Page 27 of Rafael (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 28)

There was another flash of looks between everyone, and this time it included Micah. “What aren’t you telling us?” Nathaniel asked.

Rafael looked at me and there was such pain in his eyes. “You know the human mates that are allowed among us.”

“Yeah, it’s the way you’re getting me in to watch tonight.”

“Wait, what?” Nathaniel asked.

“When did you invite Anita to watch the fight tonight?” Micah asked.

“In the showers, and that can wait. I want to know why Hector is so special to you, Rafael. Why is he so special that you’re almost ready to let him kill you, just so you don’t have to kill him?”

“You know all those crazy exes I spoke of?”

“Yeah.”

“Hector’s mother was one of them.”

“So, Hector is...” I didn’t want to finish the sentence; it was too Greek myth, or maybe Greek tragedy?

“My son,” Rafael finished for me.

8

“YOU DON’T KNOWthat for certain,” Benito said, while the rest of us just stared at Rafael.

“Suelita says he is mine, why would she shame her husband if it isn’t true?”

“When did she tell you?” Micah asked.

“She called me after Hector made his challenge.”

“Suelita fears for her only son’s life,” Claudia said. “She’d do anything to save Hector, even lie about you being his father.”

“I do not think she lied,” Rafael said.

“What did she want you to do?” I asked.

Rafael looked at me, but it was like he wasn’t hearing me. He knew I was talking, but he wasn’t following. “What did Suelita want you to do as his father?” I asked.

“She wanted me to promise I would not kill our son.”

“Did she ask you to let him kill you?” I asked.

“No, she asked me to offer third blood instead of death.”

“And that offer has made you seem weak,” Benito said.

“Has she told Hector?” Micah asked.

Rafael shook his head. “Her husband is the only father Hector has ever known, and she wishes to keep it that way.”

“So, she tells you, so that you don’t want to hurt him, but she doesn’t tell him, so he still wants to kill you?” I asked.

“She is trying to get inside your head, Rafael. If she truly meant you to treat the boy as a father should, then she would tell him you are his father,” Benito said.

“I’m with Benito on this one,” I said.

“Even I think it’s a trick to mess with your head before the fight, and I just learned about it,” Nathaniel said.

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