Skin Trade
Chapter 23-24

Chapter 23
BERNARDO AND OLAF both moved away a little, as if the emotion were too much for them, or they were leaving the hysterical woman to Edward. There was more than one reason he was the unofficial leader. When you do the hard things, you get to call the shots.
He looked at me for a moment, then asked, "Are you all right?"
It was such a weird thing to ask that I wasn't angry, just puzzled. "What the hell does that mean?"
"It means what I said. You seem on edge."
"Oh, I don't know, I've got a serial killer mailing me body parts. I had Lieutenant Grimes actually ask me if I was Jean-Claude's human servant. My blood test alone should have gotten my badge yanked, but no one's come to talk to me about it. I've been living with Jean-Claude and the guys at the Circus for months, and I miss my house. I miss my stuff. I miss being alone with Nathaniel and Micah. I miss being alone with anybody. There are too many damn men in my life, and I don't know what to do about it."
"You don't want dating advice from me, Anita."
That made me smile, in spite of myself. "I guess not."
"But you aren't the only preternatural branch marshal who's been attacked on the job. I think unless you actually shift and they could prove you a danger in court, they aren't going to bitch. I think they're afraid of getting sued, workman's comp or something like that. They certainly don't want the first of us in court fighting to keep their badge to be you."
"Why not?" I asked.
"You're a woman. You're pretty. You're petite. You'd look like the poster child for being picked on by the big bad government."
I frowned at him. "I'm no one's victim, Edward."
"I know that, and you know that, but the media won't know that."
"So you're saying that if I were a man, they'd have asked for my badge by now?"
"Not necessarily, but being a girl helps you here; don't begrudge that."
I shook my head. "Fine, fine, whatever, fuck it. Do you really think that SWAT will insist on coming with us?"
"If we're serving an active warrant, yes."
"Well, then a trip to the tigers is almost useless. I can't talk freely enough in front of them."
"We can see the priestess first, but you're not going to avoid Grimes and his men."
"Damn it."
"Most of the time it's nice to have that much extra firepower and technology behind us. Just for you, me, Otto, we can do and say things on our own that we don't want SWAT to see or hear. You for all the secrets, and us for practical solutions."
"I'm pretty practical myself, Edward."
"Ted, Anita; you need to work on that and use the right name."
"Fine, Ted, I do my share of practical solutions." I took a deep breath in and blew it out, slowly. "We can see the priestess while we're waiting for the warrants. It'll give me the illusion we're doing something useful."
Bernardo and Olaf had sidled back over. The fact that I hadn't realized they were within hearing distance said I was a lot more distracted than was good for my job.
"You sound bummed, babe, did your undead boyfriend not come through for you?" Bernardo said.
"Do not call me babe, or any other term of endearment, okay?"
Bernardo spread his hands, as if to say, Fine.
"Did your vampire lover disappoint you?" Olaf asked, and whereas it had been pure teasing with Bernardo, Olaf made it sound way too serious.
"My relationship with Jean-Claude is none of your business."
He just looked at me, and even through sunglasses I could feel his stare, heavy and uncomfortable.
"What?" I demanded.
Edward stepped between us, literally blocking my view of the other man. "Drop it, Anita. We'll go see Sherman's priestess; by then the warrants will be up. We'll deal with our police escort when the time comes."
I realized that Edward probably needed to know some of the potential problems with the weretigers. But I didn't owe the other two men the explanation. "We need to talk, Edward," I said.
"Talk," he said.
"In private."
"You just had a private discussion," Bernardo said.
"No, I got upset, and both of you bailed on the hysterical woman, and left Ed... Ted to deal with me. Now I need to tell him things that really are private."
"We are your backup; don't we need to know what's going on?" Bernardo said.
"I'll tell... Ted, and then if he thinks you need to know, I'll tell you."
They didn't like it, but when they got to sit in the car with the air-conditioning, Bernardo liked it better. Olaf went because he had no choice, but he didn't like it.
When we were alone in the pounding, bright heat of the Vegas desert, I told Edward. I told him about Max and his queen wanting me to sleep with their tigers. I told him about accidentally giving powers to Crispin.
Edward took off his hat, wiped the area of the sweat band, and settled the hat back on his head. "You do have the most interesting problems."
"Is that a complaint?"
"Just an observation."
"You know everything I know now; do we need to tell the other two?"
"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!
Chapter 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.
We all got out of our trucks and walked toward each other. They were both still in their green uniforms, black boots, no concession to the weather. I wondered what it would have to do in Vegas for them to add to or subtract from their wardrobe.
"Sergeant," Edward said, in his Ted voice, managing to put more positive emotion in one word than in most conversations. He walked forward, smiling, hand out.
