At Grave's End (22 page)

O
F OUR BAKER’S DOZEN UNDEAD SUSPECTS,
we had it narrowed down to four. This was an exceptionally painful process for Bones, since each of them had spent no less than a century with him, and he considered them all close friends. Caesar hadn’t suspected Brutus, either, however, and look where that got him. So Bones had to be unmerciful in his evaluations.

Zero was on the list, despite his outward slavish devotion, then Tick Tock, Rattler, and Doc completed our suspects. Vlad he kept as a potential alternate.

While I’d been eating breakfast, Bones had finally called Don to tell him he’d arrived. My uncle asked about Tate, of course, and got a brusque response that he was still unshriveled “for the moment.” I could just picture tiny gray hairs being yanked from Don’s eyebrow during that conversation. Don loved Tate, but he was also a realist. He knew what would happen if Tate was guilty of this crime. Vampires didn’t do probation.

To reinforce Mencheres’s description of a slow recovery, Bones moved with notable sluggishness compared to his normal prowling strides. We spent the afternoon on the couch while Mencheres brought him up to speed on what had occurred when he was presumed dead. In brief but unsparing detail, Mencheres described how Patra had crashed the event at the opera house. My mother gave up pretending she wasn’t eavesdropping and sat in a nearby chair. When Mencheres was finished, she broke the loaded silence.

“What a real bitch, Catherine. You should kill her.”

Bones let out a snort. “I intend to do the honors myself.”

And in the meantime, we’d see who here tried to contact Patra to let her know Bones was alive. Don had arranged for tapping of all the phones, and even interceptions of the wireless signals coming out of the house. Computers, text messaging, and anything else aside from homing pigeons were confiscated. Security purposes, Mencheres coolly stated, and no one dared argue with him. When the traitor made his move, he’d have to do it by phone, and then we’d catch him. Now we just had to wait.

“Bones, you are still pale,” Mencheres said. “You should feed and get more rest.”

“Right.” Bones tugged my hand. “Kitten, I want to show you something.”

I followed him downstairs to the basement, passing through several rooms I hadn’t bothered to explore in the past few days. At least a third of this house was underground, a good vampire and ghoul analogy. What you saw on the surface was only the beginning, much like the species themselves.

Two vampires bowed at the waist before they held the wooden double doors open for us.

Several people, all human, glanced up when we entered what appeared to be an entertainment area. Some of them were on a large sofa watching the plasma TV, others played on one of the four billiard tables, and five looked to be engaged in a game of poker.

“What is this?” I whispered.

Bones’s wave encompassed the room. “This is a vampire’s version of a kitchen, luv. Caring for humans in exchange for their blood is how many vampire households operate. I wanted you to see it.”

“Dibs on the redhead!” a freckled young man called out, coming forward with a grin. “You’ll like me, I taste the best.”

“You think I’m here to
feed
on you?” I gaped when he tilted his head and bared his neck.

Bones chuckled. “He does indeed. Sorry, Neal, but she’s not going to bite you, and you don’t taste the best,” he corrected him before laying a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll do, however. Though you should eat fewer onions.”

I watched as Neal went to Bones, who sealed his mouth on Neal’s neck and bit him like he was a walking cupcake. Less than a minute later he stopped, closing the holes and giving Neal a companionable chuck on the chin.

“Less garlic as well, mate. I’ve drunk Italian chefs who didn’t have such a reek about them.”

Neal’s smile didn’t slip. “Best pizza I’ve ever had, Whitey, and it was loaded with onions and garlic. Sorry.”

Bones gave an amused snort. “Toothbrush, lad. Familiarize yourself with it or you’ll never get turned.
No, don’t get up,” as one of the girls rose from the couch. “We’re taking a quick walk and then we’ll be off.”

My mother would pass out if she knew this was underneath her
, I thought dazedly.
Living snacks, all within biting reach.

“Who are these kids?” I asked low. None of them looked much past their twenties.

Bones led me through another set of rooms. There was a library, computer area, even an underground Jacuzzi. And every few dozen feet there were bedrooms. Some were occupied, some were empty, and a few with closed doors had the unmistakable sounds of sex coming from them.

