“Some of it.”
“I’ll let you tell as much, or as little, as you think we need.”
“What if I tell them all of it?”
“If you think that’s best; I trust your judgment.”
He nodded, and started for the car. “Let’s get out of the heat, and I’ll tell them something while we go see a witch.”
“She’s a Wiccan high priestess; not all Wiccans like to be called witches.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“You already know that,” I said.
He smiled at me. “You know, if we really were sleeping together, Olaf would back off.”
I gave him the look the comment deserved. “You aren’t serious?”
“About doing it for real, no. Donna would never forgive either of us, and it would destroy Peter. Besides, it would just be…” He made a waffling motion with his hand. “Wrong.”
“Like doing family,” I said.
He nodded. “Something like that. It’s not what we are to each other.”
“So what do you suggest?”
“How close are you to this tiger Crispin?”
“Biblical,” I said.
He smiled and shook his head. “Is he dominant or weak?”
“Weak.”
“That won’t make Olaf back off. It’s got to be someone that Olaf can respect.”
“Can’t help you there. Wait, he knows I’m doing Jean-Claude and Micah and Nathaniel. Are you saying none of them measure up to his standards, but you would?”
“He doesn’t respect any man he thinks might be gay, Anita.”
“Yeah, Otto is an all-around prejudiced bastard. But they’re all doing me, regardless of who else they’re doing; that makes them like girls?”
“Otto is like a lot of people; bisexual is still gay, if you’re doing guy-on-guy.” He grinned suddenly, and it was pure Ted Forrester. “Of course, girl-on-girl is just one guy away from a fantasy.”
“Please, don’t tell me you think that’s true?”
His grin softened around the edges, and the real Edward leaked into his face, even around the sunglasses. “I have to be Ted while we’re here, Anita. We’ve got too many cops around to be myself.” The grin came back, wide and good ol’ boy. “And Ted thinks that lesbian means you just haven’t met the right man.”
“I’d like to introduce Ted to my friend Sylvie and her partner. Trust me, neither one of them thinks they need a man in their life, not in any way.”
“We good ol’ boys need our illusions, Anita.” We were almost to the car.
I spoke low. “You’re about as much a good ol’ boy as I am… Ted.”
“I’ll have to be Ted if SWAT is with us, Anita.”
I stared at him. “Shit.”
He nodded. “You aren’t the only one who has to be careful with an audience.”
“When having police around makes you have to lie all the time, Edward, maybe we aren’t the good guys?”
He opened the passenger door for me, which he never did. I let him, for Olaf’s sake, but it bugged me. Edward leaned close and whispered in my ear so that Olaf would think he was whispering sweet nothings, but what he actually said, was, “We aren’t the good guys, Anita. We’re the necessary guys.”
I settled into the seat, with Olaf and Bernardo wondering what Edward had said to me. I couldn’t make my face match his smiling one. I couldn’t play along that he’d whispered something naughty in my ear. I could only sit and let my sunglasses hide my eyes and help me lie to the people who were supposed to be helping me.
I was lying to the police, lying to my backup; the only person I wasn’t lying to was Edward. Funny how that was usually the case when we worked together. He explained that the weretigers’ queen might try to fix me up with some of her people in a bid to bind themselves closer to Jean-Claude’s power base. True, as far as it went. I just stared ahead and kept the glasses on.
Edward turned in his seat so he could see both men better. He started by explaining to all of us. “I arranged for the warrant to be dropped off here, at the coroner’s parking lot. We can chat while we wait.”
“Chat?” Olaf said, suspicion plain in his voice.
Then Edward started in with no preamble, just straight to the point. “Anita has a lover among the weretigers. He’ll probably be friendly to her, so let him.”
“How friendly?” Bernardo asked.
I laughed, I couldn’t help it. “Let’s just say that Crispin is a little… eager.”
“How eager?” Olaf asked, and he didn’t sound happy at all.
I turned in the seat so I could see them both. “You guys know I need to feed the ardeur; well, Crispin will probably be my food either tonight or tomorrow morning.”
“Feed, how?” Olaf asked.
“Sex, Olaf, I’ll feed during sex.”
“So the rumors are true-you really are a succubus, then?” Bernardo said.
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“You don’t have to go to the monsters to feed,” Olaf said.
“I’ve fed on Crispin before, so he knows what to expect.”
“I would be happy to help,” Bernardo said.
“No,” Olaf said, “if she feeds on any of us, it will be me.”
I shook my head. “I know your idea of sex, Olaf; I don’t think I’d survive long enough to feed.”
“For you, I would try.”
I stared at his sunglass-covered eyes with my own. I tried to see past that impassive face. I understood that he had offered me sex, just sex, not violence, and that for him, that was almost unheard of. It was a positive step for Olaf, but I so did not want to be that step.
I looked at Edward for some help.
“You’d really just have sex with Anita, not tie her up or cut her up?”
Olaf nodded. “I would try.”
Edward licked his lips, a sign of nervousness, though in this heat, maybe not. “I didn’t think you thought of sex without the violence.”
“For her, I would try,” he repeated.
“Edward,” I said, “help me out here.”
“It’s a big step for him, Anita. You have no idea how big.”
“I have some idea, but…”
Edward lowered his glasses enough to give me his eyes, and those eyes told me something. They told me to be careful and not blow this. It took me a second, then I realized he was right. It was a hell of a lot better that Olaf wanted “normal” sex than to go all serial killer on my ass. It was a lesser evil, so I tried to say something that wouldn’t crush his attempt at being better.
“I don’t know what to say to that Olaf. I’m… flattered and entirely creeped all at the same time.” Mostly, in truth, I was just freaked, but I didn’t want him to think that I rejected his idea that sex could be about something other than death. I mean, maybe if he thought that about me, he might find someone else whom he could actually have a relationshp with. Too weird, too entirely weird, that Olaf might be salvageable. But who the hell would I trust in his bed? Who the hell would I risk, on the chance that he might not go apeshit on her? There were no good answers here, just strange ones. I had that feeling of falling down the rabbit hole, except there’d never been serial killers in Alice in Wonderland, though I guess you could make a case for the Queen of Hearts. Off with their heads!
24
I FILLED UP the awkward silence by asking Edward questions about his last time in Vegas, and what he knew about the men on SWAT here. It was only minutes later that a big SUV pulled into the parking lot. I caught the green uniforms on broad shoulders before I noticed exactly what faces went with the shoulders.
“Don’t uniforms or flunkies deliver warrants in Vegas just like everywhere else?” I asked.
“Did I mention that I vanished on them last time I was here?” Edward asked.
I glared at him. “So this is your fault, not mine.”
“Oh, I think we’ll share.”
Warrants were usually delivered by whomever they could spare. Instead, it was Sergeant Hooper and one of the practitioners. The moment I saw them, I knew Edward had been right; they weren’t going to let us serve the warrant on our own. Crap. Hooper was all serious. The practitioner with him seemed more relaxed. This was the one with brown hair so curly that even the short haircut couldn’t hide the fact. What was his name? Spider, that was it. If Santa could tell if you were naughty or nice, and Cannibal could eat you, what the hell did Spider do? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.