One Foot in the Grave (3 page)

A
T TEN TO SIX THE FOLLOWING
M
ONDAY,
my phone rang. I glanced at the number that flashed up and frowned. Why was Denise calling me from her house? She was supposed to have gotten here fifteen minutes ago.

“What’s up?” I answered. “You’re running late.”

It sounded like she took a deep breath. “Cat, don’t be mad at me, but…I’m not coming.”

“Are you sick?” I asked worriedly.

There was the sound of another deep breath. “No, I’m not coming because I want
you
to go out with Noah. Alone. You said he seemed like a really nice guy.”

“But I don’t want to go on a date!” I protested. “I was only doing this so you could meet him, but then have a graceful way out if he wasn’t your type.”

“For God’s sake, Cat, I don’t need another date, but you do! I mean, my
grandmother
gets more action than you. Look, I know you don’t talk about the other guy,
whoever he was, but we’ve been friends for over three years and you’ve got to start to live. Dazzle Noah with your drinking skills, burn his ears with your language, but
try
to have a little fun with a guy you’re not intending to kill by the end of the night. At least once. Maybe then you won’t be so sad all the time.”

She’d hit a nerve. Even though I’d never mentioned specifics about Bones, especially the one about him being a vampire, she knew I’d loved someone and then lost him. And she knew how alone I felt, more than I’d ever admit to.

I sighed. “I don’t think it’s a good idea—”

“I do,” she cut me off at once. “You’re not dead, so you need to stop acting like you are. It’s just dinner, not eloping to Vegas. No one says you even have to see Noah again. But just go out this once. Come on.”

I looked at my new kitty. He blinked, which I took as a yes as well.

“All right. Noah’s due here in five minutes. I’ll go, but I’ll probably say something completely inappropriate and be home in an hour.”

Denise laughed. “It doesn’t matter; at least you’d have given it a shot. Call me when you get in.”

I said goodbye and hung up. Apparently I was going on a date. Ready or not.

As I passed by a mirror, I did a double take at my reflection. My newly brown hair was cut shoulder-length and looked foreign, but that was the idea, in case Ian decided to confirm the rumors about my appearance. I didn’t need any vampires or ghouls getting a heads-up as to who I was because of my hair color. Blondes might have more fun, but I was hoping for a higher
body count. The Red Reaper had been laid to rest. Long live the Brunette Reaper!

When Noah knocked on the door, I was as prepared as I was going to be. His smile froze when he saw me.

“You were a redhead before, right? I didn’t just imagine it in my anxiety?”

I raised a brow, no longer red but honey-colored. “I wanted a change. Been a redhead all my life, and I felt like something different.”

He backpedaled at once. “Well, it’s beautiful.
You’re
beautiful. I mean, you were beautiful before and you still are now. Let’s go, before you change your mind.”

I already had, but that had nothing to do with Noah. Still, much as I hated to admit it, Denise was right. I could spend another night tormenting myself over someone I could never have, or I could go out and try to have a nice evening for a change.

“Bad news,” I told him. “My friend, um, got held up and she couldn’t make it. Sorry. If you want to cancel I’ll completely understand.”

“No,” Noah said at once, smiling. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”

It’s just one date
, I reminded myself as I walked to his car. What harm could there be?

Noah and I went to Renardo’s, an Italian bistro. Out of courtesy I drank only red wine, not wanting to reveal my penchant for vast quantities of gin and tonic.

“What do you do for a living, Cristine?” he asked.

“Field research and recruitment for the Bureau.”

It was sorta true, if you called hunting down and killing creatures of the night
research
. Or defined go
ing across the country rounding up the best men the military, law enforcement, FBI, or even the criminal justice system had to offer as
recruitment
. Hey, far be it for an operation that killed the undead to discriminate in who we hired, right? Some of our best team members had once worn an orange jersey. Juan was a penal code graduate who chose working for Don over twenty years behind bars. The mishmash might not make for the most traditionally behaved fighting unit, but it sure was a deadly one.

