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The Sapphire Club is a loide building and doesn&039;t look that nice from the outside It doesn&039;t look that different from many of the rest of the bars and clubs in the area, so why is it a gentlemen&039;s club and the others are just titty bars? Security, decor, and a dress code for the dancers, for starters Tonight the VIP parking area was so full of official and semiofficial vehicles that you could barely see the front of the club through the flashing lights andfire truck and a rescue truck alongside the regular a truck, but murder scenes always attract more people than you really need,

There was a crowd pressed against the police tape and sawhorse barriers Some of the women looked barely dressed for the October cold, so it had to be people from the nearby clubs Most of the dancers arrived at work in street clothes then changed there So at least so in the cold had left work elsewhere to join the gawkers

I actually had to park in the lot of the nearest club, the Jazz Baby, live music, and live entertainment What could be better? Sleep,My shower had beaten the record for speed, but it was still quite a drive froet blood on the front ofa T-shirt that Jean-Claude had found for h, or would have if I hadn&039;t been wearing Byron&039;s leather jacket again Maybe I could just keep the jacket on No, it&039;d be warht was that so a black bra under a white shirt, we&039;d count ourselves lucky

Jean-Claude had also found underwear, again it was thong, but it was actually comfortable, because it was made of soft T-shirt material, even the bit that went between your cheeks Most of the girl thongs I&039;d looked at had had elastic or lace running up your ass, and that just didn&039;t look coet through the crowd When I got up to the line, the officer closest to me didn&039;t really look at me He saoman in boots and a short skirt and a leather jacket and said, "Club&039;s closed for the night, you won&039;t be working"

I shoved e into his face, and he had to back up to focus on it "Actually, Officer," and I read his nalas, I think I will be working tonight"

He looked down at me, because he was taller than me I watched his face try to wrap around the look of e He wasn&039;t the first police officer to have a probleether, and he wouldn&039;t be the last I ht think like a cop, but I don&039;t really look like one Especially not tonight

"I&039;eant Zerbrowski called ood to remind people that I hadn&039;t invited myself into their party I had the authority to do it, but I tried to do as little uninvited butting in as I could No cop, noin on their case Especially not a big one

Officer Douglas stared at e like he didn&039;t believe it was real "No one told "

"Ya know, it&039;s four in theI asked your pere is a federal badge and it gives ht to cross this line, enter this crilas, I will charge you with obstructing a federal officer in the performance of her duty"

He looked like he&039;d sed so sour, but he waved another officer over He had him take his place at the barrier and held the tape for uess I couldn&039;t blae wasn&039;t real, or wasn&039;t uy, he wouldn&039;t have had a problem with it You can always tell a new cop froe a lot on appearance, once you&039;ve been on the cop for a few years, you stop doing that Because by then you&039;ve learned that what&039;s on the outside doesn&039;t tell you that much about what&039;s on the inside A cute little old lady can pull a trigger just as well as a big scary looking guy Rookies don&039;t know that yet They haven&039;t learned the lesson that you can&039;t tell by looking

Officer Douglas didn&039;t shorten his stride forscenes with Dolph, who h-heeled boots He looked like he wanted to say so, but he didn&039;t Probably just as well

Some of the police on this side of the river don&039;t know ht, that I worked here, because they catcalled after us, "Hey, Dougie, going to get a piece No lap dances on conored it all It was four in the , and I hadn&039;t been to bed yet, I didn&039;t care Besides, I&039;d learned the hard way that the more attention you pay to shit like that, the oes away, because it just isn&039;t any fun if they don&039;t get a rise out of you Besides, they were teasing Douglas ave thenored it, but his face was blazing by the tiot to the main doors He actually held the door for me, and I let him There&039;d been a point in my life when I would not have let hi with e to arain, so screw it, he could hold the door Besides, if I put hiiven his coworkers more to tease him about, and I didn&039;t want that

We went through the glass doors into a little entry area that reminded me of the front of a nice restaurant, coh that probably wasn&039;t the tall guy&039;s official title But hey, he earing a white suit jacket with a tie, he did look like a maître d&039; When I&039;d seen him last, he was tall and self-assured and had taken my name and Asher&039;s and called on a phone to have a "hostess" escort us in Now he leaned on his counter, head in his hands, looking ill

