me, that I blushed and turned away. I got busy putting on weapons.
Crispin came up to me and hugged me briefly. “You okay?”
“No.”
“My father and mother are missing,” Victor said.
I turned to him. “What?”
“The Master planned on taking them. I told Victor, but it’s too late, they’re gone.”
“How the hell did he take Max and Bibiana? I mean, your parents aren’t exactly easy pickings.”
“He said he would wait until he was powerful enough to take them both together.”
I looked at Sebastian. “How much has he regained?”
“I do not know.”
The red tiger came over to me. I wasn’t embarrassed anymore. I was too worried for that. “I’m Hunter,” he said.
I nodded. “Good for you, sorry I don’t remember much. It’ll come back to me.”
His face went from arrogant to disappointed. “You don’t remember?”
“Look, Hunter, if that’s your real name and not a stage name, do you understand that the Master of the City and the head of the local tigers are missing? I’m about to call SWAT and go vampire hunting.”
“Sorry, just trying to be nice.”
“We’ll be nice tomorrow. Today, let’s stay alive, okay?”
He looked a little hurt, and I wondered how bright he was-or how unbright. But, again, not important this minute. I asked Victor, “Do you want me to tell the police about your parents, or do you guys want to handle it yourself?”
“Don’t tell them yet. If he’s got them at the daytime lair, great, they’ll be rescued, but we may want to be a little less legal in the search.”
“Okay, it’s got to be your call; I’ll leave it out for now.” Then I called the first number in my phone that I’d put in for SWAT. It was alphabetical, so it was Lieutenant Grimes.
“Marshal Blake, we’ve been trying to call you for about an hour; are you all right?”
“Yes, in fact I’ve got the daytime resting place of Vittorio.”
“Give me the address,” he said.
I did. “We can roll a team now. The other marshals are already here.”
“Shit, I’d rather you wait for me.”
Grimes spoke to someone off the phone, then came back on. “Ted seems confident that we can move without you.”
“Really? Okay. Can you put Ted on the phone for just a second?”
Edward came on. “Forrester here.” He sounded cold and not himself.
Fuck it. “Edward, Vittorio isn’t his real name. It’s the name he took after the Mother of All Darkness stripped him of his powers and cast him out. He’s originally the Father of the Day, or the Day Father. He’s as old as the dark, and he’s been gaining powers as she’s been losing them.”
“How do you know all this?” he asked, and he didn’t sound mad now.
“He visited my dreams last night, and so did she.”
“Anita, are you…”
“Okay, for now. Someone else took your job, and I think they blew her up last night.”
“Can he walk in the day?”
“Not last we know, but if he can’t, he’s close, but that’s not the worst part.” I told him about the jinn.
“If he gets all his power back, we’ll have a vampire in this city as powerful as the Mother of All Darkness,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Grimes sent Rocco and Davey to check on you. I wish we had Davey going in with us if the jinn show up.”
“Why, what’s his skill set?”
“He can do weather change, but what he really does is move air.”
“What?”
“He can harden air to make temporary shields that are bulletproof.”
“Well, fuck, that’s nifty,” I said, “like a combination of weather magic and telekinesis.”
“Yeah, but what would happen if he hardens the jinn, if they’re really made of air?”
“Good question, I’ll think on it. When they get here, we’ll head your way.”
“Do that, and Anita…”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, Edward.”
“See you there.”
“Save some for me,” I said.
“I read the reports from St. Louis. At least one female vamp and a human servant male.”
“Yeah.”
“Gotta run.”
“Bye,” but I was listening to nothing. He’d hung up, but he’d apologized. It might be a first.
I decided to check on my bodyguards next door. I actually called Haven’s number. He answered, “Anita, thought you’d be busy all day. If you wanted a party, we have enough men over here.” He sounded disgusted.
“Some bodyguards you are, I spent the morning being mind-fucked by Vittorio.”
“What?”
“Didn’t you think it was weird, all the weretigers going into my room?”
“You came to the door and told me that it was fine. You invited them all.”
“Didn’t you notice I looked weird?”
“No, you looked fine, normal. I swear.”
“I would not have agreed to everyone that came in here.”
“You mean the teenager,” he said, and so matter-of-fact, it pissed me off.
“Yeah, the illegal one.”
“Hey, first, sixteen is legal in Vegas, and second, as long as it’s legal, what’s wrong with young?”
“Ah.” I handed the phone to Victor. “Tell him the bad news about your family.”
I went to Sebastian, who was still nude. “Does anyone have clothes left?”
“It looks like someone ripped me out of my clothes,” he said.
“Then get a robe.” He turned obediently toward one of the bathrooms. “Wait, is there any other plan, or something you should tell me about Vittorio?”
“The policemen in the hospital who are asleep. Vittorio could see through my eyes when they attacked, and he ordered me to kill the witch, but he said to only incapacitate the others. It gave me enough room to put them to sleep.”
“Is there a way to bring them out of it?”
“Yes, love’s kiss.”
“What?”
“They just need a kiss by someone who loves them.”
“You mean like Sleeping Beauty?”
He nodded. “Yes, it’s the original power that started Belle Morte’s line: a vampire power that was powered by love.” He frowned. “I really thought that someone’s wife would have kissed them by now, just by accident.”
“Does it have to be on the lips?”
“Yes.”
“Does it have to be a thorough kiss?”
“More than a peck, and some emotion to it.”
“Like think of how much you love them, or lust them?”
“Yes.”
Every time I thought I’d heard the weirdest vampire power, I was wrong. I started to reach for my cell phone
