Laurell Hamilton - 16 Blood Noir

You answer my question, Ill answer yours.

Yes, shes trying to relive her lost affair with Jedediah. He was misled by his own power, but he was a compelling man. The boy is nothing to compare to his ancestor, but the resemblance is almost enough to make one speak of reincarnation.

Genetics, Edmond, nothing but genetics.

I have answered your question, now you answer mine. What is your last name?

Blake, I said.

The quiet was strangely loud, as if I could feel him thinking furiously. Anita Blake, he said, finally.

Yes, I said.

Anita Blake, human servant to Jean-Claude, Master of the City of St. Louis?

Among other things, yes.

We did not know. I swear to you we did not know. We were told the room belonged to Keith, and Lorna was with him. We would never have harmed the human servant of another Master of the City.

Yeah, vampire law frowns on that.

I swear to you that I would never have sent these two to harm you. When I saw you, and realized you were not Lorna. I was told that these two were professional. I was misinformed. I mean, what sort of vampire mistakes a human for another vampire?

A bad one, I said.

Why were you with Keith Summerland?

Did he tell you his name was Jason Schuyler?

Yes, but you only have to look at him to know he is one of the Summerland twins.

They were always getting mistaken for each other in school, I said. I was calm; my voice had almost no inflection. Part shock and part certainty. I was going to kill Edmond, because killing him would most likely kill his master, and I wanted his master dead. Revenge, yes, but also, Edmond couldnt let me walk out of here. Id tell Jean-Claude, and he knew I would. If Edmond was to hide his mistake from his master, he had to kill us.

What are you saying?

Dont master vampires keep track of the names of the pommes de sang of other masters of the cities?

Not really, they are food.

Were Belle Mortes bloodline; I guess we treat our food better. Jason really isnt Keith Summerland. He really is my boyfriend. He really is Jean-Claudes pomme de sang. Do you know what vampire protocol is about harming someones pomme de sang, Edmond?

You can always get more food.

Do-you-know-what-vampire-protocol-is-on-the-harming-of-another-masters- pomme-de-sang? My voice wasnt neutral now. I was beginning to rediscover my anger. If Edmond really meant to flee and leave us alive, hed have started to leave then, but he was closer to us when he spoke next.

It is within the masters right to either demand a new pomme de sang from the offending master, or challenge the master to a duel.

I dont think wed like the kind of pomme de sang your master would choose, Edmond.

Jean-Claude would challenge my master to a duel?

Something like that, I said.

The pomme de sang is not dead. Let me call for help, get him to a hospital.

Ive already called, I said. They should be here soon.

You called for help?

Yes.

When?

Before you came.

I dont mean you any harm, Anita Blake.

Then why arent you running away, Edmond? Ive told you the police are coming, but youre still standing there. Why dont you run?

What will you do if you trace my master back to his city?

What do you think Ill do?

You are not just Jean-Claudes human servant; you are also a vampire executioner. Would you try to get a warrant against my master?

I dont know who your master is, Edmond.

Do not treat me as if I am stupid. There are not that many Masters of the City.

How many are married to a Lorna, you mean? How many have human servants named Edmond? I guess it does have to be a short list, I said.

I heard him chamber a round into his gun. Its funny, but once you know the sound of a slide going back, you never mistake it for anything else. I aimed my gun at the doorway, raising my knee up a little to help steady me, because my other arm was still touching Jason.

I saw his gun come around the doorjamb. I think he expected me to wait to see more of him, but Id used this gun, this ammo, and it was an old house. I shot through the wall, behind his hand. He made a satisfying sound, a pain sound, and then he shot into the room without seeing first. I fired two more shots that went wide before he staggered into the doorway. I had a glimpse of a tall, pale man, with short brown hair, and a nice tan suit, and a shirt that was blossoming red, before I shot him in the head. He tried to raise his gun as he fell, and actually squeezed off a shot that went into the foot of the bed. I crawled out of the covers and fired twice more into his body. I walked to him, the gun aimed at him, held two-handed. I kicked his gun away from his limp hand, and then I put two more bullets into his head, until bits of skull and brain exploded onto the floor.

My ears were still ringing when I heard shouting, distant, tinny. Marshal Blake, Marshal Blake!

I yelled, probably louder than I needed to, In here. Were in here! The cavalry had arrived.

H OURS LATER I was sitting in a chair back in the hospital in Asheville. Jason was in the bed, hooked up to machines and drips, but alive. The doctors said he was going to make it. Hed heal. I knew his body would heal, but I knew enough about violence to know that there were things that doctors couldnt see, and IV drips couldnt help. I sat in the chair, having moved it close enough so that I could hold his hand. The doctors said he was going to be all right; I believed them, but when I felt his hand squeeze mine, then Id really believe it. Was that stupid? Maybe. But I was past caring. I sat in the chair and held his hand, and waited for him to wake up enough to hold my hand back.

I was wearing a borrowed pair of surgical scrubs, because theyd taken my clothes for evidence. I guess I was covered in blood. The techs had even combed pieces of brain and bone out of my hair, apparently. Blowback is a bitch.

Theyd taken all the guns at the scene. Because Id used the fact that I was a federal marshal to make the 911 call, actual federal marshals had come with the rest. Theyd come to rescue me. Theyd come even though I was one of the preternatural branch, and not all the marshals liked us very much. I couldnt blame the ones who were leery of us. For some of us it was more like giving a badge to a bunch of bounty hunters with license to kill. We were a real administrative headache for the marshals. But when I put out the SOS they came. People I didnt know, but who just shared the same badge. Maybe I was just feeling all sentimental because of Jason, but it meant something that they came.

But it also meant that I was on review for the shooting. I hadnt had a warrant of execution for these vampires, let alone for the human servant Id killed. Heck, they had only my word for it that he was a human servant and not simply human. I had invoked the new Preternatural Endangerment Act. It allowed a vampire executioner to act using deadly force if civilian lives were in imminent danger. The act had come into being after a couple of civilians had died while my fellow preternatural marshals waited on warrants. Id thought it was just asking for civil rights violations, but now I was hiding behind it. Hypocrisy at its best. For at least the next couple of weeks I would be badge-less and gun-less. I wouldnt be allowed to take on any warrants until they reviewed the shooting. They took my official duty piece. That was fine; it wasnt like I didnt have others. I even had carry permits for several of my guns, because Id spent so many years being technically a civilian but needing to carry a gun. It was going to be helpful while they looked over the evidence.

It looked like it would be ruled a clean shot. Theyd found drugs still in my system. They were just impressed that I was able to function with that level of animal tranquilizers in me. I left out the bit about Marmee Noir waking me up. They did ask about the claw marks on my chest. I just said I woke up that way. Truth, as far as it went.