Destined for an Early Grave

  “Come to me, chérie.”

  A warning clicked in my mind. All at once, the empty cityscape around us disappeared. There was nothing but the two of us and oblivion on all sides.

  “Who are you?”

  This didn’t feel right. Part of me wanted to fling myself forward, but another piece was cringing back.

  “You know me, Catherine.”

  That voice. Familiar, yet utterly unknown. Catherine. No one called me that anymore…

  “Gregor.”

  As soon as his name came out of my mouth, my confusion was broken. This must be him, and that meant I was dreaming. And if I was dreaming…

  I stopped just short of his outstretched hands and backed up. Motherfucker, I’d almost run right into his arms.

  His face twisted in frustration, then he took a step toward me. “Come to me, my wife.”

  “No way. I know what you’re trying to do, Dreamsnatcher.”

  My voice was my own again. Hard. With every word I retreated, mentally railing at myself to wake up. Open your eyes, Cat! Wakey, wakey!

  “You know only what they’ve told you.”

  His accent was French, no surprise there, and the words were resonating. Even dreaming, I had a sense of his power. Oh, shit, you’re not a weak little hallucination, are you? Stay back, Cat. This puppy bites.

  “I know enough.”

  He laughed in challenge. “Do you, chérie? Did they tell you they stole me from your memory because that was the only way they could keep you from me? Did they tell you they dragged you screaming from my arms, pleading that you didn’t want to leave?”

  He kept coming closer, but I kept backing away. Figures—in this dream, I wasn’t armed.

  “Something like that. But I’m not your wife.”

  Gregor stalked nearer. He was a tall man, almost six-five, and there was a beautiful cruelty to his features that was amplified when he smiled.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know for yourself instead of being told what to believe?”

  I regarded him with more than suspicion. “Sorry, buddy, the trash has already been taken to the curb in my mind. Mencheres can’t pry back the lid to see what’s inside, and it’s only your word that says we’re married.”

  “They can’t give you back your memories.” Gregor stretched out his hands. “I can.”

  Gregor will attempt to coerce you in your dreams. Mencheres’s admonition rang in my mind. He hadn’t been wrong.

  “Liar.”

  I spun around, sprinting in the opposite direction, only to have Gregor appear in front of me like he’d been magically transposed.

  “I’m not lying.”

  My gaze flicked around, but there was only useless pale fog. I had to wake up. If this guy got his hand on me, I might find myself waking up in a load of trouble.

  “Look, Gregor, I know Mencheres locked you up for a long time, and you’re pissed about that, but let’s be reasonable. I’m blood-bound to the man I love, and there are plenty of fish in the sea. Let’s say adieu, then you can go find another girl to dreamsnatch.”

  His gold head shook sadly. “This isn’t you talking. You didn’t want to be a killer, to spend your whole life looking over your shoulder. I can take it back, Catherine. You had a choice before. You chose me. Take my hand. I’ll return what you’ve lost.”

  “No.” I heard a noise behind me, like a low snarl. Fear tickled up my spine. Death had come for me again.

  Gregor’s hands clenched, as if he heard it as well.

  “Now, Catherine, you have to come to me now!”

  The growls were louder. Death was behind me, Gregor in front of me, and I had to go to one of them. Why couldn’t I wake up? What had woken me the last time? I’d been running, then, too, chased by a monster…

  I whirled, ignoring Gregor’s shout, and ran headlong into the horrid figure of Death. Either this would work or—

  A slap stung my face, then another. I was being shaken so hard, my teeth should have rattled out. Bones was talking to me, so engrossed in shaking me that it took my third yelp to get his attention.

  “Stop it!”

  “Kitten?”

  He gripped my face, eyes bright green and wild. I batted at his hands, shivering, and realized I was wet. And cold. And sore. With an audience.

  “What have you been doing to me?”

  I was on the floor, Bones was next to me, and from the soaked carpet, various items nearby, and worried spectators, I’d been out for a while. A glance down told me what I already suspected. I was still as naked as I’d been when we fell asleep.

