She drew back. "Why fight so hard simply not to kiss me back? Are you so much a hater of women?"

I tried to shake my head, but she still held my face immobile. "Why do you want me to open my mouth? What difference does it make to you?"

"You are strong, Anita, so strong. The walls of your inner tower are high, and wide, but not impenetrable."

I was getting angry, and I wasn't sure what that would do to my inner tower and its walls. I did not want the beast to rise while we were still doing introductions. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, but said what my anger wanted me to say; I just wasn't angry when I said it. "Either let me go, or breach those walls, but either way this ends."

"How so?"

"I've done all that vampire etiquette requires, so either let me go, or I call in my guards and they force you to let me go."

"Do you need help to break free of me?" she asked, and her voice was singsong again.

"Unless I'm willing to shoot you, yes."

Graham came close enough to say quietly, "Say the word, Anita, and we move her." He sounded eager, or angry. I guess I couldn't blame him. This whole thing had gone beyound grandstanding to just plain rude.

Samuel came to our side. "Thea, this is not the way."

She turned her head and looked at him. "Then what is the way?"

"Perhaps you could simply ask."

A look crossed her face, as if that would never have occurred to her, then she laughed, a high wild sound, and for a second I thought I heard the laugh­ter of seagulls. "So simple, my darling Samuel, so simple." She released the grip on my hair so I could move my neck, which was a relief. She stayed en­twined around me, but not so forcefully. We were still too close for comfort, but it was more friendly. "My deepest apologies, Anita; it has been so long since I met anyone who could withstand my desires that I simply kept trying to force. Forgive me."

"Let me go, and I will."

She gave that laugh again, and it wasn't my imagination. When she laughed I heard the sound that herring gulls make, and the whisper of surf. She let me go, stepped back. The moment she moved back the tension level in the room plummeted. All the guards on every side had thought the flags were about to go up. Me, too.

She bowed. "My deepest apologies. I underestimated you, and I am ashamed of my actions."

"I accept your apology."

She stood and regarded me with those black eyes in that pale white and gold face, as if some delicate porcelain doll had the eyes of a movie demon. "You know that we are offering our sons as your pommes de sang."

I nodded. "Jean-Claude told me, and I'm honored." Actually it creeped me out, but I understood that it was supposed to be an honor.

"But do you know why?"

That stopped me, because the answer was, "Jean-Claude said you wished for a stronger alliance between our two kisses."

"We do"—Samuel joined his wife—"but there is a reason that my wife was so adamant that we bring all three of our sons to your table."

"And that reason would be what?" I wanted to just skip this until I had more vampire backup, but I didn't think I'd get the choice.

Micah was suddenly at my side, taking my hand. I felt better. I wasn't alone. We could do this. We didn't have vamps, but we had each other. Nathaniel came in at my back, not quite taking my other hand in case I needed it for weapon grabbing, but close enough that he was a line of heat at my back. Better and better.

"I am a siren," Thea said.

I nodded. "I know."

"Do you understand what that means among my kind?"

"I know that most mermaids who exhibit siren abilities are killed by the other merpeople before they can reach their full power."

"Do you know why?"

"Because in full power you can control the merpeople magically."

"As a necromancer can control all types of undead," Thea said.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I have some control over a lot of undead, but it's not perfect control, and it doesn't work on everyone."

"Nor does mine work on every merperson, though it works on many. But do you know what the basis of that control is?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Sex, or seduction perhaps."

I crooked an eyebrow at her. "What does that mean exactly in this context?"

"It means that I hold something similar to the ardeur that you and Jean-Claude share. It attracts both my kind and mortals to me, as the ardeur at­tracts the dead and apparently lycanthropes and mortals to you."

I frowned at her. "Yeah, a lot of guys want a full taste of the ardeur once they get a small taste." I fought not to look for Graham when I said it. "But they aren't attracted to me because of it."

She gave that gull-and-surf laugh again. "You do not know what you are, Anita. The ardeur alone does not make you a succubus, or Jean-Claude an incubus. I have met others with the ardeur, but fewer with that next level of power. You have it. Your master has it. People are drawn to you because of it. The very touch of your skin can be addictive."

I gave her a look. "Like the touch of your skin is supposed to be addictive?"

Yes."

I fought not to smile, but didn't quite succeed. I licked the cut she'd made in my lip, and said, "No insult meant, but I don't crave your touch."

"No, you fought me. You won."

"What do you want from me?"

"I believe that my sons have inherited my powers, but there is only one way for a siren to be fully born. Another siren must bring them into their power."

I saw where this was going, or was afraid I did. "Let me guess: the only way to bring them over is to have sex."

She nodded.

"You can't find another siren to do the job for you?"

"I am the last of my kind, Anita. I am the last siren. Unless you have the power to awaken my sons."

Micah squeezed my hand tighter. Nathaniel moved in so that our bodies touched from shoulder to hip. "Okay, if we're being honest, I'm a little dis­turbed by your pimping out your sons to me."

"What does 'pimping out' mean?" she asked.

I sighed. Great, one of those moments when you really don't want to ex­plain the slang. Nathaniel said, "It means to sell someone else for sexual purposes."

She frowned, then said, "I cannot truly argue the definition. I wish you to have sex with my sons, and it will gain us both a stronger alliance. They will gain power from it. So, if that is selling, I cannot argue this 'pimping out.' "

"But if you are only a carrier of the ardeur and not a true succubus, then you cannot do what Thea wishes," Samuel said.

I looked at them both. "And how do we find out if I've got what Thea wants?" I couldn't keep the suspicion out of my voice.

Nathaniel stroked my shoulder like you'd settle a nervous horse, but I didn't push him away. I was getting tense, and fighting not to get angry.

"Let down your inner walls, and let my power taste yours." She said it like it was easy, a small thing.

I shook my head. "I don't know."

"The thought of my 'pimping out' my sons to you makes you uncom­fortable, does it not?"

"Yeah, it does."

"If your power is not close enough to mine, then we will stay for the par­ties, and the ballet, but you will not have to look at them as pommes de sang. We will take our sons home and you will not have to worry over your dis­comfort."

It sounded too easy. "It sounds simple, but before I say yes, what are the possible side effects of your power exploring mine?"

She looked puzzled. "I am not certain I understand the question."

"She means," Micah said, "what bad things could happen if she allows this?"

She actually thought about it for almost a minute. "It should be only a touch of powers, like two leviathans moving in the deep, sliding their sides against each other, then passing away into the dark depths of the sea."