One Foot in the Grave

  Don looked straight at me when he said that last part, and understanding dawned as to what this was. He was giving a peace offering in the form of Brad Parker’s jugular. It wasn’t pretty, but again, it was a start.

  “Make it fast,” I said to Bones. “I know you want to take your time, but don’t. He’s not worth it.”

  I didn’t leave the room, but Tate did, in a huff. Juan shuffled but stayed, and Don remained where he was.

  Bones didn’t mind the audience. He bit into Brad’s neck with his fangs fully extended, swallowing deeply and repeatedly. No one except me heard the inevitable sound of death as it occurred, and true to my request, it was fast.

  “There you are, old chap,” Bones said a minute later as he let Brad fall limply to the tile. “Not a drop spilled.”

  I went to him, stepping over Brad, who was sprawled by his feet. Bones kissed my forehead with warm lips. Two kills in two days; he was probably stuffed. Then again, his dinner last night had drained into the capsule.

  “You know I’m going after him, Don.” There was no need to say the name, and somehow, I didn’t want to.

  “Yes, I know.” He appraised the two of us together and tugged his eyebrow. “I want to speak in private with you, Cat. There are some things we need to discuss.”

  “We can speak, but Bones is coming. Really, even if he couldn’t hear us, which he can, I’d just tell him later.”

  Bones gave Don a smug smile. Well, he’d earned a little gloating.

  Don coughed. “If you insist. Juan, would you remove…?” He gestured vaguely at Brad’s body as we followed him back to his office.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  ARE YOU LEAVING US?” DON BEGAN WITHOUT preamble when I shut the door.

  It was a good question, since I now knew what he’d hidden from me these past years.

  I looked around Don’s office and then back at the man himself. Don and I didn’t have similar features, but he was my blood, as surely as my mother was. After several quiet moments, I realized I didn’t hate him for his lies, both outright and of omission. Who was I to judge him so harshly for his mistakes? After all, I’d made an exceptional number of my own.

  “No.”

  Don let out a sigh that might have been relieved, but Bones ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

  “Bloody hell. You just won’t take the easy road.”

  “I need to do this.”

  Bones stared at me for a long moment, then turned to Don.

  “The only way you’re keeping her is if I’m with her. Consider it a two-for-one deal. I won’t stop her from doing what she considers her job, but I will not see her die for it. None of those men are strong enough to back her up, but I am. You want her? Then you’ll get me also.”

  This I hadn’t expected. Clearly neither had Don. He gaped.

  “You can’t expect me to allow a vampire inside an operation designed to kill vampires! That’s not even lunacy—it’s suicide!”

  Bones smiled a very patient smile and sat down, tapping his fingers on Don’s desk.

  “Look, mate, I could give a rot about your operation, but do happen to care a great deal about her life, so I’m going to make you an offer, and you’re going to accept it.”

  Don blinked at the baldness of the statement. I was curious myself to hear what this offer was, because it was news to me, too.

  “Why does the success of your missions hinge on her?” Bones went on. “Because she’s your strongest fighter. Without her, you have a group of men who might do jolly well in a regular war, but against ghouls and vampires, they’re roadkill. You know it, too. That’s why you got your knickers in a twist when you discovered how lethal she was at twenty-two. And don’t think I’ve forgotten that it was your manipulating that kept me alone the past several years. Just for that, I’d fancy peeling your skin off like an orange while you were alive and screaming, but that’s off topic.”

  “Quite,” I said edgily.

  Bones continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “But since she insists on still working here, we have to come to an arrangement. As skilled as she is in battle, no one is infallible. If she went down in a fight right now, your operation would be finished, since you have no one strong enough to replace her. This is the first part of what I’m offering. You will never have to fret about her coming back from a job, because unless I’m shriveled on the ground, she will.”

  “You want to work for me?” Don asked in astonishment.

  Bones laughed. “Not for you, old chap. For her. She’s the only one I’d listen to, anyway.”

