One Foot in the Grave

  Grendel let out a high screech. I didn’t bite anymore, because the main purpose was distraction, and there was nothing like a chewed groin to get a guy’s full attention focused on that. When he instinctively shielded his crotch, I whipped around him to jump onto his back like a monkey, using my legs to hold on. Then I plunged my fingers into his eyes.

  Grendel screamed in earnest at that. I shoved my fingers deeper, ignoring the disgusting squishy sensation. His arms flailed back as he tried to hit any part of me he could. I jumped off, missing those murderous blows, and swept his feet out from under him. Even though my fingers weren’t in his eyes anymore, he still couldn’t see. They hadn’t healed yet. I only had seconds.

  I launched myself at him again, using the speed from that charge as leverage while I squeezed his head and yanked it around with everything I had. There was an audible break, but not enough. All my muscles bunched as I pulled with my last spurt of strength, using my legs to brace myself—and then I toppled backward with Grendel’s head in my lap, bloody eye sockets staring up at me.

  “You forgot…to kick me…when I was down,” I managed to wheeze.

  The instant of shocked silence was broken when several voices began to speak at once. I spat some blood out of my mouth, not caring how unladylike that looked, and cradled my aching side. Grendel would have had me if he hadn’t been so smug. One more blow like the last one to my side, and I wouldn’t have been able to twist the top off a soda bottle. Even now, I felt like I’d been in a car wreck. Make that a train wreck. A big one. Grendel’s face looked up at me, his skin beginning to wrinkle, and I shoved his skull away with distaste. Some people liked to keep trophies. I wasn’t one of them.

  Slowly I pushed myself to my feet and glared at Ian, who was still gaping.

  “Lower…the cage…down.”

  I still couldn’t speak right from the pressure of my broken ribs. Ian nodded, tight-lipped, and with a rasp of metal, Noah was brought to the floor. When he was let out of the cage, he looked at me and the headless ghoul with horror. Then he started to scream.

  “Somebody shut him up,” Ian ordered, annoyed.

  Spade stepped forward immediately, his piercing gaze and order for silence quieting Noah in seconds. Then he led him back up the aisle to the double doors where he’d been watching. I relaxed a tiny bit. It was as safe a place as any for Noah to be.

  Ian, surprisingly, began to clap, but his clapping had more of a mocking sound to it than the genuine applause Grendel had briefly garnered.

  “Well done, Red Reaper! No one could scoff at that name for you now. I’m more than impressed, as is everyone here. You’ve proven to be resourceful, strong, and ruthless. You’ve won your challenge and one of your men back. However…I still have three more of them. How much are their lives worth to you, poppet? Join me, swear your loyalty to me, and I’ll let them go. Come now, it won’t be that unpleasant. Indeed, there are many perks, as you’ll discover.”

  Ian smiled when he said that last sentence, leaving me little doubt as to what he was talking about.

  Bones stood. “I’ve seen enough, Ian. I’m leaving now.”

  “But this is the best part,” Ian said, winking at me. I held up my middle finger. He laughed. “Now you’re reading my mind, Cat.”

  Bones made his way down the aisle. Over a hundred people also stood and began to follow suit. My eyes bugged. All of those were his?

  “No need to stay any longer, mate. I bid you good night.” He got farther down until he was on the lowest level above the arena, and then he turned and grinned at Ian.

  “But before I go, I think I’ll pay my respects to your guest of honor.”

  Ian guffawed. “Be careful. You might end up alongside Grendel.”

  “I always did like to live dangerously,” Bones replied, hopping down into the square space with me. Once there, his grin widened.

  “Congratulations on a magnificent display of unsportsmanlike conduct. What a dirty fighter you are. Somebody really skilled must have trained you.”

  I laughed even though it hurt. “Yeah. An arrogant bastard.”

  “You know what they say about sticks and stones. Come now, pet, how’s about a kiss farewell for old time’s sake?”

  “Want a kiss? Come and get it.”

