Page 64 of Rafael (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 28)

“This is your last chance, Anita.”

“I think you’re full of shit, Hector.”

Anger ran through his face, tightened the muscles in his shoulders and upper chest and one arm. His body was getting ready to take a swing at me. I half hoped he would do it, because I was within my rights to defend myself. I might not be able to win a full-blown fight, but I knew I could hurt him before anyone could separate us. If he hurt me first, then me hurting him too badly for the fight to go on tonight would be within the rules, or I was almost sure it would be. Hector having to bow out would give us more time to find his master. I wanted that time.

“If you hit her, she’s within her rights to defend herself,” Claudia said.

“Are you saying I can’t win against a little girl?”

“Tony attacked her with a silver blade, and she killed him without drawing a weapon.”

He glanced at Claudia, then back to me, considering. “You smell like the truth, but I still don’t believe it.”

“Take a swing at me and I’ll prove it to you,” I said, and that little smile curled the edges of my mouth. It wasn’t a voluntary smile. It was the one that I got just before I hurt someone. My BFF Edward called it myI’m going to fuck you upsmile. I’d have hidden the smile if I could have, because if you knew me, it was a serious tell. Of course, Hector didn’t know me.

“What the hell are you smiling at, little girl?”

I wanted him to go for me first; he had to start the fight. “Is that the best insult you got, that I’m little and a girl? Because neither one is an insult, just true. Now I mean is it an insult if I say...”

“Anita.” Claudia said my name with that caution that my friends learn after a while.

“... you’re a little boy who’s totally out of his league?”

His upper chest tensed more, the one arm stiffening. If that was the arm he swung with, then Rafael would seehim coming a mile away. His voice came low and careful the way mine did when I knew if I lost control of it, I’d do something violent that I wasn’t ready to do yet. “I am not a boy and I am not out of my league with Rafael.”

“I wasn’t talking about Rafael, Hector baby.”

He frowned as if my teasing was too hard for him to follow. Who was the real Hector, the confused boy or the intelligent man that kept peeking out? “What are you talking about, Anita Blake?”

“Us, me, Pierette, Claudia—you’re out of your league with us.”

His body relaxed; damn. The arrogance was back, so sure of himself. “None of you are out of my league for dating.”

I smiled and this time it was a happy smile. “I wasn’t talking about dating us, Hector, I was talking about fighting, but now that you mention it, all three of us are out of your league for both.”

He laughed; it was that sound of a big, athletic, handsome man who has been bigger, faster, stronger, and better than all the other men for most of his life. It can make a man be incredibly arrogant and have a sense of entitlement because no one ever tells him no.

“Have you seen my fiancés?” I asked. “You’re cute enough, but you so aren’t as gorgeous as they are.”

He frowned again, as if I was making him think too hard. I wondered if he was like some of the inner-city athletes who were great on the court or field, but all the rest of their lives had been skipped over so that they were undersocialized and couldn’t read well. “After the wererats are mine, your vampire master’s beauty won’t save him, and once he dies all that survive will be ours.”

I blinked at him, because that was a little too much truth in advertising for this early in the game. “So you’re just going to tell us your dastardly plan for citywide domination now and not wait for the villain speech later?”

“Would you rather I pretend that you and Jean-Claude are stupid?”

“I guess not,” I said, but my pulse was a little faster than it should have been.

Hector took a deep breath of the air. “I like smelling your fear, Anita. I like it better that you’re afraid of me now.” He smiled, but it was more a snarl than a smile, showing teeth to remind the other person that even in human form teeth can still tear flesh.

Pierette said, “So you declare that you will use the wererats to attack Jean-Claude and his vampires?”

“I do not answer to cats.”

I repeated the question.

“The wererats are the majority of Jean-Claude’s foot soldiers; take them and the numbers are on our side. He knows that. We all know that. Why pretend?”

“What will you do if you take the wererats and the vampires, then what?” I asked.

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