Home for the Holidays: A Night Huntress Novella (4 page)

Seven

T
HE SIX OF
them were still in their same spots in the family room when we came back inside. Denise went straight upstairs, but I pasted on my best hostess smile as I walked over to Bones, laying my hand on his shoulder.

“Pardon me, but I need to steal my husband away for a few minutes.”

It took two tugs on his shoulder, but he finally glanced up. “Why?”

I kept my smile even though the question was curt. “Because,
dear,
I need your help with something.”

“Whatever it is, I’m sure you can manage.”

Ice raced up my spine. His expression was cold, and the look he gave me was the one I’d seen him bestow on enemies before a brawl that ended bloody. Never had I thought to be on the receiving end of such a glare from Bones, and the fact that it was over something so small made my sense of foreboding triple.

This wasn’t just odd behavior. It was as if Bones had been replaced with a stranger.

I met Wraith’s gaze, noting the surprise that flickered over his face before he covered it with a smile.

“I’ve monopolized everyone too long, I fear. I’ll retire to my room for a bit.”

Several instant protests met this statement, until Wraith held out his hands.

“Please, everyone. Attend to your lovely ladies. I’ll see you later.”

As if a switch had been flipped, Bones turned to me and smiled, his expression warm. “What did you need?”

I kept my jaw from swinging, with the utmost difficulty. “It’s in our room,” I managed. “Come with me.”

My rising fears made the steps leading there feel like they’d morphed into miles. By the time we crossed the threshold, I was almost vibrating with agitation.

“What the fuck is going on?” I demanded as soon as I shut the door. So much for subtlety.

Bones frowned. “Blimey, what’s gotten into you that you’re in such a lather?”

“What’s gotten into me?
Me?
” I repeated, catching myself before I became more shrill. Even soundproofing would be tested with a scream. I forced myself to calm down, to take two deep breaths before continuing.

“Care to tell me what you and the others are up to with Wraith?” I asked in almost a normal tone.

Another frown creased his features, this time with traces of confusion. “What do you mean?”

More deep breaths. I hadn’t breathed this much in months. “You all seem . . . inordinately attentive to him. Like you don’t notice anyone else.”

That also wasn’t subtle, but it was the best I could muster, since every fiber of me wanted to grab Bones and see if shaking him would snap him out of this.

His frown cleared and when he spoke, his tone held teasing, affectionate notes. “You’re not jealous about me paying attention to him, are you?”

Wow, was karma quick to pay me back for how I’d dismissed Ian’s concerns this morning!

“I’m not jealous,” I gritted out, switching tactics. “But I thought we agreed that Wraith needed some investigating before we went any further with him.”

“Oh, that.” Bones waved a hand. “Not necessary. It’s obvious he’s a good bloke and I’m proud to call him my brother.”

My stomach felt like it sank to my knees. His words and my tie into his emotions revealed that this wasn’t an act. Bones believed everything he’d said even though the man I loved would never be so blindly trusting. Somehow, Wraith had managed to do the impossible—brainwash a vampire. And not just one; several, judging from Spade, Annette, Mencheres, and Kira’s identical behavior. If I didn’t need to discover how, so I could reverse it, I’d go downstairs and kill him for screwing with everyone’s minds.

Then again, if Wraith was powerful enough to mesmerize other vampires, who knew what tricks he had up his sleeve? I might end up as nothing more than a stain on the floor if I went after him before I knew more about the source of his abilities.

I stared into Bones’s eyes and made him a silent promise.
I’ll fix this and get the real you back. I don’t know how yet, but I will.

And then I’d kill Wraith, brother-in-law or not. Of course, if he had enough power to brainwash vampires, fabricating his connection to Bones would’ve been easy. He might have done it as an excuse to get close to everyone. For what purpose, I didn’t know, but whatever his motivation, I couldn’t let him succeed.

