Crimson Death (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 25)

"What about the vampires themselves? Have they made up their minds what they're going to do when they find them if they don't kill them?"

"No."

"That's insane," Nathaniel said.

"The Irish cops really want to save the vampires that are murdering their kids?" I asked.

"The Irish are very serious about not taking life."

"Figure out something lethal before we land, Edward. I'm not bringing over my people to be killed because someone in power flinches."

"I'll do my best, but the local police take the whole peacekeeping thing seriously."

"They can't have ever seen what vampires are capable of," Nathaniel said.

"Most of them haven't, except for Brian."

"There will be no peaceful end with these killers, Edward."

"I'm not arguing that, Anita, but your reputation for necromancy isn't the only thing that the Irish have reservations about."

"What else don't they like about me?" I asked.

"Your reputation for violence."

"Yours isn't any better."

"Actually, you've still got the highest kill count, so I'm less bloodthirsty than you are."

"Great, so I'm the big bad whatever."

"They're talking about putting a human officer with your preternatural friends while they're in Ireland."

"A guard on my guards?"

"Think of it as more a battle buddy. If one of your shapeshifters does something unfortunate, the officer with them will be in trouble, too, so they'll be motivated to keep everyone on the straight and narrow."

"The way to heaven is straight and narrow, Edward. We aren't going that way."

"Brian's been to hell, Anita. He'll be fine."

"You and he have served together."

"I didn't say that."

"Fought together, then."

"I didn't say that either."

"Fine, damn black ops, but if you tell me that you've seen Brian handle himself, I'll believe you."

"I trust Brian to hold up his end of any operation, but I don't know his men. I trust him to pick good people, but he's working with the government."

"Which means what?" I asked.

"Which means that he may not have been able to pick his entire team, so be careful until we know they're as good as Brian."

"I'll pass that word on to my people here."

"Do that."

"I'll finalize my team here, and tell them the good news that we can bring our guns."

"No explosives. If we need those, Brian's people will supply them."

"I don't think I've ever traveled with explosives; that's your gig."

"You used phosphorus grenades on ghouls and other undead."

"Fine. I'll leave them at home. Besides, the European grenades you had in Colorado were a hell of a lot more destructive."

"If we need them, Brian will get us some."

"Good to know."

"Pack and get in the air as soon as you can, Anita. I'll meet you on the ground in Ireland."

"This would be so much easier if I weren't still afraid of flying."

"I keep forgetting you're phobic of flying. I should take you up one day and get you over it."

"Can you fly? I mean, are you a pilot?"

"I'll see you in the Emerald Isle, Anita."

"Damn it, Edward."

"Yes?"

"Nothing. Just keep your secrets and be all mysterious. You keep telling me I'm your best friend. You know, people don't keep this many secrets from their best friends."

"I do," he said. "See you across the pond, Anita."

"See you there, Edward."

"Good-bye, Nathaniel."

"Bye, Edward."

"You didn't tell me not to endanger Anita."

"I know what Anita does for a living and I know that she trusts you at her back more than anyone else. I trust her judgment."

"That is not how my fiancee would have taken this conversation."

"Donna knows what you do for a living, too," Nathaniel said.

"She knows some of what I do for a living, but she doesn't want to know all of it."

"Maybe, but Peter does."

"He told me you and he have been talking on the phone," Edward said.

"He's wanting help putting together the bachelor party."

"I'm your best man. Shouldn't I be planning that?" I asked.

"Do you really want to be planning my bachelor party?"

"No, but I'm not sure I want your nineteen-year-old son planning it either."

"He asked to do it," Edward said.

"He's doing fine with the planning," Nathaniel said.

"I admit I was a little worried how much you and Peter were talking," Edward said.

"Why worried?" I asked.

"You think I'm a bad influence on him?" Nathaniel asked.

"No, according to Anita, that's my job."

"I just don't think him going into the family business is the best thing," I said.

"Before we got grandfathered into the Marshal Program he was going to be a vampire executioner, but now he'd have to go through the new training program. He's too young to go straight into it, so he's rethinking his options."

"Does that mean he's not going into the other side of the family business either?" I asked.

"Not now, Anita."

"You don't have to be afraid to talk around me, Edward. I know what you do, or did, before you put on a badge," Nathaniel said.

"Do you?"

"Yes, Donna asked me to help talk to Peter about college."

"So you were just pretending not to know that he'd agreed to try college?"

"I wasn't lying. I just didn't know Peter had made up his mind. He was still debating the last time we talked."

"I didn't know you and Peter were such good buddies." Edward's voice was not happy. It was a tone that would have made me afraid for Nathaniel once, but I knew that Edward would never do anything to endanger my domestic happiness, just like I would never do anything to endanger his; we'd both worked too hard to find people to love to screw it up now.

"We're not."

"He seems to talk to you more than any of his friends here."

"He doesn't talk to me more, but he talks to me about the things he can't discuss with his friends from high school. I already know the deep dark secrets that even his mother doesn't know. You've put Peter in a position where he can't talk to his mother, his sister, his therapist, or his best friends there in New Mexico, because it would be betraying your secrets. It's like he knows hi

s stepdad is Batman, but he has to pretend he only knows Bruce Wayne. He can't talk about it with anyone."

"He can talk to me about it," Edward said.

"You can't talk to Bruce Wayne about Batman if you know they're the same person."

"I know where all the bodies are buried," I said. "He could talk to me without telling me anything I don't already know."

"You're a woman, a beautiful woman who is tough enough to go out hunting monsters with Batman. You're also Edward's best friend. How can Peter talk to you without wondering if you'll tell Edward?"

"Point made," I said.

"Peter needed someone to talk to who already knew your secret identity. Trust me, if he'd had someone else he'd have talked to them."

"Why did you say it like that?" I asked.

"He wouldn't have confided in one of your boyfriends if he'd had anyone else."

"What does you being my boyfriend have to do with it?"

"We talked about this, Anita," Edward said.

"I know, I know. I rescued him and he's bonded to me like a baby duck."

Nathaniel looked angry then, his beast's energy trickling out. "Don't do that, Anita. Don't make less of it than it is."

"I don't know what you mean."

"I hope you don't mean that, because it's one of Peter's most important truths."

I shook my head. "I don't know what you mean about his truth."

"Fine. Here's the truth. You're right. He did fixate on you, but how could he not? He was kidnapped and they tortured him sexually. It was scary and horrible, but it was his first sexual experience and then Anita shows up and saves him. Then you're with him when he killed the woman who had fucked with him. It was you who grabbed him off her body and shoved him up against a wall and told him that she was dead, that he had killed her, and that was as good as revenge got."

"I know Anita didn't tell you all that," Edward said, and his voice wasn't neutral or angry now.

"Peter needed someone he could tell the whole truth to, and you've set him up so he can't tell anyone else."

"He hasn't even told me all the details, and I already know them," Edward asked.

"He hinted and I told him about my background. Once he knew that I'd been abused and raped, too, he was pretty sure I wouldn't judge him for what happened to him. It's hard for men to admit they were victims. I invited him up to our men's group here, but he's not ready to talk in group yet."

"You have a group?" Edward asked.

"There are more men with stories like Peter's and mine than you think."

"It's not that . . . I'm sorry, Nathaniel. I didn't know that you were . . . helping Peter. Thank you for being there for him when I couldn't be."

The anger just leaked away from Nathaniel. He looked surprised. "You're welcome. He's a decent person, confused, a little broken, but strong and trying to figure out if he's Robin to your Batman, or something else."