  “God, Bones, why don’t we just invite everyone in the next time we have sex, that way they can stop seeing things piecemeal!”

  Spade, at least, wasn’t nude like he’d been the last time I’d wakened from a nightmare to an audience. Next to him stood Mencheres and an unknown human woman.

  “Bloody hell, if I never go through this again, it will be too soon,” Bones growled, running a weary hand through his hair. “This wasn’t like the other ones, Mencheres. What does that mean?”

  Bones was totally unconcerned about being naked. Vampires had no sense of modesty. I grabbed for the nearest covering, which was the bedspread, and tugged at his hand.

  “Find some pants for you and a robe for me. What—?”

  Just the act of moving made pain arc on my back, then intensify into a steady throbbing. My mouth tasted like blood, too, and my head was pounding.

  Mencheres knelt next to me. “Do you remember anything about the dream, Cat?”

  Clothes. Now, I thought at Bones.

  He muttered, “Who cares?” but yanked on a pair of pants and fetched me a robe.

  “Here,” Bones said, slicing open his hand before clapping it over my mouth. “Swallow.”

  I sucked at the wound, ingesting his blood, and felt immediate relief from the pains in my body. Then I sat on the bed, where the sight of the floor where I’d been lying made me let out a gasp.

  “What in the hell were you doing to me?”

  “Trying to wake you,” Bones answered crisply. “I cut you, threw water on you, slapped you, and set a lighter to your legs. For future reference, which one of those do you think worked?”

  “Good God,” I hissed. “No wonder I thought you were Death incarnate in my dream, and that made me run toward Gregor at first!”

  “Then you remember the dream,” Mencheres stated. “That bodes ill.”

  The fear of that made my reply snappy. “Hey, Walks Like An Egyptian, how about for once you drop the formal stuff and talk like you live in the twenty-first century?”

  “The shit’s gonna splatter, start buggin’, yo,” Mencheres responded instantly.

  I stared at him, then burst out laughing, which was highly inappropriate considering the very grave warning he’d just conveyed.

  “I find nothing funny in this,” Bones muttered.

  “Oh, neither do I, but that’s still hilarious,” I managed. “Sorry about the carpet, Spade. Blood, burns, water…maybe you should have put us in the stable.”

  “As I was saying,” Mencheres continued, “this bodes poorly.”

  He gave me a look that dared me to comment. I didn’t, my lips still twitching. “You remembered the dream, and you weren’t susceptible to outside stimulants, which means Gregor is close by. You need to leave at once.”

  Bones swung a glance at Spade. “Did you tell anyone we were coming?”

  Spade shook his head. “Bugger, Crispin, I barely had notice myself. You’re my best friend, and my home wasn’t that far from you. It could just be a logical assumption.”

  “Possibly.” Bones didn’t sound convinced. “Or perhaps we weren’t as careful as we thought and were followed.”

  “I’ll have the car brought ’round, mate.”

  “Three of them.” Bones cast a measured look at me. “All traveling in different directions, with a human and at least two vampires in each. Let whoever might be watching figure out which one c
arries her.”

  “You’ll need more than evasiveness to fix this.”

  The sarcastic part of me had an idea. Let Gregor spend some time with me, that’ll cure him of wanting me in his life. Trouble followed me like a bad smell.

  But I just smiled with false brightness. “Spade, love your home. Mencheres…classic. Bones.” The clock showed nine A.M. I’d only had two hours’ sleep, but damned if I was going to get any more shut-eye. “Ready when you are.”

  “Right now, luv.” He threw some clothes at me, pulling a shirt over his head without even glancing at it. “As soon as you get dressed.”

  FIVE

  THE PLANE TOUCHED DOWN JERKILY. IT didn’t bother me, but I saw Bones compress his lips into a thin line. He didn’t like to fly. If he could’ve managed the distance, I think he would have tried to talk me into flying the really friendly skies. The one where I was strapped to his chest with him as my own private airplane. Still, everyone had limits.

  We boarded a mere three hours after we left Spade’s house. My uncle Don pulled some strings after I called him and informed him that we had to return to the States right away, so the full flight from London to Orlando suddenly had four more seats. Having a family member with high-up government connections came in handy sometimes.

