Лорел Гамильтон - The Harlequin

I nodded, and went for a hug from Micah, partially to hide my face, because I still couldn't quite figure out how to look. My guilt was because Peter had gotten cut up saving me. He wouldn't even get credit for it from the cops. That seemed like insult to injury.

Micah kissed the side of my face and whispered, «Edward didn't tell you the official version?»

«No,» I whispered back.

Micah spoke with me still in his arms. «I think Anita also blames herself because she was already hunting the vampires. She thinks they might not have reacted so violently if they hadn't known she was on their trail.»

I turned, still half in Micah's arms. «When a person knows that they're being tracked by someone who can kill them on sight, Zerbrowski, what options does that leave them?»

«Are you saying you disagree with the execution order?» he asked.

«No, not in this case, but there are nights when I wish I had an option that was less than lethal force. I'd love someone to do a study and see if the vampires get more violent in trying to stay alive than in the crimes they were originally condemned for.»

«Have you had that happen?» Zerbrowski asked.

«No, no, I guess I haven't. Most of them would have kept killing if we hadn't stopped them. But, still, the vamp we're hunting framed a vampire from the Church of Eternal Life. She helped frame two of them. If I had just followed the trail they mapped out for us, I'd have killed two innocent people.»

«Isn't this the second time you've had the bad vampires frame the good vampires and try to use you as a murder weapon?»

«Yes,» I said, «it is, and if it's happening to me, then it may be happening to other vampire executioners. But they may not be looking beyond the obvious.»

«You mean because they aren't up close and personal with the vampires, they just accept that a good vampire is a dead vampire.»

«Yeah.»

Zerbrowski frowned at me. «Dolph isn't the only one who thinks you living with the…«—he made a vague gesture at Nathaniel and Micah—«compromises your ability to do your job. But I don't think it does; I think it makes you look at the vampires and shapeshifters the way the law says we're supposed to now. They're supposed to be legal citizens, people, and you see them that way. It's what makes it harder and harder for you to kill them, but it makes you a better cop. You look for the truth, catch the real bad guy, punish the guilty. The other executioners kill who they're told to kill. It makes them good killers, but I'm not sure what good cops they are.»

It was a long speech for Zerbrowski. «You've put some thought into this.»

He actually looked embarrassed. «I guess I have. I spend a lot of time defending your honor with the other cops.»

«I can defend my own honor,» I said.

He grinned again. «No, you can't. You can't explain that you see the monsters as people without implying that the bigoted bastard that just said the stupid thing doesn't see them as people. I can get away with it. I'm Zerbrowski, I can say a lot of shit and not make people mad. I go for the funny bone, you go for the jugular. It makes people pissy.»

«He really does know you well,» Micah said.

I drew away enough to look back at him. «What the hell does that mean?»

He grinned at me. I found Nathaniel fighting not to grin. They were all grinning at me. «What?»

My cell phone rang, and then I realized I didn't have it on me. It rang again, and it was the ring tone that Nathaniel had picked for my phone when I said I didn't care. It was «Wild Boys» by Duran Duran. I'd remember to care next time he asked. Micah fished the phone out of his pocket and handed it to me.

I didn't have time to ask when he'd picked up my phone. I just answered it. «Hello.»

A male voice said, «I do not have much time.» The voice was familiar, but it was a strange monotone that made it sound like someone I should recognize and a stranger all at the same time. «The Harlequin are at my church.»

I started walking down the hallway away from everyone else. It was Zerbrowski I didn't want to overhear, not until I knew that I wanted the police to know. «Malcolm, is this you?»

The voice continued as if I hadn't spoken, «Columbine says she will blood-oath my congregation or she will battle me with vampire powers, for it is not illegal for a vampire to use vampire wiles on another vampire. She claims to have done nothing illegal in our country. She blames all crime on her dead partner. I cannot win against her, Anita, but I can give my congregation to Jean-Claude. Blood-oath them any way you like, but save them from the madness I sense in these two, Columbine and Giovanni. Give me permission to tell them they must duel Jean-Claude for these vampires, and not me.»

«Malcolm, is this you?»

The voice changed, holding fear. «What's happening? Who is this?»

«Avery, Avery Seabrook?» I made it a question, though I was almost a hundred percent certain it was him. I could see his gentle brown eyes, the short hair, that young, unfinished face. He was in his twenties, but tasted too innocent for comfort.

«Anita, is that you?»

«It's me. What happened? What's happening right now?»

«Malcolm touched me and I don't remember what happened next. I just sort of woke up on my cell phone in the back of the church.» His voice dropped to a whisper. «There are masked vampires here. I don't know them. Malcolm seems afraid of them.»

«You're blood-oathed to Jean-Claude, they can't hold you.»

«What is going on, Anita?»

What was I supposed to say, You're such a weak vamp that Malcolm mind-fucked you like you were a human ? He sounded scared enough without me making him feel weaker. «Malcolm sent me a message.»

«What?» Then there was noise on the other end. I heard Avery's voice, a little distant, as if he'd taken the phone from his mouth to talk to someone there.

«Avery?»

The voice that came on wasn't Avery, or Malcolm. «Who is speaking, please?» It was male, and I didn't know the voice.

«I don't answer your questions, you answer mine.»

«Are you police?» he asked.

«Yes.» It was the truth.

«We are breaking none of your laws.»

«You're trying to take over the Church of Eternal Life here in my town. I'd say that's illegal.»

«We have offered no violence to anyone. This will be a contest of wills and magical power. It is not illegal to use vampire powers on other vampires in your country. We will not use our powers on the humans here. I give you my word.»

«How about the vampires? They're legal citizens of this country, too.»

«We will offer them no weapon, no hand of violence. Your laws protect only humans from vampire powers. In fact, the law could be interpreted to exclude all supernatural citizens from the protection the law gives against vampire manipulation.»

«Lycanthropes are still considered human under the letter of the law.»

«If you say so.»

«I say so. Give me your name,» I said.

«I am known as Giovanni. I would like to know who I am speaking with.»

Frankly, I wasn't sure that he'd treat me like a cop, or like Jean-Claude's human servant. I wasn't even sure which role would work best here. «I'm Federal Marshal Anita Blake.»

«Ah, the Master of the City's human servant.»

«Yeah, that, too.»

«We have done nothing, my mistress and I, to anger you in either of your roles.»

That was a little too close for comfort to what I'd just been thinking. Had he read my mind, and me not know it? Shit.

«If Columbine is your mistress, then yeah, she did piss me off.»

«We read your laws, Marshal. Columbine used her powers on you, your master, and his wolf. She did not use her powers on humans.»