Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,200

love him, because I can feel it. I didn’t know anyone could love as much as you love him, so how can you keep risking his life like this?”

I couldn’t even argue with Nicky, and God, I wanted to, but . . . “Jean-Claude and Micah both promised to contact me if I started to drain anybody. Besides, Nathaniel is getting better at managing the energy among the three of us.”

“You’re just making excuses, Anita.” Nicky sounded genuinely angry. He never got mad at me.

“You’re my Bride, Nicky. I thought it caused you pain if I was unhappy.”

“Sometimes it does, but if Nathaniel dies because you were careless, you’d never forgive yourself, and neither would I. Neither would Micah or Sin or Dev or—”

“I get it, Nicky.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah, I do.” I was angry now, which was better than feeling guilty.

“Good. Then you’ll let us shadow you while you keep crime busting.”

“No, you heard Leduc. None of you can be part of the investigation.”

“We’ll stay out of the way, but you need us with you, Anita.”

“What do you mean, shadowing me?”

“We’ll follow you in our car. We’ll be nearby in case you lose control again.”

“Leduc can’t see you following us. He’ll lose his shit, and he has enough clout around here to kick the Coalition out of the area. Hell, he’s got so many friends in the good-ol’-boy network, he might be able to keep the Coalition out of most of Michigan.”

“Anita, you almost fed the ardeur on a woman you’d just met. What if you’d lost control in the strip club?” Ethan said.

I paced around the empty parking spaces at the edge of the lot. My pulse was too fast; the anger had gone onto the edge of fear. “I handled it,” I said finally.

“Anita, do you really want to risk the ardeur rising when you’re surrounded by cops without any of us nearby?” Nicky asked.

“No, of course I don’t. That would be a nightmare, and you know it.”

“So we’ll shadow you, just in case.”

A compact car turned into the parking lot; there was a dark-haired woman driving it.

“I think the dancer we need to talk to just drove up.”

“We’ll park and wait for you to let us know you’re done talking police business,” Nicky said.

“You’d be even less happy if you lost control of the ardeur and fed on Newman or Deputy Rico or one of the state cops,” Ethan said.

“You’ve made your point,” I said.

“Will you let us follow you?” Ethan asked.

“I’ll take the snacks for later,” I said.

“If you won’t let us shadow you, then feed the ardeur off of one of us before you meet back up with Leduc,” Nicky said.

“Absolutely not,” I said.

“It would make the ardeur safe for at least four hours guaranteed.”

“I cannot do quickies in the parking lot while I’m out with other cops.”

“Newman is the only one with you, right?” Nicky asked.

“Yes, but—”

“He saw what happened in the strip club, Anita. I think he’ll be okay with it.”

“He won’t be okay with me grabbing a quickie in the parking lot while we’re fighting the clock for Bobby Marchand’s life.”

“Then we follow you,” Nicky said as if the matter was settled.

“I haven’t agreed to that, but the dancer that was with Jocelyn is here. Got to go question her.”

“Try not to touch this one as much,” Ethan said.

“You’re afraid I’ll lose control again?” I said.

“Aren’t you?”

I didn’t know what to say because I was worried. I didn’t understand why the ardeur had risen in the club. I didn’t know how I’d captured the dancer with my gaze like I was a real vampire and not one who fed off of energy, sexual or otherwise.

“Yeah, I’m worried, but I still have to go question the dancer. She’s wearing street clothes and no makeup. She won’t be sitting in my lap like the last one.”

“You let a strange stripper sit in your lap? Wow, you are off your game,” Ethan said with an incredulous tone in his voice.

Nicky would have sounded angrier, and he would have pissed me off. Ethan’s amazement scared me a little.

I waved to get Newman’s attention and pointed at the woman, who was still sitting in her car. He nodded and started walking toward the car.

“I won’t let this one sit on my lap. Promise. But I’ve got to go help Newman question her.” I started walking toward the car so I’d meet him partway.

“Feed on one of us when we get there,” Nicky said.

“I have to question a witness,