Anita Blake 22 - Affliction (37 page)

‘Good to be awake, Officer Bush,’ I said, and smiled.

‘I just wanted to come and tell you personally that the vampires that started all this will be dead before dawn.’

‘What are you talking about?’ I asked.

‘The vampires that created the flesh-eating zombies are going to be executed tonight.’

‘They aren’t the vampire that caused all this.’

He frowned. ‘We were there. We saw them do it.’

‘You heard what she said, Bush. She was possessed by a much bigger, badder vampire than she is.’

‘Everyone lies when they get caught, Blake, you know that.’

‘Yeah, but in this case she didn’t lie. I felt the other vampire’s energy. I felt him on her and knew when he left. His energy was so strong that I kept expecting to see him standing there, but he didn’t need to be standing there to control her. He’s behind the rotting infection that Sheriff Callahan has, and he’s what drove Ares insane and made him attack people. The two vampires we took into custody are our only witnesses to the real vampire behind all this; if they die, then our best leads go with them. Kill them if you want, but the master vampire behind all this will just make more little vampires and keep spreading the infection. Killing the two in custody only helps the bad guys, because then I can’t question them.’

‘But they’re not talking to us, they’re not telling us anything,’ Bush said.

‘I know the questions to ask, Bush. If they’re dead before I get there, I can’t ask anything. I can’t find out who did this to them.’

‘Did this to them? What do you mean?’

‘Both those vampires are newly dead. They aren’t a month old as undead, which means they’re some of your missing people. Did you check their fingerprints against the missing people?’

‘They’re vampires with an order of execution on them; we don’t have to do anything but execute them.’

‘I know that, but I’m telling you that if they die you’ve just made it harder to find this bastard.’

‘Who’s carrying out the warrant?’ Edward asked.

‘Marshal Hatfield.’

‘It’s considered courtesy to offer the execution to the marshal who was injured or lost people hunting the vampire,’ Edward said.

‘We thought Marshal Blake would be in the hospital a few days, at least.’

‘I’m a medical miracle. I need those vampires alive to be questioned.’

‘I’ll call, and I’ll get on site to do what I can,’ Edward said. He put the backpack with all my dangerous toys in the wheelchair to one side so I could still have a clean draw to the Browning under my lap blanket. Edward never forgot.

‘I’ll go with you, and I’ll radio in,’ Bush said.

‘Then radio it in,’ I said.

He hit his shoulder mic as he and Edward went for the far door. Bush was talking to someone before they hit the door. I trusted Edward to do as much as he could to keep the two vampires alive in custody. I was going to be so pissed if Hatfield executed the only two people who I was sure had actually seen the big bad vampire face to face. Without them, we were back to square one.

A tall officer with short dark hair and brown eyes so dark they were almost black said, ‘So the Executioner is saying,
Don’t execute the vampires
.’

I looked up at him in his civilian clothes, but there was something about how tall, how terribly in shape he was, muscled, and just a level of energy to him that made me guess he was SWAT or something like it. Special forces military branch tastes the same sometimes.

‘I’m flattered that SWAT came down to keep me company,’ I said.

The faintest surprise went through those very dark eyes. ‘What gave me away?’

I waved sort of vaguely at him. ‘This.’

He frowned. ‘You just motioned at all of me.’

‘Exactly,’ I said.

He smiled.

One of the other officers patted his belly where it was pushing over his equipment belt. ‘Yeah, Yancey, you don’t have all the equipment that the rest of us have.’

He laughed. ‘If I had all the equipment you have, Carmichael, I’d get kicked off SWAT.’ He patted his own very flat stomach. I was betting he had washboard abs, just a thought, no harm in it. The next thought had harm in it; I wanted to lift his shirt out of his pants and see if I was right.

I called out, ‘Nicky, can you take the bag?’

The police had to make room for him to come to my side. Most of them gave him little eye flicks. Officer Yancey of local SWAT looked at him in that way that very fit, very tough men do when they’re not used to seeing men who make them wonder,
Could I take him? Would I lose?
Yancey was taller than Nicky, though not taller than Dev, but Nicky’s shoulder spread always impressed big men who thought they had nice shoulders until they had to stand next to Nicky.

I smiled, I couldn’t help it, and the amusement helped push back the impulse to touch strangers.

