Affliction (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,78

hunt tonight. The thickness of the night on the road where there was still some moonlight and starlight overhead let me know that under the trees was going to be thick black night.

I wasn’t the only one thinking it, because Ares said, ‘It’s going to be damn dark under the trees.’

‘You have better night vision than I do,’ I said.

‘Better, but in human form not that much better.’

‘You can be the kitty on a leash, then,’ Nicky said.

‘Hyenas aren’t cats.’

‘More closely related to cats than dogs,’ I said.

He glanced in the rearview mirror again. His face was just a darker shape this time. ‘Most people think we’re related to dogs.’

‘Actually, more closely related to mongoose, meerkats, and civets, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, it is. How do you know that?’

‘Biology degree, and honestly, I read up on hyenas when I realized that it was the second or third largest animal group in St Louis.’

‘Better to know your enemy,’ Ares said.

‘Yes, but you said it yourself, Ares, I don’t have metaphysical ties to the hyenas. I don’t ken them the way I do lions, or leopards, or wolves, or any of the wereanimals that I can call as mine, or carry a piece of their beast inside me. The werehyenas and wererats are what taught me that a lot of my way with shapeshifters is just another flavor of vampire power. I have to study harder on the beasts I don’t carry.’

‘Why study? Why not ignore the groups that aren’t yours?’

‘Micah believes that the Coalition can help all the shapeshifters come together and be a stronger lobbying group, and so do I. It’s a good idea, and the only way it’s going to work is if we all try to find the things that make us alike, not the things that divide us.’

‘That’s a politician’s answer,’ Ares said.

‘Maybe, but it’s still the truth.’

I got another of those dark glances in the rearview mirror, and then Nicky said, ‘I think we’re here.’

Ares and I both looked ahead. Al had parked his cruiser. We were here, wherever the hell ‘here’ was.

23

We were in the Arapaho National Forest. The air smelled like pine, with the ghostly paleness of aspens scattered throughout the darkness of the evergreens. The air hadn’t felt that thin down in Boulder, but up here it did. It made me wonder how those of us who had just stepped off a plane from St Louis, which was four hundred fifty feet above sea level, would do above eight thousand feet if we had to run, or fight.

We’d planned on Nathaniel changing shape and just going after the missing men, but I’d forgotten that these were officers who had never worked with shapeshifters before, and they had the western state attitude that allowed varmint laws to still include people like my lovers and friends in the same list as any nuisance animal. Which meant instead of looking for the lost men, we were reassuring the locals that Nathaniel wouldn’t eat them the moment he shapeshifted.

‘Everyone knows that werewolves have to eat fresh-killed meat as soon as they shapeshift. None of us want to be that fresh kill.’ This from Ranger Becker, who was as tall as Nicky and Ares; with her pale brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and the bulky jacket hiding her figure, she’d looked just like the other three forest rangers until I heard her voice.

‘It’s an old wives’ tale that all shapeshifters need fresh meat after they shift,’ I said.

‘Was that “old wives” comment aimed at me?’ she asked, her voice belligerent.

‘No,’ I said.

‘You can make all the girl comments to me you want, but I’m not the one standing on the mountain in the woods in hose and high heels.’

‘I’ve got jeans and boots in the back of the car with my execution gear.’

‘And why did you bring your execution gear if you were just here for emotional support for Sheriff Callahan’s son?’

‘Legally, I have to keep my kit reachable even when I travel for personal business.’ I turned to Al, who was standing beside me. ‘I thought you cleared this before we came up here.’

‘I did,’ he said.

‘Then these guys didn’t get the memo,’ I said.

‘Look,’ Al said, ‘do you really think if I didn’t trust Mr Graison to shapeshift and help us that I would have brought him up here? He’s our best chance at finding the Crawfords tonight, and I don’t know about you, but I want to know what could have taken out Henry and