"That would complicate things."
"They didn't know it would kill the land back in the day, and they didn't understand that Fey that weren't tied to their land could go rogue in a big way, or the British didn't know. Apparently Ireland's Fey population was more wild and even more closely connected to the land than their British Isles counterparts."
"And you remember all this from college?"
"Enough that I looked it up online briefly after you told me Ireland was a possibility."
"You, on a computer willingly?"
"Anita's gotten much better with all the tech," Nathaniel said.
"Hey, I've totally been won over to my smartphone, and it's a little computer."
Edward chuckled. "Fair enough."
"I wanted to refresh myself on some of what I remembered after I talked to you the first time. Some of the Irish believe that the great potato famine and the British occupation not only lost them artists and writers, but their native-born psychics and witches, so they're pretty welcoming to anyone who's talented, except necromancers, apparently. Back when they let writers out of income tax, they did the same thing for anyone with a demonstrable psychic or magical ability."
"That last is news to me."
"It wasn't pertinent to you, personally, and except for me I'm not sure you even work with people who are gifted enough to care."
"True."
"Marshal Kirkland raises the dead, too," Nathaniel said.
"Larry and I are two of the very few with any demonstrable psychic talent."
"I know your gifts help you survive and be better at your job. How do the rest survive without any psychic gifts?" Nathaniel asked.
"We manage," Edward said dryly.
"I didn't mean you. You're Edward."
I actually understood what he meant by that. "You know he's right; you are Edward and that's better than magic any day."
"I just always assumed that Edward was just bad-ass enough not to need magic, but that everyone else had some."
"Nope," I said, "there's me, Larry, and Denis-Luc St. John, Manny before he retired, a couple on the West Coast and one on the East Coast, but everyone else is psychic free."
"Seems like it should be the other way around," Nathaniel said.
"People didn't trust psychics when the business started," Edward said. "It was too close to being a witch, and a lot of the old-time vampire hunters hunted witches, too."
"We had a coven that went rogue a few years back here in St. Louis. They didn't have an order of execution on them, but the police called me in to consult anyway."
"When the preternatural citizens go off the reservation, who you gonna call?" Edward asked.
"Us."
"Us," he said.
"So the Irish want us to bring preternaturals over so they can see if they want to integrate them into their new homegrown unit--is that it?"
"Something like that," he said. I would remember later how he said it, and that I didn't question it at the time.
"This seems almost too good to be true, Edward. It gets us around the no-guns rule, the badges being American. Are they really going to let us bring in a bunch of nonpolice armed for big bad vampires?"
"That's the deal, though I did have to promise them we wouldn't make too big of a public mess."
"If it goes well, no one will know we were there," I said.
"That's what I told them."
"You said you had some contacts in Ireland. This is a hell of a lot more than just 'some contacts,' Edward."
"I told you, we got lucky. One of the men in charge of putting the new unit together owed me a favor."
I had a moment to think about what it took to owe Edward a favor. I'd owed him one once upon a time, and he'd called me to New Mexico to hunt a monster that was doing worse than just killing people. He and I had both almost died that time.
"What kind of favor did he owe you?"
"You know I won't answer that."
"If it's just because I'm standing here, I can put my fingers in my ears and hum," Nathaniel said.
"It's not because you're standing there," Edward said.
"He's not going to tell me," I said.
"If you knew that, why did you ask?" Nathaniel asked.
"I keep hoping he'll get chatty."
"When have I ever been chatty?" Edward said.
"Did the man who owed you a favor know you in the military, or after you got out?"
"No comment."
"Okay, I know you keep a secret better than almost any human being I know."
"Almost?" He made it a question.
I smiled, though he couldn't see it. "Okay, you are the human champ of secret keeping."
"Just human?"
"Vampires keep secrets better than anyone I know."
"Is tall, not so dark, and handsome hiding things from you while you plan the wedding?"
"He's over six hundred years old, Edward. I'll never know all his secrets, but no, I wasn't thinking of Jean-Claude, just vamps in general."
"And I'll let that go, because you've told me all you're going to tell me," he said.
I laughed. "Hey, I learned from the best how to keep a secret."
"So I'm getting my own back--is that it?"
"Yeah."
"We got lucky, but we also have something that our Irish counterparts need."
"What exactly is that?"
"A mixed group of preternaturals who have worked with the police, or been police before."
"How much does your old friend know about me and my people?"
"He's not my friend, more a work acquaintance."
"Okay, so you didn't tell him much."
"The minimum."
"Which would be what?"
"You know how there's a certain group of military and covert operations that knows more about you than either of us is comfortable with?"
"You mean Van Cleef."
"Did you really want to say that name in front of Nathaniel?"
"I've heard the name before," he said.
"Donna doesn't know that name," Edward said.
"Nathaniel was with us in Colorado when the name came up last."
"When you told the story it was just you and Micah in the room when his father dropped the name."
"Micah and I thought it would be safer if Nathaniel knew the name."
