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21

I walked along the caht to the next My breath fogged in the glow of the streetlights It was ht off so I was dressed all in black Bert wouldn&039;t letiic If he&039;d done any research, he&039;d have found that red, white, and a host of other colors are used in evil rituals It depends on the religion It was very Anglo-Saxon of him to outlaw only black

Black jeans, black Nike Airs with a blue swoosh, a black sweater, and a black trench coat Even uns and holsters were black I was justsilver, but it was hidden under the sweater; a cross, and a knife on each forear to try to persuade Marcus to letlycanthropes, even the ones like Peggy Smitz who didn&039;t want their secret knoere safe from bad publicity now They were dead They had to be There is no way to hold eight shapeshifters against their will for this long Not alive

It couldn&039;t hurt theht save any other shapeshifters fro I had to talk to the people who had last seen the ht? That had to be a clue Ronnie was better at this sort of thing than I was Maybe we could go out detecting tomorrow

Would Richard be there? If so, as I supposed to say to hi I stood in the cold dark, trapped between streetlights I wasn&039;t ready to see Richard again But we had a dead body, maybe more I couldn&039;t chicken out just because I didn&039;t want to see Richard It would be pure cowardice

Truth was, I would rather have faced down a herd of vampires than one would-be fiance

The histled atup behind me My hair streamed around my face The trees were icy still, no wind I whirled, Browning ininto the sidewalk I tried to saveinto the concrete first My ar I couldn&039;t feel my hands My head snapped doard

There is that ood head blow that you can&039;t react A frozen ain

So on my back Hands jerkedwas co I tried to roll over on o for the Firestar A hand slaht exploded inside ain, I caught Gretchen&039;s face rearing above me

She had a handful of my hair, pulled painfully to one side My sweater was ripped away fros shi in the dark I screamed The Firestar was trapped under my body I went for one of the knives, but it was under the sleeve of et there in tih screa at the end of the sidewalk screa Gretchen raised her head and hissed at therabbed her shoulders and pushed her off the path They ran Wise

I plunged the knife into her throat It wasn&039;t a killing blow and I knew it, but I thought she&039;d rear Give me a chance at the Firestar She didn&039;t I shoved the knife in to its hilt; blood poured downfor e as it could There was no tiun I had forever to watch herto die

So her offon the sidewalk, blinking I had the Firestar init out Practice, practice, practice

There was a wererat on top of Gretchen The dark rabbed histeeth from her throat A furred claw slashed her pale face Blood flowed She screa one hand into his stoet her legs under his and shoved hi like a thrown ball

Gretchen was on her feet like round But she was gone into the bushes, after the wererat I&039;dbranches came from the darkness It had to be Louie I didn&039;t know that many wererats that would come to my rescue

I stood up and the world swa For the first time I wondered how badly I was hurt I kneas scraped up so off the first layer of skin will get you I raised a hand to my head and it came aith blood Some of it was mine

I tried another step, and I could do it Maybe I&039;d just tried to stand too fast I hoped so I didn&039;t know if a wererat could take a va out here in the clear and waiting to find out

I was at the edge of the trees when they rolled out of the darkness and over me I lay on the paveetdown my arm towards the noise

The ain, Gretchen had sunk fangs into Louie&039;s neck He gave a high, wild squeal I couldn&039;t shoot her lying down, all I could see fro hiht kill her was a line of her blond head I didn&039;t dare try it I ht kill Louie, too Even clear-headed, it would have been an iffy shot

I got to my knees The world shifted, and nausea rolled at the back of ain, there was still nothing to shoot at So from his throat If she&039;d had the teeth Louie had, he&039;d be dead

I fired into the ground near the it would scare her off It didn&039;t I aimed at a tree just above her head It was as close to Louie as I dared get The bullet exploded in the tree One blue eye looked atto kill him while I watched

"Shoot her," it was Louie&039;s voice twisted around furry jaws, but his voice His eyes glazed and closed, while I watched Last words

