Laurell Hamilton - Affliction

‘I’m sorry about Ares. He was a good man in a fight.’

I nodded, taking the high praise for Ares from Edward. ‘He was.’

‘I’m sorrier that you had to be the one to do it.’

I sighed. ‘Yeah, me, too.’

‘One thing that the pilot and copilot don’t seem clear on is what caused him to go apeshit. Ares had control of his beast, or he wouldn’t have been one of your guards. What went wrong?’

‘All he could say was that someone was taking him over, making him change.’

‘He was bitten by the vampire that was possessed by the other vampire?’

‘Yes.’

‘The bite shouldn’t have been enough to control a shapeshifter like that.’

‘I know that.’

‘So this is new to you, too?’

‘If one of the other regular cops had come back and told me this story I’d have said they misunderstood, that maybe the infected bite drove him crazy with pain.’

‘But you wouldn’t have believed that one bite from basically a surrogate would be enough to give a master vampire power over someone like Ares.’

‘For the level of control “he”’ – I made quote marks with one hand – ‘had over Ares I’d have said that eye contact would be minimum, or eye contact and a bite.’

‘Did you sense this other vampire?’

‘In the woods, when he possessed the other female vampire, I fully expected there to be a second physical vampire nearby. That’s how strong the energy was.’

‘It was strong enough that it infected Ares not just with this corruption, but with the other vampire’s power.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Not possible,’ Edward said.

‘Nope.’

‘But it happened,’ he said.

‘Yep.’

We looked at each other for a minute.

‘Hard to hunt and kill something that jumps bodies that easily.’

‘Didn’t we just finish doing this?’ I asked.

‘You mean Mommie Darkest.’

‘Yeah, she was spirit and jumped from vampire to vampire.’

‘She wanted your body for keeps.’

‘If she hadn’t wanted to take me over, I’m not sure I could have kept her in one body long enough to kill her,’ I said.

‘But she didn’t do the whole rotting-vampire thing,’ he said.

‘No, she didn’t,’ I said, ‘though theoretically she was the first vampire, so every flavor of vampire descended from her.’

‘I never believed that Marmee Noir was the very first vampire.’

‘Me either, but if not the first she was damn old. The only thing I’ve felt that came close was the Father of the Day.’

‘You killed him in Vegas.’

‘We did,’ I said.

He shook his head. ‘I wasn’t there for the killing blow, so he’s yours.’

‘You make it sound like we’re keeping score.’

‘I am; aren’t you?’

I thought about it. ‘No, I guess I’m not. I mean numbers, yeah, but then now that we’re marshals we have paperwork that makes us keep track.’

‘But you don’t keep track of which of us is killing the biggest and the baddest?’ Edward asked.

I shrugged, shook my head. ‘No.’

‘Well damn, that makes being ahead of you not nearly as fun.’

‘You’re not ahead of me,’ I said.

He grinned, and it was an odd mixture of Ted and Edward. ‘See, you do keep track.’

I grinned and had the grace to be embarrassed. ‘I don’t keep official score, but I keep track of what you’re doing.’

‘You keep score; you just don’t want to admit it.’

I shrugged again. ‘I didn’t think of it as keeping score, but I know I have a higher official kill count than you do.’

‘Add the unsanctioned kills and I am so ahead.’

‘You’re older,’ I said.

He laughed and it was his real one, one that he’d only started using after he found Donna and the kids. It was like she gave him permission to resurrect some of the pieces he’d had to give up to be Edward.

‘Can’t a man get some sleep around here?’ Micah was sitting up, rubbing at his eyes.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘Go back to sleep. We’ll be quieter.’

‘No, you’re awake. I want to see you awake.’ His upper body was bare, showing the muscles that his clothes hid. Micah would never bulk up, it just wasn’t in his genetics, but if you knew what you were looking at you saw the lean muscle as he padded barefoot toward the bed wearing his dress slacks for pajama bottoms. I wanted to trace my hands over his bare skin. The desire to touch him was usually there, but it was strangely more focused than normal.

‘How long have I been out?’

Micah was beside the bed now. ‘Twenty-four hours.’ He put his hand in mine, gently, since it still had the IV in it. I offered him my right hand across my body. ‘Compromising your gun hand, you usually don’t do that.’

‘Edward’s here. I think he can handle the door.’

Micah smiled. ‘Yes.’ He leaned in and kissed me. He meant it to be chaste, gentle, polite for Edward’s sake. I slid my hand out of his, trailed it up the warmth of his bare arm, until my hand could cup the back of his neck. His hair tickled along my skin where I held him. I drew him down into the kiss, made it more. He melted into the kiss for a moment, and then he drew back. I didn’t want to let him go. He had to move my hand from his neck. He looked down at me, his green-gold eyes studying my face.

‘You need food,’ he said.

‘I don’t want hospital Jell-O,’ I said.

‘I’ll just bet you don’t.’

‘She’s looking at you like she’s going to eat you,’ Edward said.

‘Sometimes when she hasn’t fed enough she looks like that.’

‘I can give you some privacy,’ he said.

‘Let’s see if the doctor will release her. I’d really rather not explain having sex in the hospital room, and besides I need to check on my dad and Nathaniel.’

‘What’s wrong with Nathaniel?’ I asked.

‘Elevation sickness, shock, too-rapid change from animal to human form.’

In my head I thought, and I drained him healing myself . Edward was one of the few people with a badge who knew the truth about me and my metaphysical connections, but still …

‘Did Anita drain energy off Nathaniel to heal herself?’ Edward asked.

Micah and I looked at him. I’m not sure it was an entirely friendly look. ‘I’ve been around when Anita had to feed the ardeur in an emergency. Since she was hurt and couldn’t feed like that, she had to get the energy from somewhere.’

‘Logical,’ I said.

‘Most of the time,’ Edward said.

Micah looked at me. I nodded. He turned to Edward. ‘It’s not as simple as just energy drain, but yes. The combination of everything else that had already happened and then Anita being seriously injured made him pass out.’

‘How’s Damian?’ I asked.

‘He’s fine, though he fed more than normal last night.’

‘Is everyone else fine, too?’ I asked, trying to ask without asking if Damian had hurt anyone ‘feeding’ too much. Damian was a vampire; overfeeding could be really bad for the feedee.

‘As far as we know.’

‘You couldn’t just say yes?’

‘I have spent the last twenty-four hours going between three hospital rooms that held the loves of my life and my father; I’m entitled to be a little off my polite game.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I said.

He smiled. ‘It’s all right, I’m just glad you’re awake.’

‘Me, too.’

‘I’ll get dressed and check on Nathaniel.’

‘Kiss me good-bye.’

‘I don’t have shirt or shoes on yet, Anita. I’m not gone.’ He went back to the couch area and started rummaging around in a small overnight bag that I couldn’t remember packing. He got an armful of clothes and his toiletry case and went for the bathroom, which was, indeed, the door between the bed and the curtained window. He paused in the lighted door. ‘If the doctor offers you some of that hospital Jell-O, say yes. You will need to feed the ardeur , but real food will help you control it. Not everyone who you pull down into that kind of kiss is going to have my self-control.’