At Grave's End (5 page)

Besides, I could just see me explaining who Annette was to my mother.
Mom, this is Annette. Back in the seventeen hundreds when Bones was a gigolo, she used to pay him to fuck her, but after more than two hundred years of banging him, now they’re just good friends.

Yeah, I’d introduce Annette to my mother—right after I performed a lobotomy on myself.

“I still can’t believe she wants to talk about the wedding,” I marveled to Bones as I climbed into my car.

He gave me a serious look. “She’ll never abandon her relationship with you. You could marry Satan himself and that still wouldn’t get rid of her. She loves you, Kitten, though she does a right poor job of showing it most days.” Then he gave me a wicked grin. “Shall I ring your cell in an hour, so you can pretend there’s an emergency if she gets natty with you?”

“What if there
is
an emergency with Tate?” I wondered. “Maybe I shouldn’t leave.”

“Your bloke’s fine. Nothing can harm him now short of a silver stake through the heart. Go see your mum. Ring me if you need me to come bite her.”

There really was nothing for me to do at the compound. Tate would be a few more days at least in lockdown, and we didn’t have any jobs scheduled, for obvious reasons. This was as good a time as any to see if my mom meant what she said about wanting to end our estrangement.

“Keep your cell handy,” I joked to Bones. Then I pulled away.

My mother lived thirty minutes from the compound. She was still in Richmond, but in a more rural area. Her quaint neighborhood was reminiscent of where we grew up in Ohio, without being too far away from Don if things got hairy. I pulled up to her house, parked, and noticed that her shutters needed a fresh coat of paint. Did they look like that the last time I was here? God, how long
had
it been since I’d come to see her?

As soon as I got out of the car, however, I froze. Shock crept up my spine, and it had nothing to do with the realization that I hadn’t been here since Bones came back into my life months ago.

From the feel of the energy leaking off the house, my mother wasn’t alone inside, but whoever was with her didn’t have a heartbeat. I started to slide my hand toward my purse, where I always had some silver knives tucked away, when a cold laugh made me stop.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, little girl,” a voice I hated said from behind me.

My mother’s front door opened. She was framed in it, with a dark-haired vampire who looked vaguely familiar cradling her neck almost lovingly in his hands.

And I didn’t need to turn around to know the vampire at my back was my father.

M
AX, MY FATHER, STOOD ABOUT THIRTY
yards away between some trees. His red hair blew in the breeze and those identical gray eyes bore into mine. But what really held my attention was the rocket launcher Max had balanced on his shoulder. He also had a gun in his other hand. The disparity between the two weapons almost made me laugh out of sheer hysteria.

“I
was
going to blow up your car before you even pulled into the driveway,” Max said in a genial tone, nodding at the rocket launcher, “but then I saw you were alone. And how could any dad pass up the chance to spend some time with his little girl?”

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again
. That was what Max had spat at me months ago after he’d been busted for hiring two hitmen to put me out of my misery. I hadn’t thought he would try more brazen attempts to kill me since Bones married me vampire-style, but it looked like I was wrong.

“Where’s your sire, Max?” I asked, my voice even. “Is Ian running late? Is he still that pissed at me for getting away from him months ago?”

“Ian?” Max laughed. “Fuck my sire, I don’t need him. I’ve got new benefactors, little girl, and they want you dead as much as I do.”

I debated going for my knives again. An icy smile stretched across Max’s face, which looked enough like mine for anyone to tell we were father and daughter.

“Think you can get to your weapons before I shoot you? Maybe you can. But not before this rocket plows right through your mother, and wouldn’t that be a shame.”

My jaw clenched. Max and the other vampire were in the exact opposite direction from each other. Even if I was fast enough to take out one of them, the other would still have time to kill my mom.

“Why don’t we go inside? I think a family chat’s long overdue,” Max said, gesturing with the gun.

There was no way I could do anything with the two of them this far apart. I started toward the house, but his laugh stopped me. “Drop your purse first, little girl, and kick it over my way. Slowly.”

A dozen different attack scenarios skipped through my mind, but fear for my mother made me reject all of them.
If only it was just Max here. If only I’d strapped some weapons on me before heading over. If only I had another damn watch with a panic button in it, so Bones could realize my mother and I were in deep shit.

I dropped my purse and gave it a sideways kick over to Max. He grunted and came closer, his aim not wavering with either weapon.

“Let’s make you a little more respectful,” he said, and pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit me low in the stomach, doubling me over. It took a few seconds for the pain to hit, but when it did, it was merciless.

Behind me, I heard the other vampire giggle. It wasn’t much louder than the sound of the shot. Max’s gun had a silencer.

“Inside,” he directed me with another wave of the gun. “Or the next round goes in your leg.”

With my fists covering the rapidly bleeding hole in my gut, I staggered into the house. As soon as Max closed the door behind us, he fired again, striking me in the thigh.

