Crimson Death (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 25)

He smiled. "I have prayed for God to send us someone to help destroy the mad creature that rules us. I believe that person may be you, miss."

I shook my head. "I'm no one's savior. That job belongs to the man hanging on the cross over there."

"Don't you believe that we can all be instruments of God's will?" he said.

"I believe that God calls us to do His will, but free will means we can say no."

"Saying no did not work out so well for Jonah," he said, smiling that gentle smile of his.

"I don't think there's a lot of whales in Dublin," I said.

He smiled wider. "We are a seaport, miss. You would be surprised what swims in the waters here."

I smiled, realizing that I'd treated him as if he didn't turn into a seal part of the time. "I'm Anita Blake. What's your name?"

"Moran."

"Well, Moran, are you ready to go outside and talk to Damian?"

"Not yet. I need to know if it is true that you freed Rafael and his wererats from the Master of St. Louis, who had enslaved them."

I licked my lips and thought about what to say, because I had freed the wererats by killing the old Master of St. Louis. I hadn't had a warrant of execution for her, but I'd killed her to keep her from enslaving me like the wererats. I didn't regret killing her, but I didn't want to confess to murder to a stranger either.

"I don't know you well enough to answer certain questions."

"Can you free us, Anita Blake, like you did the wererats?"

"I might be able to free individual Roane, but to free all of you would mean your mistress would have to be dead."

He nodded very solemnly. "Yes, that would be the only way."

We sat there and stared at each other. "Why does everyone in Ireland think that I'll just kill people here?"

"Perhaps your reputation precedes you," Slane said, peering around Moran. I frowned at him. He shrugged and leaned back so I couldn't see him around the other man.

"Would you be willing to tell the police what she's done to you and your people? Would you be able to help me prove her crimes to the police?" I asked.

"There is no death penalty in Ireland," Moran said.

"So I keep being told," I said.

We looked at each other for another long moment.

"I'm not an assassin," I said.

"Of course not," he said, but he looked at me with Riley's eyes, and there was a silent demand in them: Help us, save us, kill the monster for us. "Will you help us, Miss Blake?"

"It's Marshal Blake. I have a badge. I'm a police officer. I cannot assassinate someone for you."

"She is evil, Marshal Blake."

"I understand that, but it doesn't change the fact that Ireland doesn't have a death penalty, and if it did, you'd need a trial to get to it."

"We cannot afford the time a trial would take, Marshal Blake. You know that for something like M'Lady you either kill it or you leave it alone. You do not try and put it on trial."

"I'm not arguing with your reasoning."

"But you will not help us?"

"I can't agree to assassinate her for you. I'm sorry, truly sorry, but I can't tell you, 'Yes, I'll do it,' because if I said that, you might count on it. You might make plans based on her being dead."

"We would."

"And if she didn't get dead, then those plans would get you killed. I won't be responsible for that."

"I am told that if you slay the animal to call of a master vampire their death can drag the vampire down to true death at last. Is that true, Marshal?"

"It can be," I said, and I didn't like where this conversation was going.

"I thought that the death of their animal or their human servant was a guarantee of their destruction."

"Most of the time the death of one causes the death of the other, but I've known vampires powerful enough that it didn't work that way."

"You give me no hope, Marshal Blake."

"I thought you were going to give us some hope about Riley and his girlfriend," I said.

"If someone told you that, then I truly am sorry, for I have no hope to offer for Riley and his lady. He was young and foolish, but a good boy."

"He seemed like a nice person," I said.

"He was."

I didn't like that he used the past tense. "Do you know where Riley and his lady friend are?"

"I do not."

"Do you know what happened to them?"

"Not precisely, but he will be tortured to death. It is the penalty for disloyalty, or sometimes it is the penalty for catching her attention. She has always been unstable, but the last two years, she has become much worse."

The timing was after we'd killed the Mother of All Darkness. Was this our fault, my fault? "I'm sorry, Moran, truly."

"I believe you, Marshal Blake. If you had not been able to enter the church, then I would not have helped you. I did one deal with the devil centuries ago. I thought it would keep my people safe, but I was wrong."

Kaazim leaned into us from the pew behind. "Is Moran your real name?"

"One of them."

"What is the name that most know you by?" Kaazim said.

"Roarke," he said.

Kaazim's gun was suddenly pointed at Roarke's head. "If you move, I will kill you," he said in a low, careful voice.

Nicky had grabbed me and was moving me backwa

rd, away from the man.

Slane said, "I was told he was just one of Roarke's seals. I did not know he was Roarke himself."

"We will discuss your potential treachery later," Kaazim said.

"Who is this guy?" I asked.

"He's her moitie bete, and the king of the Roanes," Jake said, as he moved into the pew we'd just left.

"Fuck," I said.

"Do not curse in the church, Marshal," Roarke said.

"Why did you want this meeting?" Jake asked.

"Inside the church, she cannot see into my heart and mind. I had to arrange the meeting as she ordered, but I have carefully kept my mind blank of the details. I told her I was going to church to pray here so she would not be alarmed when I vanished from her mind. I also knew it would prevent Damian from recognizing me too soon."

"What do you want, Roarke?" Kaazim asked.

"I want M'Lady to die and my people to be free."

"What are you supposed to be setting us up for? What does the Wicked Bitch want to happen here today?" I asked.

"She wants Damian back, and she would like your moitie bete at her mercy. God forgive me, she would like all your pretty men at her mercy."

I just dropped the shields that were keeping out Damian and Nathaniel, and Dev, and Domino and Ethan. I just let them know what I knew. If Damian hadn't been with them they could have come into the church to use it as a sanctuary, but the vampire couldn't enter it and we couldn't leave him alone. Damn it!

"If anyone attacks our people outside this church, I will kill you," Kaazim said.

"But don't you understand? That is exactly what I want you to do," Roarke said.

"What are you saying?" I said.

"I believe in God, Marshal Blake. I cannot take my own life, but if I am killed, then it may drag her down to death with me."

"Your death might just kill her human servant and not her. She might sacrifice the servant to save herself," I said.

"But if she is bereft of both her animal and her servant, then she will be far less powerful, true?"

I didn't know what to say, because he was right, but it wasn't a guarantee. "It would hurt her power base, but maybe not enough to free all your people."

"If she is no longer my master, then she can no longer draw on all the other Roane through me. She will have to wait for my people to elect a new king, and that will take enough time for Damian to lead you to her stronghold and help you kill her."

Jake said, "If someone is killed inside a church, it ceases to be consecrated ground until the rituals are performed again."

"But I will already be dead, and she will be weakened."