One Foot in the Grave (9 page)

T
HE VAMPIRES CONSISTED OF TWO MEN AND
a woman. They moved through the bar with a lethal, sensuous grace no living person could duplicate. Pity the living people around them couldn’t sense the danger, however. No, they were vying and jockeying to catch the beautiful predators’ attention instead.

Then they did something that made me groan out loud. They split up. Dammit. I’d hoped they would all head en masse to their secret break room, leaving Bones and me to block their exit and kill them at our leisure. But of course that would have been too easy.

“I’m going to have to call in my team,” I said low to Bones. “Have the perimeter secured.”

He gave a disparaging snort. “Right. Your toy soldiers are well over an hour away, and I can practically feel the bloodlust pouring off these sods. They’re going to feed soon. You wait, and someone will die.”

He was right. Already the three seemed to be pick
ing out their entrées. If one of them headed back to the very messy members-only area and then sounded the alarm, the other two might get away. Furthermore, I couldn’t just do my regular act of offering myself up as a test bite. The blood on my dress ruined my innocent-snack look.

“Got any ideas?” I asked.

Bones smiled. “I do.”

He surprised me by grabbing the girl nearest to him and yanking her close. His hands cupped her head as he brought their faces right up next to each other. I was about to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing when his eyes glowed, partially concealed by his hands. It only took a moment. Bones’s eyes returned to their normal brown, and she stared ahead with a very obedient expression.

“Go to the ladies’ room,” Bones told her, “and switch your dress with this woman.”

I was shaking my head in admiration when a thought occurred to me.

“You could have done that
before
; then we wouldn’t have needed to dance together!”

Bones only smiled. “So I could have.”

I gave him a single glare before I led the girl into the bathroom. We received a few odd looks when we both went into the same stall, but now wasn’t the time to worry about winks and nudges. Quickly I stripped off my dress and she did the same, just as she’d been instructed. Hers was a little tight and a lot smuttier than my bridesmaid’s dress. It was also backless, so I had to take off my bra. When we got out of the stall, I caught a glance of myself in the mirror. My boobs were bulging
out from the low-scooped neckline, and anybody could tell I wasn’t wearing a bra.

Just like old times
, I thought ironically.
I look like a slut, and Bones is my backup while I go after murdering fang-bangers. The only thing that would make this complete would be to take off my underwear.

Then I smiled. And went back in the stall.

When I came up to the vampire that looked the closest to taking his companion on a one-way stroll, I didn’t even bother with small talk. I just elbowed the pretty blonde he’d been speaking to aside and slapped my panties on his chest.

“As soon as I saw you,” I purred, “I knew I wouldn’t be needing these.”

That
got his attention. He glanced down at my panties, then put them to his nose and took in a deep breath.
Eww
, I thought, but my smile never faltered. Then he shoved his protesting companion aside.

“Never mind,” he told her.

“Bitch!” she hissed at me before stomping off.

Jeez. I’d just saved her life, and that was the thanks I got?

I linked my arm in his, being sure to rub my breast against him. “You’re not the conversationalist type, I hope?”

His reply was to begin propelling me through the throngs of people. I didn’t see Bones, but that didn’t concern me. If I didn’t see him, then neither would the other vampires. I might not trust my emotions with him, but I had no hesitation about trusting him with my life.

We were down the hall and almost to the first hidden room when my companion stopped and took in a questioning sniff.

“What the—?” he began.

I didn’t let him finish. My hand whipped down the front of my dress and I rammed a silver blade into his heart before he had the chance to form another word. It was simple, really. He’d had his back to me, never suspecting the danger.

Then I dragged him quickly inside the room, muttering and trying not to leave a blood smear. Thank God vampires didn’t spurt blood like in the movies, but even a few drops outside would be too much with their sense of smell.

While in there, I checked on the other two girls. They were still passed out, but Bones had said their pulses were steady enough that we could attempt our sting operation. I noted how pale they were and frowned. The last two vamps had to be taken care of quickly. Those girls needed to be in a hospital, not lying in this horror movie of a room with bodies everywhere.

