Kiss the Dead (38 page)

“We’re not having sex,” I said.

“But he will try and seduce you, and that is…” She backed into Domino, and gave a soft yelp. She startled away from him as he reached to steady her. He dropped his hand to his side. Domino knew better than to push things when she got spooked. It was one of the reasons she could be in bed with him and me when we made love. She’d also allowed Nathaniel that amount of trust. Both of them treated it with all the gentleness they had.

“Walk her back to her room,” I said.

“No, he’s supposed to guard you from… Asher,” she said.

“It’s okay,” Domino said, “I’ll get you back to your room, and come right back here.”

Jade didn’t want him to touch her either, but when she was this shaken she needed someone by her side that she trusted at least a little to keep the panic from growing. She trusted Domino more than any other man. Claudia had no patience with her, and Kelly didn’t need to be around Asher tonight, and just like that we were out of female guards to watch over her.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Domino said. “Don’t get hurt. I really don’t want to fight Nicky for real.”

“We’ll be good,” I said.

He grinned as he closed the door behind them, and said, just as the door closed, “I know you’re good, Anita; just don’t hurt each other.”

“Domino,” I said, but he closed the door to the sound of his soft laughter.

T
HE ROOM WAS
very quiet after they left. I don’t know what I would have said into that silence, because my phone rang. Did I dive for it a little too eagerly? Maybe, but it was with my pile of weapons beside the bed. That meant that I had to crawl over the acres of black bedspread to grab it. Asher bent down and handed it to me, so that I had to take it from him as I hit the screen and said, “Blake here, talk to me.”

“Marshal Blake?” It was the new Marshal, Arlen Brice.

“Yeah, Marshal Blake here, sorry, Brice. What’s up?”

“They found bomb-making materials in one of the closets at the house we raided with SWAT.”

I was quiet for a second, trying to process it. “Why would they have that? What the hell do vampires need with bombs?”

Asher and Jean-Claude went very still on either side of me. I couldn’t explain it, but I knew the stillness was more of a startle reaction than any expression they could have given me. I should not have said the word
bomb
out loud. It was a damn ongoing police investigation, but it had startled me.

“One of the vampires that died at the warehouse was a retired demolitions expert,” Brice said.

“Military?” I asked.

“No, civilian, construction, but that just means he knows how to bring down a whole building.”

“Not comforting,” I said.

“Zerbrowski said that the vamps at the warehouse were talking trash about you and Jean-Claude, so I figured you’d want to know about the bomb stuff.”

“Just stuff, not actual devices?”

“No, but the bomb techs are treating this real serious. They seem convinced that some bombs were actually made, which means they may be out there in the city somewhere.”

“These guys wanted to be seen as sympathetic in the media. Blowing shit up doesn’t gain sympathy from anyone.”

“True, but it doesn’t stop people from doing it,” Brice said.

I wanted to argue, but couldn’t, so I let that part go. “Any hint on size of device? What we might want the security details to be looking at?”

“This isn’t my area. I can read the preliminary report, but not sure I’m the one you want interpreting it. Talk to”—and he was quiet, as I listened to him riffling papers and clicking keys—“Alvarez, Mark Alvarez, is the lead guy.”

“Let me get a pen, and then give me his number.”

Jean-Claude got the small notebook and pen that stayed on the bedside table now. There was one by every bed in every room that was “mine.”

“You can call Alvarez, but not until you’ve been informed officially. I mean, I want to help, but don’t get us both fired, and you can’t tell your boyfriend and his people about what we found.”

“Why, because I’m not supposed to know?” I asked.

“They’re worried that Jean-Claude could have some of these nuts inside his organization, so if we tell him then we’ll be tipping our hand.”

“And if someone gets blown up before we share?”

“They actually wouldn’t let Zerbrowski leave the big meeting, because they said he’d tell you, and you’d tell the vampires.”

“Jesus, Brice, so why are you telling me?”

“They don’t think I owe you anything, so they don’t think I’ll tell you.”

“You could get in trouble for this,” I said.

“You ready for Alvarez’s number?” Brice asked.