I took a deep, steadying breath and airip I sighted on that one pale eye Darkness swam over my vision I waited on my knees, blind, for er If , I&039;d hit Louie I was out of options

Or maybe not "Richard asked me to marry hi someone else We don&039;t have to do this"

She hesitated I stared into her eye My vision was clear Arer She released his throat, sliding her head into his neck fur, hiding Her voice caun, and I will let hiun skyward "Let hiun first," she said

I didn&039;t want to give up un That seemed like a really bad idea But what choice did I have? If I were Gretchen, I wouldn&039;t want me armed I did still have the second knife, but from this distance it was useless Even if I could throell enough to put it through her heart, it would have to be a very solid blow She was too old for a glancing blow to do ood I&039;d shoved a knife hilt-deep into her throat and it hadn&039;t slowed her down It had impressed me

I laid the Firestar on the sidewalk and raised my hands to show myself unarmed Gretchen rose slowly fro him up, his body rolled onto its back There was a looseness to the movement that unnerved me Was it too late? Could a vampire&039;s bite kill like silver?

The va out of her throat like an exclamation mark She hadn&039;t even bothered to take it out Jesus I must have missed the voice box or she wouldn&039;t have been able to talk Even va was happening It was like looking into anyone&039;s eyes That shouldn&039;t have been Maybe she was holding her power in check? Naw

"Is he still alive?"

"Come closer and see for yourself"

"No, thanks" If Louie was dead,dead wouldn&039;t help that

She sain, this news of yours"

"Richard asked me to marry him, and I said yes"

"You love this Richard?"

"Yes" This was no tiuess it was true, surprise, surprise

"Tell Jean-Claude and I will be content"

"I plan on telling hiht"

"Lie When I leave you will tend your wounds, and his, and not tell Jean-Claude"

I couldn&039;t even get aith a little white lie, shit "What do you want?"

"He is at Guilty Pleasures tonight Go there and tell hi for you"

"I have to tend to his wounds before I do anything," I said

"Tend his wounds, but come to Guilty Pleasures before dawn, or our truce is over"

"Why not tell Jean-Claude yourself?"

"He would not believethe truth," I said

"Just because I believed it was truth would not make it so But he will smell the truth on you If I am not there, wait for me I want to be there when you tell him you love another I want to see his face fall"

"Fine, I&039;ll be there before dawn"

She stepped over Louie&039;s body She had the Browning in her right hand, held palrip, not to fire but to keep me from it She stalked tome

Blood dripped down the knife hilt in her throat The blood fell in a heavy, wet splat She smiled as my eyes widened I knew it didn&039;t kill theht it hurt Maybe they only took the blades out from habit It certainly didn&039;t seem to bother Gretchen

"You can have these back after you tell hi he kills me," I said

"I would shed no tears"

Great Gretchen took a step backwards, then another She stopped at the edge of the trees, a pale form in the dark "I await you, Anita Blake Do not disappoint ht"

"I&039;ll be there," I said

She sone I thought it was a mind trick, but there was a backwash of air The trees shook as if a stor Not wings, not a bat, but so my eyes couldn&039;t or wouldn&039;t make sense of

The wind died, and the winter dark was as still and quiet as a touess the coeds had called the cops Couldn&039;t say I blamed them

22

I stood, carefully The world didn&039;t spin Great I walked to Louie His rat-rass I knelt, and another wave of dizziness took me I waited on all fours for it to pass When the world was steady once h when his chest rose and fell underFantastic

If he&039;d been in human form, I&039;d have checked his neck wound I was pretty sure that just touching his blood in aniive me lycanthropy, but I wasn&039;t one hundred percent I had enough proble furry once a month Besides, if I had to pick an anietting closer I wasn&039;t sure what to do He was badly hurt, but I&039;d seen Richard worse off and he had healed But had he needed soet healed? I didn&039;t know I could hide Louie in the bushes, but would I be leaving him to die? If the cops saw him like this, his secret was out His life would be in a shambles around him, just because he&039;d helped h rose froh his body The fur began to recede like the tide pulling back The aard, ratlike lihtened I watched his huht in ice

