Anita Blake 22 - Affliction (10 page)

Micah slid the glasses off his face and turned toward the brightest light from the streetlights. Juliet made a sound that was almost a sob and put her hand over her mouth. Gonzales’s dark face looked like a world of sorrow had just climbed onto him. Al looked away and seemed sadder than before. Rickman flinched, but he wasn’t sad.

‘If you could all pass the word to the other local officers, I’d appreciate it,’ Micah said. ‘I’d really like to be able to concentrate on my dad and family without having to worry about being shot because someone sees my eyes and misunderstands.’

‘I’ll call up Gutterman and let him pass the word to the cops outside Rush’s room,’ Al said, and reached for his shoulder mic.

‘Good idea,’ Gonzales said.

Al spoke low into his shoulder mic and we all waited, while he said, ‘It’s the sheriff’s son, Mike Callahan, and his eyes are stuck on animal.’

A crackly voice said, ‘How the hell are his eyes stuck?’

‘Just one of those things that can happen with shifters,’ Al said. ‘Tell the other guys up there. Mike doesn’t need someone pointing a gun at him, thinking he’s about to shift while he’s here.’

‘Weird shit,’ the voice, I presumed Gutterman, said. ‘I’ll pass the word around.’

‘Thanks, Gutter,’ Al said.

Rickman asked, ‘You ever have anyone think you’re shifting when they see the eyes?’

‘A time or two,’ Micah said. He slipped his glasses back on, hiding the exotic flash of his eyes.

This was news to me. I turned and looked at Nathaniel, and the look on his face said it was news to him, too. If we hadn’t been with so many unknown people I’d have asked Micah to elaborate. Nathaniel gave a small nod, and just like that I knew we’d both be talking to our shared boy later.

‘I’m going to walk them in,’ Deputy Al said.

‘You do that,’ Gonzales said.

‘Why do you need bodyguards, Marshal Blake?’ Rickman asked.

Micah answered, ‘There have been threats because of my work with the Coalition for Better Understanding Between Human and Lycanthrope.’

‘So they’re your bodyguards,’ Rickman said.

‘Do you really think I’d bring guards to the hospital where my family could see them, if I didn’t need them?’

The question seemed to throw Rickman for a minute. He changed tactics and said, ‘He’s not a bodyguard.’

Micah reached back and took Nathaniel’s hand in his and drew him up beside him just like I was on the other side. He gave Rickman solid eye contact as he said, ‘Detective Rickman, this is Nathaniel. He’s our third, our significant other.’

Gonzales made an inarticulate sound that was loudish. Deputy Al whistled and said, ‘Wow, okay.’

‘What is it with you and all the gay men, Blake?’ Rickman asked.

I laughed, I couldn’t help it. It seemed to startle everyone, because most of them looked at me, except for Micah, who was staring at Rickman. ‘One, if the men in my life were gay it wouldn’t do me a lot of good, would it? Two, why the hell are you this interested in my sex life?’

Micah said, ‘Three, why do you have a problem with Anita? You just met her.’

‘It’s okay, Micah. I make him nervous.’

‘Why?’ he asked, as if Rickman weren’t still standing there.

‘My reputation intimidates him.’

‘Which reputation, Marshal Blake? The one as a cold-blooded murderer, the one as a voodoo queen, or your reputation as a … gentlemen’s woman?’

It took me a few moments to realize he’d just switched the sexes on the term
ladies’ man
and not called me a slut, though somehow
gentlemen’s woman
sounded like a cleaned-up version of
mistress
.

‘That’s enough.’ Gonzales stepped in front of Rickman, and he was big enough that he blocked all our views of the detective. ‘You,’ he said, pointing at Al, ‘take them inside.’

‘You don’t outrank me,’ Rickman said.

‘Rush Callahan has been my friend for over thirty years. We served together, bled together, saved each other’s lives more times than I can count. We both joined Boulder PD at the same time. He offered to take me with him when he moved to being sheriff. I don’t outrank you sergeant to detective, I outrank you because you are forgetting that a fellow officer is down, dying, and this is his son.’

‘We do not need Blake here with her hocus-pocus. We do not need the Feds on this case.’

‘Make your reputation some other day, Ricky,’ Gonzales said. ‘Tonight isn’t the night for it.’

‘I don’t know what case you’re talking about, but I’m here as Micah’s girlfriend, fiancée, whatever. We’re here for him and his dad, that’s it.’

‘You say you’re the girlfriend, but you have a federal badge and you’re fucking Preternatural Branch, which means you can do any damn thing you want.’

