me with eyes that were just a little too wide. "The locals say you found the master vampire's lair."
I laughed, and it came out wrong, almost like a sob. "I wouldn't say I found Serephina's lair. More like I woke up in it." I raised the coffee to my mouth and had to stop in mid-motion. My hands were shaking so badly I was about to slosh coffee onto the table. I took a deep breath, blew it out, and concentrated on taking a drink of coffee. Just concentrated on the simple physical movement. It helped. I got coffee, and calmer at the same time.
"You need to go to the hospital," Bradford said.
"I need Serephina dead."
"We've got warrants for all of them. All the vampires involved. How do you want to do it?"
"Burn them out. Block off everything but the front door. If Magnus is inside, he'll come out."
"Magnus Bouvier?" he asked.
"Yeah." There was something about the way he said it that I didn't like.
"The cops found what's left of him in the parking lot. It looks like something melted the lower half of his body. Would you know anything about that?" He looked at me very steadily when he asked it.
I took another careful sip of coffee, and met his eyes without blinking. What was I supposed to say? "The vampires were controlling him. He was supposed to keep me in the bar until nightfall. Maybe they punished him for failing." What I'd done to Magnus and Ellie was enough to earn me a death sentence. I wasn't admitting that to the Feds.
"The vampires punished him?" He made it a question.
"Yeah."
He looked at me for a long time, then nodded and changed the subject. "Won't the vampires try to make a break when the fire starts?"
"Sunlight or fire," I said. "Just a choice of how well done you want your vampires to be." I finished the last of the coffee in my cup.
"Your protege, Mr. Kirkland, said you were kidnapped from the graveyard. Is that your story, too?"
"It happens to be the truth, Agent Bradford." It was the truth as far as it went. Omission is a wonderful thing.
He smiled and shook his head. "You are hiding more shit from me than you're telling me."
I stared at him until the smile wilted around the edges. "Truth is a mixed blessing, Agent Bradford, don't you think?"
He stared at me for a moment, then nodded. "Maybe, Ms. Blake, maybe."
I called the hotel, and no one answered in Larry's room. I tried my room, and got Larry there. There was a moment of stunned silence when he realized it was me.
"Anita, oh my God, oh my God. Are you alright? Where are you? I'll come get you."
"I'm at the police station in town. I'm alright, sort of. I need you to bring me some clothes to change into. The ones I have on smell like vampire. We're going after Serephina."
Another silence. "When?"
"Now, today."
"I'll be right there."
"Larry?"
"I'll bring the guns and the knives, and an extra cross."
"Thanks."
"I've never been so glad to hear anybody's voice in my entire life," he said.
"Yeah," I said. "Get here soon. Wait, Larry."
"You need something else?" he said.
"Are Jean-Claude and Jason alright?"
"Yeah. Jason's in the hospital, but he'll live. Jean-Claude's in the bedroom asleep. After Serephina bit you, she hit Jean-Claude with some kind of power, energy. I felt it, and it was awesome. She knocked him out and left. The others went with her."
Everyone was alive, or as alive as they had started out. It was more than I'd hoped for. "Great; I'll see you soon." I hung up the phone and had a horrible urge to cry, but I fought it off. I was afraid if I started to cry I wouldn't be able to stop. I couldn't have hysterics just yet.
As agent on site, Bradford was in charge. Special Agent Bradley Bradford, yes Bradley Bradford, seemed to think I knew what I was doing. Nothing like getting almost killed to give you credentials. For once, badge or no badge, nobody was arguing with me. A refreshing change, that.
I did not hug Larry when he brought my clothes; he hugged me. I pushed away sooner than I wanted to, because I wanted to collapse into his arms in tears. To just let a pair of friendly arms hold me while I melted down. Later, later.
A huge bruise had blossomed on the side of his face from jaw to mid-temple. It looked like he'd been hit by