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Zerbroas being sewn back together None of the doctors were telling us anything Guarded His condition was guarded Dolph was also in the hospital Not as bad off but enough to stay for a day or so Zerbrowski hadn&039;t regained consciousness before they took him away I waited Katie, his wife, arrived so

It was only the second time we&039;d ever met She was a small woman with a mane of dark hair tied in a loose ponytail Without a spot ofher I&039;d never figured out

She walked towardsher purse like a shield, fingers digging into the leather "Where is he?" Her voice was high and breathy, like a little girl&039;s It always sounded like that

Before I could say anything, the doctor ca doors at the end of the hall Katie stared at him All the blood had drained from her face

I stood up anddoctor like he was sohtmare Probably more accurate than I wanted it to be

"Are you Mrs Zerbrowski?" the doctor asked

She nodded Her hands where they gripped the purse werewith tension

"Your husband is stable It looks good He&039;s going toafter all

Katie gave a sht her and stood there supporting her dead weight She couldn&039;t have weighed ninety pounds

"We&039;ve got a lounge in here if you can" He looked at ed

I lifted Katie Zerbrowski in ot the balance of it, and said, "Lead on"

I left Katie sitting by Zerbrowski&039;s bedside His hand wrapped around hers, like he knew she was there Maybe he did Lucille, Dolph&039;s wife, was there now to hold her hand just in case Staring down at Zerbrowski&039;s pale face, I prayed that there was no "just in case"

I wanted to wait until Zerbrooke up, but the doctor told o without sleep that long My new stitches made the cross-shaped burn scar on my left ar the mound of scar tissue at the bend ofKatie had broken soe The doctor who had operated on Zerbrowski resewed it personally He looked at the scars a lot

My ared from wrist to elbow But ere all alive Yea

The taxi droppedat ould have been a decent hour Louie had been drugged and tied in the base the skins of a olf, a wereleopard, and trying for the naga Jason hadn&039;t been in the house She denied ever having seen him What did she need with another olf skin? The wererat skin would have been for her, she said When asked who the snakeskin would have been for, she said her There was at least one other person involved that she wasn&039;t willing to give up

She was a witch and had used ic to kill It was an automatic death sentence Once convicted, the sentence would be carried out within forty-eight hours No appeals No pardons Dead The lawyers were trying to get her to admit to the other disappearances If she&039;d adht A killer witch I didn&039;t believe they&039;d lighten her sentence, butoutside ht of the fullht

The police were trying to keep it all quiet, especially Louie&039;s secret identity I hoped they could e it But at least he was alive Anie," he said "Thanks for saving Louie"

I put my key in the lock "You&039;re welcome"

"We haven&039;t found Jason Do you really think the witches took him?"

I opened the door He followed me in and closed the door "I don&039;t know That&039;s been bothering me, too If she&039;d taken Jason He should have been there" The wolf, once out of its skin, had been a woman that I didn&039;t know

I walked into the bedrooht and distant and faintly unreal They&039;d cut off the sleeve of my jacket and sweater I&039;d tried to save the jacket but I guess it had been ruined anyway They&039;d also cut through the left arm sheath I had it and the knife shoved inoff in the e, hands hovering over my arm "You didn&039;t tellI picked it up without thinking

A man&039;s voice said, "Anita Blake?"

"Yes"

"This is Williams, the naturalist at the Audubon Center I played back soht One of them has what I&039;d sas hyenas on it I told the police, but they didn&039;t seenificance Do you understand what it ht mean to have hyena sounds out here?"

"A werehyena," I said

"Yes, I thought so, too"

No one had told hi shifters was a hyena Maybe Elvira really didn&039;t knohat happened to all thelycanthropes

"Did you say you told the police?"

"Yes, I did"

"Who&039;d you tell?"

"I called Sheriff Titus&039;s office"

"Who&039;d you speak to?"

"Aikensen"

"Do you know if he told Titus?"

"No, but ouldn&039;t he?"

Why indeed

"Someone&039;s at the door Can you hold on a minute?"

"I don&039;t think"

"I&039;ll be right back"

"Willia to empty air I heard him walk across the floor The door opened He made a surprised sound Heavier footsteps came back across the floor

So They didn&039;t say anything

"Talk to ot heavy

"If you hurt him, Aikensen, I will feed you your dick on knife point"

He laughed and hung up And I&039;d never be able to testify in court as on the other end of that phone

"Da?"

I called inforet the number for the Willoton Police Department I pressed the button that dialed it automatically for a small fee

"Anita, what is it?"

I held up a hand, telling him to wait A woman answered "Is this Deputy Holot Chief Garroway after i on the dispatcher that this was a matter of life and death I did not scream at her I deserved ave Garroway the Reader&039;s Digestversion "I can&039;t believe even Aikensen would be involved in so like this, but I&039;ll send a car"

"Thanks"

"Why didn&039;t you just call 911?" Richard asked

"They&039;d call the county police Aikensen ling out of my butchered jacket Richard eased it off otten it off When it was off, I realized I was out of coats I&039;d ruined two in as rabbed the only coat I had left It was cri and full I&039;d worn it twice The last tiht If I needed to sneak up on anybody, I could take it off

Richard had to help et my left aret Jason," he said

I looked at hio when there&039;s a full moon"

"You can&039;t even put your own coat on How are you going to drive?"

He had a point

"This roolf and tonight is the full moon I think I can handle it" He had a faraway look in his eyes as if he were hearing voices I would never know

"All right Let&039;s go, but we&039;re going to save Williams I think the weres are close to his place, but I don&039;t know exactly where"

He was standing there with his long duster coat on He earing a white T-shirt, a pair of jeans with one knee gone, and a pair of less than reputable shoes

"Why the scuffy clothes?"

"If I shift in my clothes, they&039;re always torn apart Precaution You ready?"

"Yeah"

"Let&039;s go," he said There was so tension like water just before it spills over the edge When I looked into his brown eyes, so slid behind theet out

I realized what I was sensing fro out of his true brown eyes, and it was eager to be about its business

What could I say? We went

38

Edas leaning againstin the air The terees with the dark The freeze was back on All the meltwater had turned to ice The snow crunched underfoot

"What are you doing here, Edward?"

"I was about to co down"

"What do you want?"

"I want to play," he said