  I could see Ian just to the right behind Bones. He chuckled and muttered something to the person next to him about Bones’s high chance of getting his lips bitten off. That chuckle turned into a hiss of outrage when Bones took me in his arms and I slanted my mouth over his. I didn’t close my eyes as I kissed him, either. The look on Ian’s face was too priceless.

  “What the hell—?”

  Ian stood so abruptly, the couch overturned beneath him. I ignored that, sucking the deep gash on Bones’s tongue that he’d given himself in full view of everyone. It healed even as I started to feel better, his blood mending the damage within me.

  Ian was livid at this change in the program. He shot Bones a glare sizzling with emerald rage.

  “That’s enough, Crispin! Cat’s mine now, so you can remove your hands and get out.”

  Bones tightened his grip on me instead. “I’m afraid I must disagree. I rather like my hands where they are.”

  “Have you gone mad?” Ian jumped down into the arena. If he were human, he’d be having a heart attack. “What is this? You’d dare to antagonize me over a woman you barely tolerate? One you haven’t even seen in years? That’s hardly the behavior a new leader shows his people, unless there’s more to it than that? Is this some sort of excuse to start a war with me?”

  Bones gave Ian a measured look. “I’m not trying to start a war with you, Ian, but if you start one, I’ll finish it. It’s very simple. I won’t let you force her into doing anything, but if she fancies you, I’ll walk away. So, luv, who would you rather be with? Me or Ian?”

  “You,” I said at once, with a sly grin. “Ian, sorry, but you’re not my type. Plus kidnapping my friends to try and make me become your arm trophy? Not cool.”

  An angry gleam flashed in Ian’s gaze, and when he smiled, it was dangerous.

  “You remember slaughtering my friend Magnus, Cat? You’ve just decided that fate for one of your own friends.”

  Then Ian pulled out a cell phone, continuing on as he dialed. “If you step away from Crispin right now, I might consider letting you persuade me to allow that person to live. But you’d better come up with a damn enticing offer, because I’m very brassed off. Otherwise, it’s the luck of the draw as to who my men execute.”

  I heard the first ring coming from Ian’s cell. Then Tate’s voice answered.

  “Hello,” he said cheerfully. “Francois’s phone.”

  “Put Francois on the line,” Ian snapped.

  “Hi there, buddy,” I called out loudly enough for Tate to hear me. “That’s Ian you’re talking to. Tell him the good news.”

  Tate’s laugh flowed through the phone. “Oh hi, Ian. Francois can’t come to the phone right now. He’s tied up…with a silver stake in his chest.”

  Ian snapped the phone closed, and his expression turned to pure, livid ice.

  “You don’t have any of my men hostage, Ian,” I said cleanly. “But I have several of yours.”

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  IAN STARED AT BONES, LOOKING LIKE HE MIGHT attack him right then and there. “You betrayed me,” he said with a growl.

  Bones didn’t flinch. “I took the steps necessary to make sure you didn’t force Cat into making an unwise decision. It’s not the eighteenth century, Ian. Manipulating women into bed isn’t fashionable anymore.”

  “If you want your boys back, Ian,” I continued, “then you’ll agree to leave me—and my people—alone. I haven’t killed any of your men, and I’ll return them all to you unharmed. But first I’ll need your word that you won’t bother me again. What’s it gonna be? Your men, or your hard-on?”

  Ian’s eyes slid around, taking in the many faces waiting for his decision. Then they paused at Bones, givi
ng him another truly incensed glare, and finally fixed on me.

  “Well done, Red Reaper,” he said again, but this time with an edge of bitterness. “It appears once more I underestimated you…and your resourcefulness.” He lasered Bones with one more sizzling emerald look, and then swept out his hand. “We have an accord. You are free to go.”

  Bones smiled, taking my arm, but I dug in my heels.

  “Not so fast,” I said, drawing in a deep breath. “There’s one more issue to be settled first.”

  “Kitten, what are you doing?” Bones asked low.

  I didn’t look at him, but concentrated on Ian instead. If I’d told Bones in advance what I planned, he would have argued. Said it was too dangerous, maybe even refused to get me in front of Ian. But Bones didn’t understand that I couldn’t come this far and not do what I was about to do.