But before I did anything else, I had to cover my tracks. “You’re right, I
was
a little jealous of all the attention Wraith was getting,” I said, hoping my voice wasn’t too husky from the anger roiling in me. “Let me make it up to you. We’ll change our plans for Christmas. Instead of just the eight of us, we’ll have a big party to officially welcome Wraith into the family.”

He smiled with such clear pleasure that my heart twisted. The gorgeous vampire in front of me looked exactly like the man I loved, but somehow, Wraith had buried the real Bones underneath layers I couldn’t penetrate.

“That’s a smashing idea. He deserves a proper welcome.”

Oh, I’d welcome Wraith good and proper, all right. With a lot of lit dynamite, if I got my Christmas wish. But I smiled back, glad beyond measure that the tie between us didn’t flow both ways and Bones couldn’t sense my emotions.

“Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of everything.”

I
BANGED ON
the door of room 116. A conversation with the hotel’s registration attendant combined with a couple flashes from my gaze had gotten me Ian’s room number. Even though I didn’t know what alias he’d checked in under, the descriptors of “tall, red-haired, hot, and English” had been enough.

“Open up, Ian!” I called out when another round of banging didn’t produce any results.

The door in front of me didn’t open, but one at the end of the hall did. A familiar head poked out.

“That’s enough, Reaper. You’ve already woken the dead. No need to rouse everyone else.”

Guess I hadn’t been given the right room number after all. I started down the hall, but Ian waved me back.

“Let me get my trousers and I’ll be right with you.”

He disappeared into the room and was back in a minute, sans shirt but wearing the aforementioned pants. To my surprise, he pulled out a key and opened the door I’d been banging on.

“Come in.”

I put two and two together, and shook my head in disgust.

“Unbelievable. Something really scary is going on with Bones and the others, but you
still
take the time to get laid.”

“Do I smell like I’ve been shagging?” he said grumpily. “I slept in another room for safety. I told you where I was without knowing if your mind had been bollocksed up, too. So if you’d have shown up with Crispin and broken down this door, I’d have taken that as a sign to run for my life. Since you’re alone and appear to be your normal harping self, I take it you’re
not
under Wraith’s influence.”

I was so glad to drop the all-is-well act I’d kept up since last night that I didn’t even mind the harping comment. “No, I’m not. But you, I, Denise, and Fabian seem to be the only ones who aren’t. It’s got to be some sort of spell, but I don’t understand how Wraith got one to work on everyone except the four of us.”

Ian sighed. “Since I saw you yesterday, I’ve done nothing but ponder that very question. If I’m right about what we’re dealing with, the only thing protecting me is this.”

He unzipped his pants and tugged them down. I whirled just in time, barking, “I don’t care what you think, your junk does
not
have special abilities. And I already heard about the piercing,” over my shoulder.

“That’s not what I wanted to show you,” he replied in an implacable voice. “Now stop being such a twit and look.”

“This better not be one of your sick jokes,” I muttered, turning around. Thankfully, the first thing I saw wasn’t Ian waggling Mr. One Eye at me, though he didn’t seem concerned that his hand didn’t totally conceal the flesh behind it. With his free hand, he pointed at a tattoo that was so close to the base of his groin, it melded into his hairline.
So you’re a real redhead, too,
ran through my mind before I could help myself.

“Aside from knowing that you appear to have a fetish for decorating your goods, I don’t see—”

“This is no ordinary tattoo,” he cut me off. “It’s a warding symbol. Don’t you recognize it from Denise’s former markings?”

My gaze narrowed and I did something I would’ve sworn was impossible not five minutes before—I came closer and knelt down so Ian’s groin was in better view. Sure enough, I recognized the symbols. They were smaller, contained in a single circle versus the various markings that had covered Denise’s forearms, but unmistakable.

“Wow,” I whispered.

He grunted. “If I had a pound for every time a girl said that while in your position.”

