officer with short dark hair and brown eyes so dark they were almost black said, ‘So the Executioner is saying, Don’t execute the vampires.’
I looked up at him in his civilian clothes, but there was something about how tall, how terribly in shape he was, muscled, and just a level of energy to him that made me guess he was SWAT or something like it. Special forces military branch tastes the same sometimes.
‘I’m flattered that SWAT came down to keep me company,’ I said.
The faintest surprise went through those very dark eyes. ‘What gave me away?’
I waved sort of vaguely at him. ‘This.’
He frowned. ‘You just motioned at all of me.’
‘Exactly,’ I said.
He smiled.
One of the other officers patted his belly where it was pushing over his equipment belt. ‘Yeah, Yancey, you don’t have all the equipment that the rest of us have.’
He laughed. ‘If I had all the equipment you have, Carmichael, I’d get kicked off SWAT.’ He patted his own very flat stomach. I was betting he had washboard abs, just a thought, no harm in it. The next thought had harm in it; I wanted to lift his shirt out of his pants and see if I was right.
I called out, ‘Nicky, can you take the bag?’
The police had to make room for him to come to my side. Most of them gave him little eye flicks. Officer Yancey of local SWAT looked at him in that way that very fit, very tough men do when they’re not used to seeing men who make them wonder, Could I take him? Would I lose? Yancey was taller than Nicky, though not taller than Dev, but Nicky’s shoulder spread always impressed big men who thought they had nice shoulders until they had to stand next to Nicky.
I smiled, I couldn’t help it, and the amusement helped push back the impulse to touch strangers.
‘Some of the local PD are really not happy with you surrounding yourself with shapeshifters after what happened,’ Yancey said.
‘My man was turned against us by vampire mind games just like the officers, including Bush, were mind-fucked earlier by the same vampires.’
Yancey held up his hands as if to show he was unarmed. ‘SWAT is delivering more and more warrants as backup for the executioners. We train for what to do if one of us is vamped and turned against the rest of us. You did one of the things that we all pray we never have to do, Marshal Blake. I’m here because SWAT wanted you to know that we respect what you did and we’re sorry you had to do it. Hermes of St Louis SWAT speaks highly of you.’
‘Thank you,’ I said, because what else could I say.
‘Boulder won’t allow psychics on SWAT yet. The report that vetoed it said they found that most psychics couldn’t use their special abilities and do their duty as officers at the same time.’
‘Which means most psychics can’t shoot straight and use their powers at the same time,’ I said.
He smiled. ‘Something like that.’ Then he looked at me, very seriously, as if he were weighing and measuring me. ‘But you can, can’t you?’
I nodded. ‘Yes, I can.’
‘That was a hell of a shot to make under the circumstances, Marshal.’
‘It was Ares who taught me how to make that shot,’ I said. I took a deep, even breath, because my chest was tight, my eyes suddenly hot. God, I was going to cry.
Nicky put his hand on my shoulder.
‘What do you mean?’ Yancey asked.
‘The man I killed, Ares, was a scout sniper before an enemy attack left him with lycanthropy and they forced a medical discharge on him. Handguns and up-close fighting I’m great at, but long guns, shooting distances, wasn’t my thing. He taught me.’ I raised my hand and put it over Nicky’s where he touched me. His fingers wrapped around mine and it helped me gather myself. I gripped my gun under the blanket, digging the butt of it hard into my hand. The solidness of it helped, too. Funny, that holding a gun made it easier to deal with the sorrow of using a different one.
‘I heard he was a scout sniper and that he tracked the vampires for you. I didn’t hear that he taught you to shoot.’
‘He taught me to shoot far away. I learned to shoot close in a long time ago.’
‘I’m sorry, Marshal, I didn’t mean to bring up anything … hard.’
I nodded and looked down at my lap. I