This Side of the Grave

by Jeaniene Frost

  But when I went to the exterior door, Bones following closely enough for his energy to throb along my back, nothing happened when I pressed the card to the slot. I did it again, double-checking that the arrow was in the right position. It was, but still no green light.

  “Try yours,” I said, frowning.

  After a few moments, Bones had his card out and in the correct position, but several tries later, the door still didn’t open.

  “Getting them wet must’ve shorted the magnetic strip,” he said, shrugging. “Wait here. I’ll go back through the lobby and let you in once I’ve gotten new cards.”

  “Dressed like that?” I asked with a laugh. “I should let you just because I’ll crack up imagining the looks on people’s faces, but I’ll go. I might be just as wet as you, but at least my clothes aren’t ripped half off, and my jacket’s dry because you left it by the bridge before I pulled you into the river.”

  “I don’t care what any of those toffs think,” he replied dismissively.

  No matter that I’d done far more questionable things myself in recent months, shades of my rigid upbringing insisted that one did not appear with indecent gaps in their clothing in public if one could avoid it. I tried another tactic.

  “Come on, have mercy on any older women who might be in the lobby. You don’t want to give them heart attacks if they catch a glimpse of your goods,” I teased, trailing my fingers down the front of his torn pants.

  His hand closed around mine, bringing it flush up against the goods in question. Things low inside me clenched in response, drawing a short moan. God, feeling him grow thick and hard in my grip almost ended my control right there. It was all I could do not to drop to my knees and replace my hand with my mouth.

  “I’m leaving,” I said, the words hoarse from the willpower it took for me to pull my hand away. “I won’t be long.”

  His eyes were bright green, matching the hunger in his expression, fangs tantalizing me from underneath those perfectly sculpted lips.

  “Hurry.”

  I jumped off the roof without even looking to make sure someone wasn’t below me until I’d almost reached the ground. Good thing it was almost four in the morning, late even for most of this city’s residents to be out and about.

  Then I rounded the corner and went into the Ritz, giving a brief nod to the doorman. One short elevator ride later and I was in the lobby, pretending not to notice the surprised looks the employees gave my wet hair and shoes. I pulled out my driver’s license—fake, but registered to the same last name Bones booked this room under—and explained my room key was somehow not working. While I waited for my new cards, a man checked in, holding a sleeping little girl in one arm while awkwardly signing his forms with the other. From his hushed voice, it was obvious he was hoping to have her in bed before she woke, and after hearing his weary comment about airport delays, it was also obvious he was just as tired.

  I got my new cards at the same time the employee finished checking the man in, so we waited for the elevator together. He blinked a little at the drips of water that pooled at my feet when we stepped into the elevator, but said nothing.

  “Tripped and fell in a big puddle,” I whispered.

  “Ah” was his equally quiet reply. At least he didn’t give me the same kind of stink eye that the fur-wearing, plumber-banging older woman had.

  We’d gone up about ten floors when all of a sudden a booming noise preceded the elevator shuddering like we were caught in an earthquake. The man staggered and I grabbed him so he wouldn’t accidentally drop the little girl, who awoke with a cry. I had a split second of confusion before dread slid up my spine. Supernatural energy filled the air, coming from the top of the elevator, where moments ago, it sounded as if a boulder had dropped on us.

  Except boulders didn’t drop from nice hotels onto elevators, and they also didn’t make ominous growling noises.

  Oh shit, I thought, right before I heard the first cable snap.

  “Get in the corner!” I ordered, shoving the man when he just stood there.

  “What’s going on?” he shouted. His little girl began to wail. The elevator shuddered again, this time accompanied by a horrible whipping noise that sounded like another cable being ripped away. At the same time, pounding began on the roof of the car. I ignored that, plunging my hands into the seam in the elevator doors hard enough to bloody my fingers before shoving them apart. A slab of concrete and steel met my vision, no open spaces to escape through. The elevator was suspended between floors, but not for long, judging from the latest snapping sound.

