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«Wait, will that put me out?» I asked.
«Yes,» she said.
«Then I need to make some phone calls first.»
«You're not hurting too much yet, then?» She made it half question, half statement.
«No, not yet. It aches, but it doesn't exactly hurt.»
«It will,» she said, «and when it does you'll want the painkillers.»
I nodded, swallowed, nodded again. «I know, but we still have Soledad's masters out there. We need them dead.»
«You aren't slaying any vamps today,» she said.
«I know, but Ted Forrester still can.»
Edward looked at me at the mention of his alter ego. His hand was on Peter's hair, as if he were a much younger boy and Edward had just come in to tuck him in for the night.
«I need you to take over my warrants,» I said.
He nodded. His eyes weren't cold, they were rage-filled. I wasn't used to seeing this much heat from Edward; he was a cold creature, but what blazed in his eyes now was hot enough to burn a hole through me. «How is Peter?» he asked Cherry.
«Now that he's out, we'll sew him up. He should be fine.»
Edward looked at me. «I'll kill the vampires for you.»
«We will kill them for you.» Olaf's voice from the door. He must have arrived in time to hear the last few comments. I hadn't heard him come in; not good. Not good that I hadn't heard Olaf, but not good that it could have been someone else, something else. I trusted Edward to see me safe, but I was usually more help to myself than this. Admittedly, I was having a bad day.
The dull ache in my stomach was begi
Someone found a cell phone. I dialed Zerbrowski directly. The Regional Preternatural Investigation Team, RPIT, was who I should have called, and I should have probably started by talking to Lieutenant Rudolph Storr, but I just wasn't feeling well enough to argue with Dolph about who, and what, was or wasn't a monster. Zerbrowski answered with his usual, «Zerbrowski.»
«It's Anita,» I said.
«Blake, what's shaking?» There was a thread of laughter to his voice, the begi
«I'm about to get sewed back up.»
«What happened?» The teasing note was gone.
I gave him the shortest version I could, and left out lots. But I gave him the important parts; two vamps, maybe with more servants, masquerading as two upstanding vampire citizens to get us to kill the two upstanding citizens. «They must have thought I was close, because they sent one of their animals to kill me.»
«How hurt are you?»
«I'm not hunting any vampires today.»
«What do you need from me?»
«I need you to get cops around the hotel. I need you to make sure these two don't get outside.»
«Shouldn't they be dead to the world, no pun intended?»
«They should, but after what I saw in the servant, I wouldn't bet anyone's life on it. Call in Mobile Reserve; if it goes wrong you'll want the firepower.»
Dr. Chris came to stand over me. He was a little under six feet but seemed taller because he was so thin, one of those men who just couldn't seem to put on muscle mass. I'd have called him willowy if he'd been a girl. He said, «Get off the phone, Anita. I need to look at your wounds.»
«I'm almost done,» I said.
«What?» Zerbrowski said.
«The doc's here. He's wanting me off the phone.»
«Tell me who's going to be processing your warrants and do what the doctor says. You've got to be healed by the time we do the barbecue at my house. I finally got the wife talked into letting you bring both your live-in boyfriends. Don't make me waste all that persuasion.»
I almost laughed but thought it might hurt, so I swallowed it. That sort of hurt, too. «I'll do my best.»
«Off the phone, Anita,» Dr. Chris said again.
«Ted Forrester will have the warrants,» I said.
«We didn't know he was in town.»
«Just got here.»
«Fu
«I only call him in when it's already gone to hell, Zerbrowski; you're reversing cause and effect.»
«Says you.»
«He's a federal marshal, just like me.»
A hand scooped the phone out of my hand. Dr. Chris was a lycanthrope, but still… I should have at least seen it coming. «This is Anita's doctor; she needs to go now. I'm going to put the other marshal on. You two play nice. I'm going to make Ms. Blake go night-night.» He hesitated, then said, «She'll be fine. Yes, guaranteed. Now let me tend my patient.» He handed the phone to Edward.
Edward put on his Ted Forrester good-ol'-boy voice. «Sergeant Zerbrowski, Ted Forrester here.»
Dr. Chris shooed Edward farther away so I couldn't hear what he was saying. He turned the knob on the IV and said, «You're going to sleep now, Ms. Blake. Trust me, you'll enjoy the examination more that way.»
«But…»
«Let it go, Ms. Blake. You're hurt. You have to let someone else hunt the vampires today.»
I started to say something, probably to argue, but I never finished the thought. One minute I was staring up at Dr. Chris, the next—nothing. The world went poof .