There were bathrooms off to the left, and a short hallway that led into the club Froave theers, before someone saw breasts The color scheme was muted blues and purples, and if they hadn&039;t had silhouettes of naked women on the walls, it would have looked like a restaurant, oh, and the poster advertising that Wednesday was auy&039;s name, just couldn&039;t relas took me past him without a word Up the little raood solid bar area to the left that would have done any club proud, but the rest of the room was all strip club I es for? The room was mostly blues and purples, and maybe other colors I couldn&039;t tell for sure, because hting, so that the room was lit, but it was still terribly dark I&039;d been surprised the first tih there was no actual shadowed area, the whole room seeht, the place was packed, but quiet They&039;d had to turn off the music, and the DJ&039;s endless prattle wasthis quiet, as if the noise was part of the decor There were men, and more woether like mourners at an unexpected funeral The dancers were all in one corner with a plainclothes detective that I didn&039;t recognize A big las&039;s strode toward us, with a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other He still had his hat on, as if his round face would have been incolas, what the fuck are you bringing irls that were in the club tonight over there" He motioned with his thumb over his shoulder He had s called a stripper, and discounted like I didn&039;t irl and not in uniforirlie, see anything?"

I raised las so I was facing what had to be his boss "Federal Marshal Anita Blake, and you are?"

I could see his face darken even in the odd lighting "Sheriff Christopher, Melvin Christopher" He looked me up and down, not the way a man will if he thinks a wo me up, and wasn&039;t i you&039;re a stripper, you should dress better, miss"

"That&039;s Marshal Blake to you, Sheriff, and in the big city, this is called date clothes Dresses down to your knees went out of style a few decades back"

His face got a little darker, his eyes went from unfriendly to hostile "You think you&039;re funny?"

"No," I said, and I took a deep breath in and let it out slow "Look, you stop callingcute remarks at you Let&039;s both pretend we&039;re here to solve a crime, and just do our jobs"

"We don&039;t need federal help here"

I sighed I looked around the room and didn&039;t see anyone I knew "Fine, you want to do it this e can do it this way If you preventall the va a federal officer in the performance of her duties"

"Some of them your friends, that it? I heard you were coffin bait"

I shook las, which put me out of reach for the sheriff

"Where the hell are you going?"

"To question the witnesses," I said, and I kept a little bit of an eye on the sheriff, because I wasn&039;t sure what he would do

"How do you knohere they are?"

"They aren&039;t out here, or out in the parking lot, so they&039;ve got to be in the Sapphire Room" I was almost to the little raised platform in front of a pair of nice wooden doors There was another uniformed officer in front of the doors I had been in there before, so I knew the sound was muffled inside the room That&039;s why I hadn&039;t yelled for Zerbrowski already

I unzipped the leather jacket as I went up the steps I had e in my left hand, held where the uniform on the door could see it clearly I wasn&039;t really sure what I was going to do if the sheriff told his man not to let ht to be somewhere, didn&039;t mean the local police would make it easy They wouldn&039;t actually lay hands on me, or boot my ass out, but if they wanted to be uncooperative, they could be

"Please move aside, Officer"

He actually started to step to the side, but the sheriff said, "You don&039;t work for her You ht, Well, shit Then I had an idea I reached into the pocket of the leather coat

"Be careful what you reach for," the sheriff said from far too close behind me

I turned so I could see him and the other officer I held upto make a phone call"

He had his hands on his hips above his Saun, so he wasn&039;t serious He was just trying to see if I&039;d spook If he thought this kind of shit could inti in the shallow end of the pool for too fucking long

I hit the buttons, keeping an eye on the officers in the roo or whatever they were doing, to watch our little show Zerbrowski answered on the second ring "I&039;m in the club, just outside the doors"

"And why aren&039;t you inside the doors?" he asked, sounding puzzled

"The sheriff has ordered his man not to move away from the doors"

"Not true," the sheriff yelled, "but you sure as hell can&039;t order h so Zerbrowski could hear it "A little help here"

Zerbrowski opened the door with the phone still in his hand "Thanks, Sheriff Christopher, I think Marshal Blake and I have it from here" He clicked the phone shut, sh for h for the sheriff, who stood at the botto at hi contest had started before I got there, and I&039;d just gotten caught in it