A shocked gasp whipped my head up. In the doorway, the female vampire stood perfectly still, but her human male companion didn’t. He gasped again, then started to scream.

“Aw, shit,” I sighed.

She swatted him across the head so hard, he was unconscious before he hit the floor. Then she sprang at me with blurring speed, her fangs extended murderously.

I let her come, rolling back at the last second and then kicking out with my legs. Her momentum plus my maneuver had her smashing into the wall behind
me. I leapt onto her before she had a chance to regroup, driving my knife into her heart and giving it two rough, satisfying twists.

“Kitten, outside!”

I was out the door and down the hall moments after hearing Bones’s yell, but still barely in time to see him chasing after the last vampire, who was hightailing it out of the club. So much for a nice, stealthy execution of the trio.

I shoved past people with nearly the same blurring speed he had. Once in the parking lot, I only paused long enough to snatch a cell phone away from a person unlucky enough to have one pressed to his head while I galloped by.

“Thanks!” I called out, then said, “He’ll call you back!” and hung up on whoever was on the other end. I dialed while keeping one eye on Bones as he zigzagged after our last perpetrator. He was about fifty yards ahead of me and gaining. Goddamn, but I’d forgotten how fast he was.

“Tate,” I gasped as soon as he answered. “Can’t talk, but we need a containment group at the GiGi Club, stat. Got vamp bodies, human bodies, three victims still breathing, and a hell of a lot of witnesses.”

“What are you doing at the GiGi Club?” Tate barked. “That was supposed to be with us, tomorrow night!”

I jumped over a fence, ripping my borrowed dress, and played a brief game of speed Frogger as I darted across a busy street.

“Can’t talk now,” I repeated breathlessly. “I’m chasing down a vamp; I’ll call you later!”

Then I threw the phone aside and pulled out one of my knives instead.

I couldn’t see Bones anymore. He’d dashed out of my line of vision while I was concentrating on not getting hit by oncoming traffic. I kept running full out in the same direction, however, cursing my heels and debating whether it was faster to stop and take them off—damn ankle straps!—or keep running with the potential neck breakers. Wouldn’t that make a charming epitaph?
Here lies Cat. Killed not by fang, but Ferragamos.

I was half through an empty soccer field, about to say screw it and take off the shoes, since heels plus running in grass equaled very unstable footing, when I saw a flash of green up in the distance. Vampire eyes, glowing in the dark. Screw the heels, full speed ahead!

I saw them just as Bones jerked his blade out of the vampire’s chest. They were on the ground inside a fenced new construction site. Mentally I let out a sigh of relief. At this hour, the crews were long gone. Good. No witnesses to worry about.

I came to a halt by Bones once I vaulted over the fence, my heart racing from adrenaline and the run. He gave the body a final kick and then turned to face me.

“You and I need to talk, Kitten.”

“
Now?
” I asked in disbelief, gesturing to the dead vampire near his feet.

“It’s not like he’s going anywhere, so yeah. Now.”

At once I began to back away. I’d been so caught up the past hour catching the killers that I’d forgotten things were very different between Bones and me.
How stupid. I’d felt so comfortable in our routine of hunting down the bad guys that I’d let myself end up in a deserted construction site with nowhere to flee. If I were smart, I’d have stayed back at the GiGi Club and let Bones chase down this last jerk himself.

Bones watched me edge backward, and his eyes narrowed. “Don’t you move another step.”

“I—I have to go back to the club, my team’s on the way…” I hedged.

“Do you still love me?”

The blunt question almost made me trip. I looked away, biting my lip and hating myself for the lie I was about to tell.

“No.”

He didn’t say anything for so long, I dared a peek at him. Bones was staring at me hard enough to make me wonder if he was able to see through to the back of my head.

“If you don’t love me, then why didn’t you kill Ian? You had a knife in his heart. All you had to do was twist. Your job is to kill vampires, after all, but you let him live. It was if you were sending me a bloomin’ valentine.”

“Sentimentality.” I grasped at straws. “For old time’s sake.”

