Page 28 of Rafael (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 28)

“Suelita is a mother terrified for her child, she will do and say anything,” Claudia insisted.

“Does Hector look like his mother?” Micah asked.

“Why does that matter?” Rafael asked.

“Because he looks nothing like you.”

“Not all children look like their parents,” Rafael said.

“Does your son from your marriage look like you?” I asked.

“I have not seen my ex-wife or my son in so long I am not certain I would recognize him.” He couldn’t hide the pain in his face when he said it.

“I’m sorry, Rafael,” I said.

“If Hector’s mother is lying, then she’s trying to set you up for her son, so he can kill you and take your throne,” Micah said.

“And if she is telling the truth?”

“Then she is telling the truth to set you up for her son, so he can kill you and take your throne.”

“You repeated yourself,” Rafael said.

“No, I didn’t. I just pointed out that if it’s a lie, or if it’s the truth, the result that Hector’s mother is hoping for is the same, you dead and her son alive.”

“Wise, as always, Micah.” He said it, but not like it would change anything.

“You told me in the showers that you wanted me to seduce Hector if you die; are you seriously saying you’d want your lover to sleep with your son? That’s a little too... I don’t know... creepy.”

“I didn’t mean to tell you. I know it will make it harder for you to sleep with him.”

I grabbed his arm and made him look at me. “Win the fight tonight and I sleep with only you.”

He looked past me to Micah and Nathaniel. “Never just me, Anita.”

I wanted to shake him so badly that I had to let go and step back. “You know what I meant, Rafael. Hector’s mom is screwing with your head before the fight, and you’re letting her do it.”

“You may be right, but I cannot ignore that he could be mine, that I could have more than one son.”

“You asked me to come watch you fight tonight; well, I won’t come just to watch you give up and die.”

“I am not giving up,” he said.

“It sure sounds like it.”

“You and I have fought together too long to lie to each other, Rafael,” Micah said.

“What does that mean?” Rafael sounded angry now.

“We both know that if you don’t believe you can win, then it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you go in there tonight thinking that you don’t want to hurt Hector, while he’s trying to kill you, then you have lost before the fight begins.”

“You don’t have children; you don’t understand what it’s like to have one and never be allowed to see him. To think I might have had a child that I watched grow up, that means something to me.”

“Suelita knows how much it would mean to you,” Claudia said.

“She has never forgiven you for not marrying her all those years ago,” Benito said.

“She was not in love with me.”

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