“He’s the only brother I have,” she said through the door.

   All of us in the van were looking at Dev. “They need someone to help them bridge their issues, and everyone else who could help is here in Ireland.” He said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world to have texted his twin sister to get out of bed and show up at the door of two men she’d never slept with for morning sex and blood donation.

   Jean-Claude said, “Mephistopheles, what have you done?”

   “I told Anita that all the gold tigers were raised to meet the needs of the new Father of Tigers, whatever those needs might be.”

   From the door, Angel said, “May I come in?”

   “She’s your sister,” Richard said, and since he had one of his own, the comment held the confusion and creep factor of it.

   “Enter,” Jean-Claude said.

   The door to the room opened, and Angel walked in barefoot, a short black robe showing off miles of long, bare legs. She was only four inches shorter than her brother, and five-eleven was plenty tall enough to give you legs. I’d forgotten that she cut her hair so short. It was almost shaved on the sides, where it still showed the black dye, but the roots growing in at the top of her hair were yellow blond. It would take months for her natural color to grow back out. The shorter hair made her face look more square, more like Dev’s face. Until she’d cut her hair, I hadn’t thought they looked that much alike, but nothing made her any less feminine. She’d been the Goth girl for years, thus the hair, but the mix of hair color seemed to play to the fact that her eyes were a mix of blue and brown just like Dev’s, except his was a pale blue with a line of pale tan/gold and Angel’s eyes were a brighter blue with a brown that looked black from where the men watched her from the bed. The black hair helped the illusion of the eyes, which was probably one of the reasons she’d done it. The robe was open just enough to show a glimpse of breasts that moved under the silk of her robe as she strode toward the bed.

   I felt Richard’s reaction to her, so tight and hard that it made me gasp. It fed into Damian’s blood hunger and hit the ardeur like an appetizer before the meal. “Shit,” I said out loud.

   “Lovely as always, Angel, but why are you here?” Jean-Claude asked.

   “I heard that you were one girl short this morning.”

   “If Devereux can’t hear me, Anita, tell him that brothers don’t send their sisters to other men for fucking,” Richard said, and he meant it, even with his body telling all of us just how much he enjoyed seeing her. Richard would stand on his principles over his desires almost every time, which was admirable but not helpful.

   Angel and Dev started talking at the same time, and they were almost word for word, one in the bedroom in St. Louis and the other in the van in Dublin. “We used to go out clubbing together in our teens. We’re both tall, and that makes people think you’re older. We would pick out couples to see if we could seduce both of them or take turns picking out a woman or a man to take home or at least to a motel. We got so many people to do their first girl on girl, or boy on boy, or threesome.”

   “He’s your brother,” Richard said. “How could you have sex in the same room with him?”

   “We were the only two bisexual people we knew,” Angel said. “It was just sort of part of who we were as twins.”

   Richard was shaking his head.

   “Until Angel decided she didn’t want to be part of the grand plan to be the perfect golden tiger for the next Father of Tigers she was my best friend. We did almost everything together. I went shopping with her so much that some of her friends thought I was gay, until they found out I wasn’t.” Dev grinned as he said the last. Words like incorrigible came to mind.

   Angel went to Jean-Claude, untying her robe so that it hung open as she came to the edge of the bed. “When they first demanded I give up my life and come serve you, I was so angry, and I still resent that, but I’ve watched you, both of you, and I’m intrigued. I’d like a chance to find out if you’re as good as you look.”

   Jean-Claude smiled. “A charming offer.” He held his reaction in utter control, as if afraid to react even in the depths of his head, because I was there listening. I decided to help, by letting him know that I wasn’t bothered by it.

   “Let her be the bridge you and Richard need.”

   “How can you be okay with this, Anita?” Richard asked.

   “I’m out of country with half a dozen lovers of my own. It would be ridiculous of me to get pissed because you have a chance to sleep with Angel.” I couldn’t quite hide the next thought, or maybe reaction, of my own. I was intrigued by her, too. There was that little spark of interest in her that still surprised me when it was about another woman.

   Richard said, “I’m still not used to you liking women.”

   “Me, either,” I said.

   Angel smiled, and said, “Let’s see how this goes. Maybe we can all play together when Anita gets home?” And that was enough to tip the balance for Richard. I think Jean-Claude was just trying to stay out of the pitfalls of the situation until Richard and I decided it for us all.

   Angel then said, “Dev asked if it would be possible for you to feed some of Anita’s ardeur needs because they’re trying to find a missing person before he gets hurt.”

   “Are you offering to feed the ardeur for me?” Jean-Claude asked.

   “I’d like to know for myself if it’s as amazing a fuck as the stories claim,” she said.

   He laughed, an abrupt, pleased sound. She’d do fine.

   She looked past Jean-Claude to Richard and said, “You are both very different people. If we were one-on-one, I’d approach you both very differently, so I will want a little guidance as to how to be with you both.”

   He looked at her for a long, serious moment and then said, “We can do that.”

   “Ma petite, I will close the links down low between us, if you will do the same on your end?” Jean-Claude asked.

   “We will.” And we did. I left them to their blood and sex, and they left us to ours.

55

   THERE WAS A knock on the van door. I called, “Who is it?”

   “It’s Domino. Auntie Nim’s friend Slane is here with the information we wanted.”

   Dev said, “You go. I’ll feed Damian, if he’s okay with that.”

   I could feel that Damian wanted to sink his fangs into Nathaniel and me more, but a lot of the heat had dissipated. I was pretty sure it was in St. Louis with Richard, Jean-Claude, and Angel. I was careful not to think too hard about that, just in case it reopened the marks too wide between us. I did not want to suddenly be in their heads in the middle of sex, or worse yet in the middle of Jean-Claude feeding the ardeur for both of us.