Noah’s eyes widened. “The Bureau? You’re an FBI agent?”

“Not technically. Our department is more of an extension of Homeland Security.”

“Oh, so you have one of those jobs where you could tell me what you did, but then you’d have to kill me?” he teased.

I almost choked on my wine.
You said it, buddy.
“Uh, nothing that exciting. Just recruitment and research. I’m on call constantly, though, and I work strange hours. That’s why Denise would be a better person to introduce you around Richmond than me.”

This I said directly to put out any illusions. Noah was sweet, but anything more wouldn’t happen.

“I understand strange hours and being on call. I get paged at any hour for an emergency. Nothing as serious as your line of work, but still. Even the littlest things in life deserve attention. I’ve always felt how you treated something weaker than you showed your true character.”

Well, well
. He had just raised a notch in my opinion.

“Sorry Denise couldn’t make it,” I said for probably the fifth time. “I think you’d really like her.”

Noah leaned forward. “I’m sure I would, but I’m not sorry she couldn’t make it. I only used meeting people as an excuse to ask you out. I really just wanted to go on a date with you. It must have been those fuzzy slippers.”

I laughed, which startled me. Truthfully, I’d expected to have a miserable time, but this was…nice.

“I’ll bear that in mind.”

I studied him over my wineglass. Noah wore a crewneck gray shirt and a sports coat, with charcoal slacks. His black hair was freshly cut, but that one lock kept falling over his forehead. Noah certainly had no reason to lack for dates. Even if his skin didn’t have that creamy crystal luminescence that glittered in the moonlight…

I shook my head. Dammit, I had to stop haunting myself with Bones! There was no hope for the two of us. Even if we did manage to conquer the insurmountable obstacles of my job killing the undead, or my mother’s seething hatred of anything with fangs, we
still
wouldn’t work. Bones was a vampire. He’d stay forever young while I’d inevitably grow old and die. The only way around my mortality was if I changed over, and I refused to do that. No matter how it broke my heart, I’d made the only decision I could by leaving him. Hell, Bones might not even think about me anymore. He’d probably moved on; it had been over four years since we’d seen each other. Maybe it was time for me to move on, too.

“Do you want to skip dessert and go for a walk?” I impulsively asked.

Noah didn’t hesitate. “I’d love to.”

We drove forty minutes to get to the beach. Being March, it was still frigid, and I wrapped my coat around me in the cold ocean breeze. Noah walked closely next to me, his hands inside his pockets.

“I love the ocean. It’s why I moved from Pittsburgh to Virginia. Ever since I first saw it, I knew I wanted to live near it. There’s something about it that makes me feel small, but like I’m still part of the bigger picture. That sounds cheesy, but it’s true.”

Wistfully I smiled. “It’s not cheesy. I feel the same way about the mountains. I still go back there, whenever I get a chance…”

My voice trailed off, because I was remembering who I’d been with when I first saw the mountains. This had to stop.

In a burst of longing to forget, I grabbed Noah and almost yanked his head down to mine. He hesitated a fraction before responding, wrapping his arms around me, his pulse tripling as I kissed him.

Just as suddenly as I began, I pulled away. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me.”

A shaky chuckle escaped him. “That kind of rudeness I’d been hoping for. In fact, I was planning a smooth maneuver with asking you to sit, maybe putting my arm around you…but I like your way better.”

God, his lip was bleeding. Stupid me forgot to check my strength. Poor Noah was apparently a glutton for abuse. At least I didn’t knock his teeth down his throat; he might have objected more strongly to that.

Noah grasped my shoulders, and this time he lowered his head under his own power. I restrained my normal force, kissing him gently and letting his tongue dip past my lips. His heart rate shot up higher and his blood traveled south. It was almost funny to hear his body’s reaction.

I pushed Noah back. “That’s all I’m willing to give.”

“I’m very happy with that, Cristine. The only other thing I want is to see you again. I
really
want to see you again.”

His face was earnest and so honest. Completely unlike mine with all my secrets.

