Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 11-15 - Laurell K. Hamilton [1033]
She nodded and took the hand he offered. The dark-haired man who had turned off the alarm said, “We’ll take care of the other patients, Lillian.”
Her own voice sounded high-pitched and nasal. “Thank you, Chris.” The three of them walked out together, leaving the others to begin to clean up.
“Why did he die?” I asked.
“He bled out faster than his body could heal,” Cherry said.
“I’ve seen you guys heal from worse,” I said.
“You hang around with too many big dogs, Anita,” Cherry said. “We don’t all heal like Micah and Richard.” She had the IV on its little metal hat rack. She reached up for the knob that would start the drip.
“Wait, will that put me out?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“Then I need to make some phone calls first.”
“You’re not hurting too much yet, then?” She made it half question, half statement.
“No, not yet. It aches, but it doesn’t exactly hurt.”
“It will,” she said, “and when it does you’ll want the painkillers.”
I nodded, swallowed, nodded again. “I know, but we still have Soledad’s masters out there. We need them dead.”
“You aren’t slaying any vamps today,” she said.
“I know, but Ted Forrester still can.”
Edward looked at me at the mention of his alter ego. His hand was on Peter’s hair, as if he were a much younger boy and Edward had just come in to tuck him in for the night.
“I need you to take over my warrants,” I said.
He nodded. His eyes weren’t cold, they were rage-filled. I wasn’t used to seeing this much heat from Edward; he was a cold creature, but what blazed in his eyes now was hot enough to burn a hole through me. “How is Peter?” he asked Cherry.
“Now that he’s out, we’ll sew him up. He should be fine.”
Edward looked at me. “I’ll kill the vampires for you.”
“We will kill them for you.” Olaf’s voice from the door. He must have arrived in time to hear the last few comments. I hadn’t heard him come in; not good. Not good that I hadn’t heard Olaf, but not good that it could have been someone else, something else. I trusted Edward to see me safe, but I was usually more help to myself than this. Admittedly, I was having a bad day.
The dull ache in my stomach was beginning to have twinges of something sharp. It was like a promise of what the pain would be in a little while. I looked down my body; I couldn’t help it. Cherry blocked my view with her arm, turned my face to her. “Don’t look. You’ll sleep. The doctor will look at you. You’ll wake up better.” She smiled at me; it was a gentle smile, but it left her eyes haunted. When had Cherry gotten that look in her eyes?
Someone found a cell phone. I dialed Zerbrowski directly. The Regional Preternatural Investigation Team, RPIT, was who I should have called, and I should have probably started by talking to Lieutenant Rudolph Storr, but I just wasn’t feeling well enough to argue with Dolph about who, and what, was or wasn’t a monster. Zerbrowski answered with his usual, “Zerbrowski.”
“It’s Anita,” I said.
“Blake, what’s shaking?” There was a thread of laughter to his voice, the beginnings of his usual teasing. I didn’t have time today.
“I’m about to get sewed back up.”
“What happened?” The teasing note was gone.
I gave him the shortest version I could, and left out lots. But I gave him the important parts; two vamps, maybe with more servants, masquerading as two upstanding vampire citizens to get us to kill the two upstanding citizens. “They must have thought I was close, because they sent one of their animals to kill me.”
“How hurt are you?”
“I’m not hunting any vampires today.”
“What do you need from me?”
“I need you to get cops around the hotel. I need you to make sure these two don’t get outside.”
“Shouldn’t they be dead to the world, no pun intended?”
“They should, but after what I saw in the servant, I wouldn’t bet anyone’s life on it. Call in Mobile Reserve; if it goes wrong you’ll want the firepower.”
Dr. Chris came to stand over me. He was