I sat back and asked the most obvious questions. “Why do you have a tattoo that wards away demonic influence on your
groin,
Ian? And what does this have to do with Bones and the others?”

He gave me an unblinking stare. “Because decades ago, I ran afoul of a demon and didn’t want him finding me. Also didn’t want that fact bandied about, so I hid my warding spell in a place where most people who saw it wouldn’t know its meaning.”

My gaze bored into his with equal intensity. “How did you run afoul of a demon? Did you make a deal and then renege?”

“No.” For some reason, I believed him, so the single word relieved me. Getting out of a demonic deal was nigh-impossible, and they usually accepted only one form of currency: your soul. Much as Ian rubbed me the wrong way, I wouldn’t wish that to be hanging over his head.

“Then what?”

“It’s not pertinent,” he said crisply. “Suffice it to say that during this time, I discovered demons have their own form of black magic, only theirs makes everyone else’s look like child’s play.”

I swallowed hard. Fabian had spied Wraith sprinkling blood around our property and found the strange symbol in the bedroom. With everyone’s bizarre actions the next day, I’d assumed Wraith must be into magic. Looked like I was right, only he’d gone much darker—and more dangerous—than that.

“Wraith’s a vampire, not a demon. So how could he wield hell’s version of a spell? I’ve never heard of a vampire doing that, and mastering a demonic enchantment strong enough to enthrall other vampires should be way beyond his pay grade, from the feel of his aura.”

Ian smiled, cold and tight. “Denise feels like an ordinary human, yet she’s much more than that, isn’t she?”

It hit me what Ian was driving at. He thought Wraith got his additional power through the same method that had made Denise far more than human. If he was right, it explained why Wraith only felt like an average vampire though he could wield a spell that even Mencheres wouldn’t dare to attempt. I still didn’t know why I was unaffected, but it also made sense why Ian, Denise, and Fabian weren’t influenced by the demonic magic. Of course, it also meant that Wraith was nearly unstoppable.

“We’re so fucked,” I breathed.

Ian let out a dry laugh. “That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said all morning.”

Eight

I
HEARD
W
RAIT
H’S
voice before I got out of the car. Its melodic cadence combined with my favorite accent should’ve sounded soothing. Instead, it was like nails on a chalkboard.
Don’t you ever tire of listening to yourself talk?
I wondered irritably, but affixed a bright smile on my face when I came through the door.

That smile almost cracked when I saw Wraith seated on an ottoman as though it were a throne. He’d moved it so that he was near the large fireplace, the glow from it playing over his features and making him look even more ethereal. Wraith wore another flowery shirt under his jacket, lace spilling out over the cuffs to wreath his hands. I’d first thought he picked those shirts to be pretentious, but now I had another idea about why he wore them, and it had nothing to do with an outdated fashion sense.

Wraith smiled at me. “Cat. I trust your trip was fruitful?”

I pulled up a seat next to Bones, who, like everyone else, sat in a semicircle around Wraith, akin to adoring courtiers paying their king homage. It was all I could do not to grab a poker and beat Wraith’s head in before I roasted his chestnuts for some real holiday cheer.

“Oh, yeah, I found a few places that I think would work for the party,” I said, sticking to the excuse I’d given for running out this morning. “In fact, I want to take Denise and get her opinion on my favorites.”

“I’m sure that will be lovely.” Wraith stretched out his legs. “Right, then. We were just talking about—”

“I meant now,” I cut him off as pleasantly as I could.

His smoky-blue eyes narrowed. “Rather rushed about it, aren’t you?”

“It’s almost Thanksgiving, so the best places are booking up fast for the winter holidays,” I improvised, trying to sound as sincere and obsequious as possible. “I’d be so embarrassed if we had to settle for a substandard facility to hold your introduction party. After all, this is so much more important than a regular Christmas celebration.”

