Affliction (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,110

take out the IV?’ I asked.

‘Dr Cross will want to see you first.’

‘Can I have water, or at least ice chips?’

‘I’ll check. My name’s Becky; buzz if you need anything.’ She pulled a curtain on metal rings closed and went out the door on the other side of it. We waited until the door hushed shut on the other side and then I said, ‘How did you get here?’

‘Airplane.’

‘I mean, why? Who called you?’

‘I called your phone until someone answered. They got me to Micah.’

‘You saw the news footage,’ I said.

He gave a small nod.

‘And just like that you flew out?’

‘You’d do the same for me,’ he said.

I nodded. ‘Yeah.’

‘What I can’t believe is that you didn’t call me sooner.’

I frowned. ‘Why?’

‘You have a zombie apocalypse and you don’t invite me.’ He put his hand on the hat and shrugged at the same time; it was a Ted gesture and we were alone. I guess if you use cover long enough you begin to blur the lines. It was still a little unnerving to see Edward make Ted gestures instead of the other way around.

‘I didn’t know it was a zombie apocalypse until we were in it, and for the love of God do not say the phrase zombie apocalypse where the media can get hold of it.’

‘Too late,’ he said.

‘Shit,’ I said, softly but with feeling.

He nodded. ‘But the big news was you killing the dangerous wereanimal and saving a mother and her children.’

I looked away then, suddenly interested in my hands on the sheet. I could see the kids with their faces pressed against the car windows, the woman covering her face with her hands as the copter blades blew her hair across her face. I could see the huge hyena …

‘I’m sorry about Ares. He was a good man in a fight.’

I nodded, taking the high praise for Ares from Edward. ‘He was.’

‘I’m sorrier that you had to be the one to do it.’

I sighed. ‘Yeah, me, too.’

‘One thing that the pilot and copilot don’t seem clear on is what caused him to go apeshit. Ares had control of his beast, or he wouldn’t have been one of your guards. What went wrong?’

‘All he could say was that someone was taking him over, making him change.’

‘He was bitten by the vampire that was possessed by the other vampire?’

‘Yes.’

‘The bite shouldn’t have been enough to control a shapeshifter like that.’

‘I know that.’

‘So this is new to you, too?’

‘If one of the other regular cops had come back and told me this story I’d have said they misunderstood, that maybe the infected bite drove him crazy with pain.’

‘But you wouldn’t have believed that one bite from basically a surrogate would be enough to give a master vampire power over someone like Ares.’

‘For the level of control “he”’ – I made quote marks with one hand – ‘had over Ares I’d have said that eye contact would be minimum, or eye contact and a bite.’

‘Did you sense this other vampire?’

‘In the woods, when he possessed the other female vampire, I fully expected there to be a second physical vampire nearby. That’s how strong the energy was.’

‘It was strong enough that it infected Ares not just with this corruption, but with the other vampire’s power.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Not possible,’ Edward said.

‘Nope.’

‘But it happened,’ he said.

‘Yep.’

We looked at each other for a minute.

‘Hard to hunt and kill something that jumps bodies that easily.’

‘Didn’t we just finish doing this?’ I asked.

‘You mean Mommie Darkest.’

‘Yeah, she was spirit and jumped from vampire to vampire.’

‘She wanted your body for keeps.’

‘If she hadn’t wanted to take me over, I’m not sure I could have kept her in one body long enough to kill her,’ I said.

‘But she didn’t do the whole rotting-vampire thing,’ he said.

‘No, she didn’t,’ I said, ‘though theoretically she was the first vampire, so every flavor of vampire descended from her.’

‘I never believed that Marmee Noir was the very first vampire.’

‘Me either, but if not the first she was damn old. The only thing I’ve felt that came close was the Father of the Day.’

‘You killed him in Vegas.’

‘We did,’ I said.

He shook his head. ‘I wasn’t there for the killing blow, so he’s yours.’

‘You make it sound like we’re keeping score.’

‘I am; aren’t you?’

I thought about it. ‘No, I guess I’m not. I mean numbers, yeah, but then now that we’re marshals we have paperwork that makes us keep track.’

‘But you don’t keep track of which of us is killing the biggest and the baddest?’