  Mencheres and Spade stayed in London, but two vampires named Hopscotch and Band-Aid came along with us. To kill some time, I’d asked them how they’d chosen their nicknames. Hopscotch, an Aborigine who knew Bones over two hundred years, said that it had been his adopted child’s favorite game. Band-Aid had grinned and said he’d picked his name because he was ouchless. I didn’t press for more details from him on that.

  We were the first ones off the plane, ushered outside by the flight attendants. The plane wasn’t even hooked up to the terminal yet. Instead, we got off on one of the tall transport ladders usually reserved for service workers. A limousine was parked nearby, and the window rolled down to reveal my uncle.

  I hadn’t seen him in a couple months. When his lined face curved into a smile, it struck me how much I’d missed him.

  “I thought I’d surprise you.”

  Bones cast a watchful eye around before leading me to the vehicle. Band-Aid and Hopscotch circled, sniffing the air like bloodhounds while we ducked inside. Then they followed after us and took the opposite seats.

  On impulse I hugged Don, startling both of us. When I let him go, I heard a familiar voice from the front.

  “Querida, no kiss for your hombre?”

  “Juan?” I laughed. “Don’s got you on chauffeur duty?”

  “I’d drive a tractor to see you.” He grinned, turning around. “I missed your smile, your face, your round luscious—”

  “Drive, mate,” Bones cut him off. “We’re in a hurry.”

  Don looked taken aback at Bones’s brusqueness. Normally Bones and Juan were quite chummy, all hierarchy aside, since Bones had turned Juan into a vampire last year and thus Juan was under Bones’s line. Juan also seemed surprised at Bones’s curt comment, since he always flirted with me—and any female within a hundred yards—but Juan didn’t say anything. With a last, quick grin at me, he drove off.

  “I asked you to have a safe car waiting for us in a low-profile manner.” Bones started in on my uncle. “Instead, you parked a limousine straight up to a plane. What were you thinking?”

  Don tugged his eyebrow. “Wait two minutes, then see if you should criticize.”

  “We’re both just tired,” I said, then thought to Bones, No one even knows we’re back in the States. Quit biting people’s heads off. But I squeezed his hand at the same time, promising him silently that we’d both feel better once we got where we were going.

  “I’m rather testy, Don, forgive me for barking at you,” Bones said, curling his fingers around mine in acknowledgment. “You, too, Juan, but do me a favor. Keep your compliments to a minimum. I’m afraid it’s a sore subject at present.”

  “Bueno, pero cuál es el problema?”

  “English,” I reminded Juan.

  “He wants to know what the problem is, luv.” Bones leaned back and tapped my hip. “Seat belt. All I need is for you to be injured in a car accident.”

  I clipped the buckle into place. “Happy?”

  A black limousine whizzed by us. Then another. And another. I looked out the back window in amazement, seeing a line of at least a dozen limousines all on the outbound road we traveled on.

  “The cast of the new Miramax movie just got clearance to leave the airport.” Don gave a last, satisfied tweak of his brow. “Poor people, they were held up at Security. They’ve been waiting for hours.”

  Bones started to smile. “Crafty old spider, aren’t you?”

  “I’ve had practice hiding her, if you recall.”

  A derisive snort came from Bones. “Yeah, I remember it well.”

  “Play nice,” I said. A pissing contest between them was the last thing we needed.

  Bones gave my fingers a squeeze. “Don’t fret, I’ve moved past my anger with him. In fact, he might be useful. So tell me, old chap, do any of your barmy scientists have a pill that prevents someone from dreaming?”

  Don listened in morbid fascination as I described what was going on with Gregor, my potential past with him, and why he was called the Dreamsnatcher. When I was finished answering all his questions, two hours had gone by, and my uncle almost looked ill.

  “Juan, pull off at the next exit, we have another transport waiting for us at the Shell station,” Bones directed him. “Kitten, you’ll only have a few minutes before we’re off again.”