I’d screamed at the second shot, which knocked me off my feet and sent me sprawling onto the floor.

“It was too much fun to resist,” Max smirked, then waved the gun, this time at my mother. “You make one more sound and she gets the next slug.”

Max would love to shoot my mother. It hadn’t escaped my notice that she had a dull, glazed look on her face. Max had green-eyed her into compliance. The thought of how terrified she must have been to open her door and see my father there almost made my rage match the pain in pure intensity.

But that was short-lived. Waves of pain, nausea, and dizziness assailed me. Max might have missed arteries or vital organs, but in my current condition, I wouldn’t be able to fight off him and the other vampire, plus rescue her. It was only because of being half vampire that I was even still conscious at all.

Bones
. I’d often teased him about being paranoid over my safety, but it looked like the joke was on me. Sure, if I didn’t show up at the compound later, he would be worried. Probably enough to come straight here, but from Max’s expression, he’d arrive too late.

“You should have killed me when you had the chance,” Max said, staring down at me. “Bet now you wish you’d done that instead of marrying Bones back at Ian’s that night.”

Even if this was it for me—and I wasn’t ready to concede that by a long shot—I couldn’t bring myself to agree.

“Have I ever mentioned how much I hate you, Max?” I managed to grit out. Maybe I could stall him. Get him pissed enough to want to take his time killing me.

The other vampire laughed. “She has such spirit,” he said, eyeing me even as he stroked my mother’s hair. “What a waste.”

Recognition dawned about where I’d seen the black-haired vampire before. He was the one who’d gotten away from Chuck E. Cheese’s that day!

“You,” I said.

He smiled. “Nice to see you again, too.”

Max set the rocket launcher down, but that didn’t do me nearly as much good now as it would have a few minutes ago.

“Calibos,” he said, “if my daughter moves, kill her mother.”

With that grim directive, Max disappeared into the kitchen. I kept applying pressure to the hole in my gut, since it was bleeding worse than my leg.
Goddamn you, Max,
I thought through the pain.
I’ll see you dead even if it’s the last thing I do.

And from the looks of it, it probably would be.

My mother still stared sightlessly ahead. Aside from that, to my relief, she didn’t look hurt. Calibos, as Max called the other vampire, let his hand wander down the front of her shirt to squeeze her breast. A low growl came from me that made him grin.

“Temper, temper,” he purred, letting his hand creep lower.

Max came out of the kitchen and glared at Calibos. “Not her,” he said curtly. “If there’s time, you can have Cat, but Justina’s mine.”

Oh dear God
. Renewed determination surged through me. I couldn’t let Max live, even if I ended up killing me and my mother in the process of taking him down. I knew my mother. She’d rather be dead than raped by a vampire, especially Max.

“I think it’s time to wake her up, don’t you?” my father asked me in that same chipper tone. He handed his gun to Calibos with directions to shoot me if I twitched, then went over to my mother. Max cut his thumb on one of the four knives he’d returned from the kitchen with and held it to her mouth.

“Rise and shine, Justina,” he said, rubbing the blood on her lips.

My mother licked it, blinked once—and then screamed.

Max’s hand clamped over her mouth. I tried to push the pain back enough to concentrate on a plan.
Come on, Cat, think! There’s got to be a way out of this.

“Hello, beautiful,” Max said, putting his face right next to my mother’s. “I’m going to take my hand away, but for every time you scream, I’m going to cut something off our daughter. Understand?”

My mother’s gaze flicked to me, widened, and then she nodded. Max dropped his hand.

“That’s better. Now, to make sure kitty here doesn’t spoil the fun…”

Max walked over to me, still holding those knives. I braced myself, wanting to grab for those blades like I’d wanted nothing before it. But Calibos had the gun
pointed at me and my mother within biting distance. I’d make my stand, but this wasn’t the time.

Max smiled, kneeling to grab my wrist. “You’re going to die,” he said, low enough that only I could hear him, “but I’ll let your mother live just so she can remember that she watched it happen. But if you fight me, little girl, I’ll rape her and kill her in front of you before I finish you. How much do you want to save her from that?”

I’d never felt such hatred for anyone as I did for my father. There was a chance that Max would kill us both anyway, but I had three choices. Hope I came up with a brilliant plan and managed to rescue both of us, hope Max took long enough torturing me that Bones showed up in time…or go for those knives and risk watching Max make good on his threat about my mother. I knew he was capable of it. There wasn’t much I thought was beneath him.

“Let her go when it’s over,” I said very softly, opting for Plan A or B.

Max smiled. “Smart girl.” His fingers stroked my wrist. “Why did you come here alone? Where’s Bones?”

Lying always sounded more authentic when it was mixed with the truth. “He’s at the compound. He changed one of my team last night into a vampire, so he’s staying with him until he’s over the blood craze.”

Max’s smile widened. “Tate.”

