NEWMAN PUT THE car in gear, and I had to tell him to stop. “We have to wait for Nicky and Ethan to at least get here.”
He looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Why are they coming here?”
“Shit, I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry, Newman. They’re meeting us here.”
“Leduc was clear, Anita. None of your people can be involved with this investigation.”
“They’re bringing me some protein bars and stuff.”
“We’re not going to go look for the murder weapon because your boyfriends are bringing us snacks?”
“We’ll join the search for the possible murder weapon, Newman, but I just need to make sure I don’t forget to eat again.”
“You just ate,” he said.
“It was only my second meal of the day, and it should have been my third. It’s not good when I skip meals.”
“Are you saying that what happened in the club just now was because you skipped a meal?”
“Not exactly, but it may have contributed to it.”
“Okay, we can wait a few minutes.”
“They want to follow us around the rest of the time.”
“Duke will have a fit.”
“I know, but they aren’t coming to help with the police work. They’ll shadow us, but they’ll stay out of the way for witnesses or clues or anything that touches the investigation.”
“Then I don’t understand why they want to be here, Blake.”
“In case what happened in the club happens again.”
“You said it has never happened before.”
“It hasn’t, and if it never happens again, then Nicky and Ethan will waste their time following me around at a distance, but if it does happen again, they’ll be close enough to help.”
“Help how?” Newman asked.
“If I vamp out, one of them will take one for the team.”
“What does that even mean? I mean, I know what the phrase means, but what does it mean for your . . . whatever it is?”
“They’ll let me feed on them.”
“Blood?” Newman looked like the thought made him ill.
I couldn’t help it. I smiled at him.
“Do you think this is funny?” he asked.
“No, I don’t, but the look on your face when you thought I drank blood . . . I have to find it funny or I’ll start feeling more like a monster than I already do.”
“I’m sorry. Don’t let me make you feel bad about yourself. I don’t mean to do that, but the thought that you could need to drink blood from something you caught on this job scares the shit out of me.”
I wasn’t smiling when I said, “I don’t drink blood, Newman. I drink . . . energy.”
“What kind of energy?”