Лорел Гамильтон - The Harlequin

«He didn't want to share you.»

«No.»

«But he's dating you again, now.»

«Some.» I so did not like where this conversation was going.

Edward must not have liked it either, because he interrupted. «Not that this isn't fascinating, Lieutenant, but we still have a very powerful vamp out there. She's killed, or helped kill, at least two women that we know of: one Bev Leveto, and Margaret Ross.» I think he used their names to make them more real to Dolph. Names have a way of doing that. «Shouldn't we be concentrating on catching the bad vampire, instead of quizzing the marshal here about her dates?» He said it all with a smile and a face full of down-home charm. I would never be the actor that Edward was, but damn there were moments when I wished I could be.

«How did you manage not to catch both of the vampires in the hotel room?» I asked. Maybe if we concentrated on crime-stopping, Dolph would let the other topic go.

Edward did his «aw, shucks» look, like he was embarrassed. The reaction wasn't his, but maybe the emotion was; it was incredibly rare for Edward to miss a target. He came to stand by the head of the bed.

One, so I could see him around Dolph's broad build, but two, I think, so Dolph wouldn't be able to scrutinize my reactions so damn closely.

«When we got to the hotel room there was only one vampire in the room. She was dead when we got there, but we took her head and heart, just like we're supposed to. I know that dead doesn't always mean dead for these guys.»

«That must have been Nivia.»

«How did you know her name?» Dolph asked.

I opened my mouth, closed it, and said, «An informant.»

«Who, Anita?» he said.

I shook my head. «Don't ask, and I won't have to lie to you.»

«You have someone who knows more about these murderers, and you won't bring them in so we can all question them. You, and just you, get to do the interrogation.»

«It wasn't like that.»

«You're good at your job, Anita, but you're not a better cop than I am, or Zerbrowski is.»

«I never said I was.»

«But you exclude us. You keep secrets from us.»

«Yeah, just like you keep them from me. I know you don't call me in all the time anymore. You don't trust me.»

«Do you trust me?» he asked.

«I trust you, Dolph, but I don't trust the hate in you.»

«I don't hate you, Anita.»

«No, but you hate some of the people I love, and that makes it hard, Dolph.»

«I've never hurt any of your boyfriends.»

«No, but you hate them, hate them for just being what they are, who they are. You're like an old-time racist, Dolph; your hate blinds you.»

He looked down, took another deep breath. «I've been to the company shrink. I'm trying to come to an understanding with…«He looked at Edward, who looked innocently back at him.

«Your family,» I finished for him so he wouldn't have to go into details.

He nodded.

«I'm glad, Dolph, really. Lucille's been…«I shrugged. What was I supposed to say, that his wife, Lucille, had been frantic, afraid for him and of him? His rages had trashed a room or two of their house, much like he'd done to an interrogation room with me in it, once. He'd manhandled me at a crime scene. Dolph was close to losing his badge, if he didn't get a grip.

«She said you've been helpful about it. Her.»

I nodded. If Edward hadn't been in the room, I'd have said your son's fiancée. «I'm glad I could help.»

«I will never be okay with you dating the monsters.»

«That's fine, as long as you don't let it rain all over police business.»

«Fine, police business.» He glanced at Edward, then reached into his suit coat and got out his notebook. «What killed the vampire in the hotel room?»

«When her animal to call died, the master didn't survive it. It happens like that sometimes: kill one and they all die.»

«The police have killed wereanimals that were guarding vampire lairs, and the master vampire didn't die.»

«Most master vamps have an animal that they can control, but the phrase 'an animal to call' means it's the furry equivalent of a human servant.»

«A human that's helping a vampire because of mind tricks?» He made it a question.

«I thought that once, too, but a human servant is more than that. It's a human with a preternatural connection, a mystical connection, with the vampire. Sometimes the vampire survives the death of its servant, but the servant usually doesn't survive the death of the vampire. I've also seen the body survive, but the human servant driven crazy by the master's death. But this weretiger had healing abilities that it shouldn't have had. It was almost like it had the best of both worlds on healing. The lycanthropy healing, and the rotting vampire's ability to laugh off bullets, even silver.»

«I thought you just woke up?» Dolph said.

«I did.»

«How did you know she rotted?»

«I didn't, but her animal healed like a rotting vampire, so I assumed she was one of them. But even if she was, her animal to call should not have had that close a tie with the vampire's powers. It's unusual, very unusual, as if the tie between master and servant was closer even than normal.»

«She started to rot as soon as we took her head,» Edward said.

«Ol… Otto must have been disappointed,» I said.

«He was, but at least they don't smell like they look. Why is that?» Edward asked. «Not complaining, mind you, but why don't they smell like a rotting corpse?»

«I don't know, I think maybe because they aren't really rotting. It's like they, the vampires, went to a certain stage of rotting, then stopped. The smell is from decomposition. If the vampire isn't actually rotting, then no decomp, no smell.» I shrugged. «Truthfully, that's just theory. I don't know for sure. I don't think I've seen more than a handful of them. It doesn't seem to be a common type of vamp, at least not in this country.»

«They're all rotting corpses, Anita,» Dolph said.

«No,» I said, and met his eyes just fine, «no, they aren't. Most vampires, if you ever see them rotting like that, looking like that, they are well and truly dead. But the rotting ones can actually rot around you, then sort of heal themselves. They can go from looking like the walking dead to looking normal.»

«Normal,» Dolph said, and made a sound.

«Normal as they started,» I said. I turned to Edward. «Do we know where the other vamp went?»

Dolph answered, «We know that a white male, late twenties, early thirties, brown hair, cut short, jeans, jean jacket, carried a large duffel bag out to his car and drove away while two uniforms watched.»

«They watched,» I said.

«Civilians who saw the incident said the man told the officers»—Dolph flipped back through his notebook, then read—«'You're going to let me go to my car, aren't you? The policemen replied, 'Yes, we are.»

«Shit, he pulled an Obi-Wan,» I said.

«What?» Edward and Dolph said together.

«You know, from Star Wars , 'These are not the droids you're looking for.»

Edward grinned. «Yeah, while Otto and I were taking the other vampire apart, the man pulled an Obi-Wan.»

«He had to do it to several officers, or some version of it,» Dolph said. «By the time he drove off there were police all over that hotel. I thought daylight wasn't good for vamps.»

«I think the vampire was in the duffel bag. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that as the weretiger shared her master's healing ability, so the human servant of this other one shared her mind powers. I've never heard of anything like it, but it makes sense. If I think of another theory that makes more sense, I'll let you know.»

«How did you know they would be at the hotel, Anita?» Dolph asked.