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"Yeah," I said.
Ronnie shook her head. "Jesus, Anita, you are screwed."
That made me laugh, because she was right. It was either cry or laugh about it, and Richard had gotten all the tears he was getting from me for one day.
34
The phone rang, and I jumped. Now that the danger was over, I could be jumpy. I went into the kitchen and picked up the phone. Before I could even answer, I heard Dolph's voice. "Anita, you okay?"
"The police grapevine is even faster than I thought," I said.
"What are you talking about?"
I told him what I'd told the 911 operator.
"I didn't know," Dolph said.
"Then why did you want to know if I was okay?"
"Nearly every vampire-owned business or house in the city was hit about the same time this morning. They fire-bombed the Church of Eternal Life, and we've had one-on-one hits on non-vamps all over the city."
Fear rushed through me like fine champagne, useless adrenaline with nowhere to go. I had a lot of friends that were undead, not just Jean-Claude. "Dead Dave's, has it been hit?"
"I know Dave resents being kicked off the force after he... died, but we take care of our own. His bar's got a uniformed guard until we find out what the hell is going on. We got the arsonist before he could do more than smoke up an outside wall."
I knew that only the bad vamps were at the Circus, but Dolph didn't. He might find it strange if I didn't ask. "The Circus?"
"They defended themselves against a couple of arsonists. Why didn't you ask about the love of your life, first, Anita? Isn't he home?"
Dolph asked like he already knew, which could mean he knew or it could mean he was fishing. But I was pretty sure the council flunkies wouldn't have told the whole truth. Half-truth, it was. "Jean-Claude stayed over last night."
The silence this time was even thicker than before. I let it build into something thick and unpleasant enough to choke on. I don't know how long we listened to each other breathe, but it was Dolph who broke first. "Lucky for him. Did you know this was coming?"
That caught me off guard. If he thought I'd held out on something this big, no wonder he was pissed at me. "No, Dolph, I swear I had no idea."
"Did your boyfriend?"
I thought about that for a second. "I don't think so, but I'll ask him when he gets up."
"Don't you mean when he rises from the dead?"
"Yeah, Dolph," I said, "that's what I mean."
"You think he could have known about all this shit and not told you?"
"Probably not, but he has his moments."
"Yet you still date him... I just don't understand that, Anita."
"If I could explain it so that it made sense to you, Dolph, I would, but I can't."
He sighed. "You got any ideas why someone's hitting all the monsters today?"
"You mean, why monsters or why this date?" I asked.
"Either," he said.
"You've got some suspects in custody, right?"
"Yes."
"They haven't talked."
"Only to ask for a lawyer. A lot of them ended up dead like yours."
"Humans Against Vampires, or Humans First, maybe," I said.
"Would either of them hit shifters?"
My stomach clenched into a nice tight knot. "What do you mean?"
"A man walked into a bar in the loop with a submachine gun with silver ammo."
For a minute I thought Dolph meant the Lunatic Cafe, Raina's old restaurant, but it wasn't an openly lycanthrope hangout. I tried to think what was up there that was openly shifter. "The Leather Den?" I made it a question.
"Yeah," he said.
The Leather Den was the only bar in the country, to my knowledge, that was a hangout for sadomasochistic g*y men who happened to be shapeshifters. It was a triple threat to any hatemonger. "Geez, Dolph, if it wasn't happening with everything else, I'd say it could be almost any right-wing fruitcake. Did you get the machine gunner alive?"
"Nope," Dolph said. "The survivors ate him."
"Bet they didn't," I said.
"They used teeth to kill him, Anita. That's eating him in my book."
I'd seen shapeshifters eat people, not just attack them, but since most of those were illegal kills, i.e. murders, I let Dolph win the fight. He was still wrong, but hard to show him my proof without getting people in trouble.
"Whatever you say, Dolph."
He was quiet for long enough that I had to say, "You still there?"
"Why do I think you're holding back on me, Anita?"
"Would I do that?"
"In a heartbeat," he said.
His asking about the date had triggered some vague memory. "There is something about today's date."
"What is it?" he asked.
"I don't know--something. Do you need me to come in?"
"Since almost all this shit is preternatural-related, every uniform and his K9 is asking for us. So yeah, we need everybody in the field today. They've been hitting the monster isolation wards of most of the major hospitals."
"Jesus, Stephen," I said.
"He's all right, they all are," Dolph said. "A guy with a 9mm tried for them. The cop at the door got hit."
"He all right?" I asked.
"He'll live." Dolph didn't sound happy, and it wasn't just the hitter or a wounded cop.
"What happened to the shooter?" I asked.
He laughed, an abrupt, harsh sound. "One of Stephen's 'cousins' threw him up against a wall so hard, his skull cracked. Nurses say the shooter was about to put a round right between the uniform's eyes when he was... stopped."
"So Stephen's cousin saved the cop's life," I said.
"Yeah," Dolph said.
"You don't sound happy about that."
"Leave it alone, Anita."
"Sorry. What do you want me to do?"
"The detective in charge is Padgett. He's a good cop."
"No small praise coming from you," I said. "Why do I hear a 'but' coming?"
"But," Dolph said, "he gets freaked around the monsters. Someone needs to go down there and hold his hand so he doesn't get carried away with the murderous shapeshifters."
"So I'm a babysitter?"
"It's your party, Anita. I can send someone else. I thought you'd want this one."
"I do, and thanks."
"Don't stay all day, Anita. Make it as quick as you can. Pete McKinnon just called me to ask if he could borrow you."
"Was there another arson?"
"Yes, but it wasn't his firebug. I told you they bombed the Church of Eternal Life."
"Yeah."
"Malcolm is in there," he said.
"Shit," I said. Malcolm was the undead Billy Graham, founder of the fastest-growing denomination in the country. It was the vampire church, but humans could join. In fact, they were encouraged. Though how long they stayed human was debatable.
"I'm surprised his daytime retreat was that obvious."
"What do you mean?"
"Most master vamps spend a lot of time and energy hiding their daytime address so that shit like this doesn't happen to them. Is he dead?"
"You are amusing as hell today, Anita."
"You know what I mean," I said.
"No one knows. McKinnon's going to call you with more details. Hospital first, then his scene. When you get done there call me. I'll figure out where to send you next."
"Have you called Larry?"
"You think he's up to this much solo action?"
I thought about that for a second. "He knows his preternatural stuff."
Dolph said, "I hear a 'but' coming."
I laughed. "We have worked together too damn long. Yeah, but he's not a shooter. And I don't think that's going to change."
"A lot of good cops aren't shooters, Anita."
"Cops can go twenty-five years and never clear leather. Vampire executioners don't have that luxury. We go in planning to kill things. The things we're planning to kill know that."
"If all you have is a hammer, Anita, every problem begins to look like a nail."
"I read Massad Ayoob, too, Dolph. I don't use my gun as the only solution."
"Sure, Anita. I'll call Larry."
I wanted to say, "don't get him killed," but I didn't. Dolph wouldn't get him killed on purpose, and Larry was a grownup. He'd earned the right to take his chances like everyone else. But it hurt something inside of me to know he'd be out there today without me as backup. They call it cutting the apron strings. It feels more like amputating body parts.