His mouth twisted. “Well, luv, as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. You
should
have killed him, because now he’s looking for you. You made quite an impression. While I would never force you to do anything against your will, Ian wants to find you to do just that.”

“What are you talking about?”

Bones smiled, but it wasn’t pleasant. “He’s enamored, of course. Ian’s a collector of rare things, and there’s no one rarer than you, my beautiful half-breed. You’re in danger. Ian doesn’t know I’ve found you, but he’ll track you himself soon enough.”

I mulled this over, and then shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I beat Ian before and I can do it again.”

“Not the way he’ll play it.” There was something in his voice that made me look sharply at him. “I know my sire. Ian won’t just come at you one night and try to take you on in a fair fight. He’ll grab everyone you love first and then strike a deal with you, his terms. Believe me, you won’t like them. Now, your one advantage is me. Because of your clever little description of our relationship, Ian believes you hate me and vice versa. Nice touch, that. Especially the money part. Still want a check?”

“I’ll write
you
one if you leave,” I muttered.

Bones ignored that. “Furthermore, you still have a price on your head. I told you in the loo that I’d been offered contracts on you before that I traced to their source, but I don’t know who’s behind this last one. He or she is being very discreet. So you have another threat hanging over you that’s even more dangerous than Ian, and like it or not, you’re going to need my help.”

“Vampires and ghouls come after me all the time,” I said dismissively. “If I need help, I have my team.”

“Humans?” Scorn dripped from his tone. “The only way they’ll be able to protect you is if they incapacitate the hitter by making him eat too much!”

“You are
so
arrogant.”

Bones came closer until only a few feet separated
us. “I’m powerful. More than you’re aware of. That is truth, not arrogance. Every member of your team combined couldn’t protect you as well as I can, and you know it. Now isn’t the time for your stubborn insistence on going everything alone, Kitten. Whether you want my help or not, you’re getting it.”

“Dammit, Bones, how many times do I have to tell you that the biggest way you could help is to
leave
? I appreciate the warning about Ian, but if you stay around me,
you’re
the one who’ll be in danger. Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself.”

His brow arched insolently. “And right back at you, pet. I’m not the least bit afraid of your boss or your band of merry men. You want to get rid of me? Then you’ll have to kill me.”

Oh shit. I couldn’t do that. Hell, I hadn’t known how I could kill him when I thought he’d slaughtered an innocent family!

“Then
I’ll
leave,” I said, frustration making me reckless. “I ran away once; I can do it again!”

I was suddenly gripped in Bones’s arms with my head tilted back, without seeing him so much as twitch for warning. Maybe that was my own fault and not just due to his speed. I’d been so busy keeping up my emotional shields, I’d pretty much forgotten about my physical ones. And truth be told, I never expected him to bite me.

Yeah, I’d let my usual vampire guards down all the way with Bones.

His fangs buried deep into my neck. Just like that one time years before when he’d bitten me, what logic told me should hurt only felt good instead. Really,
really
good, and increasing with each strong pull from his mouth. The strangest kind of heat flooded all through me, even though with my blood spilling into Bones, I should be feeling colder, not warmer.

Stop it
, I wanted to say, but couldn’t seem to form the words. What came out was a primitive groan instead. Bones tightened his arms around me, tilting me back, and licking my neck before sinking his teeth in again.

I jerked in pleasure even as a warning shot through me.
Was he going to kill me? Change me into a vampire?
Neither possibility appealed to me. Spots began to appear in my vision, assuming my eyes were even still open. Add that to the roaring in my ears, which was either my heartbeat or the noise one hears right before passing out.

My fists thumped on his back. It was all I was capable of doing to tell him to stop, since my mouth only seemed good for making little ecstatic noises. That’s when I realized I
could
stop him, if I really wanted to. My silver knife was still in my hand. I could feel the cold metal of it in my fingers.

Bones must have felt it, too. He pulled back for an instant, drops of my blood staining his mouth like rubies, and then slowly, deliberately, bent to my neck again. The subsequent long, deep suction weakened my knees and sent such a rapturous shudder through me that I found myself thinking if I were going to die, at least I’d die happy.