Louie lay there on the dark grass, pale and naked and very human I&039;d never seen the process in reverse before It was just as spectacular as the change to ani, maybe because of the end product

The wound on his neck was more like an animal bite than a vas There was no blood on the wound now As I watched, blood started to flow I couldn&039;t tell for sure in the dark, but it looked like the wound was already beginning to heal I checked his pulse It was steady, strong, but what did I knoasn&039;t a doctor

The siren was silent, but lights strobed the darkness just over the trees like colored lightning The cops were co better My vision was clear The dizziness seeain I could carry him in a fireman&039;s carry; not too fast and not too far, but I could do it The biteI couldn&039;t let the cops see him, and I couldn&039;t leave him here I didn&039;t know if lycanthropes could freeze to death, but I didn&039;t feel lucky tonight

I covered hi it around hiet frostbite on certain delicate places You lose a toe and there you are

I took a deep breath and stood with hi hiot to ainst a suddenly htIf I didn&039;t get out of here right now, Iup wasn&039;t one of ave that last push My knees screa Black waves passed overit sway over me The dizziness wasn&039;t as bad this time The nausea orse I&039;d throw up later

I stayed on the sidewalk I didn&039;t trust myself in the snow Besides, even city cops could follow prints in the snow A planting of trees hid hts The sidewalk led around a building Once around that I could backtrack toin and out was a bad idea, but if I didn&039;t get some distance between et to the car I had to get Louie out of sight

I didn&039;t look back to see if there were flashlights sweeping the area Looking back wouldn&039;t help, and with Louie on my shoulders it was a lot of effort to turn I put one foot in front of the other, and the edge of the building curved around us We were out of sight, even if they cleared the trees Progress Great

The side of the building stretched like so see I put one foot in front of the other If I just concentrated on walking, I could do this Louie seeht Was I about to pass out and just didn&039;t know it yet?

I looked up and found the edge of the building right beside n I was betting I had a concussion It couldn&039;t be too bad or I&039;d pass out, right? Why didn&039;t I believe that?

I peered around the corner, concentrating on not whacking Louie&039;s legs into the building It took a lot more concentration than it should have

The police lights strobed the darkness The car was parked on the edge of the lot with one door open The radio filled the night with garbled squawking The car looked eht a wave of blackness acrossto drive? One probleht

I stepped away froe If the cops ca lot, it was over

On a Sunday night there weren&039;t a lot of cars in the visitors&039; parking lot My Jeep sat under one of the streetlights I always parked under a light if I could Safety rule nu alone after dark The Jeep looked like it was in a spotlight The light was probably not that bright It just looked that way because I was trying to be sneaky

Somewhere about halfway to the Jeep, I realized that the head injury wasn&039;t the only probleht, even ith it, but not forever My knees were tre slower and tookto be able to pick Louie back up I wasn&039;t even sure I&039;d be able to get me back up

One foot in front of the other, just one foot in front of the other I concentrated on my feet until the Jeep&039;s tires came into view There, that wasn&039;t so hard

The car keys were, of course, in the coat pocket I hit the button on the key chain that unlocked the doors The high-pitched beeping noise that signaled theh to wake the dead I opened theLouie one handed I let hi a naked line of body I ht because I took the tiroin and lower chest It left one arht My sense of propriety could live with a naked arlimpse of myself in the sideview mirror One side of my face was a bloody mask, the clean parts had bloody scrapes I slid into the Jeep, and got a box of aloe and lanolin baby wipes fro the wipes to help with the blood fros It worked better than the plain soap and water that I had been carrying I wiped enough blood off that I wouldn&039;t get stopped by the first cop that drove by, then slid behind the wheel

I glanced in the rearviewwaiting for its as The Jeep weaved towards a streetlight as if it were a lad I&039;d worn my seat belt