  “I’ll see what I can do about pills for Cat,” Don said once he’d recovered. “I should be able to have something made that could help.”

  Juan exited off the interstate and pulled up to the first gas station on the right, which was a Shell.

  “Ah, here we are. Juan, vaya con dios, and Don”—Bones held out his hand—“take care of yourself.”

  Don shook Bones’s hand. “I’ll have those pills researched immediately.”

  I gave my uncle a hug goodbye, even though we weren’t big on displays of affection for each other. Still, who knew when I’d see him again? Aside from my mother, Don was all the family I had.

  “Thanks for coming along for the ride, Don. It must have played hell with your schedule.”

  “My appointments could wait until later.” Don squeezed my shoulder. “Be careful, Cat.”

  “I promise.”

  Hopscotch and Band-Aid were the first out of the car. They did a quick perusal of the gas station’s perimeter, then indicated with a thumbs-up that it seemed clear. Bones went over to a maroon SUV, exchanging a greeting with the driver. Must be our new ride.

  I got out and went around to the driver’s side of the limo. “No hug, buddy?”

  Juan put the vehicle in park but kept the motor running, climbing out to give me a bear hug devoid of his usual ass-grab. “Hombre is in a foul mood,” he murmured.

  “He just hasn’t slept. We’ll be fine.”

  “Kitten.” Bones tapped his foot. “Very out in the open here. Let’s not linger.”

  “Right.” I gave Juan one last smile. “Stay out of trouble.”

  “You too, querida.”

  I headed toward the door marked WOMEN on the exterior of the gas station, giving Bones a mental directive that he didn’t need to stand guard outside the bathroom. The interior was gross, in a word, but I didn’t have much choice. If I really never wanted to grace a public bathroom again, I’d change into a vampire. Since I’d chosen to remain half-human, there was no one but myself to blame for the inconveniences that involved.

  By the time we crossed the twenty-two-mile bridge leading to New Orleans, it was evening again. I’d never been here before since it hadn’t been necessary during my tenure with Don. The Big Easy might not be low on crime, but surprisingly enough, they seemed to be of the human persuasion, not rogue vampires or ghouls.

  Bones refused to
nap during the five-hour drive from Tallahassee to New Orleans. My guess was he was afraid I’d nod off if he wasn’t watching me like a hawk. Hopscotch drove, with Band-Aid in the passenger seat. As we crossed the bridge, I finally asked why we were paying a visit to the famous city.

  “I need to speak with the Queen of Orleans,” Bones replied. “She’d be a powerful ally to have on our side if things escalate with Gregor, but she doesn’t fancy phone calls when someone’s asking for her assistance.”

  “Another queen?” Europe had less royalty than the undead.

  He cast me a sideways look. “New Orleans’s queen is Marie Laveau, though she goes by the name Majestic now. Marie’s one of the most powerful ghouls in the nation. Those rumors of voodoo? They weren’t rumors, pet.”

  I didn’t like the sound of this. The last queen I’d met with mystical powers had almost killed all of us. Women were scarier than men, in my opinion.

  “Is it safe to see her if she’s into the dark arts and all that?”

  “Marie holds herself to a very strict etiquette. If she grants you a visit, you have safe passage to, during, and from that visit. She may tell you she’ll slaughter you first chance she gets afterward, but she’ll let you walk out unharmed. Then, of course, it’s a right fine idea to keep walking.”

  “She might be a polite hostess, but what about every other pulseless person in the city? You know, ‘Oops, Majestic, I offed some tourists’?”

  Bones gave a grim snort. “There is no ‘oops’ with Marie. If she sides with us, no one will dare attack within the Quarter. Even Gregor.”

  “Are we staying at a hotel?”

  “I have a house here, but I seldom use it anymore. An old friend lives there, keeps things tidy. Not sure how long we’ll stay since my meeting with Marie hasn’t been scheduled yet. Marie prefers to have people here if she decides to see them.”

  The streets grew narrower. By the time we approached the French Quarter, they were all one-way. Brick and stone replaced stucco and plaster as the city seemed to age in an instant. Yet the most striking feature had nothing to do with architecture.