went to my side with a holster attached at my waist and around my thigh so it didn't move. In an emergency you wanted your gun to be absolutely where your body memory could kick in - seconds counted. I had the Smith & Wesson M&P9c in a holster attached across my stomach, canted to the side so I could grab and pull it smoother and faster. I had a new sheath attached to the back of the vest with the MOLLE grips for the big knife that had enough silver content to slice anything, man or monster, and was as long as my forearm. Wrist sheaths held two more slender knives, again with high silver content. Extra ammo for all the handguns was on my left hip, strapped down like the Browning on my right. I had one AR on a tactical sling. I still had my MP5, but now that I had a badge I didn't have to sweat the barrel length restrictions for carrying, so I had an AR modified to be a door-kicker for close indoor action.
I had warned our prisoners that I was going to change into my full vampire hunting gear, because the law forced me to do it, not because I was upping the violence. The first time I'd had to change at a scene and come out in full gear the vampire prisoner had totally freaked, because he'd thought I was going to kill him then and there. I'd ended up having to do just that, when I probably could have brought him in alive. So many laws sound like a good idea until you try them out in real life, and then you find the flaws, and sometimes people die because of it.
The vampires had wide eyes, and some looked pretty spooked, but they didn't freak. I'd warned them. I'd helped take the first handful of them down in the ancient elevator to the reinforced transport van that we had for preternatural criminals. We had one van that could hold up to the kind of strength vampires and shapeshifters could use to pound their way through metal - one. Which meant we still had fifteen vampires on their knees in regular handcuffs and shackles, just like the ones that Barney the vampire had broken easily in the interrogation room. Technically I was supposed to take the heads and hearts of the four dead vampires in a heap on the floor, but doing it while the other vampires watched was a disastrous idea. It was just asking for them to realize they had nothing to lose, and that now was the best chance they had to fight their way free, so I was waiting. Not everyone seemed to understand why I was waiting.
Lieutenant Billings was taller than me, but then in my combat/hiking boots, so was everyone in the room, except for some of the vampires. I was just glad I had the boots with my vampire kit in the car. They didn't exactly match the skirt suit, but I was still happy not to be barefoot. Billings seemed to think his being six feet and built like a hard, muscular square would impress me, because he was looming over me now, snarling into my face. "I want you to do your job, Marshal Blake!"
"I did my job, Lieutenant," and I motioned at the piled bodies on the ground beside us.
"No, you did part of your job, Blake." He was so close to me that his upper body was actually curving over and down above me. Most people would have been totally intimidated by a guy this big up in their face like this; me, not so much. I spent too much time with vampires and wereanimals snarling up in my face. A human, no matter how angry, just didn't have the same impact. Also, there was a part of me that was attracted to the anger, the way a wine enthusiast could be attracted to a fine bottle of wine. I could taste his rage on the roof of my mouth, like I'd already drunk a bit of it, and all I had to do was move my tongue and I'd be able to swallow it down. I'd acquired the ability to feed on the energy of anger; it was a type of energy vampirism, but the laws hadn't caught up to it, so it wouldn't have been illegal to drink down all that rage, but if any of the supernormal