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Of course, what I ishing the second I entered the next room was that we could catch our serial killers before they killed again I was pretty secure with that wish It seemed like a e could all live with They had sat the vaain, just a delay, but if it went really wrong, a second&039;s delay could save lives I stared at the vamp&039;s face His hair was darker than Avery&039;s, a brunette that so in the roo in a standard haven&039;t-I-seen-a-hundred-faces-just-like-that-way, but that wasn&039;t whatin the back of my head, that his face was familiar, then suddenly it caot interviewed about how I felt that one of my fellow vampire hunters had been slain by the vao now, three?"

His look, which had been neutral, went to hostile "Four" He said that last word like it was a bad one

"They&039;re legal now, Cooper, why didn&039;t you come out of the closet and tell people you didn&039;t die in that fire?"

He looked down, then up, and his eyes had gone dark, sparkling with anger and vampire powers I leaned into hi hiun was pressed, not too hard to his chest, just over his heart "Or is it that you let, as it, six police on?" Zerbrowski asked

I told him I didn&039;t have to look up to know that Zerbrowski&039;s face wouldn&039;t be friendly Nothing pisses off the cops like someone who kills one of their own "How&039;d you survive, Cooper?" I asked

He glared up at me "You kno"

"You sold the, didn&039;t you?"

He just looked at h

"He took money to betray cops?" Marconi asked

"No," I said, "not money"

"No," Cooper said, "not money"

"What then?" Sht, Cooper?"

"Not just that"

"What then?" I said

"You&039;re the Master of the City&039;s human servant, you knohat else"

I blinked at hih so that I wasn&039;t pressing a gun into his chest I knehat it was like to finally be seduced by the thing you hunted Mine just happened to be athe living

"What does he mean?" Smith asked

Malcolm&039;s rich voice filled the parish hall with its tables and punch bowl Everything was all set out for cookies and punch, though the punch looked a little red for my tastes, a little thick "Power, Officer, power and sex, that is what Jean-Claude offers"

"Be careful about the stones you throw, Malcolet thrown back"

"Is that a threat?"

"No, just a friendly warning that only the pure of motive should cast stones"

"Ask your friend there Ask him, was it sex with one of us that lured him I have watched mortals come to this life for centuries for the sake of sex"

"First," I said, "he&039;s not my friend Second, it doesn&039;t matter why, only that he did it" I&039;d touched Cooper while I searched hiotten no flashes of infores I hadn&039;t acquired Malcolh touch, I&039;d only borrowed it I wanted to borrow it again

I guess I should at least pretend to try to do it the normal way I turned to Cooper "Where is your , most likely"

"Where is the dayti like a s, Anita Blake I would no more betray my master than you would yours"

"But see, my master doesn&039;t ask me to butcher helpless unarain "I will not betray hihts I could have put a bullet in his brain now, legally The warrant read that I could use the force I deemed necessary No one talked about it al hunters knew, that some of us used that part of the warrant to justify torture I didn&039;t like torture, not on either side of the chains Besides, Cooper had had a reputation for being tough We didn&039;t have the tih We needed to knohere his master lived

I walked over to Malcolm He didn&039;t look happy to see me that close to him "What do you want, Ms Blake? You have your villain, take hio"

I lowered my voice so only we and the soon-to-be-dead Cooper would hear "Try to read ain"

"I did not"

"If you deny it, I&039;ll otiations with over the years know exactly how you outsmarted them A shake of the hand, and you had them"

"I did not bespell anyone"

"No, but you read their ainst their will That&039;s illegal"

"Is that a threat again, Ms Blake?"

"Negotiation is simple with me, Malcolm If you use your little clairvoyant powers on me now, it&039;s our little secret If you don&039;t, then it won&039;t be our little secret See? Very simple"

"How can I trust you?"

"Maybe you can&039;t, but what choice do you have?"

I felt his power then, like water filling the room Once, I&039;d worried I&039;d drown in his power Now, I knew I could swi won&039;t win you any points with me"

"I will do this, but not because you forced s stopped, and if we harbored vipers a us, unbeknownst, then I want to knoho they are I will not have such things done in my church, or by my church members"

"Fine" I held my hand out to hiave ers touched et a second ie I thrustblade He was prepared this tiive you all the joy it has given me over the centuries"

It sounded like sonored it Malcolift while I still had it I turned back to the vampire that was still cuffed to the chair

He&039;d heard at least part of what Malcolry, defiant "I won&039;t talk"

"I won&039;t ask you to"

"What&039;s happening, Anita?" Zerbrowski asked

"I&039; to find out ant to know"

"How?" He looked positively suspicious

It h "God, Zerbrowski, what do you think I&039;m about to do?"

"I don&039;t know"

That hter fade, and the smile ith it It&039;s always hard to see your friends look at you like they don&039;t trust you not to beyou haven&039;t seen ht"

He widened eyes at uy doesn&039;t like you, the other one did"

"It won&039;t esture as if to say, help yourself, but he looked like he&039;d believe it when he saw it I guess I couldn&039;t blame him I reached out toward Cooper&039;s face

"Don&039;t touch me"

"Would you rather I shoot you?"

