like some kind of preternatural pheromone."
"You lie," he said, and he sounded so sure.
"Don't you understand, that's how a Master of the City knows another master is in his territory. They sense it."
"But your Jean-Claude did not sense us."
I tried to think of a safe way to reply to that. "Which means your Benjamin is very old, and very powerful. Let's say that he truly is trying not to exert control over other vampires. Let's say he honestly believes that he is just talking to them, just telling them that they deserve to be free of any master."
"That is all we want, for us, and for them. Freedom from eons of dictatorial rule, is that so awful a goal?"
"No," I said, and I believed it. "No, Weiskopf, it's a good ideal, it's a great ideal."
It was his turn to look surprised. "I did not expect you to agree."
"I'm just full of surprises," I said.
"I should have known you would be, Anita Blake."
"Anita," I said, "just Anita."
"Being friendly will not fool me," he said.
"I'm just tired of hearing you say Anita Blake. I feel like I'm in trouble with a teacher at school."
He smiled and nodded. "I understand; very well, Anita, and thank you for letting me use your given name."
"You're welcome. So, you and your master decided to try to free the little vampires from the control of the master vampires?"
"Exactly."
"I believe that vampires are people, Weiskopf, or I wouldn't be dating them; I wouldn't be in love with one, or two."
"Then how can you continue to execute them?"
I sighed, and felt my shoulders slump. I made myself sit up straight again. "I've actually been having a little crisis of conscience for a while."
Dolph stirred beside me, a minute involuntary movement. I fought not to glance at him, but to pay attention to the man in front of me.
"So you believe you murder them?"
"Sometimes," I said.
"All the time," he said.
I shook my head. "I've seen vampires do horrible things. I've walked through rooms so thick with the blood of their victims that the carpet squished underfoot and the room smelled like raw hamburger."
He flinched at that.
"I don't believe killing the animals that did that was murder."
He looked down at his hands on the table, then back up at me. "I can see that. Just as the one who tried to kill his wife, Bores, was in the wrong and had to be stopped."
"Yes," I said.
"Would you kill a human who had done awful things?"
"I have," I said.
Weiskopf glanced up at Dolph. "Do your fellow officers know that?"
I nodded. "Sometimes the bad guys aren't all vampires. I've helped the police hunt down and execute them, too."
He narrowed his eyes at me, so cynical. "Humans have more rights; you can't just kill them."
"Do you consider shapeshifters human?" I asked.
"The law gives them the right to trial, unless the warrant has been issued for their deaths. Once the death warrant has been issued, they are as much a pariah of human society as a vampire."
"So, is Benjamin trying to free the wereanimals from their pack leaders?"
He looked startled for a moment, as if the thought had never occurred to him.
I smiled, but knew it wasn't pleasant. "All the old vamps think the shapeshifters are lesser beings. You think of them as animals, not people."
He truly looked disturbed. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then said, "I cannot dispute your accusation. It did not occur to us to try to free them of their oppression, because they are animals, and animals need discipline, a leash of sorts to keep them from running amok and slaughtering the innocent."
"Vampires need the same thing," I said.
He shook his head. "That is not true."
"Bullshit," I said, "the newly risen can be just as animalistic as any first-time shapeshifter." I pulled my shirt collar to one side to expose the collarbone scar.
"That was no vampire," he said.
"You have my word of honor on that." I slipped out of my jacket, and since I'd had to give up all my weapons to enter the interrogation room, I could show off the scars really well, no sheaths to hide them. I showed him the bend of my elbow where the same vampire that did my collarbone had torn at my arm like a terrier with a rat.
"You have a cross-shaped burn scar."
"Yeah, some human Renfields thought it would be funny to brand me with it."
"And the scar that pulls the skin so it's crooked, what made that?"
"A witch that had