I sighed again. “Noah, I lead a very…odd life. My job has me traveling frequently, leaving without notice, and having to cancel almost every plan I make. Does that sound like something you want to get involved in?”

He nodded. “It sounds great, because it’s
your
life. I would love to get involved in it.”

The sensible part of my brain sent me a clear warning.
Don’t do it.
My loneliness slapped it down.

“Then I’d like to see you again, too.”

A
KNOCK BOOMED AT MY DOOR, CAUSING ME
to bolt up in bed. It was only nine in the morning. No one came by this early; they all knew my sleeping habits. Even Noah, who I’d been dating now for a month, knew better than to call or come over at such an ungodly hour.

I went downstairs, habit making me put a silver knife in my robe pocket, and looked through the peephole.

Tate was on the other side, and he also appeared as though he’d been freshly woken up.

“What’s wrong?” I said as I opened the door.

“We need to get to the compound. Don’s waiting for us, and he’s calling in Juan and Dave as well.”

I left the door open and went back upstairs to throw on some clothes. No way was I showing up in my Tweety Bird pajamas; that would hardly inspire respect among my men.

After changing and doing a quick brush of my teeth,
I climbed into Tate’s car, blinking at the bright morning sunlight.

“Do you know why we’re being hauled in? Why didn’t Don call me first?”

Tate grunted. “He wanted to ask my opinion of the situation before speaking to you. There were some murders last night in Ohio. Pretty graphic, no attempt made to hide the bodies. In fact, they were displayed.”

“What’s so unusual about that? Terrible, I give you, but not out of the ordinary.”

I was confused. We didn’t jet around to every nasty crime scene, or we’d never be able to cover them all. There was more than he was telling me.

“We’re almost there. I’ll let Don fill you in on the rest. My job was just to pick you up.”

Tate had been a sergeant in Special Forces before joining Don, and his years in the military showed.
Follow orders, don’t question command decisions.
It was what Don loved about him—and why I frustrated my boss so much, because my credo seemed to be the exact opposite.

In twenty minutes, we were at the compound. The armed guards waved us through the gates as usual. Tate and I were such a common sight, we didn’t even show identification anymore. We practically knew all the guards by name, rank, and serial number.

Don was in his office, pacing by his desk, and my brows shot up. My boss was normally cool and collected. This was only the second time I’d seen him pace in the four years since he recruited me. The first was when he found out that Ian, or Liam Flannery, as Don still thought of him, had gotten away. Don had wanted
me to bring the vampire in to keep as a pet, so we could siphon blood from him to make more Brams. When I came back without Ian, I thought Don would pop a seam. Or wear a trench in his carpet. My being stabbed was barely an afterthought. Don really had a mixed-up set of priorities, in my opinion.

On his desk were photos that looked downloaded. He gestured to them as we came in.

“I have a friend at the Franklin County Police Department who scanned these two hours ago and sent them to me. He’s already contained the area and barred any more police or medical examiners from the scene. You’re leaving as soon as the team is assembled. Pick your best men, because you’re going to need them. We’ll have additional personnel standing by to deploy at your command. This has to be put to bed immediately.”

Franklin County. My old hometown. “Cut the mystery, Don. You have my attention.”

In reply he handed me one of the photographs. It was of a small room, with a pile of fresh body parts strewn on the carpet. I recognized it at once, because it used to be my bedroom at my grandparents’ house. The writing on the wall froze me, and I knew at once why Don was freaked.

here kitty kitty

That wasn’t good. Not fucking good at all. The fact that this deliberate taunt was clearly addressed to me,
and
in the house I grew up in, showed two terrifying things. Someone knew my stage name—and my real one.

“Where’s my mother?” She was my first thought. Perhaps they only knew about Catherine Crawfield, or maybe they knew about Cristine Russell, too.

Don held up a hand. “We’ve sent men to her house with instructions to bring her here. We’re doing that as a precaution, because I think if they knew who and where you were now, they wouldn’t have bothered with your birthplace.”

