One Foot in the Grave (7 page)

M
Y MOTHER NEEDED SEVERAL MORE DIRE
warnings before she agreed not to do anything to disrupt the reception. Or notify my work about Bones. I had flatly promised to change myself into a vampire on the spot if she did either.

“That’s what he wants from you, Catherine. He wants to steal your soul and turn you into a beast,” she said for the third time as she escorted me into the hall.

“Well, then, you’ll bear that in mind and keep your mouth shut, won’t you? And for God’s sake, call me Cristine. Can you
be
more obvious?”

We reached the door. Denise abandoned the pose she had with Randy and met us at the entrance.

“Oh, Cat, I didn’t know that Randy’s friend was…” She lowered her voice. “A vampire! But don’t worry. I talked to Randy. He was amazed I knew they existed, too! We have so much in common. Anyhow, Randy swears he’s harmless. Says he’s known him for months.”

My mother looked at Denise like she’d grown three heads.

“
Harmless?!
We aren’t talking about a dog that may or may not bite! We are talking about a
murderer
—”

“Ahem,” I interrupted, stroking my neck for emphasis. She closed her mouth and stalked off. Farther away I heard Bones snort with laughter. He’d been listening.

“It’s okay, Denise,” I reassured her. “He knows as long as he keeps his fangs clean, we won’t have any problems.”

“How does he know that?” she asked practically. “Did you talk to him? You were in the bathroom awhile and I didn’t see him. Did you corner him?”

The other way around
. “Um, well, kind of…er,” I stammered, something I hadn’t done in years. “I know him. I mean, I’ve seen him around before. Around Virginia, that is. He, uh, he and I have an understanding. He doesn’t mess with me and I don’t mess with him.”

Denise accepted it at face value. “Well, then let’s go get pictures. I’m glad you two aren’t going to fight. Tell him not to mention anything about you to Randy, okay? Your boss would lose all the hairs off his balls if he found out how many people knew about you.”

“Well put.” Well put, indeed.

Bones was Felicity’s mysterious wedding partner. She was delighted, managing to squeeze herself indecently next to him in every shot. To make matters worse, he was being charming. I could have cheerfully killed them both after the pictures.

But I couldn’t show how much it bothered me for the same reason I hadn’t run into Bones’s arms when I first saw him. No matter what my feelings were, nothing
about our circumstances had changed. So I couldn’t afford to let him know how much I still cared. All I could do was play it cool—and hope Bones bought the act enough to leave
me
this time.

I made a beeline for the bar right after the last click of the camera. There was only one thing that could help with tonight, and that was gin. Lots of gin. I downed the first glass without budging in front of the bartender.

“Another one.”

The bartender made an inquiring face but poured another gin and tonic. I eyed the level he selected and gave him a dirty look.

“More alcohol,” I said succinctly.

“Drowning your sorrows?” a familiar voice behind me mocked.

“None of your business,” I replied, straightening.

“There you are, darling!”

Noah came over and gave me a peck on the cheek. Bones tightened his lips into a grim line as he watched.

“Um, Noah…I’ll show you to your table.” I wanted to get him away from Bones, who was looking at Noah like he’d rather drink from his neck than what the bar had to offer.

I saw Noah to his seat, since I was sitting separately at the head table with the rest of the bridal party. My mother pulled me aside as soon as I left Noah. Her face was florid.

“Do you know what that beast did when you walked away from him at the bar? He
winked
at me!”

Caught off guard, I laughed. God, that was priceless. She must have had steam coming out of her ears.

“You think that’s funny?” she irrationally demanded.

“Well, Mom, he risked his life for you, and then you tried your damnedest to have him killed. He may not like you.”

I spoke low but flippantly, not concerned over Bones’s actions with her. He would never hurt her, I knew, but she definitely had some needling coming. God only knew what I had coming.

There were place cards at the head table, which was one long, rectangular thing that would have everyone facing the reception room. I sat at the one marked Cristine Russell. Randy sat to my left, with Denise to his right. To my right read Chris Pin. Who…?

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said aloud. Why didn’t I just shoot myself and get it over with?

“Justina, we meet again.” Bones appeared and took his seat next to me as I vaulted out of my chair. “Wouldn’t want to be rude, but I believe your table is over
there
.”

