Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 11-15 - Laurell K. Hamilton [1066]
“I’ll give you some privacy,” Zerbrowski said.
I shook my head and drew back from the men. “No, we have to catch this bitch.”
“No one’s seen her, Anita. Her or the man who we assume is her human servant.”
“He has to be her human servant to share her mind powers, Zerbrowski.” I tried to move farther away, but Nathaniel’s arm slipped around my shoulders, drawing me back. I patted his arm and said, “I’m okay now.”
He whispered, “Liar, but maybe it’s me who needs to touch you.” He squeezed me tight, his other arm sliding around my waist. “You’ve got to stop almost dying, Anita; it’s hard on the heart.”
Somehow I didn’t think he meant hard as in a heart attack. There were so many more ways for a heart to break. I let him press me back against his body. I stroked my hands down his arms.
Zerbrowski shook his head, smiled. “You know, Katie feels the same way after I get hurt, but she’s too cool to do it in public.”
I looked at him, and it wasn’t an entirely friendly look.
He held up his hands. “It wasn’t a criticism, Anita, Nathaniel. It’s just, well, hell, I mean it’s interesting watching people be as open as you guys are. Is it a shapeshifter culture thing?”
I thought about it. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
“If we don’t have to play human,” Micah said, “we’re very touchy-feely, and we tend to wear our emotions out.”
Zerbrowski grinned. “Damn, that must have been an adjustment for you, Anita.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re like most cops I know—you stuff your emotions. Does this mean if the boyfriends aren’t around at a crime scene some night, I can look forward to you hanging all over me?”
“You wish,” I said, and smiled at him. I patted Nathaniel’s arm and took a step forward. He let me draw a little farther away from him, but kept my hand. I understood the need to touch and be touched. It wasn’t just the normal lycanthropy stuff. I wanted to hug Peter as if he were a little boy, and tell him it would all be all right, but it was a lie. Even if he’d been a little boy, it would still have been a lie. I couldn’t promise him anything.
“That’s an awful serious face for a woman who just got a hug from her sweetie.”
“I’m thinking about Peter.”
“Yeah, you got cut up trying to save him.”
I fought to keep my face neutral. If we were going to change the story for the police, then Edward should have told me. That he didn’t tell me the “official” version, and I hadn’t asked, said just how distracted the two of us were. Not good.
“You saved his life, Anita. That’s the best you could do,” Zerbrowski said.
I nodded, and went for a hug from Micah, partially to hide my face, because I still couldn’t quite figure out how to look. My guilt was because Peter had gotten cut up saving me. He wouldn’t even get credit for it from the cops. That seemed like insult to injury.
Micah kissed the side of my face and whispered, “Edward didn’t tell you the official version?”
“No,” I whispered back.
Micah spoke with me still in his arms. “I think Anita also blames herself because she was already hunting the vampires. She thinks they might not have reacted so violently if they hadn’t known she was on their trail.”
I turned, still half in Micah’s arms. “When a person knows that they’re being tracked by someone who can kill them on sight, Zerbrowski, what options does that leave them?”
“Are you saying you disagree with the execution order?” he asked.
“No, not in this case, but there are nights when I wish I had an option that was less than lethal force. I’d love someone to do a study and see if the vampires get more violent in trying to stay alive than in the crimes they were originally condemned for.”
“Have you had that happen?” Zerbrowski asked.
“No, no, I guess I haven’t. Most of them would have kept killing if we hadn’t stopped them. But, still, the vamp we’re hunting framed a vampire