‘Some of the local PD are really not happy with you surrounding yourself with shapeshifters after what happened,’ Yancey said.

‘My man was turned against us by vampire mind games just like the officers, including Bush, were mind-fucked earlier by the same vampires.’

Yancey held up his hands as if to show he was unarmed. ‘SWAT is delivering more and more warrants as backup for the executioners. We train for what to do if one of us is vamped and turned against the rest of us. You did one of the things that we all pray we never have to do, Marshal Blake. I’m here because SWAT wanted you to know that we respect what you did and we’re sorry you had to do it. Hermes of St Louis SWAT speaks highly of you.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, because what else could I say.

‘Boulder won’t allow psychics on SWAT yet. The report that vetoed it said they found that most psychics couldn’t use their special abilities and do their duty as officers at the same time.’

‘Which means most psychics can’t shoot straight and use their powers at the same time,’ I said.

He smiled. ‘Something like that.’ Then he looked at me, very seriously, as if he were weighing and measuring me. ‘But you can, can’t you?’

I nodded. ‘Yes, I can.’

‘That was a hell of a shot to make under the circumstances, Marshal.’

‘It was Ares who taught me how to make that shot,’ I said. I took a deep, even breath, because my chest was tight, my eyes suddenly hot. God, I was going to cry.

Nicky put his hand on my shoulder.

‘What do you mean?’ Yancey asked.

‘The man I killed, Ares, was a scout sniper before an enemy attack left him with lycanthropy and they forced a medical discharge on him. Handguns and up-close fighting I’m great at, but long guns, shooting distances, wasn’t my thing. He taught me.’ I raised my hand and put it over Nicky’s where he touched me. His fingers wrapped around mine and it helped me gather myself. I gripped my gun under the blanket, digging the butt of it hard into my hand. The solidness of it helped, too. Funny, that holding a gun made it easier to deal with the sorrow of using a different one.

‘I heard he was a scout sniper and that he tracked the vampires for you. I didn’t hear that he taught you to shoot.’

‘He taught me to shoot far away. I learned to shoot close in a long time ago.’

‘I’m sorry, Marshal, I didn’t mean to bring up anything … hard.’

I nodded and looked down at my lap. I didn’t trust myself to look up. I wasn’t sure what would upset me more – seeing too much sympathy in Yancey’s face, or too little. Better not to know.

‘I really need to get Marshal Blake into X-ray,’ Dr Cross said.

‘Yes, of course,’ Yancey said, and backed up.

Dr Cross pushed me toward the elevators. Nicky stayed at my side, hand still in mine. Dev trailed us. The other officers stayed back, and I was grateful. When the elevator doors closed and the only stranger with us was Cross, the first hard, hot tear cut down my cheek. Nicky started rubbing his thumb across my fingers as we held hands. Dev came to the other side of me and touched my hair. ‘It’s okay, Anita,’ he said.

I shook my head, and the tears fell faster. I finally managed to say, ‘It’s not okay,’ and then I gave myself over to the grief and the horror and the unfairness of it all, and I wept.

Two protein bars, bottles of water for all three of us, and an X-ray later, we knew the break was completely healed. My phone started ringing as we got off the elevator on our floor. Nicky dug it out of the backpack and handed it to me. It was Edward.

‘Vampires alive, or dead?’ I asked.

‘I’ve got the execution delayed but can’t convince them that the vamps were mind-fucked themselves. You were right that the vampires are two of the missing. They were hikers that came up here about a month ago, so you called that, too.’

‘I’m good with the dead,’ I said.

‘So we hear.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ I asked. It wasn’t like him to make snide remarks.

‘Some of the locals seem less happy the more right you are.’

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘Since you and I rely on each other to be right, I can’t explain why, only that it’s happening. My guess is professional jealousy. Marshal Hatfield has a serious hard-on to prove herself, and she seems to feel that your reputation hurts all women everywhere who wear a badge.’

‘I take it you don’t mean my reputation as a kickass law enforcement officer.’

‘No, the other reputation.’

‘Oh, that I’m a cold-blooded killer who shoots first and asks questions later?’

He gave a small chuckle. ‘Nope, the other one.’

‘You mean that I’m one of the monsters and that’s what gives me a leg up in the job?’ I asked.

He laughed. ‘No, the other-other reputation.’

