Free Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton Page A

ma petite . She was Edjo, the royal serpent. Cared for, sacrificed to, adored.”
    â€œIt isn’t a god, Jean-Claude.”
    â€œAre you so sure?”
    â€œI’m a monotheist, remember. It’s just another supernatural creepycrawlie to me.”
    â€œAs you like, ma petite .”
    I turned back to him. “How the hell did you get it past quarantine?”
    He shook his head. “Does it matter?”
    I glanced back at the thing in the middle of the ring. The snake charmer lay in a bloody heap to one side of the snake. It hadn’t eaten her. Was that a sign of respect, affection, dumb luck?
    The cobra pushed towards us, belly scales clenching and unclenching. It made a dry, whispering sound against the ring’s floor.
    He was right; it didn’t matter how the thing had gotten into the country. It was here now. “How are we going to stop it?”
    He smiled wide enough to flash fangs. Maybe it was the “we.” “If you could disable its mouth, I think we could deal with it.”
    The snake’s body was thicker than a telephone pole. I shook my head. “If you say so.”
    â€œCan you injure the mouth?”
    I nodded. “If silver bullets work on it, yeah.”
    â€œMy little marksman,” he said.
    â€œCan the sarcasm,” I said.
    He nodded. “If you are going to try to shoot it, I would hurry, ma petite . Once it wades into my people, it will be too late.” His face was unreadable. I couldn’t tell if he wanted me to do it, or not.
    I turned and started walking across the ring. The cobra stopped moving forward. It waited, like a swaying tower. It stood there, if something without legs could stand, and waited for me, whiplike tongue flicking out, tasting the air. Tasting me.
    Jean-Claude was suddenly beside me. I hadn’t heard him come, hadn’t felt him come. Just another mind trick. I had other things to worry about right now.
    He spoke, low and urgent; I think only I heard. “I will do my best to protect you, ma petite .”
    â€œYou were doing a great job up in your office.”
    He stopped walking. I didn’t.
    â€œI know you are afraid of it, Anita. Your fear crawls through my belly,” he called, soft and faint as wind.
    I whispered back, not sure he would even be able to hear me. “Stay the fuck out of my mind.”
    The cobra watched me. I held the Browning in a two-handed grip, pointed at the thing’s head. I thought I was out of striking distance, but I wasn’t sure. How far away is safe distance from a snake that’s bigger than a Mack truck? Two states away, three? I was close enough to see the snake’s flat black eyes, empty as a doll’s.
    Jean-Claude’s words blew through my mind like flower petals. I could even have sworn I smelled flowers. His voice had never held the scent of perfume before. “Force it to follow you, and give us its back before you shoot.”
    The pulse in my neck was beating so hard, it hurt to breathe. My mouth was so dry I couldn’t swallow right. I began to move, ever so slowly, away from the vampires and shapeshifters. The snake’s head followed me, as it had followed the snake charmer. If it started to strike, I’d shoot it, but if it would just keep moving with me, I’d give Jean-Claude a chance at its back.
    Of course, silver bullets might not hurt it. In fact, the thing was so damn big, the ammo I had in the Browning might not do more than irritate it. I felt like I was trapped in one of those monster movies where the giant slime monster keeps coming no matter how much you shoot it. I hoped that was just a Hollywood invention.
    If the bullets didn’t hurt it, I was going to die. I flashed on the image of the man’s legs kicking as they went down. The lump was still visible in the snake’s body, like it had fed on a really big rat.
    The tongue flicked out and I gasped, swallowing a scream. God, Anita, control