and good ol’ boy. “And Ted thinks that lesbian means you just haven’t met the right man.”
“I’d like to introduce Ted to my friend Sylvie and her partner. Trust me, neither one of them thinks they need a man in their life, not in any way.”
“We good ol’ boys need our illusions, Anita.” We were almost to the car.
I spoke low. “You’re about as much a good ol’ boy as I am… Ted.”
“I’ll have to be Ted if SWAT is with us, Anita.”
I stared at him. “Shit.”
He nodded. “You aren’t the only one who has to be careful with an audience.”
“When having police around makes you have to lie all the time, Edward, maybe we aren’t the good guys?”
He opened the passenger door for me, which he never did. I let him, for Olaf’s sake, but it bugged me. Edward leaned close and whispered in my ear so that Olaf would think he was whispering sweet nothings, but what he actually said, was, “We aren’t the good guys, Anita. We’re the necessary guys.”
I settled into the seat, with Olaf and Bernardo wondering what Edward had said to me. I couldn’t make my face match his smiling one. I couldn’t play along that he’d whispered something naughty in my ear. I could only sit and let my sunglasses hide my eyes and help me lie to the people who were supposed to be helping me.
I was lying to the police, lying to my backup; the only person I wasn’t lying to was Edward. Funny how that was usually the case when we worked together. He explained that the weretigers’ queen might try to fix me up with some of her people in a bid to bind themselves closer to Jean-Claude’s power base. True, as far as it went. I just stared ahead and kept the glasses on.
Edward turned in his seat so he could see both men better. He started by explaining to all of us. “I arranged for the warrant to be dropped off here, at the coroner’s parking lot. We can chat while we wait.”
“Chat?” Olaf said, suspicion plain in his voice.
Then Edward started in with no preamble, just straight to the point. “Anita has a lover among the weretigers. He’ll probably be friendly to her, so let him.”
“How friendly?” Bernardo asked.
I laughed, I couldn’t help it. “Let’s just say that Crispin is a little… eager.”
“How eager?” Olaf asked, and he didn’t sound happy at all.
I turned in the seat so I could see them both. “You guys know I need to feed the
“Feed, how?” Olaf asked.
“Sex, Olaf, I’ll feed during sex.”
“So the rumors are true-you really are a succubus, then?” Bernardo said.
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“You don’t have to go to the monsters to feed,” Olaf said.
“I’ve fed on Crispin before, so he knows what to expect.”
“I would be happy to help,” Bernardo said.
“No,” Olaf said, “if she feeds on any of us, it will be me.”
I shook my head. “I know your idea of sex, Olaf; I don’t think I’d survive long enough to feed.”
“For you, I would try.”
I stared at his sunglass-covered eyes with my own. I tried to see past that impassive face. I understood that he had offered me sex, just sex, not violence, and that for him, that was almost unheard of. It was a positive step for Olaf, but I so did not want to be that step.
I looked at Edward for some help.
“You’d really just have sex with Anita, not tie her up or cut her up?”
Olaf nodded. “I would try.”
Edward licked his lips, a sign of nervousness, though in this heat, maybe not. “I didn’t think you thought of sex without the violence.”
“For her, I would try,” he repeated.
“Edward,” I said, “help me out here.”
“It’s a big step for him, Anita. You have no idea how big.”
“I have some idea, but…”
Edward lowered his glasses enough to give me his eyes, and those eyes told me something. They told me to be careful and not blow this. It took me a second, then I realized he was right. It was a hell of a lot better that Olaf wanted “normal” sex than to go all serial killer on my ass. It was a lesser evil, so I tried to say something that wouldn’t crush his attempt at being better.
“I don’t know what to say to that Olaf. I’m… flattered and entirely creeped all at the same time.” Mostly, in truth, I was just freaked, but I didn’t want him to think that I rejected his idea that sex could be about something other than death. I mean, maybe if he thought that about me, he might find someone else whom he could actually have a relationshp with. Too weird, too entirely weird, that Olaf might be salvageable. But who the hell would I trust in his bed? Who the hell would I risk, on the chance that he might not go apeshit on her? There were no good answers here, just strange ones. I had that feeling of falling down the rabbit hole, except there’d never been serial killers in
24
I FILLED UP the awkward silence by asking Edward questions about his last time in Vegas, and what he knew about the men on SWAT here. It was only minutes later that a big SUV pulled into the parking lot. I caught the green uniforms on broad shoulders before I noticed exactly what faces went with the shoulders.
“Don’t uniforms or flunkies deliver warrants in Vegas just like everywhere else?” I asked.
“Did I mention that I vanished on them last time I was here?” Edward asked.
I glared at him. “So this is your fault, not mine.”
“Oh, I think we’ll share.”
Warrants were usually delivered by whomever they could spare. Instead, it was Sergeant Hooper and one of the practitioners. The moment I saw them, I knew Edward had been right; they weren’t going to let us serve the warrant on our own. Crap. Hooper was all serious. The practitioner with him seemed more relaxed. This was the one with brown hair so curly that even the short haircut couldn’t hide the fact. What was his name? Spider, that was it. If Santa could tell if you were naughty or nice, and Cannibal could eat you, what the hell did Spider do? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
We all got out of our trucks and walked toward each other. They were both still in their green uniforms, black boots, no concession to the weather. I wondered what it would have to do in Vegas for them to add to or subtract from their wardrobe.
“Sergeant,” Edward said, in his Ted voice, managing to put more positive emotion in one word than in most conversations. He walked forward, smiling, hand out.
Hooper took the hand and almost smiled. “Ted.”
Edward turned to the other operator. “Spider.”
“Ted.”
Edward introduced Olaf and Bernardo. Handshakes all around. I joined the ritual, wordlessly, though Spider and Hooper both said, “Anita,” as we shook. Edward had explained that not everyone got nicknames; some just used their first names, like Sanchez, whose first name turned out to actually be Arrio.
I hadn’t asked Edward what Spider’s talent was, but I would when we had some privacy. If we ever had privacy in Vegas again. I was beginning to worry that Bernardo had been right, and SWAT was going to be our new best buddies.
“We thought we’d bring the warrant personally, Ted,” Hooper said. He smiled then. “Wouldn’t want another misunderstanding.”
Ted did an oh-shucks shrug. “It was my first time in Vegas; sorry about the confusion on where we were
