Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 11-15 - Laurell K. Hamilton [1025]
She drew a shuddering sob and threw herself around my waist, her long arms clutching me. She was practically wailing. “I didn’t know what else to do with Richard….”
“It’s okay, Soledad, it’s okay.” I patted her hair and started to turn in her arms. I didn’t know her well enough to be this up close and personal, and the emotional content was a little much for near strangers. Hell, I wouldn’t have wanted this much emotional content from close friends. I had actually turned around, with her hands only lightly on me, when she moved. She grabbed me around the waist, lifted me in front of her face and chest, and I blocked the clawed hand that had gone for my throat with my arm. Claws dug into my side just below the ribs. The pain was sharp and immediate, and I suddenly had two goals. I strained to keep her hand from my throat and gripped her wrist at my waist to keep her from slicing open my belly.
Her voice growled from behind me, “I’m sorry you have to die, Anita.”
31
CISCO AND PETER both had their guns out. I’d have loved to go for a gun or a knife, but wrestling the weretiger took both my hands. She wasn’t trying that hard to close on my throat, and the hand at my belly was almost immobile except for the fact that the hooked claws she’d conjured from her skin had pierced my side.
She called to the boys, “Don’t yell for help or she’s dead. I don’t want her dead. Just let me leave with her and I won’t hurt her.”
“You’ve already hurt her, I can smell the blood,” Cisco said. His gun was very steady on us, but she’d taken all his kill shots. If they only wounded her, she would have time to kill me before they could kill her.
“A little prick, that’s all. She likes pricks, don’t you, Anita?”
My voice was a little strained from keeping her hand from my throat. The claws weren’t as big as they seemed, they only looked huge because the human flesh didn’t cover the bone of the tiger claw. But they were plenty big enough to tear out my throat. I might survive the gut wound, but the throat would be fatal. I managed to say through gritted teeth, “If you’re going to kill me, do it, but don’t make fun of me, too.”
She laughed, a throaty sound. Her power flared, hot, so hot, almost burning. Hot liquid burst over my back and hair. My first thought was blood, but I knew better. It was that clear liquid that shifters lost when they changed. When the change was smooth it was like heated water; when it wasn’t smooth it was gelatinous and chunky. This flowed like water. She never hesitated, or stumbled, as her body re-formed around me. Fur and muscle flowed under my hands. Her power ran over my body like biting insects, so much power, it hurt. Had she thought I’d panic and let go? She had the wrong girl for panic. I kept my grip on her as fur replaced bare skin. I didn’t let go even as my skin danced and jerked as if she’d laid a live wire against me. Jesus, the control she had, to be able to shift this smoothly. She was better than Micah, and that was saying something. It would have been impressive if I hadn’t been wondering how close her new fangs were to my spine. Part of me noticed that her fur was the wrong color. She was striped pale lemon gold and white. Weren’t tigers orange and black? If I lived, I’d ask someone.
“You’re one of the Harlequin’s animals to call,” Cisco said.
She growled, “Yes.”
“You’ll never make it out of here if you hurt Anita,” Cisco said.
“She knows where my mistress rests in the day; I can’t let her share that knowledge, can I, Cisco?”
He flinched at her using his name. Always harder to kill someone you know.
“Because if your master dies, you die.” Peter said it. He was pointing