It wasn’t lost on me that Bones was silent, letting Wraith determine what I would and wouldn’t do with my own time. If I’d had any lingering doubts about him being bespelled, that got rid of them. The man I married would tell Wraith to keep his bloody opinions to himself should I ever have an unexpected case of muteness when someone questioned me on my comings and goings. Not sit back quietly and let a stranger muse over whether I was allowed to go out for an afternoon. No one else uttered a peep, either. It was as though they’d been replaced with incredibly lifelike mannequins.

“Do hurry back,” Wraith said at last, with an acquiescing flick of his fingers.

If I held this fake smile any longer, my face would crack. “You’ll barely notice we were gone.”

Denise rose, shooting me a grateful look once her back was turned to Wraith. Spade didn’t glance her way or bother saying good-bye. Neither did Bones, another piece of evidence that nothing but an otherworldly spell could account for this type of behavior from a vampire to his wife. I stared at Bones as long as I dared, wishing I could find an excuse to get him to leave, too. But Wraith wouldn’t allow that, and telling him where to shove it would clue him in that I wasn’t under his dirty little enchantment. Plus, in Bones’s current state, he probably would refuse to leave if Wraith didn’t want him to.

Rage flared through me, which I stuffed back with promises of another time, another place. “See you all soon,” I got out, and followed Denise out the door.

Fabian already floated by the car, to my relief. He would come with us while his ghostly girlfriend, Elisabeth, stayed here to keep an eye on things. “Get in,” I whispered at him.

Fabian disappeared and then reappeared in the backseat in the time it took me to blink. I pulled out of the driveway nice and slow, no telltale squealing of tires or flying gravel to betray my sense of urgency. Denise was also so tense that I couldn’t hear a word of her thoughts. A good thing, too, since if I couldn’t, then Mencheres and Bones couldn’t, either, and they wouldn’t relay anything to Wraith. Only when we were miles away did my white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel lessen.

“Ian’s got a theory about what’s going on,” I said, breaking the silence.

“Well?” she prodded.

I got onto the freeway, heading toward Asheville. “You’re not going to like it, because it means that neither of us can go back.”

“What? No!” she said at once. “I’m not leaving Spade with some dick that’s got him acting like a robot for God knows what reason—”

“You think I like leaving Bones?” I cut her off. “I know exactly how hard this is, but if we ever want to see our husbands without them being the equivalent of Wraith’s wind-up toys, we need to work together.”

Her mouth remained mulishly set, but she asked, “What’s Ian’s theory?” without further argument.

I sighed and reached out, pulling up the sleeve of Denise’s cardigan to expose the dark, star-shaped marking on her forearm.

“Wraith’s spell is rooted in demonic magic, and the reason he can wield it is because under his long lacy sleeves, we think he has a pair of demon brands, too.”

Denise paled until our skin tones almost matched. I returned my attention to the road, not wanting to add to my woes with a high-speed collision.

Fabian recovered first. “If Wraith was also branded by a demon, then like Denise, he now has all the powers of that demon. He’ll be almost impossible to kill!”

“Bull’s-eye,” I noted dryly.

“We have a knife made of demon bone. Stab it through his eyes and he’ll die, same as I would,” Denise said, still sounding dazed by the information.

I gave her a jaded glance. “Where’s that knife now, huh?”

“Spade has it locked up for safety reasons,” she murmured, then added, “I don’t know where, and I can’t ask with him being all spell-addled. Fuck!”

I nodded. “That’s just what I’ve been saying.”

Fabian cleared his throat, which, for someone lacking a physical esophagus, was his way of politely telling us to pay attention.

“That could be, ah, rectified.”

I met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “I’m glad you think so, because part of our plan involves you helping us search Spade’s many houses to find it.”

A delicate cough. “That’s not necessary. The same, ahem,
material
is right here.”

“Fabian, get to the point, please? Your beating around the bush isn’t making any sense,” I said, exasperated.

“Yes it is,” Denise replied, drawing out each word. “He means we have all the demon bone we need in my body.”