“Oh, they’re from all sorts,” he replied. “Some are college students, aspiring artists, runaways from bad homes, street children, or budding apprentices. Neal’s one of those. He wants to be a vampire, so he’s showing his commitment by being a meal and doing small errands. Whenever you have a group of vampires who live in a large house, you generally have one of these situations.”

“Are they all tranced?”

“Blimey, no. They’re aware of what keeps them and why. The runaways get homeschooled, a place to live, and an allowance they save for whenever they wish to strike out on their own. For their own safety, though, most of them don’t know where they’re located or the real names of who keeps them. When they leave, what they do know is wiped from their minds. It’s happened this way for millennia, Kitten. A form of feudalism, as I told you before.”

“Feudalism?” I stopped near one of the bedrooms with the heavy breathing. “Is that what you call it?”

“This”—Bones nodded at the doorway—“is consensual. While I can’t speak for all households, as a rule it’s considered very bad form to mesmerize one’s food into shagging. If you’re a guest and you do such a thing, it’s almost cause for death. Now, if the human fancies a tumble, then who’s to criticize? It’s their choice.”

Who’s to criticize? Me.
Nice, Mencheres. Provide all-you-can-eat meals, in every possible way.
Do be sure to feed regularly, Bones, there’s a good lad!
Asshole
.

“You know better, Kitten,” Bones said with all seriousness. “It will never happen.”

I believed him, even if irrationally I still felt threatened by the easy opportunities available. “Is that why you showed me this? So I wouldn’t worry you were trying to conceal something?”

“That’s one of several reasons, yes.” Bones started to smile. “The main one is behind you, ogling your arse and about to get beaten for it.”

“
Amigo
,” a voice said in a wheedling tone. “I haven’t seen it for days—”

My whirling to barrel into him cut off the rest of the sentence. Juan returned my hug, crooning in Spanish.

“
Mi querida,
your husband’s back,
que bueno
.”

“Yes, I’m glad he’s here as well,” I sniffed. “And that you are, too. How do you feel?”

Juan grinned. It was his usual lecherous grin that reminded me crossing over didn’t change the essence of the person.

“I feel wonderful, and you are even more beautiful with these new eyes of mine. Look at your skin.” He fingered my cheek. “
Magnifico
.”

“That’s all the pawing you’re allowed, mate.”

Bones gave him a light punch, knocking him back a pace. Juan didn’t quit grinning.

“I must thank you for many things,
amigo
, but this most of all. You have made women even more appealing to me, ah, the scent of them. Their heartbeats. And how they taste…” He closed his eyes. “
Delicioso
.”

I swung my gaze to Bones in disbelief. “You’ve turned him into even
worse
of a pig!”

Bones shrugged. “He’s just a bit overwhelmed with all the new senses. He’ll get used to them. Or get neutered if he forgets himself and even thinks of palming your arse, do you think I’m blind?” He slapped at the hand wandering with feigned innocence near my hip. “Control,
amigo
. Learn it.”

“
Querida
.” Juan kissed my cheek, this time with respect. “I’m not ruled by my hunger and I can once again fight. He’s given me power…and I won’t squander it.”

One of the girls who were watching TV came down the hall with a flirtatious giggle, eyeing the two men. Juan went on full alert, his nose crinkling and green lights appearing in his eyes.

“Speaking of not squandering it…” He gave me a last quick kiss and followed after her, grinning.

“
La rubia, por favor
…wait. I am thirsty, and very susceptible to flattery…you could talk me into anything…”

“So much for fighting the good fight,” I observed dryly. “He’ll have a harem within a week.”

Bones watched Juan disappear down the hall, nuzzling the blonde’s neck in a manner that didn’t speak only of hunger. “He’s a fine bloke. He’ll learn.”

“Learn what?”
At least he can’t get or pass diseases
anymore
, I thought. That’s one advantage turning Juan into a vampire did for womankind.

Bones put an arm around me as we headed toward the exit of this flesh feast. “He’ll learn that many women can satisfy for a short period of time, but when he falls in love, only one will sustain him forever.”

I cast him a sideways glance “Are you trying to seduce me?”

His lips curled with promise. “Absolutely.”

My fingers laced in his. Yes, there was so much wrong with our situation. Someone we trusted wanted him dead, and that was just the start of our problems. Still, life was wasted on those who didn’t live in the time they had, be they human, vampire, or ghoul. Or a freaky mixture of the two, like me.

