Affliction (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,57

bodyguards because of threats. But seeing Commander Burke nod and smile at them and exchange handshakes was a help here.

Ares and Bram dropped back and took up their posts behind me. It was habit now for all of us, but Burke noticed it. ‘I understand that Mike Callahan has threats because he’s part of the Coalition, but why do you need bodyguards?’

‘I’ve been tied to Micah and the Coalition in the media, and I’m also tied to the Master of the City in St Louis, Jean-Claude, and the hate groups hate the vampires, a lot. You saw the level of hate from Micah’s aunt and her husband; now imagine strangers.’

‘Is it that bad?’ he asked.

‘We had a zealot try to blow up one of Jean-Claude’s clubs this year.’ I didn’t add that he’d tried to blow it up with Nathaniel, Dev, Nicky, Cynric, and me inside it. The zealot had been a human with a few vampire bites on him, the daytime servant of a group of vampires that had decided Jean-Claude was building an evil empire to enslave them all. If they could have killed my leopard to call, two of my tigers to call, and me all at the same time, they hoped it would be enough to kill Jean-Claude. We were all metaphysically connected, which meant we shared a hell of a lot more than just emotional well-being. I’d killed a few vampires myself by simply killing their human servants. You could potentially get the same effect by killing the animal to call their moitié bête, literally their beast half? Kill anyone in the psychic power chain and you had a chance to kill them all.

‘So you have terrorists,’ Burke said.

I thought about it, then nodded. ‘Something like that.’

‘What happened to your bomber?’

‘He died,’ I said.

Burke looked back at the other men and said, ‘Good to have men of action around when you need them.’ He smiled as he said it.

‘Oh, it wasn’t us,’ Ares said.

Burke frowned and hesitated as he walked. ‘You mean the other guards upstairs?’

‘They were hostages,’ Ares said.

‘They assisted in their own rescue,’ Bram said, and he gave his partner a look that took the smile off Ares’ face.

‘What’d I say wrong? You’re giving me that look again.’

‘You mean the look that says you’re letting your mouth run away with your head?’ Bram said.

‘Hey,’ Ares said.

Burke laughed. ‘You two have been partners for a while.’

‘We have, sir,’ Bram said.

‘Does it show?’ Ares asked.

‘Yeah, it shows; good partners are like married couples,’ Burke said.

‘Some people in civilian circles call the partner the work spouse,’ I said.

‘God knows in police work you see your partner more than you see your wife sometimes,’ Burke said.

I just nodded.

‘What did I do to earn the look this time?’ Ares asked.

Bram glared at him.

‘What?’

I said, ‘You implied that the other guards with us aren’t as good at their jobs as you two are.’

‘I did not,’ he said, and his face showed that he totally didn’t get it.

‘Don’t you get it, Ares?’ Bram said, ‘Dev and Nicky don’t look like cops, or military, and saying they were hostages just undermines them in Commander Burke’s eyes even more.’

Ares looked from one to the other of us, and then his face sort of fell. He took in a deep breath, let it out, and said, ‘That is not what I meant.’

‘I know,’ Bram said with an eye roll, like a long-suffering spouse.

I turned my head to hide my smile.

‘I’m just glad Marshal Blake and young Callahan have good men to step in when needed.’

Bram gave him a very direct look. ‘None of us saved Marshal Blake that day.’

Burke frowned. ‘I’m not sure I’m following.’

Bram sighed. He looked at me, back at Ares, and finally back at me. ‘I’m sorry, Anita; having bodyguards with you is going to make all the other cops think less of you as a cop, like a soldier who needs guards.’

I nodded and shrugged. ‘Yeah, but what can we do?’

Bram turned back to Burke. ‘Let’s be clear, Commander. Marshal Blake helped come up with a plan to rescue the hostages and take out the bomber. She went in with SWAT to execute that plan. The other guards upstairs were key players in that plan. In fact, Nathaniel Graison, the other civilian with Micah Callahan, helped save them all, too. If Nathaniel hadn’t done his part first, the rescue would have failed. But it was Anita who took out the threat – not the other cops, not the guards,