‘I am the girlfriend and I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.’

‘You go’ – he motioned toward the hospital – ‘go be the girlfriend, be the fiancée, meet the family, but if you try to take this case over I will fight you for it and do everything in my power to make sure you regret stepping on our toes.’

‘“Stepping on our toes,”’ I said. ‘Really, that’s the best you can threaten?’

‘Anita,’ Nathaniel said softly.

He was right, but I’d be damned if I’d apologize to Rickman.

‘No, that’s not the best I can threaten,’ Rickman said, his voice rising.

‘Get them inside, Al, now,’ Gonzales said.

It was actually Juliet who started us walking, but Al brought up the rear as if he feared an attack from that direction. Gonzales turned to Rickman, and I heard the detective’s angry voice rising as we walked away.

‘Did you have to bait him like that?’ Juliet asked.

I sighed. ‘No, and I’m sorry. It was childish.’

Micah said, ‘I’ve seen you have problems with officers who you had a history with, but you’ve never worked with Rickman, have you?’

‘No,’ I said.

Juliet’s phone rang, and she stepped away from us to take a call from her husband. She apologized and mouthed something about her kids. We all nodded, and suddenly it was just us ‘guys.’

‘Honestly, after what happened to Rush I’d take any help we could get,’ Al said.

‘Help on what?’ I asked.

‘Killer zombies,’ he said.

‘What?’ I asked.

‘We’ve had zombie attacks.’

‘You have a rogue zombie?’ I asked.

He shook his head. ‘Not just one zombie. That’s what’s weird: It’s not the same one. I mean, Sheriff Callahan talks about a flesh-eating zombie they had back in the seventies here, but they trapped it in a house and burned it, end of problem.’

‘A flesh eater is incredibly rare; I’ve only seen one. You don’t get herds of them, no matter what the movies and TV shows put out there.’ To myself, I amended that I’d seen only one rogue zombie at a time. I had used cemeteries full of zombies that I had raised as defensive weapons against bad guys who were trying to kill me, three times. I carefully did not look behind me at Nicky. He’d been present for one of those moments.

‘So it was just the same zombie-eating people when you had to deal with one, right?’ Al asked.

‘Yeah,’ I said.

‘This is different ones. We’ve got at least three different descriptions.’

‘Descriptions never match; you could still just have one,’ I said.

‘One man, one woman, and one child; we think they’re a family that disappeared in the mountains about a month ago.’

I shook my head. ‘No way, no one would raise a family like that as zombies; no one would do that unless you’ve got an animator who had a grudge against the family. But it would have to be a hell of a grudge to raise a whole family from the dead, and if they were murdered, then raised from the dead, they’d kill their murderer. It would be their one driving purpose and they would attack people who got in their way, but it wouldn’t turn them into flesh eaters necessarily. Were any of the family psychically gifted?’

‘Not that we know, why?’

‘The only cases I’ve heard of flesh eaters were animators or voodoo practitioners who had been raised from the dead.’

Al raised eyebrows. ‘You mean if you …’ He stopped abruptly. ‘I am so sorry.’

‘It’s okay; there’s a reason my will states I’m to be cremated, Deputy Truman.’

‘You’re afraid you’d turn into a flesh-eating zombie?’ he asked.

‘Why take the chance?’ I said.

‘Can we not talk about the woman I love dying just as we walk into the hospital to see my dying father?’ Micah asked.

‘Oh, geez,’ Al said. ‘I’m sorry, it’s just someone mentioned calling in the Preternatural Branch, and Marshal Blake was mentioned specifically, before we knew she was with you. I’m sorry, I was being a cop. I’m just … sorry, Mike, really.’

‘I’m sorry, too,’ I said.

Micah squeezed my hand. ‘I forgive you, but for the next little bit can you just be my fiancée and not be Marshal Blake?’

‘Yes, of course,’ I said, and I was ashamed for forgetting that this wasn’t a case, this was Micah’s dad. But I had a thought. ‘Can I ask one more cop question? Just one more while Al is with us?’

Micah sighed. ‘One more.’

‘Micah’s mom said that Sheriff Callahan had been bitten by something preternatural. What was it?’

‘One of the flesh-eating zombies,’ Al said.

‘She said that it was contagious, that he was rotting— Are you saying that the people bitten by the zombies are turning into zombies?’

‘No, they just rot and die.’

‘But zombies aren’t contagious,’ I said.

‘These are,’ Al said.

‘How many victims?’

