One Foot in the Grave

Page 18

He stopped at that, but I couldn't let it go. How typical of me.
"And then?"
Even though his gaze didn't waver, his expression tightened. "She and I were in bed, I'd tasted her, and then I stopped before it went further. I'd been imagining she was you, and I couldn't pretend any longer. So I apologized and left."
Tasted her. I knew he wasn't referring to feeding. Scalding jealousy filled me, and I closed my eyes against the mental image of his mouth on another woman in that way.
"It doesn't matter," I managed to say, and I meant it. But, oh God, it still hurt.
"I'm sorry," he said. I could hear the remorse staining his voice. "I should have never allowed it to go that far. I was angry, lonely, and feeling rather entitled. Not an honorable combination."
I opened my eyes. The moon was in white relief against the night sky, and its rays seemed to make Bones's skin glow.
"It doesn't matter," I said again, with more strength this time. "And for the record, I didn't find out about that watch until after the fact. I'm not saying I would have run off with you had I found it sooner, but-I would have pressed that button. I wouldn't have been able to stop myself."
He smiled. Seeing it eased some of the hurt from his earlier confession. "I've never been able to stop myself either when it comes to you, Kitten. But we really do need to leave now."
I cleared my throat. "Um, on foot?"
"No," he snorted as he pulled up his pants. "The faster way."
"I still can't believe you didn't tell me you could fly," I complained. "I can think of a few times back in Ohio when it would have saved me some gas money!"
"I didn't tell you about it back then because I was afraid to show you even more ways that I wasn't like a normal man."
Considering my many prejudices at the time, it was hard for me to blame him for such caution. "Can you also leap tall buildings in a single bound?" I asked after a pause.
He enfolded his arms around me, breath from his laughter tickling my neck. "We'll try that tomorrow night."
I nodded at the dead hit man across the parking lot. "What are we doing with him?"
"Leaving him. I'm sure your blokes will come along soon enough, so he's their problem. We're going back to my house to find out who employed the late Ellis Pierson."
His arms tightened, and there was expulsion of air as he vaulted upward like his feet had invisible rockets. This time I didn't squeeze my eyes shut, but I welded myself to him as the distance grew between us and the streets below.
"You don't ever crash, do you?" I managed to ask breathlessly.
He chuckled, the sound snatched away by the wind.
"Not lately."
Chapter Twenty-Two
BONES HAD LEFT HIS LAPTOP AND OTHER POSSIBLE incriminating information back at the house he was renting, which is where we went. For another piece of luck, his cell phone was safely inside the leather coat he still wore. We wouldn't go back to my house anymore, for obvious reasons. With how much of a rush the mysterious source behind the attempt on my life was in, there could be another hit man waiting for me. I'd have to send someone else over to feed my cat for the next day or so.
Once we were safely inside the house and I could concentrate on more than "Eek, too high, too fast!" my mind spun with possibilities.
"Do you think Ian was behind the hit man?"
"Not a chance," Bones said without hesitation. "Ian wants you alive so he can add you to his collection. Be a bit hard to do that if your head was in pieces."
I remembered those three tight-knit holes in the window. "How did you know to knock me out of the way?"
"I heard the shots go off. He didn't use a silencer."
My head had been less than four feet away from the window at the time. Holy shit, he'd moved fast.
He read my look. "Not fast enough. One touched your skin. That's far too slow for me."
I gave a humorless chuckle. "That's faster than I even knew was possible. And the flying trick blew me away as well. Still, we can never go back to that restaurant again. You destroyed the place and didn't even pay for our wine."
"We both know what it has to be, Kitten," Bones said, ignoring that. "Obviously Don decided not to trust you."
I thought it over, and then shook my head.
"It's not Don. It doesn't make sense. Ellis said that he had originally been given the contract a week ago. That means the hit was planned before anyone knew you came into my life. Don had no reason to want me dead then. I was playing by all his rules."
Bones got up and began to pace. "You're right. I'm still so bloomin' unsettled about almost wearing your brains, I'm not thinking clearly. Right then, Don looks clean. Perhaps. But then that means that there's a traitor at your compound. This isn't just some random contract by an undead bloke who wants the mysterious Red Reaper eliminated. This is someone who's privy to who you are, what you are, and your whereabouts. How many people does that equate to?"
Reflectively, I rubbed the wound near my hairline. "My entire unit, Don's scientists, some of the guards...about a hundred people."
He frowned. "That's a large number of suspects, and that means it won't take Ian long to pick up on you, either. I'll have to pay a visit to your work. Sniff out the potential Judases one by one."
"Bones." I marched over to him. "You don't understand. That place is heavily armed and heavily guarded. I should know, I helped design the security! There are only two ways a vampire can get inside the compound without a massive bloodbath. One way is shriveled. They store those vampires on ice for study. The other way is nearly as unpleasant-pronged with silver near the heart and transported inside our capsule. We keep those vampires alive for their blood to supply the Brams. That's it. End of story."
Instead of being discouraged, he tapped his finger on his chin and then picked up his cell and dialed.
"Yes, thank you, I'll hold...Right, one large pizza, extra cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms. Two liters of Coke also. Um hmm, cash. Forty minutes? Here's the address..."
When he hung up, I blinked at him in confusion. "Is that code for something?"
He laughed. "Yeah, it's code. For a large pizza and soda. You never did have a bite to eat, and we can't have you starving on me. Don't fret; it's all for you. As you know, I'm full. Now tell me about this capsule."
"This is the worst idea you've ever had."
My jaw ached from grinding my teeth. I was practically hoarse from arguing, but Bones was unperturbed.
