Crimson Death (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 25)

"I did free Rafael and his wererats. I freed them by killing the old master of the city that could call rats. Once she was dead, they were free."

"All I want is for my people to be free of the monster that I let into our peaceable kingdom," Roarke said.

"Are there other Roane waiting outside to attack us?" Jake asked.

"There are, but they are waiting for me to signal them."

"I thought you said the signal was you leaving the church," I said.

"That is for attacking you. She wants to capture you, too. Didn't I mention that?"

"No, you left that part out." I wanted Nathaniel in the church with me, but if he came inside, that might alert the waiting bad guys.

"Why does she want Anita?" Nicky asked.

"She wants to kill you as you killed the Mother of All Darkness, so she can drink the power inside you, as you drank the Mother."

"So she needs me alive to kill me in person," I said.

"Yes, but she wants Damian back to be her slave again, and she wants to use those you love to make you afraid. She will feast on your fear, Marshal."

"How many people are hiding out there, waiting to attack us?" I asked.

"Enough that you should call more Gardai now while you can," he said, and he was so calm. He shouldn't have been this calm.

I didn't argue with him. Edward answered on the second ring. "Anita, I still haven't convinced everyone here to include you completely."

"It doesn't matter," I said, and I told him what was happening.

"We'll be there in fifteen minutes, maybe less." He didn't even ask any questions before he hung up.

"Kill me, Anita. Kill me and maybe you will kill her, too."

"Maybe no one has to die today," Kaazim said.

"I'm afraid that someone will die today, and I've decided it will be me," Roarke said in that strangely peaceful voice.

"Anita has inherited the Mother's ability to cut servants and animals to call free of their masters."

"That is not possible. You are lying to trick me."

Nicky said, "Can the seal people smell a lie like a wereanimal can?"

"We can tell if someone is afraid or nervous, but that does not make them liars."

"I give you my word of honor that Anita has broken the bonds of animals to call from their vampire masters without killing either of them," Kaazim said.

"Your word of honor?" Roarke made it a question.

"Yes," Kaazim said.

Jake said, "Anita could try to break you free of your mistress. No one need die here today."

"It is too late, for once I fail her today, she will torture those I love, because to torture me harms her."

"Is her human servant like you? Does he want her dead?" I asked.

"No, he loves her. He enjoys what they do together and what they do to others."

"Then maybe you can help us trap him, too. If we kill both of you together, then her chances of survival are much lower than if we just kill you today," I said.

"She will know what I have done. I cannot keep her out of my memories."

"If you're trying to shield from her, can you?"

"For a time, but only from a distance. If she is before me, then I am weak. If she touches me with her pale hands, then I cannot keep any secrets from her."

"What if we arrest you?" I asked.

"What are you thinking, Anita?" Jake asked.

"What if we arrest him on assault or attempted murder, something, and put him in a cell? What if we keep him away from her and it's not his fault?"

"You are only delaying the inevitable, Marshal."

"Who would she send to break you out of jail?" Jake asked.

"You think she would send her servant, that she would send Keegan."

"Would she?" Jake asked.

"She might. She just might."

"Let us take you into custody, Roarke," I said. "Let's try to keep everyone alive for a little bit longer."

"If I agree to this, I need your word, all your words of honor."

"What do you need us to swear to?" Jake asked.

"That if Keegan and I are in one place at one time, you will kill us both to kill her."

"Can I try breaking you free of her power before we put a bullet in your brain?" I asked.

"I am not eager to die, Marshal, so if you wish to try such magic on me, I give you permission. I pray that it works, but if it does not work, then I want your word that you will kill me before you let me go back to her."

Kaazim and Jake gave their words without hesitation. I think Nicky only hesitated because he could feel how conflicted I was about it, but in the end, he gave his. And in the very end, as we heard sirens in the distance coming closer, I promised Roarke that if we couldn't figure out another way, I'd kill him.

57

THE IRISH POLICE were happy to put Roarke in a cell. They were thrilled that I hadn't shot him. There was one drawback to not shooting him or not trying to break him free of the Wicked Bitch while he was still inside the church: Once he was outside of consecrated ground, she could contact him again, just like I'd been able to contact Jean-Claude and Richard all the way in St. Louis. So as the police escorted him to the truck that would take him to jail, he started to struggle. I don't know if he was struggling because she controlled him or if it was to make sure any Roane in the area reported that he had tried to escape, but one of the officers escorting him went flying into one of the police cars. The other police dog-piled him, or tried to, but he kept his feet and kept moving forward, as if he just planned on walking down the street and away.

Donnie, Brennan, Edward, and Nolan jumped on the pile, and their weight made Roarke stagger, but he didn't go down. Edward did something with his right hand, and Roarke's right leg collapsed, but he got back up. Tough motherfucker. "May I aid them?" Kaazim asked.

"Yes," Jake said. "I will stay with our principals, but we must have the Roane in a cell before full dark." I realized that he meant me and Nathaniel, and maybe Damian, and he was right about the timing. The sky was growing dim; it was dusk.

Kaazim joined the crowd trying to control Roarke, and it was enough to swing the difference. Edward and Nolan would have gotten it eventually, but with Kaazim helping them and the police, they managed to get the prisoner in the transport. The officer who had been flung into the car was sitting beside it with another officer giving him first aid. I could hear an ambulance in the distance, which meant he was hurt even worse than I'd thought. Roarke wasn't as strong as Magda, so the cells at Nolan's headquarters might actually hold him. The truck went screeching off down the road with the prisoner in it.

Edward came back up the steps with Kaazim a little behind him. Nolan was talking to one of the cops he seemed to know personally. "What did you tell them to get them to drive like that?" Ethan asked.

"That he'd get even stronger once night fell."

"That may be true," I said.

"Either way we want him in a cell before the vampires are up for the night," Edward said. He looked at Damian, who was standing beside me. "Can She-Who-Made-You walk around during the day?"

"Yes."

"Lucky she's not here in Dublin, then," he said.

"You have no idea how lucky," Damian said.

Nolan came up the steps scowling so hard, the lines in his forehead looked like they'd been cut in with fresh knives.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked.

"They won't let us have Roarke. They're taking him to regular lockup."

"You don't have an extra cell anyway," I said.

"I guess we don't, thanks to your werelion."

"Magda did exactly what you asked her to do. It's not her fault that your cell couldn't hold up."

Nolan nodded, gave a small laugh, and said, "Fair. My people aren't even as strong as the Roane, but neither of us is as strong as your lioness. The combination of strength and her training made a joke out of all our preparations."

Dev patted his shoulder. "There, there, it wasn't

a joke. It just wasn't as useful as you'd hoped."

Night fell, and it was like something inside me that had been closed tight all day opened. I took in a deep breath of the rain-damp air. My phone rang, and it was Magda.

"The new vampires have risen here," she said. "They were completely out of their minds until they took blood, but then they seemed very calm and much more sensible than most new vampires that I've seen over the centuries."

"That's good, right?"

"It is, though Nolan's people did not like having to donate blood. Giacomo and I were there to hold them and make sure the first feeding was controlled. Otherwise they would have torn open their victims in search of blood."