  “Oh God, what is that?” the man screamed.

  Metal, plaster, and glass rained down on us as a hole appeared in the roof where none had been before. A ghoul’s face came into view, a savage smile lighting his features as he spotted me.

  “Reaper,” he hissed.

  I pushed the man aside just in time to knock him away from the ghoul’s grasping hands as he lunged for me.

  “Get down!” I yelled, trying to fight off the ghoul while standing under the hole he’d torn open. If the ghoul got inside, both father and daughter would be dead in seconds, and that’s only if they were lucky enough for the elevator not to drop before then.

  Pain slashed across my arms and face, red immediately coloring my gaze. He’s got a knife. A silver knife, I realized, judging from the burn it left on my skin. I tried to avoid that flashing blade while still keeping the ghoul from dropping into the elevator. Another snapping noise and the car dropped a few feet before coming to an abrupt stop, metal groaning under the strain of a last brake kicking in to hold the elevator up.

  But one good thing had come out of the elevator’s fall. Now, shiny steel doors took up part of the concrete and metal wall. The car had dropped halfway to the opening of a new floor.

  “Pull those doors open and get out now!” I shouted, a crimson-filled glance revealing that the man was crouched in the same spot as before, clutching his daughter while gaping up at us.

  He still couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away. Dammit, he was in shock, and it wouldn’t be long before either the ghoul got into the elevator or the strain of two supernaturals fighting proved too much for the last emergency brake. I braced my arms on the support railings lining the car, using them for leverage as I flipped upside down and then kicked the ghoul with everything I had. The railings broke, landing me on my ass with enough force to make the elevator shake dangerously again, but for the moment, the ghoul was gone from the hole in the roof.

  I wrenched those doors open and yanked the sobbing little girl from her father’s arms, shoving her through the space. She landed on the adjoining floor with a cry that filled me with joy, because while she might be bruised, she was now also safe. Before I could shove her father through the same opening, however, a roar filled the air as the ghoul jumped through the hole in the roof and landed in the elevator with us.

  The elevator shook hard enough that I felt sure it would drop. I didn’t have time to reach in my coat for my weapons, but ran headlong into the ghoul, knocking him away from the man. Amidst the screeching of metal, the man’s screams, and the solid thumps of the ghoul and me crashing around the elevator locked in a death struggle, I heard something else. An enraged English snarl.

  “Come here you bloody bastards!”

  I had a split second of dizzying relief. Bones was here, so the father and I would make it out of this. If I wasn’t worried about keeping the ghoul away from the huddled man—a careless stomp or swipe from the flesh-eater would snap his neck like a twig—I could’ve gone for my weapons and evened the odds a little. But my relief vanished in the next instant as a loud cracking noise preceded the ground dropping beneath my feet.

  Oh Jesus. The elevator was falling!

  Everything around me shook with terrible vibrations as the velocity lifted us up a few inches before gravity had my feet back on the floor. The ghoul flashed me a hate-filled grin even as the man screamed so loudly it briefly drowned out the noise
s from the free-falling elevator. The ghoul and I could survive the crash, though no doubt the ghoul would try his damnedest to make sure my survival didn’t last much beyond that. The father, however, would be dead in moments.

  The ghoul lunged at me, ripping his silver knife through the air toward my heart. I didn’t raise my arms to block him, but moved to the left at the last second. That blade buried into my chest, spearing through my flesh with flames of anguish, but not piercing my heart. At the same time, I shoved the ghoul down and to the side, aiming for the flashes of light that appeared between the partially open elevator doors as we fell with even greater speed.

  A crunching sound accompanied the ghoul’s entire body going limp as the rapidly passing floors and tight space acted as a crude guillotine. I didn’t waste a moment to savor my victory, but pulled the knife out of my chest and grabbed the man, tucking as much of his head into my bloody torso as I could. Then, still bent over him, I vaulted myself upward with all my strength.

