He smiled. 'Something like that.' Then he looked at me, very seriously, as if he were weighing and measuring me. 'But you can, can't you?'

I nodded. 'Yes, I can.'

'That was a hell of a shot to make under the circumstances, Marshal.'

'It was Ares who taught me how to make that shot,' I said. I took a deep, even breath, because my chest was tight, my eyes suddenly hot. God, I was going to cry.

Nicky put his hand on my shoulder.

'What do you mean?' Yancey asked.

'The man I killed, Ares, was a scout sniper before an enemy attack left him with lycanthropy and they forced a medical discharge on him. Handguns and up-close fighting I'm great at, but long guns, shooting distances, wasn't my thing. He taught me.' I raised my hand and put it over Nicky's where he touched me. His fingers wrapped around mine and it helped me gather myself. I gripped my gun under the blanket, digging the butt of it hard into my hand. The solidness of it helped, too. Funny, that holding a gun made it easier to deal with the sorrow of using a different one.

'I heard he was a scout sniper and that he tracked the vampires for you. I didn't hear that he taught you to shoot.'

'He taught me to shoot far away. I learned to shoot close in a long time ago.'

'I'm sorry, Marshal, I didn't mean to bring up anything ... hard.'

I nodded and looked down at my lap. I didn't trust myself to look up. I wasn't sure what would upset me more seeing too much sympathy in Yancey's face, or too little. Better not to know.

'I really need to get Marshal Blake into X-ray,' Dr Cross said.

'Yes, of course,' Yancey said, and backed up.

Dr Cross pushed me toward the elevators. Nicky stayed at my side, hand still in mine. Dev trailed us. The other officers stayed back, and I was grateful. When the elevator doors closed and the only stranger with us was Cross, the first hard, hot tear cut down my cheek. Nicky started rubbing his thumb across my fingers as we held hands. Dev came to the other side of me and touched my hair. 'It's okay, Anita,' he said.

I shook my head, and the tears fell faster. I finally managed to say, 'It's not okay,' and then I gave myself over to the grief and the horror and the unfairness of it all, and I wept.

CHAPTER 36

Two protein bars, bottles of water for all three of us, and an X-ray later, we knew the break was completely healed. My phone started ringing as we got off the elevator on our floor. Nicky dug it out of the backpack and handed it to me. It was Edward.

'Vampires alive, or dead?' I asked.

'I've got the execution delayed but can't convince them that the vamps were mind-fucked themselves. You were right that the vampires are two of the missing. They were hikers that came up here about a month ago, so you called that, too.'

'I'm good with the dead,' I said.

'So we hear.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' I asked. It wasn't like him to make snide remarks.

'Some of the locals seem less happy the more right you are.'

'Why?' I asked.

'Since you and I rely on each other to be right, I can't explain why, only that it's happening. My guess is professional jealousy. Marshal Hatfield has a serious hard-on to prove herself, and she seems to feel that your reputation hurts all women everywhere who wear a badge.'

'I take it you don't mean my reputation as a kickass law enforcement officer.'

'No, the other reputation.'

'Oh, that I'm a cold-blooded killer who shoots first and asks questions later?'

He gave a small chuckle. 'Nope, the other one.'

'You mean that I'm one of the monsters and that's what gives me a leg up in the job?' I asked.

He laughed. 'No, the other-other reputation.'

'You mean that I'm dating too many men?' I asked.

'Something like that,' he said, his voice soft again.

'She's right there, isn't she?' I asked.

'Yes,' he said in a normal voice.

'Have you defended my honor to her yet?' I asked.

He lowered his voice again. 'It's hard to defend your honor when everyone believes that I'm one of your conquests.'

I rolled my eyes. 'I'd forgotten that rumor.'

'I hadn't.' There was a tone in his voice.

'Do you get that much grief from the other cops about me?'

'They're just jealous,' he said.

'Of my success rate at the job,' I said.

'Yep,' he said.

'Or that I'm doing you?' I asked.

He did that male chuckle again that he almost never did unless he was playing Ted. 'Some.'

'I'll be there as soon as I can to question the vamps.'

'It's Hatfield's warrant. You have to persuade her.'