'Do I need to give you the safety talk, too?' she asked.

'You mean tell me not to try to trade punches with Seamus?'

'Yeah, something like that.'

I laughed, though it wasn't exactly a happy laugh. 'Trust me, Claudia, if I have to fight him without weapons it won't be because I didn't try to kill him first.'

'If you lose all your weapons you cannot fight him and live, Anita. You're good, but I'm not sure I could beat him, and I'm closer to his weight class.'

'SWAT is going with us.'

'Where are you?'

'Hospital parking lot, waiting for SWAT so we can roll out.'

'Lisandro and Dev are headed out the door now.'

'If Seamus is that good, he'll eat Dev for dinner.'

'Yeah, but if I were one of the fallen council members I'd want to kill the new vampire king of America. That means that I'm keeping good people here to keep Jean-Claude safe.'

'Agreed,' I said.

'Besides, you'll have a team of SWAT with you; they're pretty good for humans.'

'They're very good for anyone,' I said.

'Come on, Anita, they can't compete with our speed.'

'Yeah, but training counts, too.'

'You don't have to defend them to me, Anita. I respect SWAT and their abilities. I'm just saying they're human and Seamus isn't.'

'No arguments, and sorry if I was defensive.'

'It's okay. I'm going to talk to the Harlequin wereanimals and see if I can learn anything helpful about the Lover of Death.'

'If you get any info that will help, call me,' I said.

'You know I will,' she said.

'If SWAT gets here before Lisandro and Dev arrive, then we're gone. We need to use every bit of daylight we have.'

'Understood; I'll text Dev and make sure he and Lisandro understand.'

'You know my objections to endangering Lisandro, because he has a family. Why send him?'

'You know why, Anita.' She sounded softly chiding.

I sighed. 'Yeah, I have practiced with Lisandro and watched him against others. He's not the strongest of the guards, but he's wicked fast and he's got the best all-around speed, endurance, strength, and technique of anyone in the MMA classes, except maybe Pride.'

'Which is why one of them goes with you and one of them stays here, just in case.'

'It won't come to a one-on-one champion fight, Claudia.'

'Probably not, but if there comes a point where you can maneuver Seamus into fighting Lisandro and leaving the rest of you out of it, I'd do it.'

'You going to throw Pride to the hyenas, too?' I asked.

'No, we have a lot more guards here, Anita. We'll overwhelm him with skill and numbers.'

'But you'll still keep Pride with you, just in case,' I said.

'Yeah,' she said.

'Send someone extra to Micah, too,' I said.

'I will.'

'Keep them safe for me.'

'It's my job.'

'Speaking of jobs, SWAT just pulled in,' I said. I waved them over to let them know I needed to talk to them before we headed out. They spilled out of their black Tahoe looking all around six feet tall or over, broad of shoulder, trim of waist, like a sports team in body armor with weapons. Most SWAT and special teams were tall and athletic and had a certain we are just that good attitude. It wasn't bragging, it was just training combined with surety; most of them had spent their lives being the toughest and most competent person in the room.

'Kill this guy for us, Anita,' Claudia said.

'It's my job,' I said.

She gave a small chuckle. 'Yeah, I guess it is.'

I hung up and went to tell SWAT we knew exactly where the vampire's lair was located. I also had to tell them that we had another shapeshifter that might have been mind-fucked like Ares. If this kept up, they were going to change the rules so I couldn't bring my furry friends along.

CHAPTER 75

Two things kept us in the parking lot long enough for Lisandro and Dev to arrive and throw their gear in the back of our SUV: Little Henry's request to borrow a gun, and my explaining what had happened with Seamus. The gun would have normally been not only no, but hell no, but they all knew him. They knew his skills in the field and at the shooting range. He'd actually been in the military with Machet and Wilson, two of our SWAT guys. Machete and Willy, respectively most SWAT units were big on nicknames. Some were name-based like these two, but others were just call signs, like Sergeant Brock was Badger, and Yancey, who had come to see me in the hospital, was Swan. He pulled off enough of his gear so I could glimpse the nearly black hair with its hint of curl, and the smiling brown eyes. He didn't look remotely swanlike.

'So you've had another shapeshifter deputy marshal go rogue?' he asked, studying my face as if he wanted me to say no.

'This master vampire's animal to call seems to be hyena. It gives him a step up on mind-fucking them.'

'Any of you other guys werehyena?' he asked.

Dev raised his hand, 'Tiger.'