"I haven't told Peter either."
"You like to keep secrets, Edward. I prefer to share information more than you do."
"I know Nicky learned it in Colorado. Who else did you tell?"
"I was careful."
"Who did you tell?"
"You tell me to stay away from any hint of Van Cleef. Are you telling me that he's involved with the new unit in Ireland?"
"Not him personally, but people like him. They're all interested in the fact that you seem to have all the benefits of being a lycanthrope without the side effect of changing shape."
"Yeah, I keep being told that the military complex--not the military itself, but some mysterious powers that be--is fascinated with the possibility of super-soldiers with some of my abilities."
"Mainstream military has nothing to do with the idea, Anita."
"I know they're still giving people medical discharges if they catch lycanthropy on the job."
"But some of the firms that are more private security are very interested."
"I thought your acquaintance was Irish police."
"He is, but he wasn't always."
"Military?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Private security firm?"
"Yes."
"I didn't think the regular military or PD liked you much after you were private security."
"He's a native-born son of Ireland come back with new skills and new money to throw at a project that the government wants done."
"Money. Wait. Is he funding this thing himself?"
"No, but he's helping outfit it, hoping to prove the worth of the new weapons to the government so they'll or
der up his new gadgets."
"A government contract would be a lot of money down the road," I said.
"It would be, but that's down the road. Right now he's spending a lot of his backers' money as an investment that may or may not pan out."
"So it's a big gamble," I said.
"Yes."
"And we're going to help him win his bet."
"Yes."
"Is your . . . I can't keep calling him your acquaintance."
"Brian."
"Brian. Really? How . . . Irish."
"It's still his name."
"Okay, is Brian planning on following us around while we hunt the bad vamps?"
"He's planning to help us."
"Can we kill the bad vamps when we find them?"
"I've got you in the country armed, Anita--one problem at a time."
"Wait," Nathaniel said. "Are you saying that Anita can't kill the vampires when you find them?"
"We think the vampires that are giving us issues in Dublin are the newly dead. We have some disappearances, but no one has been declared dead, so they're still legal citizens with all the rights of the living. Irish law doesn't cover vampires. Doesn't even mention them."
"What are we supposed to do when we find the bad guys, Edward, arm-wrestle them?"
"Humans, even ones with vampire bites, are to be treated like regular humans, unless they are actively trying to kill us; then they become targets of opportunity."
"What about the vampires themselves? Have they made up their minds what they're going to do when they find them if they don't kill them?"
"No."
"That's insane," Nathaniel said.
"The Irish cops really want to save the vampires that are murdering their kids?" I asked.
"The Irish are very serious about not taking life."
"Figure out something lethal before we land, Edward. I'm not bringing over my people to be killed because someone in power flinches."
"I'll do my best, but the local police take the whole peacekeeping thing seriously."
"They can't have ever seen what vampires are capable of," Nathaniel said.
"Most of them haven't, except for Brian."
"There will be no peaceful end with these killers, Edward."
"I'm not arguing that, Anita, but your reputation for necromancy isn't the only thing that the Irish have reservations about."
"What else don't they like about me?" I asked.
"Your reputation for violence."
"Yours isn't any better."
"Actually, you've still got the highest kill count, so I'm less bloodthirsty than you are."
"Great, so I'm the big bad whatever."
"They're talking about putting a human officer with your preternatural friends while they're in Ireland."
"A guard on my guards?"
"Think of it as more a battle buddy. If one of your shapeshifters does something unfortunate, the officer with them will be in trouble, too, so they'll be motivated to keep everyone on the straight and narrow."
"The way to heaven is straight and narrow, Edward. We aren't going that way."
"Brian's been to hell, Anita. He'll be fine."
"You and he have served together."
"I didn't say that."
"Fought together, then."
"I didn't say that either."
"Fine, damn black ops, but if you tell me that you've seen Brian handle himself, I'll believe you."
"I trust Brian to hold up his end of any operation, but I don't know his men. I trust him to pick good people, but he's working with the government."
"Which means what?" I asked.
"Which means that he may not have been able to pick his entire team, so be careful until we know they're as good as Brian."
"I'll pass that word on to my people here."
"Do that."
"I'll finalize my team here, and tell them the good news that we can bring our guns."
"No explosives. If we need those, Brian's people will supply them."
"I don't think I've ever traveled with explosives; that's your gig."
"You used phosphorus grenades on ghouls and other undead."
"Fine. I'll leave them at home. Besides, the European grenades you had in Colorado were a hell of a lot more destructive."
"If we need them, Brian will get us some."
"Good to know."
"Pack and get in the air as soon as you can, Anita. I'll meet you on the ground in Ireland."
"This would be so much easier if I weren't still afraid of flying."
"I keep forgetting you're phobic of flying. I should take you up one day and get you over it."
"Can you fly? I mean, are you a pilot?"
"I'll see you in the Emerald Isle, Anita."
"Damn it, Edward."
"Yes?"
