killed, and that is not acceptable. You’re a strong and controlled practitioner, but if you can barely move when you’re in full gear, you’re going to be an obstacle to overcome, not a help.”
I looked into Grimes’s very serious face. He had a point. The vest was very new, and when I wasn’t working with SWAT, I did my best not to wear it, but it wasn’t because I couldn’t move in it.
I sighed again, laid the vest with my other gear, and walked toward the weight area. The men were using the weights, but they were watching us, too. I went to the weight bench where tall, dark, and handsome Santa was bench-pressing. Mercy of the straight brown hair was spotting him, which meant the weight was heavy for the big man. Both Santa and Mercy had to weigh well over two hundred pounds, most of it muscle.
I watched Santa’s arms bulge with the effort to push the bar up and back into its cradle. Mercy’s hands hovered nearby, and at the end he had to guide the bar. That meant it was close to the other man’s limit on this exercise.
“Can I jump in for a minute? The lieutenant wants to see if I’m going to slow you guys down.”
The two men exchanged a look, and then Santa sat up, smiling. “Tell us what weight you want, and we’ll put it on.”
“What’s on it now?”
“Two-sixty; I was doing reps.” He had to add that last so I wouldn’t think it was the max weight he could bench. It was a guy thing; I got it.
I stared at the weights, thinking. I was about to do something that the guys would both like, a lot, and hate. I knew I could bench-press the weight; I’d done it at home. Thanks to vampire marks and several different kinds of lycanthropy floating around in my body, I could do things that were amazing even to me. I hadn’t been this strong long enough for it to lose its novelty. But I’d never showed it off to human cops before. I debated, but it was the quickest way I could think of to make my point.
The other men had started gathering around. Mercy reached for the weights. “What weight do you want, Blake?”
I waved him away. “This will do.”
They exchanged a look, all of them. Some of them smiled. Santa stood and waved at the bench as if to say,
I went to the back of the bench. Mercy moved out of my way. The others moved back and gave me room. I knew I could bench-press it, and that would impress them, but I knew something that would impress them more, and I was tired of having my credentials checked. I wanted to be done with the tests and be out hunting vampires before it got dark. What I needed was something fairly spectacular.
I put my hands on the bar and braced my legs wide enough to get a good stance. I knew I was strong enough to lift it, but my mass wasn’t enough to counterbalance it, so I had to rely on other muscles to keep me steady and upright while my arms did the other work.
I got my grip on the bar, worked my stance.
Santa said, “That’s two hundred and sixty pounds, Blake.”
“I heard you the first time, Santa.” I lifted the bar, tensing my stomach and leg muscles to hold me while I curled it. Making it a controlled, pretty curl was the hard part, but I did it. I curled it, then set it back down with a tiny clink.
My breath was coming a little hard, and my whole body felt pumped and full of blood; there was even a little roar in my ears, which meant I shouldn’t try to curl that much weight again. So I wouldn’t, but… There was absolute silence from the men, as if they’d forgotten to breathe.
I put my hands on my waist and fought to control my breathing; it would all be for nothing if I looked dizzy or unsteady now.
Someone said, “Oh my God.”
I looked at the lieutenant and the sergeants where they stood off the edge of the mat. “I can carry my own weight, Lieutenant.”
“Hell, you can carry me,” Mercy said.
Santa said, “How did you do that? There’s not enough of you to lift that much weight.”
“Could you do it again?” Grimes asked.
“You mean reps?” I asked.
He nodded.
I grinned. “Maybe, but I wouldn’t want to try.”
He gave an expression that was almost a smile, then shook his head. “Answer Santa’s question, Anita.”
“You’ve heard the rumors. Hell, you checked up on me before I stepped off the plane.”
“You’re right, I did. So you really are the human servant of your local Master of the City.”
“That won’t make you this strong,” I said.
“I saw your medical records,” he said.
“And,” I said.
“You’re a medical miracle.”
“So they tell me.”
“What?” Santa asked, looking from one to the other of us.
“So, you really are carrying five different kinds of lycanthropy, but you don’t shift.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Wait,” Santa said, “that’s not possible.”
“Actually,” Grimes said, “there have been three documented cases in the United States alone; you would be the fourth. Worldwide there have been thirty. People like you are what gave them the idea for the lycanthropy vaccines.”
Someone must have made a movement because Grimes said, “Yes, Arrio.”
“Is her lycanthropy contagious?”
“Anita,” he said.
“Shapeshifters are only contagious in animal form, and I don’t have an animal form, so, no.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Not a hundred percent, no. I wouldn’t drink my blood, and if you have a cut, you might not want me to bleed on you.”
“But you’ve got five different kinds in your blood, right?” Santa asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“Then if you bled on me, I wouldn’t get just one, I’d get them all, or nothing, right?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Would it make me be able to do what you just did?”
“You can do what I just did.”
He shook his head, frowning. “Able to curl over twice my body weight, so, six-ninety, seven hundred pounds.”
“I’ve seen a shapeshifter about your size that could do it, but I’m not as strong as a real shapeshifter. If I were, I could do reps easy, and I can’t.”
“So a shapeshifter your size would be even stronger?” Davey, the tall blond with the nice mouth, asked.
“Absolutely.” I looked back at the lieutenant. “That’s what I mean about the vest and helmet. It just won’t protect you from that level of strength.”
“It will protect you if you get hit in the chest or head.”
“Some.”
“You’ll wear the full gear when you go out with us, Anita.”
“You’re the boss.”
He smiled. “Reports say you aren’t much for following orders.”
“I’m not.”
“But I’m the boss.”
“For these men, this unit, you are, and if I want to work with you, that makes you the boss.”
“You have a federal badge. You could try to be the boss.”
I laughed. “I’ve seen the way the men react to you. I could have a dozen federal badges, and that wouldn’t make any of these guys see me as their boss.”