I couldn’t hide my shock. My father laughed. “How do I know about that? Belinda gave Calibos the information. Once I found your mother, all I had to do was compel her to invite you over. I owe Belinda a huge thank-you.”

Belinda. Son of a bitch, I’d underestimated that blue-eyed bimbo. Now I knew what she’d been whispering to Calibos as she led him out of Chuck E. Cheese’s. What was the one thing Belinda knew that no one else outside my unit did? The date and time we were changing Tate. Belinda must have figured with me dead, no one would piece together how Max had done this. But she hadn’t figured on dying herself.

Another wave of light-headedness swept over me. I must have been bleeding internally, since what was leaking out onto the floor didn’t account for how I felt.

“You’ll have to save the thanks, Max, because she’s dead.”

He shrugged. “That’s a shame. Nice girl.”

“Max.”

Both of us turned. My mother was still standing where she’d been. Slow tears trickled down her face. I’d never seen her cry before.

“It’s me you want,” she said in a raspy voice. “I raised Catherine, and I taught her to hate every vampire she met. Let her go. This is between you and me.”

This, not being shot twice, was what brought tears to my eyes. All the times I’d thought she didn’t love me, and here my mother was trying to use herself to barter with the vampire she feared the most.

Max lasered a green glare her way. “Oh, I have unfinished business with you, Justina. Do you know what a pain in the ass it’s been, being the vampire who fathered the half-breed? I’ve had strangers beat me on sight! But I get no protection if I just kill you, whereas taking
her
out garners me new friends. They wanted Bones dead, too, but I’ll take what I can get.”

I was about to ask who these new friends were, when Max took one those knives and speared it straight through my wrist, hard enough to pin it to the floor. I gave a harsh gasp, but it was my mother who screamed.

“Stop it!”

Max grinned, keeping the other knives well away from my reach. “Thanks, Justina. Now I get to do a little slicing, courtesy of you.”

Calibos let out an annoyed sigh I could hear even above my own labored breathing.

“This is boring. Am I going to get to do anything fun today?”

Max took another knife, giving a meaningful glance at my mother before touching its tip to my skin. “Go on, fight me. Give me a reason to make you watch your mother suffer before she dies,” he whispered.

I set my teeth and didn’t fight as he drove this blade slowly through my other wrist. It hurt even more than the first one had. My mother let out a moan that sounded like she was in pain, too.

“Please.” It was barely audible, and she held her hand out to Max. “Please, no more. This is my fault, leave her alone!”

“What time is your playboy vampire expecting you back?” Max asked, ignoring her.

It would take Bones twenty minutes to get to the airport from the compound, maybe less with the way he drove. Then another fifteen or so minutes to load up Annette’s ridiculous amount of bags and head back. Would Bones call me once he’d gotten back to the compound? I had my phone set to vibrate, so I wouldn’t be able to hear it if he did, since it was outside in my purse. God, would it take him hours before he even wondered why I wasn’t back yet?

“Three hours,” I said, keeping my face as blank as possible.

Max let a nasty smile curl his lips. “I’m going to assume that really means one hour. But don’t worry. I’ll make it count. Oh, and I’ll take this.”

Max yanked my engagement ring off my finger. He held it up to the light and grinned.

“Must be five carats,” he said admiringly. “This’ll net me a couple million, easy.”

“It’s a ruby,” I snapped, hating the sight of my engagement ring in his hands.

Max laughed. “Stupid little girl, that’s a
diamond
. Red diamonds are the rarest in the world, and Bones has had this stone for over a century. Ian’s wanted to buy it from him for decades. But you won’t be needing it anymore.”

Max sliced up the front of my shirt, remarking that this was for Calibos’s benefit, not his. The throbbing from my wrists, combined with the searing pain in my legs and gut, made it so easy for me to pass out. I kept fighting the blackness that crouched temptingly near.

My mother darted forward. Calibos caught her, giving her a hard shake.

“You’re nothing but animals,” she hissed at them.

“Insults count as screaming,” Max replied, laughing as she gaped in disbelief. “My game, so I get to make up the rules. That’s two things I get to cut off Cat now. Want to make it three?”

I met my mother’s gaze over Max’s shoulder. Her eyes were wide and overflowing. I gave the barest shake of my head.
Please don’t. You can’t make it better. Just run when you have the chance.

She couldn’t hear my silent urgings, of course. Max
let the tip of his knife dip to my jeans, and he slit them down the side.

“Here’s where I’ll start,” he remarked, then grabbed a handful of my hip and gave a hard upward swipe with the third knife.

I bit my lip so hard to keep from screaming that I tasted blood. Calibos snickered. Max held up my severed piece of skin like it was a trophy.

“Nice tattoo,” he said, flinging it to the side. “Maybe I’ll have that shipped to Bones, so he can have a spare.”

My hip flamed where there was now a bleeding open wound instead of the crossbones tattoo I’d gotten to match the one on Bones’s arm. My mother didn’t cry out this time, but she drew in a deep, shuddering breath.