I looked away, not meeting his eyes. "They're going to be pretty pissed."
"I can't blame them for that, but I want him alive, Anita. I need him alive."
"Why?"
"We didn't get every member of Humans First. I don't want them out there with some new nasty surprise waiting."
"You have Vicki. Won't she tell you?"
"She asked for a lawyer, finally, and now she's suddenly developed amnesia."
"Damn."
"We need him to tell us if there's one last big nasty coming our way."
"But you can't find him," I said.
"That's right."
"You don't want me to tell Jean-Claude."
"Give us twenty-four hours to locate Harry. If we fail, then you can put out a vampire all-points. Before they kill him, try to get information from him."
"You say that like I'll be there when he dies," I said.
Dolph just looked at me.
I met his eyes this time. "I don't kill for Jean-Claude, Dolph, no matter what the street says."
"I wish I believed that, Anita. You don't know how much I wished I believed that."
I lay back against the pillows. "Believe what you like, Dolph. You will anyway."
He walked out then without another word, as if what he wanted to say was too painful, too final. Dolph kept pushing against us, against me. I was beginning to worry that he was going to keep pushing until he pushed us apart. We'd be working together but we wouldn't be friends. The headache was getting worse, and it wasn't just the drugs wearing off.
48
1 was given a clean bill of health. The doctors were amazed at my recuperative powers. If only they knew. Pete McKinnon called late in the day. He'd found that there were fires similar to those set by our firebug in New Orleans and San Francisco. It took a moment for me to remember why those particular cities were important. When I remembered, I asked, "How about Boston?"
"No, no fires in Boston. Why?"
I don't think he believed me when I said, "nothing," but unlike Dolph, he let it go. I wasn't ready to point the finger at the Vampire Council. Just because the mysterious fires happened in cities they'd been visiting didn't mean it had to be them. There'd been no fires in Boston. Just because there were now mysterious fires in St. Louis, and the council was here, didn't prove anything. Yeah, and the Easter Bunny brings me goodies every year.
I told Jean-Claude about my suspicions. "But why would the council wish to burn empty buildings, ma petite? If one of them could call fire to their hands, they would not waste it on empty real estate. Not unless the real estate being burned gained them something."
"You mean a financial motive?" I said.
He shrugged. "Perhaps, though a personal motive would suit them better."
"I can't find out much more information without giving the council up to the authorities as suspects," I said.
He seemed to think about that for a second or two. "Perhaps you could wait upon committing absolute suicide for us until after we have survived this evening."
"Sure," I said.
True darkness found me in a short form-fitting black velvet dress with a V-neck and no sleeves. The waist of the dress was open lace. My skin showed pale and enticing through it. Black thigh-high hose that actually came up a bit higher than mid-thigh, like all the way up until the black lace stretch top brushed against the black satin panties with their lace edgings. The hose were a size too large. Jean-Claude had purchased them, and done it deliberately. I'd tried thigh-highs before and had to agree that the longer length was more flattering for my shorter legs. It sort of framed the right area. If we'd been planning extracurricular activities, I'd have loved to see his face when I was standing in nothing but the stockings. As it was, it was just frustrating, and a little scary.
I'd vetoed the high velvet heels he'd picked out. Instead I used my own black pumps. Not as spiffy. Maybe not even more comfortable, but the heels were low enough that I could run in them, or carry fainting wereleopards if the need arose.