He inclined his head to where Noah sat, oblivious to the drama.

“There you are!” Felicity squealed. She grabbed Bones by the arm and smiled at him. “You and I are paired together for the night, so no more running off! I hope you dance as great as you look.”

“Slut,” I muttered, but not softly enough.

“What was that?” she asked, still blinking coyly up at Bones.

“Er, good luck.” My voice rose to a normal level and I backed away.

Felicity looked smug. “I don’t need luck.”

I downed my gin and then headed, again, for the bar. My mother glared at Bones as she followed after me.

“Oh, Ms.
Russell
,” Bones called out. I froze. His emphasis on my fake last name was deliberate. Then again, what had I expected? I’d taken Bones’s real surname as my alias; did I think he wouldn’t notice? Or comment? “Would you be a luv and get me a drink? You remember my preference, I’m sure.”

A slew of curses went through my mind, but I took a deep breath and reminded myself to stay calm. Denise was my best friend. She deserved a lovely reception, not a bloodbath.

“That filthy, lecherous—” my mother began.

“Stuff it.” We reached the bar. I gave the poor attendant behind it a murderous look. “Tall glass. All gin. Don’t even think about commenting.”

His face blanched but he poured to my specifications. I took a long swallow before adding, “Oh yeah. And a fucking whiskey, neat.”

F
ELICITY TOOK ONE LOOK AT THE HALF-EMPTY
pilsner glass of gin I returned with and gasped.

“Cristine, can’t you keep a lid on your drinking? This is my cousin’s wedding, for heaven’s sake!”

Her prim tone made me squeeze my glass so hard to avoid slamming it over her head that it shattered. Gin spilled on the front of me, and my palm started to bleed.

“Motherfucker!” I shouted.

Every head turned. Bones smothered a laugh by faking a sudden cough.

“Are you okay?” Randy looked worriedly at me and wrapped his napkin around my hand. He glanced at Bones, who gave him an innocent shrug.

“I’m all right, Randy,” I yelped, mortified.

Denise poked her head around her new husband. “Do you want us to switch the seats?” she asked quietly.

They thought I was rattled because Bones was a
vampire. That was the least of my concerns. His nearness was shredding my control, and the reception had barely started.

“Cristine!” Noah came to the table and took the napkin off my hand. “Is it bad?”

“I’m fine,” I snapped harshly. His hurt face made me cringe with guilt. “Just embarrassed,” I covered. “I’ll be okay. Go back to your seat. Let’s not make it worse.”

Noah looked mollified and he went back to his table. I smiled to mask my treacherous thoughts. “Really,” I added for Denise’s benefit.

I gathered the shards of glass and began to pile them into the bloody napkin. “I’m going to the ladies’ room to wash this off and throw away the glass.”

“I’ll go with you,” Denise offered.

“No!” She looked startled by my abrupt reply. I gave a glance to my right at Bones and then back to her again. Her eyes widened, and she got the picture. Part of it, anyway.

“Cris,” she addressed him. “Would you mind going with Cristine and seeing if they have any bandages? Randy says…” She paused and then continued wickedly, “Randy says you have a great deal of experience with bleeding wounds.”

“Ooh, are you a doctor?” Felicity cooed.

Bones stood and gave Denise an appreciative grin at her choice of words.

“Back in London I was many things,” he answered Felicity evasively.

I made a stop at the bar first. The bartender gave a wide-eyed look at my red-stained napkin.

“Gin. No glass, just the bottle,” I said bluntly.

“Um, miss, maybe you should—”

“Give the lady the bottle, mate,” Bones interjected, his eyes flashing green.

Without delay an unopened gin was thrust in my still-bleeding hand. I twisted the top off, threw away the glass and my bloody napkin, and took a long swallow. Then I led Bones out to the far corner of the parking lot, where there were the fewest cars. He waited patiently while I drank again. I was smearing blood all over the outside of the bottle, but I didn’t care.

“Better?” he asked when I came up for air. His lips twitched with amusement.

“Not hardly,” I countered. “Look, I don’t know how long my mother will keep quiet, but in case you didn’t notice, she hates you. She’ll call in the troops and try to have you skewered over an open flame with a silver stick. You have to leave.”