  White-hot agony slicing through my body made me barely register the crescendo of noise that followed. Dust, glass, and blood filled my gaze, making it almost impossible for me to see. Up was my primary thought, followed closely by Don’t him let go! Several hard objects slammed into me and I blinked furiously, trying to clear my gaze while keeping my grip on the man. Those bone-crunching jolts could be more ghouls trying to kill me, or parts of the elevator shaft I crashed into as I blindly propelled us away from the explosion of debris as the elevator smashed on impact below.

  “Kitten!”

  Bones’s shout gave me a frame of reference. Then shadows became solid objects as my gaze cleared with nosferatu quickness. Red still colored my vision, but I didn’t need to see in more colors than that to know that I’d gotten us out of the elevator with probably only a second to spare. My back still flamed as it healed, but at least I could straighten now, even if it did feel like I’d just had my spine readjusted with a bulldozer.

  “I’m okay,” I called out, not seeing Bones, but judging he was fighting from the sounds above. Last thing he needed was to be distracted wondering if I’d bought the farm in the crash. My upward velocity began to slow while I looked for anywhere safe to set the man.

  There. A small lip between the floors marking where the elevator would stop, if it wasn’t in pieces below. I adjusted my hold on the man, carrying him with one arm while reaching for that tiny ledge with the other. I grabbed it, dangling both of us a couple stories above the wreckage of the elevator. He was limp, but his heart still beat, thankfully. I kept my grasp on him and the narrow ledge while I swung a leg up, wedging my foot between the split in the doors that protected those waiting for an elevator from the dangers of the shaft on the other side. Then, gritting my teeth at the awkward position, I kicked out, pushing those steel walls open.

  When they were big enough for the man’s bulk to fit through, I swung him up, gently pushing his prone form through the opening. No one was around, but it wouldn’t be long until someone found him. With the thunderous noise of the elevator crashing, the hotel would have all hands on deck as quickly as possible to see if anyone was injured. Being propelled through the top of the elevator left broken bones and slashes all over him, even with my body taking the brunt of the abuse. But he was alive, and so was his little girl. That was the best I could do for them.

  Then I stood on tippy toes and forced the doors closed again. As soon as they were shut, I leapt from narrow ledge to the remains of the dangling elevator cable, moving swiftly now that I didn’t have the man to protect and my injuries had finished healing.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Bones’s voice hissed before more noise boomed through the shaft and light debris rained down on me. Then a body sailed at me from above, outdistancing its detached head by about a dozen feet. Neither piece was Bones, so I sent up a quick prayer of thanks while swinging to the left to avoid it hitting me. I didn’t call out to him again, not wanting to alert my presence to any more ghouls who might be waiting in this shaft. With Bones’s furious energy filling up the space, it was hard to feel if anyone else undead was here.

  I climbed even faster, not wanting to try flying again yet. First, I might be healed, but I felt weaker from using my body to make an elevator escape hatch large enough for two people to fit though, and I still hadn’t mastered the art of not crashing when I flew. If I barreled into Bones while he was in the midst of a fight, that could have awful consequences. Even if I couldn’t hear the sounds of battle, which I could, I’d still know that he was locked in combat. Seething, deadly purpose washed over my subconscious, mixed with flashes of pain followed closely by exhilaration. Whatever was going on, Bones was winning, because I felt no fear emanating from him.

  Another series of loud thumps later and then his voice drifted down from the top of the shaft.

  “Kitten?”

  “I’m almost there,” I called out, doubling my efforts. I reached the top level where Bones was less than a minute later, heaving myself through the man-shaped hole in the wall that had bloodstains around it. Probably made by the headless ghoul right before his free fall through the shaft. That must’ve been the boom I’d heard before his body came sailing by.

  Bones’s back was to me. His coat was gone, which showed that his clothes were even more ripped than the last time I’d seen him, and he was on his knees restraining a ghoul underneath him. Their faces were close together while the man’s legs kicked out on either side of Bones’s hips in a macabre parody of passion. Despite the stress of the past several minutes—or maybe because of it—I burst out laughing.

