Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #29)(12)

“You would execute him, even knowing it could destroy me, as well.”

“If Kane loses his temper and hits one of my human bridesmaids or their partners, or one of my family, or hell, anyone who is in my wedding, anyone who—”

“You’re making this too complicated, Anita,” Edward said.

“If you can explain it to him better, be my guest.”

“Your fault, our fault, no one’s fault, if Kane kills anyone, we kill him. If you get in the way of that, you can die first.”

I turned to stare at Edward, but his face showed no compromise. I knew he meant it. I wasn’t sure I could pull the trigger on Asher; on Kane and let Asher take his chances, yes, but to actually point a gun between those beautiful blue eyes, at that face we loved . . . I wasn’t sure I could do it, and because it was Edward he needed to know that.

“I don’t know if I can pull the trigger on Asher, so if it comes to that I’ll take Kane, but Asher has to be yours.”

“Understood,” Edward said.

“Anita, how can you talk about my death so coldly?”

“We are starting to plan how to take Kane and you out, Asher; do you understand now?”

“That I don’t matter to you, yes.”

I wanted to ask him again if he’d stopped taking his meds, but my phone rang again. It was Dolph and for him to call back that soon it was important. “If you didn’t matter to me, Asher, I’d have killed Kane months ago. I have to take this call,” I said as I stepped a little away from him, not so he wouldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but because I was so angry with him I didn’t want to be looking directly at him while I concentrated on police work.

“Hey, Dolph, what’s up?”

“We have a murder scene.”

“What kind?”

“We may have a Sunshine kill.”

The anger washed away on fear, my stomach clenching tight with it. “Jesus, Dolph, I was hoping it wouldn’t come here.”

“So was I, but we have a body at the Marriott. A maid noticed the smoke and got a fire extinguisher, so the scene is relatively preserved, but we’re going to need dental to ID the victim.”

“So, it’s a vampire that’s newly dead enough to have dental records?” I asked.

“If it’s the one that signed in for the hotel room, yes.”

“Is the vampire local?” My voice sounded ordinary when I asked, but my stomach wasn’t fooled. I knew a lot of the local vampires now, because most of them attended the Church of Eternal Life and so did Jean-Claude and I at least once or twice a month. It was the church that Jean-Claude and I were going to be married in; I’d started to think of the congregation as mine, just like I did the Episcopal church that I went to most Sundays.

“Not if it’s the vampire that checked into the hotel.”

“Give me the name, I might be able to find a vampire that knows them.”

“I don’t want to give out the name of the victim until we notify the family.”

“They’re married?”

“There were photos of the victim with a family on the laptop. All the photos with the vampire in them were taken at night or inside, so it looks like it’s not the family the vampire had before, but a current one.”

“Okay, track the family down. What do you need from me?”

“You’re still our vampire expert. I want your expertise.”

“Okay, be there as soon as I can. I’m at a wedding fitting so it may take a few minutes.”

“Sorry to interrupt.”

“It’s okay, my job doesn’t change just because I’m going to be a bride.”

“I’m still sorry to drag you away from something pleasant to this.”

“Is it that bad?”

“We’ve both seen worse, but it’s just that someone in our city hated vampires enough to open the drapes and let the sunlight do this to them. I was really hoping that this particular brand of hate would skip St. Louis.”

“Yeah, me too.”

He sighed, which he didn’t do much over the phone or in person. “Get here when you can, Anita.”

“Dolph, one thing. When did they open the drapes on the vampire? I mean, it’s after dark, they had to be cutting it damn close to sundown.”

“I’ll check the timeline and have the info for you when you get here.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Then he hung up, which was actually not abrupt for him.

I said, “I need to go,” to no one in particular, or everyone.

“You need backup?” Edward asked.

“No, I need you to stay here and finish the fitting.”

“You sure?”

“If it’s a Sunshine Murder there will barely be anything for me to do,” I said.

He studied my face, then said, “You’ll call if you need me.”

“Absolutely,” I said.

“Give me ten minutes, I’ll be out of these clothes, and I can go with you.”

“The pants are still too long for the boots,” the seamstress said as she came back into the room.

“What boots?” Edward asked suspiciously.