“Good.”

T
HE WAITING WAS GETTING TO ME.
U
NDER
other circumstances, I would have considered spending most of my time with Bones behind closed doors as a vacation. But suspiciously eyeing the people around me whenever we left the bedroom was not my idea of relaxing. It was worse for Bones, I knew. At least I didn’t have emotional attachments to whoever the traitor was.

This morning at breakfast, Bones upped the ante. As I munched French toast, he casually mentioned to Zero that Reno should be a pleasant change in temperature compared to here in Whistler, British Columbia. All of our suspects were close enough to have overheard. Here I thought I’d outgrown Clue.
Will it be Zero in the kitchen with a cell phone, or Doc in the drawing room with a pistol?

Speaking of Doc, he’d been acting strangely. Several times, we saw him lingering near the hallway where Tate was being held, wearing his guns, chewing
on an unlit cigarette and watching everything around him with a surgeon’s attention. He seemed to appear behind me whenever Bones wasn’t there, soundless as a shadow. When Bones would appear, he’d exit in a polite but deliberate way, still staying in close proximity.

It creeped me out.

Bones didn’t care for it, either, but out of necessity didn’t confront Doc or show that it bothered him. Instead, he would smile and say things like, “Oh, there you are, mate,” in such a breezy, unaffected tone it was all I could do not to applaud. Maybe in another couple centuries, if I lived that long, I’d have such good acting abilities as well.

Tick Tock and Rattler, the other two suspects, went about their business in such a blithe manner I mentally placed them lower on the totem pole. If anything, they seemed to sense my discomfort around Doc and tried to lead him off the few times Bones wasn’t glued to my hip. I took to wearing knives under my clothes, though they didn’t provide much comfort. With how blazing fast Doc was with those guns, I’d be pumped full of bullets before even getting a chance to fling one.

Soon after the Reno announcement, Bones went for his morning drink. I wandered outside on the porch. Vampires traditionally hated the freezing cold, having no internal heating system as a human did. Mencheres didn’t choose to hide out in the Canadian mountains in December on a whim. He knew it was a place the undead usually avoided. At this time of year, Florida was full of pulseless visitors. You couldn’t swing a cat without hitting a nonbeating heart.

It was with mild trepidation therefore that I glimpsed
a lone figure in the trees just to the left of where I was on the wraparound porch. I knew that form by now. Tall, lean, and deadly. Something glinted, and the sudden chill I felt made the outside air seem balmy in comparison. It was the reflection of sun off metal.

Without obvious rush, I turned and headed toward the door, concentrating all my willpower on not letting my pulse race. Such a sound might as well be a scream of fright to a vampire. As I walked, I wondered if I could dodge the bullets fast enough to avoid any vital organs. But it made sense that Doc would aim for my head. Why would he target anything else?

The door opened before I reached it, Vlad at my side, right in the way of any oncoming gunfire. I couldn’t remember when I’d been so glad to see him.

Thank you
, I sent to him without giving a last look over my shoulder like I wanted to.

“It’s freezing out here,” he said with a sardonic twist of his mouth. “You’ll catch your death.”

“Stay away from Doc, Kitten,” Bones began as soon as we were in our room and I told him what happened.

“You should just grab him and find out what he knows,” I muttered, irritated with myself for presenting such an open target.

“Yes, well, it would take longer to torture it out of him than to be patient and wait for him to get caught spilling it,” Bones said with calculated menace. “Believe me, if it were a matter of preference, you know mine.”

Yeah, I had a pretty good idea. If imagination failed me, I was sure he could arrange for a demonstration to jog my memory. Whenever we left this room, his mask of cheerful obliviousness was
on with full force. Once inside, it fell from Bones like scales. He rubbed the side of his temple almost impatiently. However rough it was on me, it was certainly worse for him.

“You must go crazy wishing for a few minutes of real peace and quiet,” I said. “I mean, it’s never quiet for you, is it? Either you’ve got noise from people around you or the crap rattling off in my head.”

He smiled with a trace of bitterness.

“Don’t fret, luv, I had a bit of real silence not too long ago. It’s highly overrated, if you ask me.”