  “Do you two need a few minutes alone?” I managed.

  “Oh, we’ll have time alone very soon. Won’t we, mate?” Bones drew out in a voice that dripped with menace. “Kitten, I need both hands for this bloke, so put your arms around my neck and hold on.”

  I did, locking my arms firmly under his chin. Bones bent his head to press a single kiss to them before the air thickened with power and he flung himself upward, flying us through the damaged service hallway and out of the hotel.

  Less than thirty minutes later, we flew toward a two-story house that was located about a mile off the main road bordering a dense swamp. Frankly, I didn’t know how Bones found the place, but he never hesitated in his direction. I could see about half a dozen people standing in guard formation outside the house, and they all looked up at us as we drew closer.

  Bones didn’t bother with his usual graceful landing. He set us down hard enough to leave a crack in the driveway. The guards formed a loose circle around us, their weapons drawn but not firing, clearly waiting for instructions. That came in the form of the front door swinging open and a lean, bearded vampire striding out. His long brown hair swung with his rapid steps, while blue flames swirled up his arms, somehow not singeing a stitch of his clothes.

  Then the vampire stopped as he saw us.

  “Bones. Cat.” A sardonic smile quirked Vlad Tepesh’s mouth as he took in Bones’s partially clad state, the grip he had around the ghoul’s throat, and my own bloodstained clothes. “How nice of you to drop in.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I let go of Bones, allowing him greater range of motion to handle the ghoul. He was probably glad not to have me throttling him anymore, even though he didn’t need to breathe.

  “This sod has answers I require,” Bones stated crisply to Vlad as he flung the ghoul face-first onto the concrete drive, jumping on his back before he could even attempt to scramble away.

  I gave Vlad a small wave as Bones proceeded to make more dents in the driveway using the ghoul’s face. “We, ah, got jumped by ghouls at our hotel and he’s the last one left alive,” I said by way of explanation.

  “They attacked you inside the city?” Vlad gave the ghoul an intrigued look, not appearing concerned with the damage inflicted on the driveway even though I made a mental note to cut him a check. “Marie didn’t go back on her word of safe passage, did she?”

  �
��That’s my first question,” Bones said, grinding the ghoul’s face against a jagged edge of concrete. “Did the queen of New Orleans send you?”

  “Fuck you,” the ghoul spat.

  Why did he have to say that? Now things were going to get really unpleasant.

  “Do you want to do this the bloody way, or the fast one?” Vlad asked, looking them over with cool detachment as Bones resumed making a hole in the driveway with the ghoul’s face.

  “Can’t say I care how I get my answers, as long as I do,” Bones replied curtly, banging the ghoul’s face again for emphasis.

  “Hmm. Hold him, but not too close.”

  Bones grasped the ghoul’s arm in a grip that steel wouldn’t break, but jumped off his back. Vlad walked over to the ghoul and ruffled his hair, almost a friendly gesture. Then he returned to my side. In the few short steps that took, flames began licking up the ghoul’s legs, blackening his clothes and skin. The ghoul screamed. I couldn’t suppress a grimace of remembrance. I’d been burned before, and it hurt worse than even being stabbed with silver.

  “Feeling more talkative now?” Vlad asked, barely discernible above the ghoul’s shrieks. “You continue to stay silent and I’ll cook your frank and beans next.”

  The ghoul yanked at his arm in a frantic attempt to get away, but as I’d suspected, Bones’s grip didn’t even budge. What did surprise me was the ghoul throwing the rest of his body in the opposite direction so hard that more than his shirt ripped.

  Bones didn’t share any of my qualms about suddenly holding an arm that wasn’t attached to a body anymore. He just grabbed the ghoul by his other arm and began thumping him over the head with the loose limb. I’d heard Bones threaten to beat someone with their own limb before, but I’d always assumed that was a figure of speech. Apparently not.

  “Did Marie send you?” Bones snarled, keeping away from the flames climbing higher up the ghoul’s legs. There go the frank and beans, I thought with a wince.