Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 27)

“I can’t bring the Coalition into this unless local law enforcement invites us in,” he said when I’d finished.

“This is Newman’s warrant. He’ll invite you in if I ask him to.”

“Send it through official channels, and I can be there in two hours or less.”

“Less would mean you were borrowing Jean-Claude’s private jet,” I said.

“One of the perks of the three of us dating him,” he said like it was a given, when just a few months ago he wouldn’t have said it that casually.

Micah had been working his therapy hard to come to terms with certain things, and one of those things was our vampire master, who was the kind of man who had been making heterosexual men doubt their sexual orientation for centuries. Micah was lucky that Jean-Claude wasn’t into force, either metaphysically or in any other way, because he had the power to have rolled over my Nimir-Raj, my leopard king, and just about anyone else he wanted to seduce. Jean-Claude didn’t want anyone in his bed who didn’t want to be there. He believed in willing partners and true love, luckily for all of us.

“How long do official channels take?” I asked.

“Anywhere from two hours to two days. It depends on how much the other local cops don’t want the Coalition there and how much your friend Newman is willing to rock the boat.”

I thought about that for a second. “Newman is engaged to a local girl here. He’s hoping to make this his forever home, so I’m not sure on the rocking-the-boat thing.”

“Then what do you suggest until the boat gets rocked?” he asked.

“I need help keeping Bobby Marchand alive while the rest of us try to figure out if he did it or if he’s being framed.”

“A lawyer could try to get an injunction . . .”

“It won’t help us if Bobby transforms in his cell. I haven’t been around any shapeshifter that uncontrolled during his change in years. If I hadn’t been there, they’d have shot him, and it would have been a clean shoot.”

“You wouldn’t have blamed them for killing him?”

“No. The only thing that kept him from changing was me knocking him cold.”

“He doesn’t sound that controlled after ten years,” he said.

“It surprised me, too.”

“Did he hurt you?” Micah’s voice was neutral as he asked.

“I skinned my knuckle when I hit him, but other than that, I’m fine.”

“If the other marshal invites us in on the case and the local sheriff will allow it, we could put one of our people outside the cell to monitor Bobby’s energy, but what you really need is more time on the warrant until we can get there, right?”

“Yes.”

“Amanda Brooks, the lawyer we worked with to get people out of the government safe houses, has been wanting to try to throw a kink into the execution-warrant system. Are you willing to have me aim her your way?”

“You mean, am I willing to risk her fucking up the warrants of execution and basically screwing my job up?”

“Yes,” he said.

I thought about it and finally said, “I’d like more options than just killing people if I get on the ground and think they didn’t do it.”

“How much of the situation can I tell her without getting you in trouble?”

That was a different question. “I’m not sure. I’d say give her the broad overview. I’ll give her name to Newman and see if he can get Bobby a phone call.”

“Try it,” he said.

“I will. I love you.”

“I love you more.”