“Yeah, shoot.”

He gave me Alvarez’s contact info. “Got it,” I said.

“I just wanted you to have a heads-up as soon as possible.”

“I really appreciate that, Brice.”

“Hey, as someone who’s still looking for true love outside the normal box, I want to support anyone who’s found it. I’m not sure if it’s prejudice, or if all they’re thinking about is the case, but I’m listening to some upper brass make up shitty reasons to justify their actions. Makes me think I’m not coming out anytime soon.”

“The new vampire laws make them treat them better, more like people, but new laws don’t change how people feel. Thanks again, Brice.”

“Not a problem, just don’t call Alvarez for a couple of hours. I looked up some of your bodyguards; they’ve got backgrounds in demolition, military.”

“Do my fellow cops have files on my people?”

“Some, but I’ve been federal longer than you have. I called in a few favors, told them I just wanted to know what I was up against if things went bad. They totally bought it, Blake. I get the idea that certain people are betting when you and your people go off the reservation, not if.”

“Sleep with a few vampires and shapeshifters, and people get all weird about it,” I said.

“Yep,” he said, “gotta go.” He hung up.

I hit the button, if
button
is the right word for brushing your thumb across a screen. If I hadn’t had years of practice with vampires, and these vamps in particular, I might have thought that they weren’t interested
in what had just happened, were bored even, but I knew that the stillness, and the pleasant faces, meant they were very interested.

I glanced at Asher, since he was in front of me, but it was Jean-Claude to whom I turned and gave major eye contact. “You heard?”

“Yes,” he said simply.

“You know I don’t normally share information about ongoing investigations.”

“You are very careful about it,” he said, and that amazing face was still pleasant, still neutral.

“I have to be if I’m going to be a cop.”

“I understand that,
ma petite
.” Again, that careful voice.

“I can make both of you promise, word of honor, and all that shit, to tell no one, and I know you’ll do it.”

“Word of honor, and all that shit,” he repeated, but there was a faint edge of his French accent, and that, more than anything else, let me know how upset he was; the accent came out only when he wished it to, or when he was very emotional.

I looked up at Asher, who was still standing by the bed. “You, too, blondie.”

“I will do what you and Jean-Claude wish me to do. I have caused enough problems with my childish behavior.”

“I wish you meant that,” I said.

He looked down, giving me the full weight of those pale blue eyes, through that lace of golden hair. “I mean every word I say.”

I sighed. “You do, don’t you?”

“Oui,”
he said.

“You are sorry, but you also meant everything you yelled at us earlier, and you meant to hurt me so that no one else could have certain skills from me for a while.”

“Can you not forgive me?” he asked.

I waved it away. “Ask me later; right now I’m about to break a rule, one that could cost me my badge. There are people on the force who want to get rid of me for sleeping with you guys, and this could be excuse enough, but if one of these missing bombs blows up and hurts
someone I care about, the job won’t mean much to me.” I thought about it for a few more seconds, but in the end I weighed love higher than my badge, and that meant that Larry and everyone else who thought sleeping with the monsters divided my loyalties were partially right. They were right, because I called Claudia, and told her to tell our security at all of our businesses to look for the damn things. There was a chance that our guards would keep the secret, and they swept for listening devices almost every damn day. They could just accidentally find the bombs when they were looking for electronic bugs. In fact, they probably would have found them, if they were there to be found, either way. But I didn’t know much about explosives. I didn’t know if searching for bugs would have made them miss bombs, I just didn’t know, and I wasn’t willing to take the chance.

Yes, I was dating too many people, and taking care of too many people. Yes, I was a little overwhelmed by it sometimes, but I was also happier than I’d ever been in my life, and I didn’t want to lose that. I didn’t want to lose anyone that I loved. If that eventually cost me my badge, so be it.

Was I a U.S. Marshal, or Jean-Claude’s human servant? Was I a Marshal, or Micah’s Nimir-Ra? Was I a police officer, or Nathaniel’s sweetie? Was I an officer, or Nicky’s master? Was I a cop, or the new Mistress of Tigers of Sin, and Dev, and Jade, and Ethan, and Crispin, and… Could I keep being a cop and be everything else?

