Page 14 of Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 29)

“So, you agree that Peter should kill Kane?”

“No, I agree that Peter shouldn’t let Kane kill him, and if that means he kills Kane first, then I’m okay with that.”

“Even if it means my death?”

Damn it, he wasn’t going to let this be easy, which was so Asher. “You are a master vampire, Asher, which means you can control your animal to call, which is hyena. I’ve seen you force werehyenas that hated you to attack people they liked better than you. Kane is your personal animal, yourmoitié bête, your beast half, so you should be able to control him and keep him from attacking Peter, but you won’t, not can’t, won’t. If you want to commit suicide by letting Kane do it for you, that is your choice.”

“Will you not miss me?”

I made an inarticulate sound that was somewhere betweenfrustration and a scream of rage. “Damn it, Asher, don’t be the fucking girl in this conversation. Not every damn thing is just about you! I will not let your issues with Kane get Peter killed, period, end of fucking discussion. If Kane dies and that drags you to the grave with him, I will mourn your beautiful ass, but I will not let you kill or injure anyone else I love ever again. Ever!”

“I did not know you felt that way about Peter.”

“Wait, are you saying that unless I have a romantic love toward someone you think it’s okay for Kane to hurt them, or kill them?”

What I could see of Asher’s face looked confused. Oh my God, I was too stressed today for this shit. My phone rang and it was the ringtone for Captain Rudolph Storr of the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team.

“Answer the question, Asher, because we’re going to have a lot of people in for the wedding that I’m not fucking, and you have to understand that if Kane hurts them that’s still a death sentence on him.”

“That is your work ringtone,” he said.

“I know. I’ll call back. You must understand what I just said, or Kane is going to do something unfortunate, and someone will have to kill him, and that may kill you, which will take a piece out of Jean-Claude’s heart and mine, but Kane has no more free passes. None, zero, zilch. If he attacks anyone else the minimum is what Peter just did. I am about to have a lot of humans around me for fittings of dresses and shit, and Kane cannot take a swing at any of them, because if he kills any of them even by accident I will put a silver bullet between his eyes.”

“He is my animal to call; he might survive even that.”

I had to count slowly before saying, “You are not stupid, Asher, so you have to be deliberately missing my point here.”

“I thought you might discipline him with one bullet to make your point.”

I shook my head hard enough that all my own black curls flew back and forth. I was having to fight not to make my hands into fists.“It’s not my job to discipline Kane, it’s yours, but if you won’t do your job, you will force me to do mine. “

“You would execute him, even knowing it could destroy me, as well.”

“If Kane loses his temper and hits one of my human bridesmaids or their partners, or one of my family, or hell, anyone who is in my wedding, anyone who—”

“You’re making this too complicated, Anita,” Edward said.

“If you can explain it to him better, be my guest.”

“Your fault, our fault, no one’s fault, if Kane kills anyone, we kill him. If you get in the way of that, you can die first.”

I turned to stare at Edward, but his face showed no compromise. I knew he meant it. I wasn’t sure I could pull the trigger on Asher; on Kane and let Asher take his chances, yes, but to actually point a gun between those beautiful blue eyes, at that face we loved... I wasn’t sure I could do it, and because it was Edward he needed to know that.

“I don’t know if I can pull the trigger on Asher, so if it comes to that I’ll take Kane, but Asher has to be yours.”

“Understood,” Edward said.

“Anita, how can you talk about my death so coldly?”

“We are starting to plan how to take Kane and you out, Asher; do you understand now?”

“That I don’t matter to you, yes.”

I wanted to ask him again if he’d stopped taking his meds, but my phone rang again. It was Dolph and for him to call back that soon it was important. “If you didn’t matter to me, Asher, I’d have killed Kane months ago. I have to take this call,” I said as I stepped a little away from him, not so he wouldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but because I was so angry with him I didn’t want to be looking directly at him while I concentrated on police work.

“Hey, Dolph, what’s up?”

“We have a murder scene.”

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