie , very many.” He looked at Jason. “As truth, I am amazed that Musette allowed you to leave her presence without sharing blood.”
    Jason’s grin faded. “Her pomme de sang is illegal in this country, so Jean-Claude had to decline.”
    â€œIllegal,” I said, “in what way?”
    He sighed, looking decidedly unhappy. “The girl can’t be more than fifteen.”
    â€œAnd it’s against the law to take blood from a minor,” I said.
    â€œJean-Claude informed her of this, which is how I come to be standing out here in the cold.”
    â€œIt’s not cold,” Damian said.
    Jason shivered. “That is a matter of opinion.” He huddled the still unzipped jacket around his bare body. “Jean-Claude doesn’t want you to be surprised, Anita, but two of the vamps with her are children.”
    I could feel my face tightening with anger.
    â€œIt’s not that bad, they aren’t new. At a guess I’d say several hundred years old, minimum. Even in the United States they’d be grandfathered in under the current law.”
    I tried to ease some of the tension I was holding. I’d let go of everyone’s hand, because I had this urge to have my hands free for weapons. There was nothing to fight, not yet, but the urge was still there.
    Damian touched my arm, tentative, afraid the anger would spill over onto him, I think. My usual theory was anybody to be angry at was better than nobody to be angry at. I was trying to be better than that, more fair, but damn, it was hard.
    When I didn’t jerk away, or yell at him, Damian touched my hand, and his fingers light across my skin made me feel calmer. “Do you think Musette brought an underage pomme just to see what we’d do?”
    â€œMusette likes the young,” Asher said, voice still very quiet, not a whisper but close, as if he were afraid of being overheard. And maybe he was.
    I looked up at Asher. Damian’s fingers were still moving, lightly, over the back of my hand. “She’s not a pedophile, please tell me she’s not.”
    He shook his head. “No, not for sex, Anita, but blood, yes, she likes them young.”
    Yuck. “She cannot take blood from anyone under eighteen while she’s in this country. Doing that can get you an order of execution with your name on it, and I’m the Executioner.”
    â€œI believe that Musette was carefully chosen by Belle Morte. Belle has other lieutenants that have less objectionable habits. I believe that Musette is an ordeal in the traditional sense of the word. She has been sent by Belle to test us, especially you, I think, you and perhaps Richard.”
    â€œWhy do we get special treatment?” I asked.
    â€œBecause Belle does not know either of you of old. She likes to test her blades before blooding them, Anita.”
    â€œI am not her blade, I’m not her anything.”
    Asher had a patient look on his face. “She is le sourdre de sang , the fountainhead of our bloodline. Belle is like an empress, and all the master vampires that descend from her line are kings that owe her fealty. To owe fealty means to owe so many troops to the cause.”
    â€œWhat cause?”
    He let out an exasperated breath. “Whatever