Okay, so I was just a bit disoriented I hit the light on my sunshade that&039;s supposed to let you check your makeup, and checked my eyes instead The pupils were even If one pupil had been blown, thatinside s like that I&039;d have turned us in to the cops and gotten a ride to the hospital But it wasn&039;t that bad I hoped

I clicked the light off and eased the Jeep forward If I drove very slowly, the car wouldn&039;t want to kiss the streetlight Great I inched out of the parking lot, expecting to hear shouts behindThe street was dark and lined with cars on either side I crawled down the street at about ten o faster It looked like I was driving through cars on one side Illusion but unnerving as hell

A bigger street and headlights stabbed at my eyes I put my hand up to shield my eyes and nearly ran into a parked car Shit I had to pull over before I hit soas station with pay phones outside I wasn&039;t sure how rough I looked I didn&039;t want soone to all the trouble of getting away undetected

I eased the Jeep into the parking lot If I overcorrected and took out the gas puht call the cops anyway I pulled the Jeep in front of the phone bank I put it in park and was very relieved to be standing still

I fu but change When I left the car, for the first time I are of how cold it ithoutdown my back where the sweater had been ripped away I dialed Richard&039;s nu about it Who else could I call?

The answering machine kicked in "Dammit, be home, Richard, be home"

The beep sounded "Richard, this is Anita Louie&039;s hurt Pick up if you&039;re there Richard, Richard, daainst the cool metal of the phone booth "Pick up, pick up, pick up Richard Da out of breath "Anita, it&039;s ot hurt His wound&039;s healing How do you explain that to a hospital eency room?"

"You don&039;t," he said "We have doctors that can tend hio to"

"I can&039;t drive"

"Are you hurt?"

"Yeah"

"How bad?"

"Bad enough that I don&039;t want to drive"

"What happened to the two of you?"

I gave hiht&039;s events Just a vampire attack, no specific motive I wasn&039;t ready to tell hiement, because I wasn&039;t sure we still had one He&039;d asked, I said yes, but noasn&039;t sure I wasn&039;t even sure Richard was sure anyas station you&039;re talking about I stop there when I visit Louie sometimes"

"Great When can you be here?"

"Are you going to be all right until I can get there?"

"Sure"

"Because if you&039;re not, call the police Don&039;t risk your life just to keep Louie&039;s secret He wouldn&039;t want that"

"I&039;ll keep that in etto happen to you"

I sainst the phone "Macho&039;s the only way I got this far Just get here, Richard I&039;ll be waiting" I hung up before he could gettoo pitiful to withstand ot back into the Jeep It was cold inside the car I&039;d forgotten to turn on the heater I turned the heater on full blast I knelt on the seat and checked on Louie He hadn&039;tfor the pulse It was strong and steady For the heck of it, I lifted his hand and let it flop back No reaction I hadn&039;t really expected one

Usually, a lycanthrope stayed in ani back early took a lot of energy Even if he hadn&039;t been hurt, Louie would be asleep for the rest of the night Though sleep was too mild a word for it You couldn&039;t wake thereat survivalthe day didn&039;t help va us puny humans out

I slid down init would take for Richard to get here I glanced at the station building The azine He wasn&039;t taking any notice of us at the , I would havewhy I was sitting here, but if he wasn&039;t paying attention, we&039;d just sit here

I leaned back, putting ainst the headrest I wanted to close my eyes, but didn&039;t I was pretty sure I had a concussion Going to sleep wasn&039;t a good idea I&039;d had one head injury worse than this, but Jean-Claude had cured it But a vampire mark was a little harsh for a mild concussion

This was the first time I&039;d been badly hurt since I lost Jean-Claude&039;s marks They had made me harder to hurt, faster to heal Not a bad side effect One of the other effects had been an ability toable to bespell me Like I had met Gretchen&039;s eyes

How had I met her eyes with i mark? Another question to ask him when I saw him Of course, after I told him the news bulletin, all hell would break loose and there would be no more questions Well, maybe one question Would Jean-Claude try to kill Richard? Probably