  “I know vampires have the right to challenge their sires to a duel. Well, Ian, I challenge my father, Max. If you’re here, then he’s here somewhere. Bring him out. I’m claiming my vampire right to duel him.”

  Bones groaned something that sounded like “Bloody hell, Kitten,” and to my surprise, Ian began to laugh. Heartily. Like I’d just told him the funniest joke ever. He actually had pink tears appear at the corners of his eyes, and he wiped them while still overcome with laughter.

  “What’s so fucking funny?” I demanded.

  “Did you all hear that?” Ian asked, controlling his mirth enough to spin in a circle and address our audience. Next to me, Bones’s face went to stone.

  “You should have talked to me about this, Kitten,” he gritted.

  “You would have told me to wait,” I hissed back, which only made Ian laugh harder.

  “Oh, indeed he would have, Cat. You see, you just acknowledged that you consider yourself a vampire. You know what that means, Crispin, as does everyone else here. As a vampire, Cat, you are therefore mine, and I’ll thank you, Crispin, to get away from one of my people.”

  “But I challenged Max,” I said angrily. “So he has to accept. And if I kill him, then I’m my own damn vampire, and no one has claim over me!”

  Ian laughed more as Bones gave me a look that said he was tempted to throttle me.

  “Oh, poppet, you’ve got a few things wrong. You could challenge Max for your freedom—if he was the head of his own line. But he’s not. He’s still under my rule, and you, as a brand-spanking-new member of my line, can’t challenge me for a year. That law was put in place to prevent rash baby vampires from taking on more than they could handle in their first year,” Ian kindly explained. “So as it turned out, I didn’t need to kidnap your men at all, because you’ve just delivered yourself into my hands. And I’m afraid you’ve got three hundred and sixty-five more days before you can issue that same challenge to me. I wonder what we’ll do to fill the time.”

  Ian’s grin said he had a few choice ideas picked out already. Inwardly I cursed. Goddamn, why hadn’t I made sure to find out more about lineage and lines before deciding this was a good idea? Why had I let my blinding need for revenge against my father trick me into hiding this from Bones? Mencheres had said revenge was the emptiest of emotions. Apparently it motivated people to do the stupidest things as well.

  “Except I’m already Bones’s,” I said, using the property card as a last resort. “He’s bitten me and done things in bed with me that are illegal in a few states at least!”

  “Lineage trumps property, my dear Reaper,” Ian said silkily. “So while Crispin will no doubt have fond memories of your time together…memories are all he’ll have of you.”

  “I beg to differ, Ian,” Bones replied, straightening. “You’re right, lineage does have a higher claim than property. But you have no claim over her if she’s my wife.”

  Ian looked as confused as I felt. “But she isn’t,” he stated the obvious.

  Bones pulled a knife out from his pocket. I tensed, assuming this meant we were starting the free-for-all. But Bones just drew it once across his palm and then clapped his bleeding hand over my own.

  “By my blood, you are my wife,” he said in a clear voice. Then he said more softly to me, “I rather envisioned something more romantic for this, Kitten, but circumstances don’t allow for that.”

  “You must be mad!” Ian raged, snatching his own blade from his pants.

  “Do not move!” a voice thundered down at once.

  Ian froze, and Bones, in the act of whipping his own knife toward Ian, froze as well. A dark-haired figure glided down the aisle, people moving aside to let him through. I didn’t even need to see his face to know it was Mencheres. The unadulterated power washing over me told me that.

  “Mencheres,” Bones said, with an inclination of his head. “Am I correct in my assumption?”

  “In all ways but one” was the vampire’s smooth reply.

  “You have ever taken his side over mine!” Ian snapped, losing his quiet deference.

  Bones rolled his eyes. “Not this again.”

  “It is not a matter of sides,” Mencheres stated calmly. “I said Bones was right in all ways but one. Cat has not yet claimed him as her husband.”

  Ian snatched at that. “You don’t know what that means, Cat. This isn’t like a human marriage, where divorce is as common as breathing. If you agree to this, you’d be bound to Crispin for the rest of your life. No changing your mind, no release from it, until one of you was truly dead. If you even shagged another man, he’d have the right to kill him for it without retribution.”