He just glared at me

"Then hold still" If I hadn&039;t been afraid that he&039;d either try to hurt me with his hands or his teeth, I&039;d have touched him from behind, but he was a vampire, and you don&039;t cuddle one if you aren&039;t sure about your safety I touched him from the side, so if he tried to bite me I&039;d feel it, and could move I touched the side of his face He was clean shaven, but he was also cold He hadn&039;t fed tonight

I thought, Who is your ht es I saw the second stripper, the one froe I saw a cloaked figure huddled by her stage

"No!" he jerked his head away froainst his arm and put a hand on either side of his head His hair was soft, but not as soft as Avery&039;s Cooper&039;s hair had the texture of sorow out at all, it would have body and wave to it

"Don&039;t," he said, but it wasn&039;t a shout this ti But sonized a face A woman&039;s face I remembered her at a banquet table I remembered her at Belle&039;s court It wasn&039;t ht, Jean-Claude He whispered through ot a sense that he was busy, or about to be "Do you need me to come to you, ma petite? I can put this off"

I said it out loud, but for his ears, though more heard it "Who is she?"

"Gwenyth, Vittorio&039;s lovely Gwennie"

"Vittorio," I said, and I had a face with the name He was darkly handsome, and I doubted he&039;d started life with an Italian name He looked very dark, Arabic maybe "Vittorio" I must have whispered it out loud, because Cooper screamed and stood up He stood up still cuffed to the chair He stood up, and the last thing I got froht I&039;ll make them kill me

I was the closest, but I&039;d had to putI thought of, I hit him I hit him as hard and fast as I could I hit him the way I&039;d been trained for years in martial arts You don&039;t try to throw someone to the floor, you aiet wasn&039;t his cheek, it was the other side of his face When I was et theto punch a hole through so

Blood spattered, and his cheek gave under ht I heard his jaw break The blow spun him around, and he fell onto his side, chair and all He fell on the floor and didn&039;t get back up

"Jesus," one of the uniforms said, "Jesus, you broke his neck"

Had I? I stood there for a second with ht hand covered in blood, and I realized that my hand hurt I&039;d cut myself on his teeth "He&039;s not dead," I said, andat ood way More like I&039;d sprouted a second head, and it was a big, scary one I looked at Malcolm "Does this hile he&039;s unconscious?"

Malcolm just nodded

I knelt beside the fallen vampire I touched his hair and tried not to look at what I&039;d done to his face I hadn&039;t literally punched a hole through him, but I&039;d split the skin away from his teeth, as if I&039;d used a dull blade I closed ht, Daytime retreat, where is the daytiht hts came like smooth silk, and I knew in that moment that Malcolo and followed Cooper&039;s thoughts, iI saw it I had the address Wait, nu at the little boxes with all the naher up than I would have seen it Street, I thought, what street are we on?

I said the address out loud, street and name that the condo was under "Got it," Zerbrowski said

I opened my eyes and took my hands off of Cooper His eyes fluttered open He roan The look he flashed up at me as I stood over him was one of surprise and fear I was as surprised as anyone, but I couldn&039;t let anyone see that I&039;d known that joining with Jean-Claude and Richard would up the ht what it would mean to the physical If Cooper had been human, my punch would have snapped his neck Shit

Zerbroas already on his phone

"Who are you calling?" I asked

"Mobile Reserve We&039;ll want the fire power"

"Wait," I said

Zerbrowski hit the button on his phone, killed it "Wait for what?"

"If we give theht We don&039;t want that"

"We want to catch these bastards," S now They won&039;t be home, or at least most of them won&039;t be We&039;ll ot that many police around the place, they&039;ll know it They&039;ll never coain, and on&039;t knohere to look for them"

"We can&039;t withhold the address," Roarke said, "not if we&039;re asked"

"If the address leaves this roo to die If the address leaves this roo to die His master is someone so powerful that no master vamp in this city sensed hiood Mobile Reserve is who I want in a firefight, but they aren&039;t iht when he&039;s at his best, and theyat me, except Zerbrowski He had alreadyMarconi would be cool, it was the uniforms and Smith I had to convince

"Zerbrowski, call Mobile Reserve, get me Captain Parker"

Zerbrowski raised an eyebrow at ood idea?"

"No, but he knows e of Mobile Reserve Get him for me"

Zerbrowski made a face "Your funeral"

"Let&039;s hope not," I said

I looked down at Jonah Cooper, vampire, ex-vamp executioner He blinked up atto say to me, but a broken jaw cuts down on the chit-chat

Zerbrowski clicked his phone shut "I&039;ve left a et back"

I nodded I looked down at Jonah again I had everything he knew, all of it I&039;d seen hi hed

"While ait for the call back, help ave h "S to escort hi at us sort of funny, but he helped Zerbrowski lift the va noises and hissed curses under his breath Maybe I hadn&039;t broken his jaw, or at least not badly