I sat there on the edge of the bed and, for the first time, really thought the answer might be no.

W
E DIDN’T FIND
any bombs, and thanks to the wererats and some of the ex-military in both the werehyenas and wereleopards, we had people who knew what they were doing. If there had been anything to find, I trusted our people to find it. I got the official go-ahead from Dolph about three hours after Brice had called and warned us. Three hours is a long time to wait to warn people.

Dolph ended the conversation with, “I’m sorry, Anita.”

“What about?” I asked.

“That some people are more interested in the case than in keeping people safe. Some of these guys are as conflicted about the preternatural community as I was a couple of years back.” That was a lot for him to admit.

“Thanks, Dolph, that means a lot coming from you.”

“I don’t understand the whole fascination with the preternaturals, but I know my son is still happy, and I’ve never seen you happier than you are right now. The wife says you’re not supposed to understand love; if it made complete sense, it wouldn’t be love.”

“That sounds illogical and absolutely true,” I said.

“Illogical and true; sounds about right for love,” Dolph said, and he’d hung up.

By the time I knew that everyone was safe and no bombs were anywhere we had looked, dawn had come and gone by hours. I felt Jean-Claude die for the day, and knew that meant Asher had gone before him, because he wasn’t powerful enough to stay awake as long as Jean-Claude. They did better in the underground, but the sun came up and the vampires went down, that was just the way it worked. I felt Jean-Claude curl up around the other man, and knew I would find them in the bed together. I didn’t like sleeping with vampires once they went cold for the day, so I’d be bunking with Micah and Nathaniel in our room, and maybe Sin, if he was there and not in a hospital bed.

Claudia and I were walking down the midway of the Circus. This close to dawn it was closed tight. One of the things that had made it so hard to search was this section with its booths shuttered tight. There were the usual fairway games, but the stuffed toy prizes hanging from the eaves of the little shopfronts ran high to bats, black cats, Frankenstein’s monsters, and strangely cuddly mummies with the glimpses of dead skin through the fuzzy wrappings played for comedy instead of scares. There was scarier stuff from some shops: fake shrunken heads on a stick, monster eyeballs in plastic jars, and a booth that put fake scars and wounds on you. I could smell the sweetness of the cotton candy, the cinnamon of the elephant ears and bear claws booth, renamed “monster ears” and “werewolf claws,” and the funnel cakes that always smelled like your grandmother’s kitchen was supposed to smell, but never had.

I liked walking the Circus after it was closed. I think it appealed to the little girl in me who had always wondered what happened when the fair closed down. I knew now that it was just like any other job for most of the people. They cleaned up, did prep for the next day, and closed down, but when you’re little, the traveling carnival is magical, a mysterious world that you only get to visit. There’d been a time when the midway
here seemed ominous; now it seemed homey. If I walked through here, it was usually after closing and I was going to bed: home.

Claudia’s phone sounded, and she walked a little away from me to take it. I gave her the privacy. The wererats were primarily our guards in town, but they had business out of town, and it was strictly a don’t-ask, don’t-tell policy. I carried a badge; I did not need to know details about their mercenary jobs.

She came back to me with a look on her face that I couldn’t read, but it wasn’t a good look.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Mephistopheles is sitting against the wall in the living room, crying,” she said.

“Crap,” I said.

“You don’t even need to ask why, do you?” she said.

“No.”

“So it’s true you are sending Asher away for what he did last night?”

I nodded.

“About damn time,” she said.

“You really don’t like him, do you?”

“He’s your lover, not mine, Anita. I wouldn’t put up with his emotional blackmail shit.”

“We’re sort of through with it, too,” I said. I started walking toward the far door and the entrance to the underground. She fell into step beside me.

“It was Graham on the phone.” He was one of the few werewolf guards we had, and since he knew nothing about explosives, he’d been kept downstairs to guard the sleeping. He was better at being a bouncer at the clubs than a gun-toting bodyguard.