‘You mean that I’m dating too many men?’ I asked.

‘Something like that,’ he said, his voice soft again.

‘She’s right there, isn’t she?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ he said in a normal voice.

‘Have you defended my honor to her yet?’ I asked.

He lowered his voice again. ‘It’s hard to defend your honor when everyone believes that I’m one of your conquests.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘I’d forgotten that rumor.’

‘I hadn’t.’ There was a tone in his voice.

‘Do you get that much grief from the other cops about me?’

‘They’re just jealous,’ he said.

‘Of my success rate at the job,’ I said.

‘Yep,’ he said.

‘Or that I’m doing you?’ I asked.

He did that male chuckle again that he almost never did unless he was playing Ted. ‘Some.’

‘I’ll be there as soon as I can to question the vamps.’

‘It’s Hatfield’s warrant. You have to persuade her.’

‘And she already hates me,’ I said.

‘Oh, yeah,’ he said.

‘Perfect,’ I said.

Nicky held the door while Dr Cross pushed the chair through.

‘Make sure you eat before you get here,’ Edward said.

‘I’ve had a couple of protein bars,’ I said.

‘I think you need to eat something beefier than that,’ he said.

Dr Cross said, ‘I hate to interrupt police business, especially when you’re trying to save fellow vampires, but we need this room for sick people. You can go save the day, er, night.’

‘Hold on, Ted,’ and I turned to the doctor. ‘Thanks, doc. About Nathaniel Graison – is he being released, too?’

‘Yes, Mr Graison can leave when you do, though I would advise all of you to drink copious amounts of water to keep from having a relapse of elevation sickness. Don’t look at me that way, Marshal, it contributed to both of your illnesses.’

‘How much water do we need to drink?’ Dev asked.

‘You know that recommended eight glasses of water a day?’

‘Yes,’ Dev said.

‘Double that, doctor’s orders.’

‘We’ll never have time for that,’ I said.

He shrugged. ‘Then you or Mr Graison may both suffer ill effects again.’

‘I was shot, doc.’

‘But he wasn’t.’

I opened my mouth and closed it, not sure what to say.

Dr Cross said, ‘I know he is one of your animals to call and that you drained energy from him to heal yourself.’

I tried not to look surprised.

‘There is a reason they assigned a vampire as doctor on this floor. Sometimes it takes a preternatural citizen to understand another one.’

I nodded. ‘So you knew what was wrong the whole time?’

‘Not at first, but I’m absolutely serious that the elevation sickness contributed to both of you being hospitalized. It puts extra strain on your bodies.’

‘They’ll drink the water,’ Nicky said.

I scowled up at him.

‘I want both of you well,’ he said.

And just like that, Nicky won. ‘All right,’ I said.

‘I’ll go sign your paperwork. You can shower and get dressed,’ Dr Cross said.

‘I’m not sure I have time to shower,’ I said.

Edward said on the phone, ‘You have time and it will probably be your best bet to get your protein needs met.’

‘I told you I had two bars.’

‘I think you need some beefcake to go with those protein bars.’

‘Are you hinting that I need to feed the
ardeur
before I get there?’

‘I didn’t think I was hinting, but yes.’ He lowered his voice again and said, ‘I have now made Hatfield walk off in disgust. I believe she thinks the beefcake comment was us flirting.’

‘That would be bad flirting,’ I said.

‘Yep.’

‘You’re much smoother than that,’ I said.

‘Thanks, but feed, Anita. You don’t want to lose your shit here.’

‘Agreed,’ I said, but sighed as I said it.

‘Are Nicky and Dev still with you?’ he asked.

‘Yeah.’

‘You know there are a lot of women who wouldn’t see either of them as a hardship.’

‘It’s not that; it’s the fact that I have to have sex before I can go fight crime.’

‘And you healed a broken pelvis and a bullet wound in a little over twenty-four hours, so you have to have sex more often than most for that kind of healing ability. It’s not a bad trade.’

I thought about that and then said, ‘Good point.’

‘You’d be out of this investigation for good if you didn’t heal better than anyone I know.’

‘I’ll feed,’ I said.

‘But make it a quickie; you do need to question the vampires before dawn.’

‘First you damn near order me to have sex, and now you’re putting limits on how much time I have to do it. Geez.’