Hooper took the hand and almost smiled. "Ted."
Edward turned to the other operator. "Spider."
"Ted."
Edward introduced Olaf and Bernardo. Handshakes all around. I joined the ritual, wordlessly, though Spider and Hooper both said, "Anita," as we shook. Edward had explained that not everyone got nicknames; some just used their first names, like Sanchez, whose first name turned out to actually be Arrio.
I hadn't asked Edward what Spider's talent was, but I would when we had some privacy. If we ever had privacy in Vegas again. I was beginning to worry that Bernardo had been right, and SWAT was going to be our new best buddies.
"We thought we'd bring the warrant personally, Ted," Hooper said. He smiled then. "Wouldn't want another misunderstanding."
Ted did an oh-shucks shrug. "It was my first time in Vegas; sorry about the confusion on where we were meeting up, but once the vampire showed up, there wasn't time to call you guys."
"Right," Hooper said, not like he believed it, really.
"All the marshals in your department have a reputation for being the Lone Ranger," Spider said.
"He was a Texas Ranger, not a U.S. Marshal," I said.
Spider frowned at me. "What?"
"The Lone Ranger was a Texas Ranger, not a marshal."
Spider smiled, shaking his head. "Okay, I'll try to be more precise."
That's it, Anita, correct the man's conversation, that'll win him over. I couldn't apologize-one, I hadn't really done anything wrong; two, apologizing would draw attention to the fact that I'd been awkward. In man land, the less said, the better. If Spider had been a woman I'd have needed to say something placating, but one plus to working with men was that they didn't expect, or want, that. I'd been working with so many more men than women for so long, I was actually getting a little rusty on girl talk. I'd had several female clients complain that I was abrupt.
Ted was reading the warrant over. He handed it to me, and I knew that he hadn't liked something in it. Now that the warrants were all federal and run through DPEA, pronounced Dopa by our friends and Dopey by our not-so-friends, you didn't have to sweat different judges and wording as much, but... there were still different people giving them out.
I stood in the heat between the two cars and read. Edward read over my shoulder, waiting for me to get to whatever bothered him. Olaf and Bernardo waited, as if they didn't need to read it.
The warrant was broad in its wording, like usual, then I got to the part I didn't like. "The warrant covers the lycanthrope that killed your operators, but specifically excludes weretigers." I looked up at Hooper and Spider. "I've never had a federal warrant that took into consideration local politics before. Your Master of the City has some serious pull in Washington."
Hooper's face was unreadable. Spider's face was still pleasant in a neutral sort of way, and I realized that was his version of blank cop face.
"Apparently," Hooper said, "but the warrant covers the damage to Wizard. That's proven shapeshifter death. You wanted the weretigers included because you smelled tiger on the body. No one's going to give you a warrant to target the Master Vampire of Vegas's wife and sons just because you said you smelled tiger."
I nodded. "Okay, fair enough. Even if I were a full-blown wereanimal, my sense of smell wouldn't be admissible in court. But it's another thing to exempt the tigers from the search warrant." I folded the warrant up and Edward put it in the pocket of his navy windbreaker that had U.S. Marshal in big letters on it. I'd left my windbreaker at home. Vegas was almost too hot for clothes; coats were out, well, until it got dark. Deserts can get cold at night; weird, but true.
"The warrants from DPEA are pretty broad, Anita. I think they were afraid what we might do with it. Your reputation, all of you, is pretty high on the kill count, and we've just lost three of our own. They trust us to back you guys up, and maybe to be a civilizing influence." He took a breath deep enough that it raised all that chest and fluffed out the gray mustache. "I think the powers that be are afraid we might not be so civilized under the circumstances."
"You guys have all been very controlled since I've been here. They should have trusted you."
"Control is what we do, Anita, but trust me, it's not easy on this one."
"It's never easy when you lose your own," Ted said.
We all had a moment of remembering. Not the same losses, or the same dead friends, but we all had names, faces, that would never come through a door again. They talk about moments of silence for the dead, but when you have enough of them behind you, you do it automatically.
"You're taking this well, Anita," Spider said.
"You sound like you expected me not to."
"I did."
"Why?"
"Some people said you had a temper, especially if you didn't get your own way."
"I have a temper, but not about stuff like this. If you got a warrant on the tigers because of the smell, it might not hold up in court later. We don't want to kill upstanding wereanimals of Vegas on a bad-faith warrant, now do we?"
"No, we do not," he said.
I sighed again. "But now you've put me in an awkward situation. I have a badge but no warrant for the tigers, so they can keep me out of their home, badge or no badge."
He nodded. "True."