Zerbrowski shut the door behind us, and leaned against it shaking his head He&039;s 5&039;9", with short black hair going et it cut, the hair is short and neat When he forgets, or she&039;s busy, it&039;s curly and wavy, and as untidy as the rest of him His suit was brown, his tie was pale yellow, and so was his shirt I think it was the first time I&039;d seen all his clothes match in all the years I&039;d known him Okay, lasses were silver and helped hide that his eyes were tired, but not that he was pissed He took me off to one side by the fountain with a once-real-live stuffed lion crouching beside it The Sapphire Rooe, a safari roos people think men think is masculine Most of the rooht was, always, Oh, no, a leopard blew up and plastered itself all over everything, but hey, animal prints are in this year People pay hundreds of dollars a night to be back here, so they must like it

Zerbrowski turned his back on the room and motioned for"Welco out all of the sheriff&039;s men?"

"When we pulled up, they had the va crosses on thelow like hell, and basically said, you talk, or we keep crosses out"

"Shit, use of a holy ite was ruled assault, what, three o in federal court?"

"Yeah," he said, and he raised his glasses up and rubbed at his eyes with his thuer

"Every vaes," I whispered

He nodded and readjusted his glasses "Like I said, welco, a lot of police departments had holy items as part of their uniform, like lapel pins or tietacks, but now they were back to carrying them undercover somewhere on their bodies Holy ite with vampires Which meant what the sheriff had done constituted assault with a deadly weapon

"Was it just him, or his ot here, they were all wearing little cross-shaped lapel pins I got them to remove them, but only after I threatened to call the closest FBI office"

I looked at him, because no cop likes to call in what they so affectionately call the Feebies

"I&039;d rather let the FBI take this entire case away froo down The vauilty ones here, I can&039;t tell it, because they&039;re all either royally pissed, or scared Most of theally they don&039;t have to" It didn&039;t really show in his voice, but he was as angry as I&039;d seen hihtness around his eyes, the way his hands kept stiffening up Zerbroas usually one laid back guy, but everybody has their lih Very sih, five in New Orleans, then they moved here"

"Lucky us," I said

"Yeah," he said, "but that means we have at least three more bodies to look forward to We need these nice citizen vamps to talk to us"

"I&039;ll see what I can do Do you have anyone you want ot about three hours or less until dawn They&039;ve got to be allowed to go ho"

"We&039;ve got a woman dead in the side lot here, multiple vaet a judge to agree to holding thee that hates vaive me a court order"

I shookto sht now they can only sue this city, let&039;s not give them a reason to sue us, too"

He nodded then stepped aside and ood luck"

There was a group of va fireplace in the center of the ed to Jean-Claude Some of them were clustered around a table set in front of it the fireplace, in huge thronelike chairs, some on a cushioned seat near the fireplace One of the va an animal print cushion while he sat in front of the fire His eyes ide, and he looked shell-shocked The other five were scared, or angry, or a ether better than the cushion-hugger

I showed thee and explained who I was But it wasn&039;t the badge thatto kill us"

"Shut up, Roger," a tall vary hazel eyes said "Why are you here, Ms Blake? We are being held against our wills, and we are guilty of nothing except being vampires"

"And you are?" I asked

He stood and straightened a rather nice, conservative suit "I am Charles Moffat"

"I know that name," I said

He looked nervous, just for a moment, then he tried to s it He wasn&039;t twenty-years dead, a baby

"You&039;re one of Malcolm&039;s deacons for the Church of Eternal Life," I said

He opened his mouth, then closed it, and stood very tall, and said, "Yes, I am, and I&039;m not ashamed of it"

"No, but Malcolm has forbidden any of his church members to frequent this side of the river for nefarious purposes"

"How do you knohat our oing to work

"Because Malcolree to tell Malcolm if any of the church&039;s uys aren&039;t allowed to be anywhere this naughty You must, and I quote, be absolutely above reproach"

One of the va in his chair "I knee shouldn&039;t have come If Malcolm finds out"

"She is Jean-Claude&039;s servant, and she must tell hiree to our clubs Malcolm didn&039;t ask us to keep an eye this side of the river"

The bald vampire looked up at me as if I&039;d offered hiuys tellyou know about this, I don&039;t see a reason to"

The bald vampire touched Charles Moffat&039;s arm Charles jerked away from him "How can we trust you?"

