“Yeah, I did, but the second time, he spooked me, Newman. I was too close, and it all happened too quick to go for a weapon, but if he hadn’t gone down when I stepped away from him, I would have.”
“Are you saying you would have shot him?”
“With the damage I’d just done to him, if he had come after me, I’d have been grateful to get to a weapon in time to kill him before he killed me.”
“Have you changed your mind? Do you think he murdered Ray now?” Newman asked.
“No, I still think he was framed, but that doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous.”
“You did this to him bare-handed?” Olaf asked.
“She hit him with one of the prettiest uppercuts I’ve seen in years,” Duke said.
“I used mostly my elbows and knees, but no weapons, no,” I said.
Olaf smiled at me as if I’d spoken sweet nothings. He always reacted like that to the weirdest shit.
“I’ve never seen anyone move as fast as she did,” Kaitlin said.
“You’ve never seen a real shapeshifter move,” I said.
“No, I haven’t, but if they’re faster than you, I’m not sure I want to.”
“If Blake had been any slower, we’d have been putting her into an ambulance,” Livingston said.
“You can’t just let him die like this,” Wagner said.
“Shut up, Troy. You’re in enough trouble,” Duke said.
“Troy’s right,” Newman said. “We can’t just let him die.”
“Boy, you have a warrant in your pocket that says you can shoot him full of holes until he dies. You saw him in the cell. You were afraid for Blake’s life, too. Don’t tell me you weren’t.”
“Yes, I thought he was going to hurt Blake, but that doesn’t give us the right to let him bleed out like this.”
“We don’t even know that’s what’s happening,” I said.
“Then why hasn’t he moved? If he hasn’t got a concussion or a damaged spine, then why hasn’t he come to?” Newman moved toward me, hands in fists at his sides. He wasn’t going to start a fight. He was just upset, and it was coming out in his body.
“I don’t know, Newman!” I had to swallow my own anger down before I lost it. My voice was calmer as I said, “I would never have hit him like I did if I hadn’t thought he would heal.”
“You are used to the shapeshifters in St. Louis,” Olaf said.
I looked at him. “What does that mean?”
“All of them would have healed by now.”
“Are you saying that Bobby won’t heal?”
“He should heal, but it will not be one of the miracles of healing that you are used to at home.”
“Why won’t he heal like that?”
“First, he is not part of any group, so he does not share in their larger energy. Second, he has only one small beast form, which proves he is not a powerful shapeshifter in and of himself. Third, he is not tied to a master vampire, so he doesn’t have that energy to draw upon. I do not think you understand how unique St. Louis is for all these reasons and more.”
Olaf looked at me very pointedly when he said the last part. He seemed to be trying to tell me something with that look, but I had no idea what he was hinting at. I’d ask him later in private, or maybe I wouldn’t. I focused on what was in front of me, one problem at a time or they gang up on you.
“Fine. So I play with too many big dogs to play nice with the small ones. How do we help Bobby here and now?”