He sat on the high-backed chair near the bed. Red velvet, mahogany wood, gold threading, maybe a real Louis the Eighteenth. Bones looked compatible with it, just as beautiful and finely molded.

I sat down and rested my head on his legs. “This isn’t your fault,” I said, softly but out loud, so he could hear it both ways.

He sighed. “Then whose is it, Kitten?”

Whatever I might have replied cleared right out of my head. Bones yanked me down on the carpet and covered me before my heart even finished its beat. No, it wasn’t from being overwhelmed by passion. It was because of the sudden eruption of gunfire.

He dragged me to the bathroom before snapping, “Stay here,” and disappearing in a blur. His quickness actually made me shake myself for a second before I ignored his directive and vaulted after him. No way was I sitting it out by the tub and hoping for the best. Doc only used silver bullets. It would be just as dangerous for Bones as it was for me.

Without bothering with the stairs, I jumped the three floors down and followed the direction of the other streaking bodies, not to mention the noise.
There was another succession of bullets, too fast for me to count, and an accompanying shout that picked my feet off the ground and had me diving forward. The commotion was coming from the dungeon below, and the voice yelling out was Tate’s.

I blasted past the other vampires racing down the narrow hallway and made it through the ruined door, hurtling straight at the man who raised the knife even as I crashed into him. The force of my velocity bashed both of us through the wall in an expulsion of concrete. Before I allowed myself to think, I jammed one of my silver knives into the form scrambling away. I didn’t have time to wonder what part of him I’d pierced, or why the hell it wasn’t Doc, because he was yanked out. Just as swiftly my legs were tugged on next, and I was plunked out of the new hole in the wall.

Above Tate’s panicked cries of “Cat! Cat!” I heard Vlad’s cool voice.

“You’re holding the wrong man, Bones, and you owe Cat your life.”

“Kitten, are you all right?”

Bones had Doc gripped in such a way that it stalled my response. Or maybe belated dizziness from the impact of my head smashing through solid concrete was to blame. I shook some of the blood off my forehead and accepted Spade’s hand to help me to my feet. The small room was shoulder to shoulder with people.

“I’m fine,” I managed. “He was going to stab you.”

“No, Doc was going to shoot Rattler again, weren’t you, mate?”

Bones asked it with caressing menace as he tightened his grip. I winced and instinctively straightened my spine. Doc couldn’t; his was bent at the opposite
angle. Bones had him folded like a backward sandwich.

“Bones!” He looked up from sharpness of my tone. “
Rattler
was going to stab you.”

“She’s right,” Tate said, pulling on his restraints. “He stabbed Annette, is she okay?”

“I have her,” Mencheres replied from outside the cell. “Zero, go fetch a human. She needs blood. Annette, don’t move. This will hurt…”

Underneath the rest of the uproar her low, pained voice penetrated. It was irregularly spaced but audible, and everyone shut up as her words became clear.

“…Crispin…it was Rattler—ah! Christ, that’s excruciating…Doc shot him…when he stabbed me…is that bloody blade out yet, Mencheres, I can’t bear to look…”

Bones released Doc. Vlad held Rattler in a punishing embrace, one hand on the silver knife I’d lodged in his chest, which was very close to his heart. Bones pushed past the people in the cramped space until he was in the hallway, kneeling by Annette’s crumpled form.

“Don’t move, sweet,” he said with the soothing cadence one would use on a child. “There, feel my hand? It’s almost over, squeeze very hard…”

With precision delicacy, Mencheres drew the wicked-looking silver blade from her chest. A laser beam would have been sloppier. The reason for his caution was obvious—she’d been skewered straight though the heart and any sideways motion would finish her. I held my breath as the last inch left her chest, because despite it all, I admired Annette. When it was out and she made a grunt of pain, sitting up, I
let out my breath. It seemed everyone did, even those who didn’t breathe.

Zero came back, holding a wide-eyed teenager under his arm. Bones moved to allow the young man to be deposited next to her, and Annette latched her mouth onto him the next moment. Her hand still was curled around Bones’s and he brought it to his lips before letting her go and standing with grim purpose.

Doc stood also now, his spine having healed in the interim. He went to Annette, who just released the teenage boy with a last lick of her lips. Zero supported him as he lurched away. I hoped they had a good supply of iron pills here.

