purposefully give lycanthropy to a minor even with their permission, so the gang leaders were put under a death sentence. They sent in special forces along with New York's finest to wipe them out."
He nodded. "I left the city just before they did that. I'd treated a lot of those kids." His eyes were distant with remembering. "We had two of them shapechange during treatment. Then they wouldn't let them in the hospital anymore. If you wore their colors, you were left to die."
"Most of them probably lived anyway, Doctor Cunningham. If the initial wound doesn't kill them immediately, they probably aren't going to die."
"Are you trying to comfort me?" he asked.
"Maybe."
He looked down at me. "Then I'll tell you what I told all of them. Get out. Get out of this line of work or you will not live to see forty."
"I was actually wondering if I was going to make it to thirty," I said.
"Was that a joke?"
"I think so."
"You know the old saying, half in jest, all in seriousness?" he asked.
"Can't say I've heard that one."
"Listen to yourself, Ms. Blake. Take it to heart and find something a little safer to be doing."
"If I was a cop, you wouldn't be saying this."
"I have never treated a policeman that had this many scars. The closest I've ever seen outside the gangs was a marine."
"Did you tell him to quit his job?"
"The war was over, Ms. Blake. Normal military duty just isn't that dangerous."
He looked at me, all serious. I looked back, blank-faced, giving him nothing. He sighed. "You'll do what you want to do, and it's none of my business anyway." He turned and walked towards the door.
I called after him. "I do appreciate the concern, Doctor. Honestly, I do."
He nodded, one hand on either side of his stethoscope like it was a towel. "You appreciate my concern, but you're going to ignore my advice."
"Actually, if I live through this case, I'm planning to take some time off. It's not the injury rate, doctor. It's the erosion of the ethics that's beginning to get to me."
He tugged on the stethoscope. "Are you telling me that if I think you look bad, I should see the other guy?"
I gazed down, sort of taking it all in. "I execute people, Doctor Cunningham. There are no bodies to look at."
"Don't you mean you execute vampires?" he said.
"Once upon a time, that's what I meant."
We had another long moment of looking at each other, then he said, "Are you saying you kill humans?"
"No, I'm saying that there's not as much difference between vamps and humans as I used to tell myself."
"A moral dilemma," he said.
"Yeah," I said.
"I don't envy you the problem, Ms. Blake, but try to stay out of the line of fire until you figure out the answer to it."
"I always try and stay out of the line of fire, Doctor."
"Try harder," he said and walked out.
Chapter 43~44
43
EDWARD CAME IN the door before it had time to swing closed. He was wearing one of those short-sleeved shirts with little pockets on the front. If it had been tan, I'd have said he looked dressed for a safari, but the shirt was black. So were his freshly pressed jeans, the belt that encircled his narrow waist, down to the black-over belt buckle, so it wouldn't shine in the dark and give you away. The belt buckle matched the shoulder holster and gun that outlined his chest. There was a line of white undershirt at the open neck of the shirt, but other than that it was unrelieved blackness. It made his hair and eyes look even paler. It was the first time I'd seen him without the cowboy hat out of doors since I arrived.
"If you're dressed for my funeral, it's too casual. If it's just street clothes, then you must be scaring the tourists."
"You're alive. Good," he said.
I gave him a look. "Very funny."
"I wasn't being funny."
We looked at each other. "Why so serious, Edward? I asked the doc, and he said there hadn't been any more murders."
He shook his head and came to stand at the foot of the bed, near the makeshift altar. I ended up looking down the length of the bed at him, and it was awkward. I found the button controls with my right hand and raised the head of the bed slowly. I'd been in enough hospital beds to know where everything was.
"No, there haven't been any more murders," he said.
"Then what's with the