“Shit.” I reached back under my hair for the big blade that was in a spine sheath, but Kaazim touched my elbow. “Allow me.” He unsheathed a long, curved blade and moved forward in a graceful line of robes. The blade flashed in the sun and then came down on the vampire’s wrist, severing it. The small spurt of blood heated to steam and the wound cauterized itself, but the hand continued to burn around the officer’s wrist.

   Kaazim sheathed his blade and threw the man on his shoulder, running in a blur of speed back inside the building. Once the vampire’s hand was out of direct sunlight he’d be able to put the flame out and have it stay out until they could pry it off the officer’s arm.

   The vampire grabbed at Pearson with his remaining hand; Edward pulled the detective out of reach and Domino stepped up closer, his rifle aimed at the burning vampire. I’d seen Domino flinch around zombies, but apparently vampires didn’t bother him even when they were en flambé. I wouldn’t have wanted to get that close, but then maybe he hadn’t ever seen a flaming vampire hold on to a person until they melted through their waist and bi-fucking-sected them. I had, so I stayed standing on the edge of it all with Damian, Jake, and Nicky. Jake would have helped if I’d told him to, but if he couldn’t put out the fire I didn’t want him close to it either.

   Damian huddled near my left side; I’d pretty much broken all my people from clutching at my main gun hand when I was on the job. To use the AR I’d need both hands, but it wasn’t his fault that I’d trained him up for handgun cuddling. Besides, he’d been brave enough to come out into the sunlight and watch one of his worst nightmares; I gave brownie points for effort. I let the AR hang from its tactical sling, and I drew my sidearm so it was ready to go in my right hand, just in case, and put my left arm around his waist, pulling him in against me. He actually put his arm around my shoulders, collapsing the coat around us a little, because he was only holding it up with one hand. Normally I wouldn’t have let him compromise my vision on one side and maybe even my hearing through the thick cloth, but Jake and Nicky were on that side. If they couldn’t warn me in time, or take out the threat, realistically I was dead anyway, so I cuddled with Damian closer than I’d ever cuddled with anyone at a crime scene.

   He pressed his face against the top of my hair, and I realized he was hiding his eyes. He’d watched for a while, but it takes a long time for an adult human being to burn, a lot longer than you think it would. If it had been human, then it would have passed out, and at least have been unconscious toward the end. It also wouldn’t have been able to keep screaming. There are all sorts of screams, but these were some of the worst I’d heard. They were higher and more piteous. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could listen to it without offering to put a bullet in its head to finish things.

   The body was blackened sticks licked with flame, but even with most of the muscle and ligaments burned down to strings it still hadn’t curled up against the heat the way a human body would, and it was still able to move. It opened its mouth wide enough to show the still-white fangs and teeth as if the fire wouldn’t touch there. Swallowing fire and smoke is one of the ways that people die quicker in fire. It should have worked the same with vampires, because the mechanics of their bodies were still human-ish, but something worked differently for the vampire. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a kindness.

   Edward spoke to Pearson, but he shook his head. I was betting he’d offered to put the vampire out of its misery just like I was thinking of doing. I didn’t understand why he’d refused it until I heard the sirens and realized it was an ambulance. They were going to try to save the vampire. Fuck, there wasn’t enough left to save; even if they could do it, they didn’t want to.

   I kissed Damian and said, “Go back inside. I’ve got to try to stop this.”

   He shook his head. “She’s feeding on his terror.”

   “The Wicked Bitch?”

   “Yes.”

   “You’re out here so you can sense her better,” I said.

   “We need to know what she’s doing.”

   “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Jake said, “but this needs to stop.”

   The ambulance had pulled up and they had a stretcher on wheels coming with equipment and two paramedics. They didn’t look as surprised as they should have, so they’d been warned ahead of time. One of them had a fire extinguisher, but the other one had a pile of smooth-filament fire blankets piled on top of the gurney he was pushing. It was like the information that Jake had shared with Pearson and Sheridan had been disseminated to the first responders, or at least the ones riding in the ambulances, but it was too late to try.

   I went to Pearson. “You can’t do this,” I said.

   “We have to help him if we can, Blake.”

   “It’s too late, Pearson. Even if they can put the fire out and put him on fluids or whatever and keep him from dying, he won’t heal. He won’t even heal as well as a human being. Fire is one of the few things that a vampire cannot heal from, at all.”

   Pearson frowned at me. “What are you saying, Blake?”

   “I’m saying that the vampire will be trapped in that body as it is now, but maybe not die ever. Eternity like this is not mercy.”

   Pearson looked at me for a second, then blinked and blinked again. “I don’t know what to say to that, other than the ambulance is here. Once the medical personnel get on site they are in charge.”

   “Pearson, even if they can do this, don’t let them.”

   “It’s out of my hands, Blake.”

   “Fuck,” I said.

   One of the medics was putting out the fire, and the other one was putting a blanket over the flesh that had stopped burning. I knew that normally they would not have let anything touch third degree, or whatever degree the vampire had burned to, but keeping the fire from reigniting in the sunlight was more important than anything else if they meant to actually save him.

   They covered him in a layer of blankets. They got him on the gurney and because they kept him out of direct light they were able to get him in the ambulance. I saw them start an IV before the door closed them inside with the vampire.

   Jake and Nicky came up to me, and Jake said, “They need an armed guard.”

   “Are you kidding me?” I asked.

   “I wish I were.”

   “That man is too hurt to do anything to anyone,” Pearson said.

   “He is not a man, Superintendent. He is a vampire,” Jake said.

   Pearson shook his head. “No, no. If you had wanted to help, the time to do it was before the ambulance got here.”

   “In the future we will offer more aid. We did not dream that you would try to save what was left,” he said.