Crimson Death (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 25)

"Yes, but he used his faith in God to not act on them. It was the theory that the Church used for centuries that you could pray yourself out of pedophilic urges, so become a priest."

"Yeah, ask the victims of pedophile priests and nuns how that's worked out."

"I didn't say I agreed with it."

"Sorry. Raised Catholic, so it's a sore point with me."

"Sometimes I forget that about you."

"What?"

"That once you were a good little Catholic schoolgirl."

"I actually didn't go to Catholic school."

"Really, so no little plaid skirt outfit?"

"No. Sorry to disappoint you."

"Schoolgirl really isn't my thing."

"Somehow I didn't think it would be."

I could almost hear the smile on the other end of the phone as he said, "I don't think either of us spends a lot of time wondering what each other's kinks are."

"Nope," I said.

"So why is She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named suddenly going apeshit with her vampires?"

"Damian doesn't think it's her."

"Could it be some of her vampires without her knowledge?"

"He only left five years ago, Edward, and he says she'd kill any of her vamps that were this careless."

"Vampires are legal in more countries than ever before, Anita. Why is she still in hiding if she's not doing this?"

"Apparently, she's like a lot of the really old ones. She doesn't believe the new attitude will last and when the humans start killing vampires again, she'll still be hidden in her fortress in Ireland, untouched."

"Then Damian's old group isn't the only vampires in Ireland anymore."

"She was powerful enough to keep out other vampires for centuries. If she can't stop this new wave, then Damian thinks she's lost power."

"What would cause her to go from scary enough that you don't even want to speak her name to letting a bunch of new vampires run riot in Dublin?"

"Damian didn't have a guess on that."

"Do you?"

I thought about it as I drove through the night-dark neighborhoods, wending my way toward the old warehouse district that, thanks to the Circus of the Damned, had gotten gentrified into a tourist attraction area.

"Anita, you still there?"

"I'm here, Edward, just thinking. I don't know. Vampires either grow in power or fade. The force I felt a few years back wasn't going to fade away."

"If She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named isn't causing this, but she can't stop it either, then what is going on?"

"It would almost have to be something more powerful than her that's just arrived in Ireland."

"What could be more powerful than a night hag that can throw fear halfway across the world?"

"I'd say the Mother of All Darkness, but she's dead."

"We killed her," he said.

"Yes, we did." I could have quibbled that the actual killing part was mostly me, but if Edward hadn't fought his way to me with reinforcements I'd have been dead instead of her, so "we" killed her. Striking the death blow without acknowledging all the people who helped you get in place to deliver it is just poor sportsmanship.

"Then what else, or who else, is tough enough to make She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back off?"

"You do know it's She-Who-Made-Him, right?"

"Yeah, but saying it the other way is more fun."

"I didn't know you were a Harry Potter fan."

"We took turns reading them to Becca when she was little. By the end of the series, she helped read it aloud to all of us."

"I can see why you like the books," I said.

"So, what's scary enough to make She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named scared?"

"I didn't say she was scared, Edward."

"Scary people only back off for one reason, Anita."

"And that is?"

"That they meet someone scarier," he said.

"Or you reach an understanding like you and I did when we just worked together but weren't friends yet."

"True, but I don't think ancient vampires really have work friends."

"Not really," I said.

"How do I contact Damian's old master?"

"You don't."

"She has to know something about this, Anita."

"I've shared Damian's memories of this woman, this thing, and you do not want to be alone with her."

"I can take care of myself."

"I know that, but unless you're going to kill her, leave her alone."

"She really did scare you."

"Yes, Edward, she really did."

"I still need information from her, or one of her group."

"I'll talk to Jean-Claude and Damian, and the others. I'll see if I can find you someone to talk to without dealing directly with her."

"The last vampire you were this scared of was the Mother of All Darkness."

"Which should give you a clue why I don't want you messing with her while I'm half a world away."

"You think I need the backup?"

"I think anyone going up against her would need backup."

"I'll bear it in mind," he said, and I didn't like the way he said it.

"Promise me that you will wait until I get back to you to try to find her."

"People are dying here, Anita."

"But they're strangers to me. You aren't."

"You just don't want to explain to Donna and the kids why I'm not around anymore."

"Damn straight I don't, so don't get dead while I'm not there to watch your back."

"I'm trying to get them to invite you in on this, but they have a serious hard-on against necromancy here."

"The Irish are so welcoming to almost all kinds of magic, except mine. Peachy."

"I may have found a way around the mainstream police to bring you over."

"Do tell."

"No, I'll share when it's a reality, or I'll share when you tell me how to contact Damian's old master."

"Fine, keep yo

ur secrets. I've got a date to get to."

"Jean-Claude, or Micah and Nathaniel?" he asked.

"Some mix of those," I said.

"Do I want to know?"

"Probably not."

"Have fun then, and don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Edward, you're a heterosexual man. I plan to do all sorts of things that you wouldn't do."

He laughed then, and we hung up on the sound of laughter, which was a good way to end. I hoped Edward would keep his promise to leave Damian's old master alone. I was supposed to be his best man at his wedding to Donna. They were finally going to make it legal. I did not want to miss the wedding because the groom got killed in Ireland. I said a quick prayer that he'd be safe and that we'd find a way to stop the killings.

I saw the bright lights of the Circus of the Damned up ahead, turning the night into a carnival of color. I would avoid the bright front and the happy crowds and go in the back, where it was darker, less crowded, and far more romantic. Jean-Claude was waiting for me. It would be a good night.

5

JEAN—CLAUDE'S PLAN TO help Damian was to have him sleep over with us and Nathaniel. He agreed that the three of us needed to strengthen our metaphysical connections with each other. Micah agreed with it, too, which was good, because one of our rules was that the core group of us, the primaries for each other, had to be okay with anything that might affect the domestic arrangement, and adding sleepovers with Damian, even without sex, would change things if it became a regular thing. You don't think how important just sleeping together can be for pair bonding until you keep changing how you do it, and whom you do it with. Sex was so much easier than actually sleeping with your lovers.

It also helped that Micah had been asked to travel out of town to settle a dispute between two rival shapeshifter groups. They were afraid it would escalate to open war if they couldn't find someone to come in and help negotiate a settlement between them. Both group leaders had invited the Coalition in, so the chances were good that Micah wouldn't have to fight anyone to force the fighting to stop, which was great. It meant that when I kissed him good-bye, I worried less that I'd never see him again. After years of him kissing me good-bye when he didn't know if his badge-wearing fiancee was coming home safe, it was my turn. Let me just say that turnabout was not only not fair play, but it was downright scary.

He had bodyguards with him, and Rafael the Rat King was going with him for a show of solidarity even though neither group were wererats, because the rats were the largest and most powerful single lycanthrope group in the United States. Rafael had done the unprecedented and forged all the rat groups into one huge rodere with one king--him. His actions had been part of what inspired Micah to make the Coalition into a governing body of the groups that either wanted to join or were too dangerous to be left unsupervised.