"Nothing. Just keep your secrets and be all mysterious. You keep telling me I'm your best friend. You know, people don't keep this many secrets from their best friends."
"I do," he said. "See you across the pond, Anita."
"See you there, Edward."
"Good-bye, Nathaniel."
"Bye, Edward."
"You didn't tell me not to endanger Anita."
"I know what Anita does for a living and I know that she trusts you at her back more than anyone else. I trust her judgment."
"That is not how my fiancee would have taken this conversation."
"Donna knows what you do for a living, too," Nathaniel said.
"She knows some of what I do for a living, but she doesn't want to know all of it."
"Maybe, but Peter does."
"He told me you and he have been talking on the phone," Edward said.
"He's wanting help putting together the bachelor party."
"I'm your best man. Shouldn't I be planning that?" I asked.
"Do you really want to be planning my bachelor party?"
"No, but I'm not sure I want your nineteen-year-old son planning it either."
"He asked to do it," Edward said.
"He's doing fine with the planning," Nathaniel said.
"I admit I was a little worried how much you and Peter were talking," Edward said.
"Why worried?" I asked.
"You think I'm a bad influence on him?" Nathaniel asked.
"No, according to Anita, that's my job."
"I just don't think him going into the family business is the best thing," I said.
"Before we got grandfathered into the Marshal Program he was going to be a vampire executioner, but now he'd have to go through the new training program. He's too young to go straight into it, so he's rethinking his options."
"Does that mean he's not going into the other side of the family business either?" I asked.
"Not now, Anita."
"You don't have to be afraid to talk around me, Edward. I know what you do, or did, before you put on a badge," Nathaniel said.
"Do you?"
"Yes, Donna asked me to help talk to Peter about college."
"So you were just pretending not to know that he'd agreed to try college?"
"I wasn't lying. I just didn't know Peter had made up his mind. He was still debating the last time we talked."
"I didn't know you and Peter were such good buddies." Edward's voice was not happy. It was a tone that would have made me afraid for Nathaniel once, but I knew that Edward would never do anything to endanger my domestic happiness, just like I would never do anything to endanger his; we'd both worked too hard to find people to love to screw it up now.
"We're not."
"He seems to talk to you more than any of his friends here."
"He doesn't talk to me more, but he talks to me about the things he can't discuss with his friends from high school. I already know the deep dark secrets that even his mother doesn't know. You've put Peter in a position where he can't talk to his mother, his sister, his therapist, or his best friends there in New Mexico, because it would be betraying your secrets. It's like he knows hi
s stepdad is Batman, but he has to pretend he only knows Bruce Wayne. He can't talk about it with anyone."
"He can talk to me about it," Edward said.
"You can't talk to Bruce Wayne about Batman if you know they're the same person."
"I know where all the bodies are buried," I said. "He could talk to me without telling me anything I don't already know."
"You're a woman, a beautiful woman who is tough enough to go out hunting monsters with Batman. You're also Edward's best friend. How can Peter talk to you without wondering if you'll tell Edward?"
"Point made," I said.
"Peter needed someone to talk to who already knew your secret identity. Trust me, if he'd had someone else he'd have talked to them."
"Why did you say it like that?" I asked.
"He wouldn't have confided in one of your boyfriends if he'd had anyone else."
"What does you being my boyfriend have to do with it?"
"We talked about this, Anita," Edward said.
"I know, I know. I rescued him and he's bonded to me like a baby duck."
Nathaniel looked angry then, his beast's energy trickling out. "Don't do that, Anita. Don't make less of it than it is."
"I don't know what you mean."
"I hope you don't mean that, because it's one of Peter's most important truths."
I shook my head. "I don't know what you mean about his truth."
"Fine. Here's the truth. You're right. He did fixate on you, but how could he not? He was kidnapped and they tortured him sexually. It was scary and horrible, but it was his first sexual experience and then Anita shows up and saves him. Then you're with him when he killed the woman who had fucked with him. It was you who grabbed him off her body and shoved him up against a wall and told him that she was dead, that he had killed her, and that was as good as revenge got."
"I know Anita didn't tell you all that," Edward said, and his voice wasn't neutral or angry now.
"Peter needed someone he could tell the whole truth to, and you've set him up so he can't tell anyone else."
"He hasn't even told me all the details, and I already know them," Edward asked.
"He hinted and I told him about my background. Once he knew that I'd been abused and raped, too, he was pretty sure I wouldn't judge him for what happened to him. It's hard for men to admit they were victims. I invited him up to our men's group here, but he's not ready to talk in group yet."
"You have a group?" Edward asked.
"There are more men with stories like Peter's and mine than you think."
"It's not that . . . I'm sorry, Nathaniel. I didn't know that you were . . . helping Peter. Thank you for being there for him when I couldn't be."
The anger just leaked away from Nathaniel. He looked surprised. "You're welcome. He's a decent person, confused, a little broken, but strong and trying to figure out if he's Robin to your Batman, or something else."
Crimson Death Page 22