Harrison, Bayard, and Beau gathered around him. Men like Raymond give orders better than they take them. I didn't have to see his face to know he didn't like it. You'll ruin our night vision.' It wasn't very diplomatic, but I was tired, and it had been a long night. I raised an arm and said, 'Don't point it at us. I watched him start to point it at Larry and me. A big freaking halogen torch that filled his hand like a captive sun. You didn't need a flashlight, but Raymond Stirling had one. The moonlight was so strong it cast faint shadows. The moon sailed the shining night sky, gleaming like it had been polished. Since dating Richard, I'd paid more attention to the lunar cycles. The moon rode high and two days past full. The thick clouds that had obscured the woods while we were playing tag with vampires were suddenly gone. The wind that had all but promised rain had drifted away. John's blood was still wet on the carpet. But it seemed petty to point fingers at each other, and say she did it, when Beth St. I think Freemont had painted a less than charitable picture of me. Made me want to lie to them just so they wouldn't be disappointed. I hated being accused of concealing evidence when I wasn't. The Feds had kept us forever, like they didn't believe we were telling them the whole truth. Welcome to my life.Chapter 17 It was after 2:00 a.m. It didn't take a degree in preternatural studies to figure out that something was very wrong in and around Branson, Missouri. And then they found the dead girl, drained of blood and left in her bed. Then there were the three dead teenagers in the woods, slaughtered in a way I had never seen before. I'd been hired to raise them to settle a dispute over who owned the land they were buried in. First, there were the dead in the graveyard - two-hundred years dead. As always, Anita prevails over the undead, keeping Jean-Claude at arm's length, clearing the cemetery land of an ancient enchantment, and nailing the vampiric killer in one fell swoop. A psychotic sword-wielding vampire starts committing multiple murders in the area, and Anita must call on Jean-Claude, her powerful fanged suitor, for help.

But as soon as she arrives in Branson, Missouri, to do the deed, the job gets more interesting. A psychotic sword-wielding vampire starts committing multiple murders in the area, When Anita Blake's boss at Animators, Inc., informs her that she's expected to raise 300-year-old zombies from a field of jumbled bones just to settle a land dispute, she's understandably annoyed. When Anita Blake's boss at Animators, Inc., informs her that she's expected to raise 300-year-old zombies from a field of jumbled bones just to settle a land dispute, she's understandably annoyed.

Bloody bones by laurell k hamilton