“No.”

“Dammit, Bones!” My temper exploded. Why did he have to be so gorgeous, why did he have to stand so close, and
why
did I still love him so much? “Are you
trying
to get killed? One call to my boss, that’s all it’ll take, and believe me, my mother’s probably caressing her cell phone and fantasizing about it now.”

Bones rolled his eyes.

“Sods like your boss have chased me most of my undead life, yet I’m still here while they’re not. Neither your mum nor your boss scares me, Kitten. Unless you’d like to choose now for us to have our long-overdue talk, I suggest we return to the festivities. But you can forget about me leaving—or you, either, for that matter. I
found you days ago. There’s a reason you didn’t know about that until now. You try to vanish into the smoke again and it’ll be a short flight, I assure you. Plus, then we’ll be having our chat under much different conditions. Like with you chained up somewhere so you can’t try to sneak off again. You pick your circumstances, luv, but I have damn well waited long enough to have this out with you.”

Uh oh
. I already knew Bones never bluffed, but even if I hadn’t, the look in his eyes said he meant every word.

“It was you I felt outside my house the other night, wasn’t it?” I asked accusingly. Had to be. That was the same night Bones had met Randy at the bar.

A small smile touched his mouth. The breeze ruffled his darker curls, and in his tux with the moonlight caressing the chiseled planes of his face, he looked positively devastating.

“So you felt me. I wondered if you would.”

I couldn’t keep staring at him. I might be immune to vampire powers, but Bones had always been my kryptonite.

“We have to get back to the reception,” was all I said, looking away.

He held out his hand. “Mind if I have a drop from your bottle first?”

I handed over the gin, careful not to let my fingers graze his. Instead of drinking from it, however, Bones grasped the bottle and stared into my eyes as he licked my blood off the slick glass surface. His tongue curved around every contour of the bottle, and heat
flared through me as I watched, mesmerized. When there was not a red drop left on it, he passed it back into my suddenly shaking hand.

Think about work!
my brain screamed.
Think about anything but what that tongue felt like on your skin!

I went to step by him, but he grabbed my hand. I yanked, but it was like pulling against welded steel.

“Quit that,” Bones said mildly, pulling out a knife. My eyes widened, but he just nicked the side of the same hand gripping mine, and then pressed his blood to my cut. It tingled as it healed on contact.

I drew back my hand. This time, he let me, but the swirling green in his gaze said he’d been just as affected by touching me as I had by feeling his skin on mine.

Yeah, I had to leave.
Right. Now.

I turned and walked away quickly, somehow managing not to look back.

The reception was a living hell. Felicity started up a steady stream of suggestive chatter as soon as Bones returned, and he did nothing to discourage it. Grimly I stayed, drinking with the single-mindedness of the condemned as I watched them.

Noah, tonight of all nights, got paged by the animal hospital. He apologized profusely to Denise before he left, but I hardly noticed he was gone.

Denise and Randy were almost the last to leave. They would depart for their honeymoon two days from now, and were going back to her house tonight. I kissed them and wished them every happiness while I was fixated on the fact that it had been five minutes since I’d
seen Felicity and Bones. They were still here, to my knowledge.

Unable to help myself, I searched for them, following the trail of invisible energy that wafted off him. When I found them, I stopped short.

They were in the corner of the patio off the main reception room. It was pitch dark, but I saw everything all too easily. Felicity’s back was to me and her arms were around him. The moonlight glowed off his skin, highlighting his face when he leaned down and kissed her.

I have been stabbed, shot, burned, bitten, beaten unconscious too many times to count, and even staked. None of those held a candle to the pain I felt at seeing his mouth on hers. A soft sound escaped me, barely a disturbance of the air, but it was a sound of pure agony.

At that instant, Bones lifted his eyes to stare directly at me. His gaze seemed to be shouting,
Don’t like it? What are you going to do about it?

I fled as fast as I could, running to my car and practically slamming it into gear. The territorialism all vampires had was seething inside me. I had to leave or I was going to kill Felicity, and technically she hadn’t done anything wrong. No, I was the one with the problem. She was just kissing the man I loved—and had given away.