"This is the only way I can get within sniffing distance of whoever's trying to take you out. If they're a vampire or ghoul's lackey, I'll smell it on them. Or they'll try to run, or stink like fear. Either way, we'll know."
"Or you'll be packed on ice next to Switch."
"Not going to happen, pet. Make the call."
Bones handed me his phone for the fifth time. With a withering glare, I finally took it and dialed. Here went nothing.
"Don, it's me," I said when he answered.
"Cat, are you hurt?" To his credit, he sounded genuinely concerned.
"No, but someone's trying to change that. Look, I'm coming in; I'll see you in an hour. Don't let anyone, and I mean anyone, leave until I get there. Call in whoever's out. We have a rat."
"Of course, come in at once. We'll discuss it when you get here. But no one here could possibly be involved-"
"Do you want me to come in or not? These are my terms, and I'm pretty goddamn inflexible about them, since my head nearly parted company with my shoulders last night."
He paused and then sighed. "If that's what makes you feel safe. Where is, ah, your companion?"
"He went out, I don't know where. Right now I'm more worried about my own ass."
"Hurry in. I'll recall the teams, but if you don't arrive in an hour, I'm sending them back out."
I hung up and almost flung the phone at Bones. "Happy now?"
He pressed his lips over the scab on my temple. "Not yet, but I will be. Go straight there; don't stop for anything."
I started to leave, but then paused.
"Bones, before we do this, I have to tell you something. You know I still care about you, obviously, but it's more than that. I'm...I still love you. I've never stopped, actually, even though I tried to snap out of it over the years. I don't expect you to feel the same way, but-"
"I've never stopped loving you," he cut me off, coming over to take me in his arms. "Not for an instant. Even when I was so angry at you for leaving me, I've always loved you, Kitten."
He kissed me, a slow, deep kiss, like we had all the time in the world. I wished we did, but right now, I was afraid I might never see him again.
With a shuddering sigh, I pushed him back. "I'll give you another kiss later. Right now I'm too scared about what you're doing."
Bones smiled, undisturbed, and traced my lower lip with his finger. "I'll look forward to it. There's one more thing, and you must swear to do exactly as I tell you. Take this." He placed a sealed envelope in my hand. "Hide this in your clothes and don't open it until I tell you. This is the information I'd been waiting for, and I need to be there when you see it. Swear to me you'll wait."
"Quit being melodramatic." I thrust the envelope down the front of my shirt, tucking it in my bra. "Scout's honor, okay?"
"I love you." He made it difficult to stay mad at him.
That stopped me by the door, my hand on the knob. "Don't get killed. No matter what."
From the look in my eyes, he knew what I meant.
"It shouldn't come to that, but if it does, I'll try not to kill any of them."
"Right." My tone was brittle. "I don't know if they'll show you the same courtesy."
This time, when I drove up to the guard gates on a motorcycle and took off my helmet, I was rushed through without hesitation. After all, I couldn't exactly hide a vampire on the handlebars, could I? I rode straight through to the entrance, literally leaving the bike by the door, and was met by Tate and Juan. They both looked awful.
"Christos, querida, we thought the worst," Juan exclaimed. Tate was less expressive, but he stared at the scratch on my forehead as if transfixed.
"Jesus. Is that from the bullet?"
"Sure is." Flippantly. "Were you one of my spies last night? Or did you get the report secondhand?"
We headed for Don's office. To my relief, I saw the building's doors seal promptly behind me. Good, Don was keeping everyone inside.
Tate still looked rattled. "Actually, I saw it on video. You were being recorded. Don has the tapes."
"At least I'll get to see how my dress looked, even though it's toast now."
"You looked beautiful, querida." Trust Juan never to miss an opportunity, no matter the circumstances. "Throw away that pulseless pale man and I'll take care of you."
"That 'pulseless pale man' saved my life, Juan," I bleakly reminded him. "I wouldn't be pretty with three holes plugged in my head, would I?"
Don stood when we entered, a rarity. He stared at me for a moment, and something flashed across his face I couldn't name.
"Let me see it," I began without pleasantries.
He knew what I was referring to, and clicked a button that flicked on the plasma screen as Tate shut the door.
Whoever had been filming me had a better vantage point than my would-be assassin. This looked to be from a neighboring building, since the slant was less steep. Dispassionately I watched the silent footage of Bones and me at our seats, the waiter bringing us the wine, him leaning forward, and me stroking his hand. The next scene was a blur of volatile movement that defied tracking with the na**d eye. Then there was the unbelievable sight of the window exploding outward and a black-draped form free-falling with me before zooming off to wreck the van below.
The cameraman had apparently stopped filming and started moving, because the next footage was far more mundane. It showed the dead body of Ellis Pierson, and a close-up on the puncture wounds in the throat. Bones hadn't bothered to heal them. He knew my team would scoop up the evidence.
Don clicked off the film and regarded me with guarded expectancy.
"I take it that was the hired gun?"
"Yeah. My date wasn't happy at his dinner being interrupted."
"Oh, your date got his dinner, all right," Tate muttered sarcastically.
"You know, Tate, I can't say I minded much at the time. After all, I'd just listened to a detailed description of how he was paid to blow my head off."
"Cat." Don rested his hands on his desk as he sat down. "You need to tell us about this vampire you're with. You start dating the undead, and suddenly you're targeted for assassination? From someone who knew exactly where you'd be? It's too coincidental."
"Did you just miss what you saw?" Exasperation filled my tone. "That vampire took a f**king bullet in the head for me! Explain to me how that's hostile!"
"I've studied this recording frame by frame, Cat," Tate answered flatly. "He moved faster than a speeding bullet, literally, and then he jumped from a building and flew! So not only does he have to be a Master vampire, but he also has to be the most powerful f**king Master we've ever encountered."