  My expression must have been as astonished as Don’s, because Bones paused and took my hand.

  “I’m not fretting over control with you. You can have all of the command you desire as long as we’re together. I’ll just save my demands for the bedroom.”

  I flushed. Bones just chuckled and brought my hand to his lips.

  Don also looked as though a change in subject were in order. “What’s the second part of your offer?”

  Bones straightened but still grasped my hand. “Ah, the second part, and this is why you won’t refuse me. I can give you what you’ve been secretly itching for ever since you started your little science project here.”

  “And what do you think that is?” Don asked, openly skeptical.

  “Vampires,” Bones responded. “You want to make your own vampires.”

  “No he doesn’t!” I immediately denied.

  Except Don wasn’t jumping to his own defense. Instead he stared at Bones in a very odd way. Like he’d just found him interesting.

  Bones settled back into his chair. “You want what every commander of troops wants—loyal soldiers who are stronger than your enemy. How many times have you wished more of your team had her powers? How often have you longed for soldiers blessed with the same advantages your enemies had? This is a onetime offer, mate. You choose your best, and I’ll make them better.”

  Stunned, I watched Don consider the offer, then he set his hands on the desk.

  “What if after they crossed over, they turned on us? That happens, as I know, and then I’d have unleashed mayhem on myself and my remaining team.”

  “Simple. They threaten you, then they threaten her and I kill them. I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to eliminate a danger to her, and you already have two bodies to prove that. However, a period of apprenticeship might rest your mind. Pick your potentials and give them raw blood. See how they handle the new power. If they can’t control a little, then they can’t control the rest of it. But if they can…” Bones let the sentence dangle.

  “Let me get this straight,” Don said briskly. “You’ll accompany Cat on missions in order to minimize her risk. You’d also agree to change selected soldiers into vampires. They would be under your supervision, terminated if necessary, and directed by me via her. Do I have this right?”

  “Yes.” No hesitation in Bones’s reply. I was still dumbfounded over the entire negotiation.

  “Anything else?”

  “I have some conditions,” I interrupted, seizing the opportunity. “My schedule changes. Your operation just got seriously upgraded, Don, so I don’t want to hear any complaints. First, no more surveillance. I better not see or hear any of my team spying on me anymore, because after tonight, my location’s going to be secret. That way, no one can torture or green-eye the information out of them, or have them just give it up for money, like Brad Parker did. And everything else waits until my father is taken care of. Your brother takes priority, don’t you agree, Uncle?”

  Don was silent for several moments. At last he gave a sardonic smile.

  “Well, Cat, Bones…I guess we have an agreement.”

  Parley completed, there were some loose ends before we could leave. “Is my mother still here?”

  “She’s in one of the bunkers. You want to see her?”

  “No. But keep her here. If my father knew where to find me, then she’s not safe at her house.”

  “We also
can’t have your team wandering around for Max to snatch them up and discover I’m involved, Kitten,” Bones stated. “As for the rest of your employees, round them up. They won’t remember seeing me.”

  “What about Noah?” This from Don, and I winced.

  “He doesn’t know anything.”

  “That’s not what he means,” Bones stated in an even way. “Noah would make right good bait for you, whether or not he knows why. Max might reckon you still hold feelings for him.”

  I hadn’t thought of that. “Then put a watch on Noah, Don, work and home. Any sign of the supernatural, and we move in. Maybe we can catch Max at his own trap.”

  “I’ll make the call now,” Don promised.

  We stood. It had been a long day, and it wasn’t over.

  “Bones, while you and Don play Bright Eyes with the other staff, I’m going to talk to the team about your new status.”

  Bones grinned. “Give your bloke my regards, Kitten. Can’t wait to start working on him.”

  I knew who he meant. “With Tate, Bones. Not on him.”

  His smile broadened. “Right.”

