Destined for an Early Grave

by Jeaniene Frost

  With or without sound, it was clear that negotiations wouldn’t happen.

  The first of the machine guns began firing. As one, the vampires took to the air, while Rodney manned a machine gun of his own. I was relieved to see some unfamiliar faces come from the castle to join Bones and the others. The vampires disappeared from the screens for a few seconds, reemerging as they bombarded the ghouls like their bodies were inhuman missiles. When they flew off in bursts of speed, either the ghoul would be headless on the ground, or dazed.

  It was an incredible sight to see. From my rapid calculation, there were a dozen vampires guarding the castle, and each one of them struck with the force of a guided tornado.

  Except it didn’t appear to be enough. The ghouls who survived the fierce one-on-ones didn’t stay dazed long. They shook themselves off and began their grim march forward. Step by step, they were covering the distance to the castle. Their numbers were lessening, true, but they had an obvious determination. Bones and the others might be formidable, but math was math. There weren’t enough of them.

  After about twenty minutes of fierce fighting, the ghoul spokesman fired a flare, illuminating the still-muted sky in a blaze. I tensed, my hand pressed against the unforgiving screen as if that could offer assistance. It didn’t, of course. And the others forces began emerging from beneath the cover of the lower hills.

  I screamed, vaulting up and tugging at the door to my sealed cage. It didn’t even budge. I started searching to find the lever to open this trap. There had to be one.

  My heart was pounding so loudly, it seemed to be screaming along with me. Another hundred ghouls had just come from the concealment of the landscape. They had attacked in two waves, a clever, deadly plan. Pick just before dawn when the vampires were weakest. Have them expend their power on the first segment, draining them further. Then, when they were at their weariest, close in for the kill. And here was I, locked in a safe room, utterly helpless to do anything but watch.

  A ring shattered my concentration. With my hammering pulse, I actually waited a second to see if it was real or imagined. It sounded again, and I had to wade through the spilled items I’d flung about to find its source. Underneath some clothes was my cell phone. I grabbed at it, hoping against hope that it was Don. Maybe he could help. Send some troops, even if I didn’t know where the fuck we were.

  “Catherine.”

  The voice reached me before I’d even had time to gasp hello. It wasn’t my uncle.

  “Gregor.”

  I was breathing heavily, a combination of my broken ribs, terror over losing Bones, and my futile search for a way out.

  “Don’t be afraid, my wife.”

  His tone was soothing, but it had an undercurrent of something else. What, I didn’t know or care.

  “I don’t have time for this…” Spaces were needed to catch my breath. “Have to get out of here…”

  “You are in no danger.”

  That made a harsh laugh escape me. “Boy, are you wrong.”

  “They won’t harm you, Catherine.”

  Now I clutched the phone and recognized what his voice held. Confidence.

  “These are your ghouls, aren’t they?” I breathed.

  On the screen, Bones was regrouping the vampires nearest to him, dodging gunfire with every second. The earlier scene made sense to me now. An envoy had approached and made a demand that Bones refused. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that demand was. That’s why Bones had me under lock and key. He knew I wouldn’t have sacrificed everyone if I could help it.

  “It doesn’t have to end this way, ma chérie,” Gregor said. “Come to me, and I swear my people will leave without further harm to yours.”

  “What you don’t know is that I’m locked in a panic room,” I snapped. “Even if I wanted to, I can’t go anywhere.”

  “You don’t have to move from where you are to come to me,” he almost purred, “I am the Dreamsnatcher. I can get you if you but sleep.”

  Sleep? Who could sleep at a time like this? The walls vibrated from the barrage of shooting, and I was going to throw up over what was on the monitors. Short of banging my head against the wall until I passed out, I didn’t see sleep happening.

  “Easier said than done.”

  My voice trailed off, losing its desperate scorn. Bones had packed this room with care. There were a few books, snack foods, beverages, writing utensils, and most importantly—pills.

