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wouldn’t have come back to St. Louis,” I said.
    â€œProbably not, but you know better than most vampire hunters that the vampires have other resources.”
    â€œYeah, I’m Jean-Claude’s human servant, so Vittorio could have one, too.”
    â€œHell, Anita, he could have humans with just a couple of bites. You know that once a vampire uses its gaze on someone and does the whole bite thing, they’ll do anything for their master.”
    â€œI wouldn’t sense a human with a few bites on them. They hit the radar as just human.”
    â€œSo, yeah, I think you’ve been spied on. I’d tell you not to come, Anita, but I know you won’t listen.”
    I stumbled on the steps and had to catch my balance before I said, “You honestly would tell me to stay home on this one? You, who are always inviting me out to hunt bigger and badder monsters?”
    â€œThis one’s made it personal, Anita. He wants your head.”
    â€œThanks for that imagery, after my little present this morning.”
    â€œI said it on purpose, Anita. You’re like me now; you’ve got people you love, and you don’t want to leave them. I’m just reminding you, like you remind me, that you really do have a choice. You can sit this one out.”
    â€œYou mean stay safe in St. Louis while the rest of you guys hunt this bastard?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnd you can tell me, honestly, that you wouldn’t think less of me for playing it that safe?”
    He didn’t answer for so long that I was almost at the blind corner turn at the halfway point of the stairs. I didn’t prompt him. I just listened to him breathe and concentrated on my heels on the uneven stones.
    â€œI wouldn’t blame you for staying home.”
    â€œBut you would think less of me,” I said.
    He was quiet. “I’d try not to.”
    â€œYeah, and the rest of the cops who already think I’m a girl, and that I’m sleeping with vampires, and that I’m sleeping around with other cops, they wouldn’t think less of me?”
    â€œDon’t get yourself killed because of pride, Anita. That’s a guy reason to die. You’re a girl; think like a girl for once.”
    â€œEdward, if they’ve been watching me in St. Louis, I may not be safe here, either.”
    â€œMaybe, or maybe he’s luring you out, Anita. Maybe he would have come back to St. Louis for you, but with all the people Jean-Claude has around him he couldn’t get to you.”
    I walked around the corner, thinking about that. “Shit, I hope you’re wrong about that.”
    â€œYou knew it was a trap, Anita.”
    â€œYeah, but knowing Vittorio is throwing down the gauntlet in Vegas is one thing. Believing that he’s picked somewhere far away so I’ll be away from Jean-Claude and his guards is . . . frightening.”
    â€œGood, I want you scared on this one, because you should be.”
    â€œWhat’s that supposed to mean?”
    â€œIt means Vittorio has been watching you, or having someone else do it. He sent the head on a day you’d be there. He sent it early in the morning before your vampire lover will be awake, so no one can tell you to take guards, or not to go. In St. Louis, if Jean-Claude is still down for the day, you’re in charge.”
    â€œWe’ve been working really hard at making me more human servant and Jean-Claude more master.”
    â€œYeah, so hard that you’ve moved into the Circus with him. The other marshals don’t think much of you shacking up with the master of your city.”
    â€œPrejudiced bastards.” I was at the big cell-like door that led into the underground proper.
    â€œI also heard that Jean-Claude and your boyfriends have come out of the closet. I take it that the idea that Jean-Claude is fucking you and your boyfriends was to explain why he was letting you fuck other men.”
    â€œWe told