Read Online [Anita Blake 17] - Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton - Free Book Online Page B

it’s too long for a call sign. Second, it’s not a name that I’ve ever heard spoken in a happy way.”
    â€œAre you embarrassed by the name?” he asked.
    â€œNo, but it’s like Ivan the Terrible. I doubt seriously that anyone ever called him that to his face.”
    â€œThe vampires call you that to your face,” and Cannibal said it like he knew for sure. Maybe he did.
    I nodded. “Sometimes they do, but it’s mostly Executioner when they’re talking to me. They just leave off the the .”
    â€œWe can call you Executioner,” he said.
    I sighed. “I’d rather you didn’t, Sergeant. I’ve had too many bad guys call me that while they tried to kill me. They look at the package and call me Executioner to make fun of me. How small, how delicate, how not deadly looking.”
    â€œAnd after they make fun of you?” he asked, voice serious, eyes studying my face.
    I met his gaze. “Then they die, Sergeant, or I wouldn’t be here.”
    â€œI promise never to call you short again,” Davey said.
    That broke the serious mood, and I was happy to laugh with everyone else.
    â€œAnita, then, if you go out with us.”
    â€œWhether you let me go with your team depends on how this little test goes, doesn’t it?”
    â€œYes.”
    Lieutenant Grimes spoke from the door, and everyone swiveled to give him attention. It was automatic for them. “There are a lot of psychics in the world, Marshal Blake, but there aren’t many that are powerful enough to be useful and controlled enough to take into a firefight with you. We need to know how good your control is, and exactly what type of psychic you are. Some types of abilities clash, and if you clash with one of the men in this room, we’ll make certain you aren’t put on the same team.”
    â€œI appreciate all the thought you’ve put into this, Lieutenant, but I also know that Cannibal here is testing your men at the same time he tests me. He wants to know if they can stay in the room while he tastes my power and not be affected. Yeah, you want to know if my powers clash with your men’s, but it’s also another test for your own practitioners.”
    â€œWe lost one of them, Marshal. One of our best. We have precious little time to get you up to speed, and for you to get us up to speed. You hunted this vampire before, and we need to know what you know.”
    â€œIt’s in the reports,” I said.
    He shook his head. “Cannibal’s abilities will tell us whether your reports were accurate.”
    â€œYou mean, if I lied.”
    He smiled and shook his head. “Left out things, not lied. You’re dating the master of your city, Marshal, living with him; we need to know if that has compromised your loyalties.”
    â€œThanks for the politeness, Lieutenant; the last Vegas cop who asked me accused me of fucking everything that moved.”
    Grimes made a face of distaste. “None of my men would ever have said that to you, but I apologize to you for the abuse of our city’s hospitality.”
    â€œThank you, Lieutenant, I appreciate that.”
    â€œWizard was Cannibal’s second-in-command for this squad.”
    â€œWizard was the man you lost,” I said.
    He nodded. “We need to see how you fit in here, and we have maybe an hour to do it, before we have to deliver you back to Shaw.” Not Sheriff Shaw, I noticed; I wondered if he’d figured out who’d insulted me.
    Cannibal spoke, turning me back to look at him. “If you were like our own executioner and just used weapons, we’d try to find time to put you on the range, but it’s your psychic abilities that will mess us up the most. We can always take your weapons away, but we can’t take the rest.”
    â€œIf I don’t pass your test, what then?”
    â€œI won’t endanger my men,” Grimes said, “if you are the