Yes, that was true. I was so upset I wasn’t thinking clearly. That had to stop, because there was no time to be stupid.

“Do you have any idea who this could be, Cat?”

“Of course not! Why would I?”

Don pondered that for a minute, pulling the hairs on his eyebrow.

“It’s coincidental that you’ve been dating Noah Rose for a month now, and suddenly someone’s found you out? Have you told him what you are? What you do?”

I gave Don a nasty glare. “You ran a full background check on Noah the minute you discovered I was dating him. Without my permission, I might add, and no, Noah doesn’t know anything about vampires, what I do, or what I am. This better be the last time I have to assure you of that.”

Don gave a concurring nod, then went on to speculate again. “Do you think this could be Liam Flannery? Did you tell him
anything
before that he could have used to trace you?”

A cold chill went through me. Ian had connections to my past, all right. Through Bones. Bones knew my family’s old address, my real name, and he used to only call me Kitten. Could this be Bones? Would he have
done something this extreme to draw me out of hiding? After over four years, did he still even think about me?

“No, I didn’t tell Flannery anything. I don’t see how he could be responsible.”

The lie tripped off my tongue without pause. If it was Bones, directly or indirectly, I’d deal with him myself. Don and Tate thought his body was packed away on ice in the basement freezer. I wasn’t about to change that.

Juan and Dave arrived. Both of them also looked like they’d been freshly woken. Briefly Don filled them in on the situation and its implication.

“Cat, I will leave you four to it,” he concluded. “Pick your team and plug this leak. The planes will be ready when you are. And don’t worry about bringing me back any stragglers this time. Just eliminate whoever knows about you.”

Grimly I nodded, and prayed my suspicions were wrong.

“Have you been home since you started with this Death Squad from Hell? Think anyone will recognize you?”

Dave had kept up a stream of steady chatter as we circled over the air base before landing.

“No, I haven’t been back since my grandparents died. I only had one friend”—and I was definitely
not
referring to a certain horny, alcoholic ghost—“and he graduated from college and moved to Santa Monica years ago.”

That had been Timmie, my old neighbor. Last I checked, he was a reporter for one of those “the truth is out there” independent magazines. You know, the kind that every once in a while hit on an incredible, factual
story and then made Don’s life hell while he tried to find ways to discredit it. Timmie believed I had been killed in a shootout with the police after murdering my grandparents, some police officers, and the governor. What a way to be thought of. Don hadn’t spared my reputation in making me disappear. I even had a headstone and fake autopsy reports.

“Besides…” I shook off the past like a wet raincoat. “With my hair shorter and brown, I look very different. No one would recognize me now.”

Except Bones. He’d know me a mile away by scent alone. The thought of seeing him again, even under such murderous circumstances, made my heart pound. How low I’d fallen.

“You’re sure about bringing Cooper?” Dave nudged me and glanced toward the back of the plane. We had our own little area up front. Weren’t we the special ones?

“I know it’s only been two months since we brought Cooper on, but he’s smart, fast, and ruthless. His years as an undercover narcotics officer probably helped there. He’s performed well in training operations, so it’s time to see how he does in the field.”

Dave frowned. “He doesn’t like you, Cat. He thinks you’ll turn on us one day because you’re a half-breed. I think he should be put under the juice and have the last two months wiped from his mind.”

“Put under the juice” referred to the brainwashing techniques Don had perfected over the last years. Our in-house vampires had their fangs milked like snakes. The hallucinogenic drops they produced were then refined and harvested. When combined with the usual mind-fuck method the military used, it left the partici
pant happily unaware of any details regarding our operation. That was how we weeded through the recruits and didn’t worry about one blabbing about a chick with superhuman powers. All they remembered was a day of hard training.

“Cooper doesn’t have to like me—he only has to follow orders. If he can’t do that, then he’s out. Or dead, if he gets himself killed first. He’s the least of our concerns now.”

The plane touched down with a jar. Dave smiled at me.

“Welcome home, Cat.”