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"No, the dreams are worse," he said

He had me there "What happened, Larry?"

"I&039; to ask"

"So am I, but I didn&039;t want to ask in front of the doctor If you start asking questions of the patient, the docs tend to wander off and treat somebody else I wanted to know from the doctor who stitched you up just how serious it was"

"Just a few stitches," he said

"Twenty," I said

"Eighteen," he said

"I was rounding up"

"Trust rimaced as he said it "Why does this hurt so ht have been a rhetorical question, but I answered it anyway "Every ti you useyour head and muscles in your shoulders makes muscles in your back oes out on you"

"Great," he said

"Enough stalling, Larry Tellline of traffic leading up to the light on Olive We were stuck between two small strip malls The one on our left had fountains and V J&039;s Tea and Spice, where I got all ht was Streetside Records and a Chinese buffet If you came up Ballas at lunch time, you always had plenty of time to study the shops on either side

He srimaced "I had two bodies to stake Both vamp victims that didn&039;t want to rise as va wills, I re most of those lately"

He nodded, then froze inmy head hurts"

"It&039;ll hurt more tomorrow"

"Gee, thanks, boss I needed to know that"

I shrugged "Lying to you won&039;t make it hurt less"

"Anybody ever tell you your bedside manner sucks?"

"Lots of people"

He made a small hmphsound "That I believe Anyway, I&039;d finished the bodies and was packing up A woman rolled in another body Said it was a valanced at hi "You didn&039;t do a body without paperwork, did you?"

He frowned back "Of course not I told the a va to be up on charges because someone screwed the paperwork I told them both that in no uncertain terms"

"Them?" I asked I eased up the line of traffic, a little closer to the light

"The other ue attendant had come back in They went out in search of the misplaced paperwork I was left with the va anywhere" He tried to look away and not ry

"I went out for a cigarette"

I looked at him and had to sla into the seat belt He groaned, and when he was finished writhing on the seat, he said, "You did that on purpose"

"No, I didn&039;t, but maybe I should have You left a vah kills to deserve a court order of execution, alone in the arette, Anita The body was just lying there on the gurney It wasn&039;t chained or strapped There were no crosses anywhere I&039;ve done executions They plaster the vamps with silver chains and crosses until it&039;s hard to find the heart It just didn&039;t look right I wanted to talk to the medical examiner She has to approve all vampires before execution, or soured we could have one together in her office"

"And," I said

"She wasn&039;t in, and I went back to theto pound a stake through the vamp&039;s chest"

It was lucky ere at a dead stop in traffic If we&039;d been , I&039;d have plowed into someone I stared at him "You left your vaed to look ery at the sauns like yours does, so I figured, ould bother it"

"A lot of people will steal things out of the bag for souvenirs, Larry" Traffic started to creep forward and I had to watch the road instead of his face

"Fine, fine, I rong I knorong I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her off the va at ht would bother me "I turned my back on her to check the vampire To make sure she hadn&039;t hurt him"

"She did your back," I said We inched forward We were now trapped between Dairy Queen and Kentucky Fried Chicken on one side, and an Infiniti car dealership and a gas station on the other The scenery was not iht I was down for the count because she left me and went back to the vaet to the vampire when the other attendant came in It took both of us to pin her She was crazy, un, Larry?" His gun was sitting in his vampire kit because a shoulder holster and his back wound did notrange, and out on vampire hunts until I trusted him not to shoot his foot off

"If I&039;d drawn ht have shot her"

"That&039;s sort of the point, Larry"

"It&039;s exactly the point," he said "I didn&039;t want to shoot her"

"She could have killed you, Larry"

"I know"

I gripped the steering wheel tight enough tobreath and tried not to yell "You obviously don&039;t know, or you would have been more careful"

"I&039;m alive, and she&039;s not dead The vaht"

I pulled out onto Olive and started creeping towards 270 We needed to head north towards St Charles Larry had an apartive or take His apart and congregated in the winter Richard Zeeh science teacher, alpha olf, and at that time, my boyfriend, had helped hi just under the balcony So had I

"Larry, you are going to have to get over this squeaet killed"

"I&039;ll keep doing what I think is right, Anita Nothing you can say will change my mind"

"Dammit, Larry I don&039;t want to have to bury you"

"What would you have done? Shot her?"

"I wouldn&039;t have turned my back on her, Larry I could have probably disarmed her or kept her busy until the other attendant arrived I wouldn&039;t have had to shoot her"

"I let things get out of control," he said

"Your priorities were screwed You should have neutralized the threat before you checked on the victim Alive, you could help the vamp Dead, you&039;re just another victiot a scar you don&039;t have"

I shook my head "You&039;ll have to try harder if you want a scar I don&039;t have"

"You let a human shove one of your own stakes into your back?"

"Two humans with multiple bites, what I used to call human servants, before I knehat the ter him The woman came at my back"

"So yours wasn&039;t a ed "I could have shot them when I first saw them, but I didn&039;t kill humans as easily back then I learned s doesn&039;t mean it can&039;t kill you"

"You used to be squea human servants?" Larry asked

I turned onto 270 "No one&039;s perfect Why did the worinned "You&039;re going to love this one She&039;s a member of Humans First The vampire was a doctor in the hospital He&039;d tucked himself into a linen closet It here he always slept the day away if he&039;d had to stay too late in the hospital to drive hourney and wheeled hiue"

"I&039;ht The last sunlight of the day works as well as noonday"

"The linen closet he used was on the base time of day No s She was afraid soet him up in the elevator and outside"

"She really thought you would just stake hiuess so I don&039;t know, Anita She was crazy, really crazy She spit at the vampire and us Said we&039;d all rot in hell That we had to cleanse the world of theto enslave us all" Larry shivered, then frowned "I thought Huroup, Huenuinely scary"

"HAV tries to ithin the law," I said "Humans First doesn&039;t even pretend to care They claian"

"Claimed? You don&039;t believe them?"

"I think someone near and dear to his household did it"

"Why?"

"The cops sent me a description and some photos of the security precautions he&039;d taken Humans First anized yet You&039;d have had to plan and be very lucky to get to that va the day He was like a lot of the old ones, very serious about his daytiht-wing radicals take the blame"

"You tell the police what you think?"

"Sure That&039;s why they asked"

"I&039;m surprised they didn&039;t have you coed "I can&039;t go personally to every preternatural crime Besides, I&039;m technically a civilian Cops are sort of leery about involving civilians in their cases, but more importantly, the media would be all over it The Executioner Solves Varinned "That&039;s a mild headline for you"

"Unfortunately," I said "Also, I think the killer is a human I think it&039;s just someone he was close to It&039;s like any well-planneda vampire"

"Only you would make a locked-room vampire murder sound ordinary," Larry said

I had to suess so" My beeper went off, and I ju off my skirt and held it where I could see the nu? Is it the police?"

"No I don&039;t recognize the nuive out your beeper nuers"

"I&039;ruhed "Sorry" Larry was sloearing ression threshold He was, by sheer repetition, teaching me to be nicer Anybody else and I would have fed theed to push ht He could cautionhim The basis of many a successful relationship

We were only minutes from Larry&039;s apartment I&039;d tuck him into bed and answer the call If it wasn&039;t the police or a zo beeped when it wasn&039;t iht? If it wasn&039;t i to rain all over somebody&039;s parade With Larry asleep, I could be as nasty as I wanted to be It was almost a relief