Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 17)

Chapter 27

OLAF WAS WILLING to throw his leather over everything, but Edward passed out the dark windbreakers with U.S. Marshal on them to all of us. "If this is a social visit, won't this be the wrong message?" Bernardo asked.

"The new law makes it almost impossible for any of us to pass for civilians," Edward said. "We can't enter a casino packing this much firepower without badges showing. The first time they see us on the security cameras, they'll think something bad is happening."

We couldn't argue with that, actually. It took us a few minutes to get jackets over our clothes so that most of the weapons were hidden. I was really going to have to remember to pack my own nifty dark blue windbreaker next time. I always remembered the weapons and the badges, but I did keep forgetting some of the other stuff. Olaf slid everything out of sight in his leather jacket. "It is invisible under this jacket."

"You don't like having a badge, do you, big guy?" Bernardo asked, as he fluffed the jacket over all of his own weapons.

"I like some of it, but I don't like the jacket."

I had to take the backpack off, and just slid the MP5 on its sling so it was under the jacket, and put the backpack on over the jacket. The MP5 was the thing most likely to freak the mundanes and the casino security.

Edward had replaced his own Heckler amp; Koch MP5 with the new FN P90. It was very science fiction looking, but he swore once I fired it, I'd trade in my MP5. He'd said the same thing about the mini-Uzi that had been the gun that the MP5 had replaced for me, so I didn't argue. Edward knew more about guns than I ever would.

We stepped out of the elevator and into the casino. It was bright, but oddly elegant in its gaudiness. The Indian theme continued, with more animal statues and painted plants on the walls, with real plants huddled under full-spectrum lights, so it gave the illusion of sunlight coming through a jungle canopy. Then there were the slot machines. Rows and rows of them. There were blackjack tables, and craps being rolled farther in; people were everywhere. The noise was not as much as you'd think, but it was still a room full of movement and that energy people get when they're on vacation and trying to enjoy every minute of it, as if trying to make up for all that work.

Edward shook his head, bending over me, so he could be heard over the noise. "It's too open, and too many places to hide, all at the same time. Casinos suck for bodyguard work."

I looked around the crowd of people, the slot machines, the noise, the color. There was so much to look at that it was hard to actually "see" anything.

Bernardo and Olaf seemed to have picked up some signal from Edward, so that they were suddenly on high alert. I realized, watching us, that any policeman or good security would know we weren't tourists in a heartbeat. It wasn't the guns or the U.S. Marshal on the jackets. It was that strange metamorphosis that cops can do. One minute they're joking with you, looking sort of ordinary; the next they're "on"-they are cop, they are alert-and no amount of civilian clothing can hide that they are different from everyone else. We were all doing it. So much for covering the weapons; if I'd been security, I'd have been all over us.

I didn't see anything to be afraid of; what had spooked Edward? I moved back so I could look up into his pale blue eyes. I searched his face. His face was solemn, and his eyes as serious as I'd ever seen them.

I leaned in, and he leaned down, because I couldn't reach his ear without help. "I've never seen you like this, Edward, not without people shooting at us."

"It's just hard security in a place like this."

I put a hand on his arm to steady myself, because we were too close. He slid a hand around me, turning it into something that looked more intimate. It reminded me that we were still trying to work out what to do with Olaf. Great, another problem.

"I'm not your body to guard, Ted. I'm just a fellow vampire hunter." I looked up into his eyes, and we were too close. It was kissing close, but his eyes, this close I could see his eyes, and there was nothing about kissing in them. The look in his eyes scared me.

"There's just too much that can go wrong, Anita, and this is a terrible location for protection."

I couldn't argue with that. I just nodded.

He put his hand on the back of my hair and kissed my forehead. He did it for Olaf's benefit, but it was what we were doing when the weretigers walked up. Perfect.