  Mencheres smiled, but it wasn’t cheery. “Yes. Once this is declared, it can never be retracted.”

  Brown eyes met mine when I looked away from Mencheres. Bones arched a brow, waiting.

  “Don’t you think it’s time you met your father?” Ian baited me next.

  That got my attention. I swung back in his direction, and my hand clenched over the knife I’d just accepted from Bones.

  Ian pressed his advantage. “I’ll make you a bargain, Cat. A vastly different one from what I’d first intended. You can leave here tonight with my assurances that I won’t press my claim over you, or trouble your men again. Furthermore, I’ll give you Max, to do with what you will. All I require in return is that you refuse this offer and part company with Crispin permanently. Your word on it.”

  My mouth hung open, fingers whitening over the handle of the blade.

  “Maximillian, come here!” Ian trumpeted.

  The doors to the hall opened, and Spade moved out of the way to let a tall man through. Well, well. Apparently that picture had showed only a glimmer of our resemblance. Face to face there was no question. I did look just like him.

  I pulled my hand free from Bones in a sort of shock. Max went to the edge of the arena and then paused, not coming nearer. I walked the last few steps that separated us.

  His hair was crimson, just as bright and thick as my own. God, those eyes, silvery gray and exactly like mine. He had high cheekbones, a full mouth, straight nose, strong jawline…Everything was identical to me but in masculine proportion. Even the way he stood was similar. It was like looking in a weird gender-bending mirror, and for a minute, all I could do was stare.

  For his part, Max didn’t say anything. His face flashed defiance and resignation in equal parts as he looked from me to Ian. He didn’t ask for mercy, though. Not from either of us. Was that bravery…or a simple realization that it wouldn’t do him a damn bit of good?

  Finally I found my voice. “Do you know what I promised myself when my mother told me what I was, and how it happened?”

  I slid as close to him as possible without touching. He held himself stiffly, like one of the statues outside. Only his eyes moved, and they followed me with rapt concentration.

  My fingers grazed his shoulders as I circled him. He flinched under their weight, and I laughed low and viciously.

  “Oh, Max, I feel your power level, and it’s not that high. I’m much stronger than you are, but you must know that, right? It’s why you
tried to have my head blown off, so I couldn’t get to you first. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to kill you?”

  Still he said nothing. Ian gave me a questioning glance, but I ignored him. He didn’t know what Max had arranged; it was plain. I paced around my father, getting angrier that he wasn’t talking.

  “I first heard about you on my sixteenth birthday. Sweet sixteen, and what did I get? The full knowledge about my nightmare of a heritage. So I swore to myself that one day, I’d find and kill you for her. That you’d pay for raping my mother with your life. Did you hear what Ian just offered me? Your ass, with all the other parts attached!”

  The rage leaked out of my pores, and my eyes blasted him with their glow when I faced him again.

  “Come on, Max, whatcha think? What a gift, right? Who could say no to that? I mean, I’ve wanted to kill you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my whole twisted, subnormal, dysfunctional life!”

  The knife Bones had given me trembled in my hand with the ache to bury it in his heart. Finally, after another long stare, I chuckled again. Bittersweetly. My need for revenge had almost cost me Bones once tonight. At least I wouldn’t let myself make that same mistake twice.

  “You worthless piece of shit, you’re about to do the first, last, and only thing you’ve ever done for me as a father, because there’s someone in my life who means more to me than even killing you. Congratulations, scum. You just gave away the bride.”

  Instead of twisting that knife through my father’s heart, I slashed it across my palm and slapped it over the pale hand still outstretched to me.

  “Bound together forever, huh? Sounds good to me. By my blood, Bones, you are my husband. Is that what I’m supposed to say? Is that right?”

  Bones bent me backward with the force of his kiss, and I assumed that was my answer.

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  MAX BROKE HIS SILENCE ONLY AFTER BONES let me up from his kiss. He raked me with a glance and then smiled. Chillingly.

  “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Do you believe that, little girl? I do. You and I will have our day, mark my words.”