Anita Blake 18 - Flirt by Laurell K. Hamilton

I knew no one was up there, but it was just not a comfortable room when you knew that people really were out to get you. Of course, the people out to get me were sitting down on the white leather furniture looking at me. There was the mysterious Silas and his errand that he hadn’t finished, but right now there were enough enemies in front of me; I didn’t have to borrow.
    “We’re just going to wait here until Silas phones, and then we’ll pack up and head for the cemetery,” Jacob said.
    Bennington added, “I had her reburied because I found that most animators needed a grave rather than a mausoleum.”
    “Very thoughtful,” I said, and didn’t try to keep the anger out of my voice.
    “I am being reasonable, Ms. Blake. I could have had them kill your first boyfriend, Callahan, as an incentive for cooperation. You, unlike me, have spares.”
    “They’re people, not extra tires in case of emergency.” The anger rose another notch, and I had to control my breathing again, count again. The lioness was getting impatient in the long grass. We could kill him before they could stop us. She was probably right, and if we killed him then the money went away. That was an interesting idea.
    “You’ve thought of something, Anita. I can see it in the set of your shoulders, the way you went still. Whatever it is, don’t do it,” Jacob said.
    The trouble with wereanimals that were also professional bad guys was that it’s very hard to surprise them. The only way to do it was to take action before you really think about it, the way you do in martial arts. You see your opening and you react, because you’ve already made your decision to hurt them before the fight starts. If I killed Bennington, would they be professional and just stop all this, or would they kill at least one of my lovers as an object lesson? Until I had an answer to that question, did I dare kill Bennington if the chance came?
    Jacob sat down on the couch beside me, arm on the back of it, like we were a couple. I leaned just out of touching of the arm. He could think I was being unfriendly, but I didn’t want him to feel the knife hilt under my shirt. Thanks to the lions being overly friendly I had one weapon left; I didn’t want to lose it.
    He leaned in and spoke low. “Whatever you are thinking, it won’t work. We have a sniper on all three of them. They’ll call in as each man goes outside for the first time today. They’ll follow them and if we don’t call in periodically, they’ll kill them.”
    “I understand that,” I said, but part of me filed away the fact that he’d said we . Jacob didn’t have to be the one to make the phone calls to the shooters. Nicky could do it. I only needed one of them alive and on my side. I tried to breathe past the anger and that edge of fear that wanted to scream through me. I had to think, which meant neither anger nor fear was my friend. Fear will keep you alive, and anger will help you in a fight sometimes, but when it came to planning action you needed no emotions. Be empty, be still, and think.
    “I am sorry, Ms. Blake, to force you, but I want the woman I love back, you understand that.”
    “I’ll do my best, but it will still only be a zombie. No matter how lifelike she looks when you first see her, it can’t last, Mr. Bennington.”
    “I’ve been told that there is one set of circumstances where the recently dead can be raised as a zombie but stay intact.”
    “If so, it’s news to me.” I was leaning forward a little, trying not to let Jacob touch me. For some reason that made him move closer to me so that our hips touched on the couch. Great, it was like one of those dates where the guy doesn’t respect your personal space.
    “Mr. Bennington,” Jacob said, “I wouldn’t overshare with Anita. She’s cooperating, and once Silas does his part we’ll head to the gravesite. We don’t need to talk about the details.”
    Then Bennington gave me a look. It was hostile. “You know, I