"Look, I&039;ned a ht in a titty bar--you guys have So if anyone is questioning someone&039;s word, shouldn&039;t it be ainst the express orders of his ood is he either to his master or his kiss?"

"We of the church do not use the word kiss for a group of vampires Malcolm feels that it is too sensuous a word"

"Fine, but my point stands You&039;ve betrayed your master, your church, and your oath, or don&039;t you in the church take blood oath, either?"

"A barbaric practice," Charles said, "we of the church are held by our own ical oath"

I smiled and motioned around the room "Hmm, nice standards"

Charles blushed, which isn&039;t easy for a vaht, fed a lot "Who was your feed for tonight?"

He just glared atWe have less than three hours to get your asses back to your hoht?"

They all nodded "Then answer my questions I can tell which one of you has fed and which hasn&039;t I need to knohat dancers, or donors, you fed on If they&039;re in the other room, I need to talk to them If they aren&039;t, I need naht"

"The relationship between a vampire and their partner is sacred"

"Look, Charles, you&039;ve got enough blood in you to blush You want ot that much blood to waste?"

"We have already been threatened and abused You can do no more to us"

I turned to the rest "Who wants to answer et an I-won&039;t-tell-Malcolm card?"

The bald vamp stood up Charles yelled at him But Baldie shook his head "No, you aren&039;t s in the church, it&039;s one of the reasons we joined I&039; to answer her questions, because it&039;s within hts to do so"

"Let&039;s find a private room," I said, and motioned for him to follow me There was a truly beautiful saltwater aquariu room, but there were smaller rooms off of it, where noret a private dance

I took Baldie into the first room It was actually nice, not tacky in the least, with a s The room still pulled off that leather andobnoxious about it "Have a seat," I said

He sat, rubbing his hands over his knees, nervous He was a little plump, and soft He looked like an accountant, except that when he licked his lips, he flashed a little fang The new ones do that "How long have you been in the church?"

"Two years" He was shaking his head "I thought it would be sexy, you know, vampires, the clothes, the roether "But it&039;s not like that at all I&039;m still a law clerk, just at a different office where they let hts I can&039;t drink, can&039;t eat a steak, and dying didn&039;t make me sexier" He spread his hands wide "Look at ht the church required six months minimum of study before they let you take the last step?"

He nodded "They do, but they h-minded, you knoe&039;re better than those other vampires We aren&039;t perverts like Jean-Claude and his vamps" He looked up and was scared, and it showed "I&039;m sorry, I didn&039;t mean"

"I knohat the church says about normal vampire society"

"It sounded so noble"

"Let uess, there was this woman that happened to be a vampire"

He looked up, startled "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess, and after you e, what happened?"

"She was my partner for the first few months, but after that, she had other duties"

That was interesting, and I filed it away for later If the church deacons were seducing al, at the very least questionably ht?"

The question threw hihts "Sasha, her naht her back here?"

He nodded

"You&039;re a club ain

"Charles is, too?"

Nod

"Most of the people at the table are members?"

Nod, then, "It was Clarke&039;s first time here"

"And Clarke is the one with the pillow?"

"How did you know?"

I shook irls that people fed off of, names or descriptions" He remembered a lot I ended up with four names, two descriptions, and only poor Clarke had not fed Of course, I&039;d known that last part, but it&039;s always nice to have things confiruard, we ventured out into the club and fetched the woirl Charles had fed on three, and he was a big tipper Two of the girls were his regulars Pretty naughty for a church deacon

It took me a little more than two hours to match up those who had fed hom they&039;d fed on It didn&039;t ain, but it ested that we could coirl with the vamps later, if we needed to We knew their names, and kne to find the bit of inforiven up only by the first vamp I talked to and by Clarke, as so scared he&039;d have given up his mother There had been three other church , and they were also part of the crowd that liked to frequent the stripper bars But none of them were members of the Sapphire Room VIP club I had their names and an address for theto do with the otten bored and went home early It wasn&039;t a crime to leave a place