  An hour later, my temples pounded with a nasty headache. Tate, as I expected, had hit the roof. Juan had been unexpectedly blasé after I answered some of his concerns, and since Cooper was the third captain, he’d been roused from his concussion and informed that the cause of it was now officially joining our team. Tate had expected Cooper to back him up, but he’d actually taken it better than Juan had.

  “He whipped our asses, Commander. If he wanted us dead, I guess we would be.”

  “He’s the same vampire who trained me, Coop. Oh, and I’m sleeping with him, to save Tate the trouble of announcing it next. Got a problem with any of that?”

  Cooper didn’t flinch. “You’re a freak. Why wouldn’t you want a freak also?”

  “I don’t fucking believe this,” Tate said in disgust.

  Bones strode into the room. Tate glared at him as Bones put his arm around me.

  “Feeling better, mate?” he inquired of Cooper. “If not, you will soon. Don drained a pint out of me just now, Kitten,” he said with a grin. “Seems the head pathologist didn’t want to stick me himself. Poor bloke was quite jittery, though I can’t imagine why.”

  “Could be because you made dinner out of his assistant, amigo,” Juan dryly commented.

  Cooper hadn’t heard that. He swung his gaze to me.

  “We’re letting him eat people?”

  “Apparently,” Tate snarled.

  “Brad Parker plotted with another vampire to put me out of my misery, Cooper.” I shot Tate a dirty look. “You heard about last night? Well, you can thank the late Mr. Parker for giving away my location and my weaknesses.”

  Cooper eyed Bones, and then shrugged. “So he deserved it. Too quick, though. He should have been hurt first.”

  Bones smothered a laugh against my temple. “You and I will get along famously, soldier.”

  Tate muttered something profane, and I’d had enough.

  “I want you with me on this, Tate, but I can’t force you. Are you in or are you out? Decide now.”

  Tate folded his arms across his chest. “I’m in, Cat. I’d never leave you. Especially when you’ve got death breathing down your neck.”

  “Very funny,” I retorted, since Bones was inches from my throat. “And as you know, he doesn’t breathe. Now that details about our new team member are settled, I’m leaving. I’ve got a family reunion to plan.”

  TWENTY-SIX

  WE PULLED AROUND THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE Virginia Tech campus. Bones shut off his motorcycle and left it leaning against a tree. I gave a look around at its stone-front buildings and cobbled streets, students still milling about even though it was eleven at night, and cleared my throat.

  “I thought you said we were meeting some big important vampire. Did you just stop here because you wanted to grab a bite to eat first?”

  Bones chuckled. “No, luv. This is where we’re meeting him. Well, under here, as it were.”

  My brows rose. “Under here?”

  He took my arm. “Follow me.”

  We went across the campus to Derring Hall. Seeing all the young faces milling around reminded me of my own college days. I hadn’t graduated—that whole murdering the governor and being scooped up by Don interfered with my diploma plans. Still, I’d more than gotten my chance to get out of my small town and travel. Who knew it would be my skills with a silver knife, instead of graduating with honors, that would be my ticket to a new life?

  Once inside Derring Hall, we went down. After several turns and then a long corridor, we were at the basement. There was a guard there, and Bones walked right up to him with a genial smile—and then hit him with his gaze.

  “Let us pass, and we were never here,” he said. The guard nodded and let us by him without losing the glazed look on his face.

  There weren’t any other people in the basement. Bones took me past several storage rooms until we came to a small, locked gate. He casually ripped the bolt away from the gate and held it open for me.

  “After you, Kitten.”

  I went inside and waited at the entrance of the narrow, tight tunnel that led into darkness. There were WARNING, ASBESTOS! and other such signs on the walls heralding danger.

  “We couldn’t have just met at a Starbucks?” I remarked.

  Bones shut the grille behind him. “Less chance of anyone seeing or overhearing us down here. No one knows Mencheres is even in the States yet.”

  “And you said Mencheres is the same vampire who made Ian,” I commented thoughtfully. “So that makes him, like, your fang granddaddy.”

