Лорел Гамильтон: The Harlequin

«They are his slaves,» Malcolm said.

I shrugged and sat back in my chair. «Are you here to talk about the warrant, or to talk about the deadline Jean-Claude gave your church?»

«Both.»

«Jean-Claude has given you and your church members their choices, Malcolm. Either you blood-oath them, or Jean-Claude does. Or they can move to another city to be blood-oathed there, but it has to be done.»

«It is a choice of who they would be slaves to, Ms. Blake. It is no choice at all.»

«Jean-Claude was generous, Malcolm. By vampire law he could have just killed you and your entire congregation.»

«And how would the law, how would you, as a federal marshal, have felt about such slaughter?»

«Are you saying that my being a federal marshal limits Jean-Claude's options?»

«He values your love, Anita, and you would not love a man that could slaughter my followers.»

«You don't add yourself to that list—why?»

«You are a legal vampire executioner, Anita. If I broke human law, you would kill me yourself. You would not fault Jean-Claude for doing the same if I broke vampiric law.»

«You think I'd just let him kill you?»

«I think you would kill me for him, if you felt justified.»

A small part of me wanted to argue, but he was right. I'd been grandfathered in like most of the vamp executioners who had two or more years on the job and could pass the firearms test. The idea was, making us federal marshals was the quickest way to grant us the ability to cross state lines and to control us more. Crossing state lines and having a badge was great; I wasn't sure how controlled we were. Of course, I was the only vampire hunter who was also dating her Master of the City. Most saw it as a conflict of interest. Frankly, so did I, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

«You do not argue with me,» Malcolm said.

«I can't decide if you think I'm a civilizing influence on Jean-Claude, or a bad one.»

«I saw you once as his victim, Anita. Now I am no longer certain who is the victim, and who the victimizer.»

«Should I be offended?»

He just looked at me.

«The last time I was in your church you called me evil, and accused me of black magic. You called Jean-Claude immoral, and me his whore, or something like that.»

«You were trying to take away one of my people to be killed with no trial. You shot him to death on the church grounds.»

«He was a serial killer. I had an order of execution for everyone involved in those crimes.»

«All the vampires, you mean.»

«Are you implying that humans or shapeshifters were involved?»

«No, but if they had been, you would never have been allowed to shoot them to death with the police helping you do it.»

«I've had warrants for shapeshifters before.»

«But those are rare, Anita, and there are no orders of execution for humans.»

«The death penalty still exists, Malcolm.»

«After a trial, and years of appeals, if you are human.»

«What do you want from me, Malcolm?»

«I want justice.»

«The law isn't about justice, Malcolm. It's about the law.»

«She did not do the crime she is accused of, as our wandering brother Avery Seabrook was innocent of the crime you sought him for.» He called any of his church group who joined Jean-Claude «wanderers.» The fact that Avery, the vampire, had a last name meant he was very recently dead, and that he was an American vampire. Vampires normally only had one name, like Madonna or Cher, and only one vamp per country could have that name. Duels were fought over the right to use names. Until now, until America. We had vampires with last names, unheard of.

«I cleared Avery. Legally, I didn't have to.»

«No, you could have shot him dead, found out your mistake later, and suffered nothing under the law.»

«I did not write this law, Malcolm, I just carry it out.»

«Vampires did not write this law either, Anita.»

«That's true, but no human can mesmerize other humans so that they help in their own kidnappings. Humans can't fly off with their victims in their arms.»

«And that justifies slaughtering us?»

I shrugged again. I was going to leave this argument alone because I'd begun to not like that part of my job. I didn't think vampires were monsters anymore; it made killing them harder. It made executing them when they couldn't fight back monstrous, with me as the monster.

«What do you want me to do, Malcolm? I have a warrant with Sally Hunter's name on it. Witnesses saw her leave Bev Leveto's apartment. Ms. Leveto died by vampire attack. I know it wasn't any of Jean-Claude's vampires. That leaves yours.» Hell, I had her driver's license picture in the file with the warrant. I have to admit that having a picture to go with it made me feel more like an assassin. A picture so I'd get the right one.

«Are you so certain of that?»

I blinked at him, the slow blink that gave me time to think but didn't look like I was thinking furiously. «What are you trying to say, Malcolm? I'm not good at subtle; just tell me what you came to say.»

«Something powerful, someone powerful, came to my church last week. They hid themselves. I could not find them in the new faces of my congregation, but I know that someone immensely powerful was there.» He leaned forward, his calm exterior cracking around the edges. «Do you understand how powerful they would have to be for me to sense them, use all my powers to search the room for them, yet not be able to find them?»

I thought about it. Malcolm was no Master of the City, but he was probably one of the top five most powerful vampires in town. He'd be higher, if he weren't so terribly moral. It limited him in some ways.

I licked my lips, careful of the lipstick, and nodded. «Did they want you to know they were there, or was that part an accident?»

He actually showed surprise for a moment before he got control of his face. He played human too much for the media; he was beginning to lose that stillness of features that the old ones have. «I don't know.» Even his voice was no longer smooth.

«Did the vamp do it to taunt you, or was it arrogance?»

He shook his head. «I do not know.»

I had a moment of revelation. «You came here because you think Jean-Claude should know, but you can't let your congregation see you going to the Master of the City. It would undermine your whole freewill thing.»

He settled back into his chair, fighting to keep the anger off his face, and failing. He was even more scared than I thought, to be losing it this badly in front of someone he disliked. Hell, he'd come to me for help. He was desperate.

«But you can come to me, a federal marshal, and tell me. Because you know I'll tell Jean-Claude.»

«Think what you like, Ms. Blake.»

We weren't on a first-name basis anymore. I'd hit it on the head. «A big, bad vamp checks your church out. You aren't vampire enough to smoke him out, and you come to me, to Jean-Claude and all his immoral power structure. You come to the very people you say you hate.»

He stood up. «The crime that Sally is accused of happened less than twenty-four hours after he, it, they came to my church. I do not think that is a coincidence.»

«I'm not lying about the second order of execution, Malcolm. It's in my desk drawer, right now, with a driver's license picture of the vampire in question.»

He sat back down. «What name is on it?»

«Why, so you can warn… them?» I'd almost said her , because it was another female vamp.

«My people are not perfect, Ms. Blake, but I believe that another vampire has come to town and is framing them.»

«Why? Why would someone do that?»

«I don't know.»

«No one has bothered Jean-Claude or his people.»