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chapter ten
I SAT ON the edge of the bathtub, waiting for Edward to come to the phone. I'd insisted on privacy for the phone call, though I'd told Jean-Claude and Micah who I was trying to call. Jean-Claude had said only, «Help would not be unwelcome.» The comment said, clearly, that he was worried. The more worried I realized he was, the more worried I got.
I heard noise over the phone, movement. The phone was picked up, and I heard Edward's voice say, «Hang up the other extension, Peter.» A second later he spoke directly into the phone. «Anita, Peter said you needed help, my kind of help.» His voice was that empty-middle-of-nowhere accent. It was his normal voice; when he was playing Ted Forrester, good ol' boy, he had a drawl.
«I didn't say I needed help,» I said.
«Then why did you call?»
«Can't I just call to chat?»
He laughed, and the laugh was strangely familiar. I realized it was an echo of Peter's laugh earlier, or maybe Peter's laugh was an echo of Edward's. They weren't genetically related, I knew that, so what was with the laugh? Imitation, maybe.
«You would never call me just to chat, Anita. That's not what we do for each other.» He laughed again, and murmured, «Called to chat,» as if the idea were too ridiculous for words.
«I do not need you to be condescending, thanks anyway.» I was angry and had no right to be. I'd called him, and it was me I was angry at. I was wishing I hadn't called—for so many reasons.
«What's wrong?» he asked, not taking offense. He knew me too well to let a little angry outburst bother him.
I opened my mouth, closed it, then said, «I'm trying to decide where to start.»
«Start with the dangerous part.» There, that was Edward, not start at the begi
«I did call for backup, but I have other backup already. It's not you, but it's not a bunch of amateurs either.» I was being honest. The wererats were almost completely ex-military, ex-police, or ex-criminals. Some of the werehyenas were the same flavor of professional. I had help. I shouldn't have called Edward.
«You sound like you're trying to talk yourself out of asking me for help,» he said, and his voice was curious, not worried, just curious.
«I am.»
«Why?»
«Because Peter answered the phone.»
There was a sharp intake of breath. «Hang up the phone, Peter,» Edward said.
«If Anita's in trouble, I want to know about it.»
«Hang up the phone,» he said, «and don't make me ask again.»
«But…»
«Now.»
I heard the phone click.
«Well,» I said.
«Wait,» he said.
I sat on my side of the phone in silence, wondering what we were waiting for. Finally Edward said, «He's off.»
«Does he listen in on phone conversations a lot?»
«No.»
«How do you know he doesn't?»
«I know…«He stopped himself, and said, «I don't think he does. I think you're a special case for Peter. He's in Do
«If he's in Do
«We put a master suite on the house.»
«Have you moved in, then?»
«Pretty much.»
«You sell your house?» I asked.
«No.»
«I guess Batman can't sell the bat cave.»
«Something like that.» But his voice, which had started a little friendly, was not friendly now. It was empty, the old pre-Do
«If I lied well enough I'd just make something up and hang up.»
«Why?» he asked, in that empty voice.
«Because Peter answering the phone made me realize that it's not all fun and games anymore. If I get you killed, then they lose another father. I don't want to have to explain that to Peter, or Do
«But especially Peter,» he said.
«Yeah,» I said.
«Since you can't lie to me, just tell me, Anita.» His voice was a little softer now, a little feeling to it. Edward liked me; we were friends. He'd miss me if I were gone, and I'd miss him, but there was still a little question on whether one day we'd find ourselves on the opposite sides of a problem, and have to finally see which of us was the better man. I was hoping that day would never come, because there was no way for me to win the fight now; dead or alive, we'd both lose.
«Do you know what the Harlequin are?» I asked.
«French clowns?» he said, and let himself sound puzzled.
«Do you know them in any other context?»
«Twenty questions isn't like you, Anita; just talk.»
«I just wanted to see if I was the only vampire hunter extraordinaire who was totally in the dark about this. It makes me feel a little better that you don't know about them either. Apparently Jean-Claude is right; they really are a big, dark secret.»
«Talk,» he said.
I talked. I told him what little I knew about the Harlequin and his band. It really wasn't that much.
He was quiet so long that I said, «Edward, I can hear you breathing, but…»
«I'm here, Anita. Just thinking.»
«Thinking what?» I asked.
«That you always let me play with the best toys.» And his voice wasn't empty now, it was eager.
«And what if these toys finally manage to be bigger and badder than you and me?»
«Then we die.»
«Just like that,» I said. «You wouldn't have regrets?»
«You mean Do
«Yes,» I said, and I stood, starting to pace the bathroom.
«I would regret leaving them.»
«Then don't come,» I said.
«And if you get killed, I'd always believe that I could have saved you. No, Anita, I'll come, but I will bring backup.»
«Not anyone too crazy, okay?»
He laughed, that chuckle of true delight that I'd heard maybe six times in the entire seven years I'd known him. «I can't promise that, Anita.»
«Fine, but Edward, I'm serious. I don't want to get you killed on them.»
«I can't stop being who I am just because I love Do
«Why not?» I asked, and I was thinking of a conversation Richard and I had had when we thought I was pregnant. He'd expected that if I were pregnant I'd stop being a federal marshal or vampire hunter. I hadn't agreed.
«Because it wouldn't be me, and they love me. Do
Riker had been a very bad man. He had been doing illegal archaeology digs, and Do
I knew that Peter had lost some of his i
I'd told him the only truth I had that night: «You killed her, Peter. That's as good as revenge gets. Once you kill them, there isn't any more.» Revenge was always the easy part; the hard part was living with it afterward. Living with what you'd done. Living with what they'd done to you, or those you loved.
«Anita, are you there? Anita, answer me.»
«Sorry, Edward, I didn't hear a damn thing you said.»
«You're a thousand miles away inside your own thoughts. That's not a good place to be in the middle of a firefight.»
«It hasn't come to a firefight yet,» I said.
«You know what I mean, Anita. I have to round up my backup and arrange transport. That'll take a day or so. I'll be there as soon as I can, but you need to watch your back until I get there.»
«I'll do my best not to get killed before you get here.»
«This isn't fu
I thought about it for a moment, then realized what was wrong. I was happy for the first time in my life. I loved the men I was living with. I, like Edward, had a family to protect, and mine wouldn't be tucked safely in New Mexico while we cleaned this up. «I just realized that I've got my own family here, and I don't like them being on the firing line. I don't like that a lot.»
«Who are you worried about?» he asked.
«Nathaniel, Micah, Jean-Claude, all of them.»
«I'm looking forward to meeting your new lovers.»
It took me a minute to realize. «You've never met Micah and Nathaniel. I'd forgotten that.»
«Jean-Claude can handle himself, Anita, as well as anyone in this situation. It sounds like the shapeshifters have you covered for now. Micah is head of the local wereleopards. He didn't get the job on his wi
«Is this supposed to be a pep talk?» I asked.
He gave a sound that was almost a laugh. «Yeah.»
«Well, you suck at it.»
He laughed then. «Which of your lovers is ca
I took a deep breath, let it out slow, and said, «Nathaniel.»