‘Five, but we’ve had witnesses to the last three attacks, so we know what’s doing it now.’

‘Now?’ I asked.

‘The first two victims died pretty quick, until Dr Rogers found some cases back east that sounded similar. He used some of the information that they published about it and was able to slow down the spread in the vic before the sheriff.’

‘That’s more than one question,’ Nathaniel said softly.

‘No, it’s all right, Nathaniel,’ Micah said. ‘Anita can’t be anything other than what she is, who she is, and my dad doesn’t have cancer, he has something … preternatural, and no one is better at that than she is.’

‘Are you saying I can treat this like a crime?’

‘You’ve taught me that zombies don’t rise spontaneously from the ground, so someone had to raise these, right?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘People have already died, so isn’t it at least negligent homicide?’

‘Potentially, that’s really for a court to decide, but someone raised the zombies and there has to be a reason they’re out of control and attacking people, so it’s either someone bit off more than they could chew and now doesn’t want to fess up, or it’s on purpose. Either way, when we locate the person who raised the zombies, it’s a death sentence if they’re convicted, because it falls under “using magic to kill people.” That’s an automatic real death sentence, no waiting on death row for years, but executed within weeks to months.’

Micah nodded. He turned to Al. ‘You’re saying my dad was attacked by a flesh-eating zombie and the bite is rotting?’

‘Dr Rogers will explain it.’

‘I’m asking you,’ Micah said, looking at Al.

‘I’ve said more than I should have shared with civilians.’

‘Nicky went with Anita as her deputy on a warrant of execution.’ Micah motioned at Nicky, who nodded enough for his bangs to swing out from his face a little.

‘I know the preternatural marshals get a lot of leeway with calling in help in the middle of a vampire hunt, but this isn’t a hunt.’

‘Would you tell Anita more without us standing here?’ Micah asked.

‘And then she tells you later anyway?’

‘She doesn’t usually share details about ongoing cases with me, Al.’

‘Swear to me she won’t share details about your dad with you.’

Micah looked at Al and prepared to lie to him.

‘No, Micah.’ I squeezed his hand and turned to Al. ‘I swear to you that everyone here will keep their mouths shut, and Nicky has been back up on a hunt, and I tell Micah and Nathaniel all sorts of personal shit that they don’t blab.’

‘What, you going to have them pinky-promise, cross their hearts?’ Al shook his head. ‘You know it doesn’t work that way. I’m not usually this chatty about an ongoing case. Except it’s Mike, and you have a badge.’ He looked at Nathaniel, who was still holding Micah’s other hand. ‘Can I say something that is absolutely none of my fucking business?’

Micah said, ‘You can,’ but his voice made it clear that Al better be careful what he said.

‘Introduce Nate as your significant other, or whatever, but don’t meet your family for the first time in almost ten years holding hands. Please, Mike, I know your family, and your Aunt Bertie and Uncle Jamie are here.’

‘Uncle Bertie and Aunt Jamie, you mean?’ I asked.

‘Bertie is short for Bertha. She’s my mom’s sister,’ Micah said. He pulled Nathaniel closer. ‘So I’m not supposed to touch him at all, is that it, and his name is Nathaniel, not Nate. I’ll let you call me Mike, because that’s what I grew up with, but I go by Micah now.’

‘Of course you can touch … Nathaniel, but can you just put Marshal Blake in the middle for the first meet and greet, that’s all I’m saying. And I’ll try to call you Micah, but not sure I’ll remember.’

Nathaniel leaned over and kissed Micah gently on the cheek. ‘Anita sleeps in the middle most of the time at home anyway.’

Micah looked up at him. ‘You’re okay with hiding?’

‘No, but I want to be able to come back to see your family with you, and if you shove me into their faces constantly, then they won’t like me. I want them to like me.’

Micah seemed to consider it for a minute. He turned to me. ‘You in the middle means one of us has your gun hand.’

‘We walk with me in the middle in St Louis when we have guards with us and I’m not on a case,’ I said.

‘Why am I the only one fighting not to hide?’

Juliet came back with her phone call over, and apparently she’d caught enough of the talk to comment, ‘Because you’ve decided to shove your boyfriend in everyone’s face, and once you decide to take a stand you don’t back down; you never have.’

‘That’s more me than Micah,’ I said.

He had a stubborn look to his face that I hadn’t seen before. It was Nicky who said, ‘Sometimes when we go back home to our family and hometown we fall back into old patterns, old actions, old feelings. They come back up like ghosts, and if you’re not careful you sort of become your old self again.’