“It’s a way of explaining why you’re better than they are,” Nolan said.

   “And then Anita isn’t good in her own right; she’s my protégée, or trainee, or some bullshit.”

   “To be fair, you did help train me to be a better hunter,” I said.

   “Monster hunting has always been an apprentice system, Anita, no shame in that,” Edward said.

   “Who’d you apprentice to?” I asked, because it just occurred to me.

   “Van Cleef,” he and Nolan both said, at the same damn time. They stared at each other, and it was only partly friendly.

   “Are you still his boy?” Edward asked.

   “That summer was a long time ago, Ted.”

   “Answer the question.”

   “This isn’t one of his projects. I swear that.”

   “But you are in touch with him.”

   “And you called him in for help just a few years ago, and he came. He sent people to rain hell down on your enemies, helped you save your fiancée and her kids.” It was the first time I’d met Donna and the kids; bad guys had kidnapped them, and Edward had turned to the mysterious Van Cleef for help, because the bad guys had known the name, and Edward, too.

   “Because some of the men involved were old friends of ours, and of his,” Edward said.

   “They weren’t military anymore; they’d gone more rogue than you have,” Nolan said.

   “I cannot believe I did not ask you if you were still in his fucking pocket before I got Anita on the plane.”

   “You call him in when you need him . . . Ted.” And there was something about the way he hesitated on the name, as if there were another name he was almost saying. I knew that Van Cleef knew Edward was Edward, and not just Ted. I wondered if he’d shared that with Nolan.

   “If you want a call sign for me, Nolan, just call me Death.”

   “Yeah, I know the other Marshals nicknamed you after one of the Four Horsemen.”

   “Yeah, he’s Death, and I’m War, and why does Van Cleef scare both of you so much?”

   “I’m not scared of him. That’s Ted’s issue. I stayed in when he got out; this isn’t one of Van Cleef’s pet projects, but I’ve worked with him over the years, while Ted here was trying to hide from him.”

   “If you didn’t hide from him, Nolan, then you must have said yes when I told him to go fuck himself.”

   “And yet you called for his help in New Mexico to save your family, and he sent the help you needed, ungrateful bastard that you are.”

   “Bootlicking toady,” Edward said.

   “Put the weapons back on the plane, Forrester. I’m not letting you into my country with an arsenal.”

   “Stop it, both of you. I don’t know what sort of pissing contest we walked into, but I will not let your history together hurt this investigation.”

   “You’re free to join the investigation and let your pet vampire give all the information he has on the locals, but not with the weapons in those bags, because without my help they’re illegal as hell.”

   “You haven’t changed a bit, Nolan,” Edward said, and it wasn’t a compliment.

   “You have, Forrester, but not for the better.”

   “Guys, guys.” I finally waved my hand at them and they both gave me unfriendly stares. I didn’t care if they got mad at me. “I thought vampires were killing people in Dublin.”

   “They are,” Ted said.

   Nolan nodded.

   “Ted said that there are new missing people almost every night now—is that correct, Captain Nolan?”

   “That’s correct.”

   “Then why the hell are we not on our way to Dublin? We can help you find the rogue vampires. We can help you kill them.”

   “Not without your weapons, you can’t.”

   “Are you really willing to have more people die because you and Ted are old friends turned old enemies? Or because you’re both being horses’ asses?”

   “He’s still working with Van Cleef, Anita. Don’t you understand what that means for not just you, but all the people with you? Once you come up on his radar, you never really get off it.”

   I looked back at the men and women with me, then called them over to us.

   “What are you doing?” Nolan asked.

   “Unlike the military, I run a more democratic house,” I said.

   “What the fuck does that mean?”

   When everybody was there, I looked from Nathaniel to Nicky, and then the others, and did what I thought was right. “You all know the name Van Cleef,” I said.

   “Sweet Mary, Mother of God, Forrester, did you tell all of them?”

   “His name came up in another case,” I said.

   “What case?” Nolan asked.

   “We’ll talk in detail later, promise, but right now we need this settled.” I turned to my people, looked at them one by one. “There’s a chance that this assignment could bring us up on Van Cleef’s radar again. He is one of the few men that I’ve ever seen spook . . . Ted, so if you want to get back on the plane and go home, I won’t hold it against you.”

   “Are you coming home with us?” Magda asked.

   “No, I came to save lives and hunt vampires. I’m going to stay and do that.”

   “Then I will stay, too,” she said.

   “None of us will leave you unguarded,” Kaazim said. The rest of the Harlequin shook their heads.

   “I know you think I failed you once,” Domino said. “I won’t make it twice.”

   Nicky said, “You know it’s not an option for me, Anita.”

   “I’m making it an option.”

   He gave me the look, and I moved on. “Dev, Ethan?”

   Dev grinned at me. “Even if I were willing to leave you here, how would I ever explain it to the rest of the men back home? No, I’d rather take my beatings here than explain to Jean-Claude and Micah that I left you and Nathaniel here facing some scary top secret spook without me.”

   “Do you really think I would run away and save myself but leave you in danger?” Ethan asked.

   “No, but I wanted you to know that I wouldn’t hold it against you.”

   “You say that, but you don’t mean it,” Domino said.