Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [307]
“Don’t be condescending, Anita.”
The anger in his voice stung more than the words. I didn’t need this today. I really didn’t. “Larry, I’d love to soothe your ego and make it all better, but I am all out of sugarplums and puppy-dog tails. My day hasn’t been exactly a barrel of laughs either.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“Come on. I’m sorry. I’ll listen.”
I wasn’t even sure where to start, and I wasn’t ready to tell anybody about what had happened in the hospital room, least of all Larry.
“I don’t even know where to start, Larry.”
“Try,” he said.
“Richard is being nasty.”
“Boyfriend trouble,” he said; he sounded almost amused.
I glanced at him. “Don’t be condescending, Larry.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s not just that. Before this emergency came up, they wanted me at the Church of Eternal Life. Malcolm is bedded in the basement. His followers want him to be rescued. The firemen want to know if they can leave him until nightfall when he’ll rise on his own.”
“So?” Larry asked.
“So, I don’t have the faintest idea how to find out if Malcolm is alive or dead.”
He stared at me. “You’re kidding.”
“Wish I was.”
“But you’re a necromancer,” he said.
“I raise zombies and an occasional vamp, but I can’t raise a master vamp of Malcolm’s power. Besides, what if I could? Would that prove he was alive or prove he was dead? I mean if I could raise him, it might just mean he was ready to be a zombie. Hell, Jean-Claude’s awake for the day, maybe Malcolm is, too.”
“A vampire zombie?” Larry said.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m the only person who can raise vamps like zombies, that I know of. There aren’t a lot of books on the subject.”
“What about Sabitini?”
“You mean the magician?”
“He raised zombies as part of his act, and he had vampires that did his bidding. I’ve read eyewitness accounts of it.”
“First, he died in 1880. A little before my time. Second, the vampires were just dupes who went along with him. It was a way for vampires who would have normally been killed on sight to walk freely among the people. Sabitini and his pet vampires, they called them.”
“No one’s ever proved that he was a fraud, Anita.”
“Fine, but he’s dead and he didn’t leave any diaries behind.”
“Raise him and ask,” Larry said.
I stared at him long enough that I had to hit the brakes fast to keep from ramming a car in front of me. “What did you say?”
“Raise Sabitini and find out if he could raise vampires like you can. He’s just a little over a hundred years dead. You’ve raised zombies a lot older than that.”
“You missed the case last year where a vaudun priestess had raised a necromancer. The zombie got completely out of control and started killing people.”
“You’ve told me about it, but the priestess didn’t know what he was. If you knew going in, you could take precautions.”
“No,” I said.
“Why not?” he said.
I opened my mouth, closed it, because I didn’t have a good answer. “I don’t approve of raising the dead for curiosity’s sake. You know how much money I’ve been offered to raise dead celebrities?”
“I’d still like to know what really happened to Marilyn Monroe,” he said.
“When her family comes and asks, maybe I’ll do it. But I am not raising the poor woman because a tabloid waved money at our boss.”
“Waved a lot of money at our boss,” Larry said. “Enough money that he sent Jamison out to try it. He couldn’t raise her. Too long dead without a bigger sacrifice.”
I shook my head. “Jamison is a weenie.”
“Everyone else at Animators Inc. turned it down.”
“Including you,” I said.
He shrugged. “I might raise her and ask how she died, but not in front of cameras. The poor woman was hounded alive. Dead, she’s still being hounded. Doesn’t seem fair.”
“You’re a good guy, Larry.”
“Not good enough to know that vampires burn to ash and skeletal remains are human.”
“Don’t start, Larry. It’s just experience. I should have told you before you went out today. Truthfully,