Then I had an idea, a good idea, an almost happy idea. "Serving this warrant won't get us in to see the tigers."
"No," Hooper said.
"This means I'm going to have to charm my way in and not flash the badge. That means that I'll be going in not as a U.S. Marshal."
"What does that mean?" Spider asked.
"It means that as the girlfriend of the Master of the City of St. Louis, I can ask for an audience with Max's wife, and I'll probably get it."
"On what grounds?" Hooper asked.
"On the grounds that Max's wife, Bibiana, would expect me to visit her before I left town. It would be a courtesy that if skipped would be a grave insult. I wouldn't want to insult the Chang of your local weretigers, now would I?"
Hooper was studying my face. "I guess not."
"Without a warrant, all you can do is ask questions," Spider said, "no hunting."
"Trust me, guys, I don't want to throw down the gauntlet to Max and his crew while I'm here. I think if it was one of their tigers, they'd be eager to help solve this; they're mainstream monsters. Killing cops is bad for business."
Hooper was getting his cell phone out. "We'll have everyone else meet us at Max's place," Hooper said.
"Hooper, if we can't go in there as marshals, and I have to make this a girlfriend coffee klatch, then I sure as hell can't take in a tactical assault team. Without a warrant, you guys are not getting in the door. Hell, I'll be lucky to get Ted and me through the door."
"And me," Olaf said.
Bernardo raised his hand and said, "Oh, pick me, pick me." Then he gave me a look so unhappy that I wondered what I'd done wrong now, but I just didn't care enough to ask. Maybe I'd care later, or maybe I wouldn't.
"Ted?" I made it a question.
"I'd feel better if all the marshals went in, but I don't know how the tigers will feel about that."
"I don't know if I'm comfortable going in by myself, to be honest." As soon as I said it, I knew I shouldn't have. One, it sounded weak; two, I wasn't sure how to explain my real reasons for being nervous around the weretigers with Shaw.
The two operators gave me serious faces. Hooper said, "We heard about the weretiger attack in St. Louis."
I realized that he'd take that as a reason why I shook my head. I jumped on it. "Yeah, getting cut up by an animal will make you a little leery of them."
"We'll go in with you, Anita."
"There is no way that Max's security will let me take you guys inside their home on a social visit. I'm sorry, you guys are just too much what you are."
I wasn't sure that made sense, but they accepted it, or understood it.
"I'll still call ahead. We'll wait for you in the parking lot. You give the signal that you're in danger, and we're allowed to go in and save your asses."
"Why, Hooper, you did read the standard clauses in the warrant, didn't you?"
Hooper's mouth gave a tight, unpleasant smile. It was close to the one I had, and Ted had. It was not a good look to have aimed at you, but he didn't mean to aim it at me; he was thinking about the people who killed his friends. "It's Sonny, Anita, and I did read it. You, meaning the marshals, are allowed to use all force up to and including deadly, if you feel that you or a civilian are in imminent and life-threatening danger. It further allows any officers who are with you, or acting in a backup capacity, to use any and all force to protect your lives and the lives of any civilians."
I nodded. "They added that last bit after a pair of vampire hunters got killed, and the police with them defended themselves, saved the human hostages, but ended up on trial. They were acquitted, but it was a mess."
"It's one of the things that led to DPEA," Hooper, I mean Sonny, said.
"Yes, so if we're attacked, then legally we're in the clear because we can make a case for the dead lycanthrope being in league with the rogue on our warrant. Hell, Sonny, it's Nevada, you still have varmint laws on the books."
"I wouldn't want to be quoting varmint laws if we have to shoot Max's entire family."
"Me either, but if they throw down first, legally we won't have broken any laws."
"Is it true that you don't even have to have a hearing after you shoot someone?" Spider asked.
"There's more paperwork now that we're federal officers, officially, but no, no lawyers, no hearings, nothing really. But then if they tied us all up in legalities, who would do all the monster slaying?"
"So, really," he said, "excluding the weretigers from the warrant doesn't keep them safe if they start the fight with you guys?"
"Not really," I said.
"If they start the fight, we'll help you finish it," Sonny said, "but make damn sure they start it, because you may get out of jail free with your federal badge, but we live here."
"I give you my word, if this all goes up in flames, we won't have started it."
He studied my face-they both did-and then Sonny nodded, as if he'd decided something. He offered me his hand. I took it. "Shake on it."
We shook on it, and Sonny was old enough and guy enough that the handshake meant more than it would have to, say, Spider or Bernardo-or maybe Vegas Metro SWAT was all like this. Your word meant something, and you could still pledge your life to someone's decision with just a handshake. It was like an echo of a time when words like loyalty and honor really meant something. Since they still meant something to me, that was just dandy.