  After a short walk, the tunnel broadened in size. Tubes and wires were all along the wall, and the temperature kept rapidly changing from normal to hot. Once past this section, there were multiple passageways to choose from. It was like a labyrinth down here.

  Bones began to walk to the tunnel on the right. “He’s my grandsire, yes, but more importantly, he’s a very powerful vampire who Ian wouldn’t want to cross. Since your father, Max, is a member of Ian’s line and still under his protection, any attack against Max would be the same as an attack against Ian in the vampire world.”

  “But the fact that Max tried to have my head blown off is okay?” I asked irritably.

  “You have no Master claiming you under their line,” Bones replied in an even tone. “You remember I told you vampires operated under a form of feudalism? When one vampire changes another, they take that person under their protection, and conversely, so does the head Master. But you weren’t changed—you were born, so no vampire’s ever claimed responsibility for you. That makes you without a Master to defend you against any outside attack.”

  “So just killing Max once I find him could set off a full-out war with Ian’s people, like there aren’t already enough problems with your horny sire to begin with.”

  Bones nodded. “Which is why I’m going to change your status in the vampire world. I’ll claim you under my protection, but first I’ll need to break free from Ian’s line. Otherwise, anything I claim as mine is also his, since he’s head of our line. That’s why we’re meeting with Mencheres. Ian would be a damn sight less likely to retaliate against me if Mencheres chooses to ally himself to my side.”

  “Did Ian know you were looking for me…before?”

  “After your run-in with him, yes. I told him I’d been hunting you to limit the damage you’d do to the undead world. When he expressed his desire for you and fed me your description of our former relationship, I said a few ungentlemanly things to try to discourage him from his pursuit.”

  “Like what?”

  “Let’s see…I told him that you whined ceaselessly, snored with abominable loudness, and were terrible at shagging. Oh, and that you lacked desirable hygiene.”

  “You what?”

  He chuckled. “Now, Kitten, I had your best interest at heart. After all, you called me a welsher and said I refused to pay
you for your work. Weren’t worried about my reputation, were you?”

  “I was trying to protect you, not slander you!”

  “As was I. But Ian didn’t fall for my description and still obsessed over you. Not as much as I did, of course, but he didn’t know that.”

  I’d address his way of trying to discourage Ian later. After all, he could have come up with something other than saying I was a whiny, smelly, trumpeting-snoring bad lay.

  We reached a fork in the tunnel. Bones went to the left this time, and we ventured farther into the campus’s underbelly. Talk about private, I thought. We had to be at least fifty feet underground here.

  “How about you just kill Ian and I kill Max?” I muttered. “That would solve a lot of undead political hassle, if you ask me.”

  Bones stopped. He grasped my shoulders, and his face was very serious.

  “If it came to a choice between you or Ian, Kitten, yes, I would cut him down. But despite our many feuds over the years, or the fact that he’s being a ruthless sod in his pursuit of you…” Bones closed his eyes for a moment. “We have a bond,” he said at last. “Ian changed me into what I am, and he’s been a part of my life for well over two centuries. If there’s a way to solve this without killing him, then that’s the route I’ll seek.”

  A wave of shame swept over me. Idiot, I lashed myself. You should have known that.

  “I’m sorry. Of course you couldn’t just kill him. I couldn’t, either, when I knew who he was.”

  Bones smiled a trifle grimly. “I may well have to kill him before this is over. But if I do, at least I’ll know it was my only choice.”

  We started walking again. Occasionally I saw graffiti along the walls, showing that these tunnels weren’t always kept free of visitors.

  “Why is all this down here, anyway?”

  “Used to be primarily steam tunnels,” Bones replied. “It was how they heated the university above. Now it’s also used for phone, computer, and electric wires as well. Some parts of these tunnels run all the way to the power plant. It’s right easy to get lost in here, if you don’t know where you’re going.”