Doc stretched and his back made an audible crack.

“Think the last of them settled back into place. Bones, don’t try to play chiropractor with me again. After all, I’m the only certified medical professional in this room.”

“You were a bleedin’ dentist, and a rotten one from what I hear. Still, you are without a doubt the fastest shooter I’ve seen anywhere in any era, and I shall be grateful to you the rest of my days.” Bones glanced at Vlad next. “Pull that knife out of Rattler once my wife is clear of his reach.” To Spade, he said simply, “Let Tate loose.”

The clanking of irons was the only sound now as Spade released Tate from his restraints. Once free, Tate stretched in much the same manner Doc had, only with a lot less graciousness for his rough treatment.

“Told you it wasn’t me.”

“I knew you suspected me,” Doc said. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable this morning, Cat, but Rattler had been skulking around the side of the house after you. He knew I saw him, and it made him des
perate. I followed him down here just in time to see him stab Annette. At least my bullets kept him from finishing her.”

Bones laid his hand on Doc’s shoulder. “Take Annette out of here, and once again, you have my deepest gratitude.”

After the two of them left, Bones turned to Vlad with a cold smile. “Let’s fill that vacancy on the wall, shall we?”

There was a matching smile on the former prince’s lips as the two of them strapped Rattler into the same clamps that had held Tate.

“You must be hungry,” I said to Tate, who’d gone to my side as soon as he was released. “They’re stocked here, believe me. Have someone show you.”

Tate rubbed his arms, as if he could still feel those clamps biting into them. “It can wait. Your head’s bleeding.”

“I’ll tend to her.”

With Rattler bound, Bones came to me, pressing his lips against the wound in my crown.

“You could have cracked your skull like an egg smashing into that wall, let alone the risk of getting shot. Mule-headed woman, at least it appears your stubbornness is well protected by a thick layer of bone. Have I thanked you yet for your reckless disregard of my directive to stay upstairs?”

“No,” I said with a small smile.

Bones set me back, pulling a knife from his pants. “I will. Promise.”

He cut his palm and placed it over my head. The tingling sensation was almost instant as my flesh healed. With a last brush of his lips, he let me go, and turned to the vampire who was the center of attention.

“Why?”

It was asked with the threat of punishment and the pain of betrayal combined. Rattler dropped his gaze.

Spade rammed his elbow so hard into Rattler’s rib cage that half his arm disappeared from sight.

“You were asked a question, Walter!”

Walter, a.k.a. Rattler, gave a gasp of pain even as Bones laid a hand on Spade.

“It’s all right, mate. We’ll give him a chance to confess without bloodying him first.” Then to Rattler, with a much harder tone.

“You know how this will go down. No matter how brave you fancy yourself, everyone breaks eventually. So you will either detail exactly when, why, and how you threw your lot in with Patra with all your limbs and skin attached…or with new parts growing as fast as we can tear them off.”

For once, such a grim pronouncement didn’t fill me with the slightest bit of compassion. It was all I could do not to fling myself on Rattler and start ripping him to pieces just for the sheer enjoyment of it.

“Was it for money?” I hissed. “All that gold and glory she promised? Is that it, were you just greedy?”

“I don’t care about money.” Whether it was spoken to me or Bones was a toss-up; Rattler glanced at both of us. “I did what I had to do for love.”

“For love?” I repeated. “You’re in love with Patra? Then you’re stupid as well as a backstabbing asshole.”

“Not Patra. For Vivienne.”

“Patra killed Vivienne, why would you—” Bones began, and then stopped. He shook his head with a sound that was much too callous to be laughter.

“Ah, I see. All this time, then? You told me Vivi
enne had been slain months ago. I grieved with you, you sod, and all the while you were waiting for your chance!”

It clicked then. I remembered the explosion at Mencheres’s house caused by vampires who’d turned themselves into walking bombs all for the sake of whoever Patra had kidnapped beforehand. Seems Patra had done the same with Rattler by kidnapping someone he loved to get him to betray Bones. What a truly vile person Patra was. If possible, I hated her even more.

“How do you even know Vivienne’s still alive?” Bones asked.

Rattler looked even more pained than he did right after Spade had elbowed him out the other side.