Laurell K. Hamilton - Affliction

Copyright 2013 Laurell K. Hamilton

The right of Laurell K. Hamilton to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

First published in the United States of America in 2013 by the Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
A BERKLY BOOK

First published as an Ebook by HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP in 2013

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

eISBN: 978 0 7553 8905 6

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Table of Contents

Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton returns with another exciting, thrilling and addictive adventure for her vampire hunting heroine Anita Blake.

Had everyone bitten tonight caught this? The other bites had not looked like vampire bites. Theyd been zombie, or human looking. Was this infection something that vampires and shapeshifters could catch? If it was, then it was something new. Some zombies are raised. Others must be put down. Just ask me, Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter.

Before now, I figured I could handle them. Before now, I had never heard of any of them causing human beings to perish in agony. But thats all changed. Micahs estranged father lies dying, rotting away inside from some strange ailment that has his doctors whispering about zombie disease.

I make my living from zombies but these arent the kind I know so well. These creatures hunt in daylight, and are as fast and strong as vampires. If they bite you, you become just like them. And round and round it goes Where will it stop? Even I dont know.

Laurell K. Hamilton is the bestselling author of the acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Novels. She lives near St Louis with her husband, her daughter, two dogs and an ever-fluctuating number of fish.

She invites you to visit her website at www.laurellkhamilton.org.

GUILTY PLEASURES

THE LAUGHING CORPSE

CIRCUS OF THE DAMNED

THE LUNATIC CAFE

BLOODY BONES

THE KILLING DANCE

BURNT OFFERINGS

BLUE MOON

OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY

NARCISSUS IN CHAINS

CERULEAN SINS

INCUBUS DREAMS

MICAH and STRANGE CANDY

DANSE MACABRE

THE HARLEQUIN

BLOOD NOIR

SKIN TRADE

FLIRT

BULLET

HIT LIST

KISS THE DEAD

AFFLICTION

BEAUTY

A hardcore guilty pleasure

The Times

Anita Blake is one of the most fascinating fictional heroines since Scarlett OHara

Publishers Weekly

What The Da Vinci Code did for the religious thriller, the Anita Blake series has done for the vampire novel

USA Today

Hamilton remains one of the most inventive and exciting writers in the paranormal field

Charlaine Harris

GUILTY PLEASURES 19932013 AFFLICTION

This ones for Anita and me. Heres to another twenty years of facing our fears, solving mysteries, catching bad guys, and finding love.

Artists and their art, mirror and reflection, yin and yang, the push and the pull, separate but joined, in the end it becomes an act of co-creation, because to truly create art the artists themselves are re-created.

Were taught Lord Actons axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believed that when I started these books, but I dont believe its always true anymore. Power doesnt always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.

Robert Caro

When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of mans concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.

John F. Kennedy

My gun was digging into my back, so I shifted forward in my office chair. That was better; now it was just the comforting pressure of the inner-skirt holster, tucked away underneath my short royal blue suit jacket. Id stopped wearing my shoulder holster except when I was on an active warrant as a U.S. Marshal. When I was working at Animators Inc. and seeing clients, the behind-the-back holster was less likely to flash and make them nervous. Youd think if someone was asking me to raise the dead for them that theyd have better nerves, but guns seemed to scare them a lot more than talking about zombies. It was different once the zombie was raised and they were looking at the walking dead; then suddenly the guns didnt bother them nearly as much, but until that Halloweenesque moment I tried to keep the weapons out of sight. There was a knock on my office door and Mary, our daytime receptionist, opened it without my saying Come in, which shed never done in the six years wed been working together, so I wasnt grumpy about the interruption. I just looked up from double-checking my client meetings to make sure there wouldnt be any overlap issues and knew something was up, and knowing Mary it would be important. She was like that.

Shed finally let her hair go gray, but it was still in the same obviously artificial hairdo that it had always been. Shed let herself get a little plump as she neared sixty and had finally embraced glasses full time. The combination of it all had aged her about ten years, but she seemed happy with it, saying, Im a grandma; Im okay with looking like one. The look on her face was sad and set in sympathetic lines. It was the face she used to deal with grieving families who wanted their loved ones raised from the dead. Having that face aimed at me sped my pulse and tightened my stomach.

I made myself take a deep breath and let it out slow as Mary closed the door behind her and started walking toward my desk. Whats wrong? I asked.

I didnt want to tell you over the phone with all the clients listening, she said.

Tell me what? I asked, and fought the urge not to raise my voice. She was about one more uninformative answer away from getting yelled at.

Theres a woman on line two; she says shes your future mother-in-law. I told her you werent engaged to my knowledge, and she said that she didnt know what to call herself since you were just living with her son.

I was actually living with several men, but most of them didnt have families to use words like son. Name, Mary, whats her name? My voice was rising a little.

Morgan, Beatrice Morgan.

I frowned at her. Im not living with anyone named Morgan. Ive never even dated anyone with that last name.

I didnt recognize it from your boyfriends, but she said that the father is hurt, maybe dying, and she thought hed want to know about his dad before it was too late. The emotion is real, Anita. Im sorry, maybe shes crazy, but sometimes people dont think clearly when their husband is hurt. I didnt want to just write her off as crazy; I mean, I dont know the last names of everyone youre dating.