  I weighed the decision, glancing between the pill bottle and the desperate scenario playing out on the monitors. Mencheres said Gregor didn’t want to hurt me. All the precautions Bones had taken were to keep Gregor from finding me, but not because Gregor wanted to kill me, because Gregor wanted me with him.

  It might be dangerous to go to him, but Bones and my friends were in far more danger now than I’d be with Gregor later. I couldn’t just sit back and hope a miracle would prevent them from being slaughtered before my eyes.

  “I’ll do it, but not without conditions.”

  Gregor made a disbelieving noise. “Perhaps you don’t know the seriousness of what’s happening.”

  “I’ve got a bird’s-eye view,” I corrected him, biting my lip. “But I still have conditions.”

  Another scoff. “I won’t harm you, Catherine.”

  “That’s nice, but it’s not what I’m after.” God, the new force of ghouls was starting to fire, converging with the remaining first group. I didn’t have much time. “As soon as I’m with you, this attack stops. You’re responsible to make sure they get called off and stay called off. You want me to remember what happened with us? Fine, I’ll do it. But if after I remember everything, I still want to go back to Bones…you’ll let me leave, immediately, and without exception. It’s a gamble, Dreamsnatcher, how confident are you?”

  I was deliberately going for his arrogance. There was no doubt in my mind that whatever I discovered, it wouldn’t change my feelings toward Bones. Gregor didn’t know that, of course. With my open challenge, he’d have to be insecure not to agree, and he didn’t strike me as insecure.

  “I wouldn’t turn you out without protection, if it came to that. I would see you safely escorted,” was his careful, measured reply. “Yes, I am confident enough to gamble. Your terms are acceptable.”

  I wasn’t going to let him mince words. “Swear it on your life, Gregor, because that’s what I’ll take if you’re lying.”

  “You’re threatening me?” He sounded amused. “Fine. I swear it on my life.”

  I released a deep sigh. I didn’t really trust Gregor, but I had to take the chance. If I didn’t, and everyone here died, I’d never forgive myself. Lord, please let Gregor be telling the truth, and please, please, let Bones understand.

  “All right. Get ready to do your stuff, because here I come.”

  I snapped the cell phone shut and picked up the bottle of sleeping pills Bones had stored in case I needed to keep Gregor out. What he hadn’t guessed was that I might use them to let Gregor in.

  Don had been very specific about the dosage. Four pills all at once. If I took less, they’d make me fall into normal sleep. I unscrewed the cap and popped two in my mouth, washing them down with a bottle of water. Then I grabbed a pen that had been stacked near my books. The pills metabolized quickly; I was already starting to feel dizzy. There wasn’t any paper in this cell, so I ripped out a page from one of the books and scribbled on the small blank space.

  I’m coming back…

  The words blurred before I was even done writing them. With my last effort, I stabbed them into place with the pen. Then my vision blackened completely.

  I was running, except for once, I wasn’t being chased.

  “Come closer, Catherine.”

  I followed his voice and saw him ahead. Gregor was smiling a cool, expectant grin. It made me slow down the last few paces.

  “Remember our deal.” I warned, feeling his power reach out with its invisible tentacles.

  Gregor’s gaze gli
nted. “Come to me.”

  For a second, I hesitated. I glanced behind my shoulder, hoping Bones would somehow appear. He didn’t, of course. He was battling for his life and the lives of those around him. Well, at least now, I could help.

  I crossed the space and let Gregor enfold me in his arms. Something that might have been his lips brushed my neck, but aside from that…

  “Nothing’s happening.”

  I said it into his chest, him being so damn tall. That blurry dreamlike feeling didn’t cease even though the air around us seemed to electrify.

  “I don’t understand,” he muttered.

  “Of all the luck, now you’re having performance issues?” I hissed, growing agitated over the thought of what was happening to Bones. “Come on, Gregor. Get your Dreamsnatcher on.”

  He held me tighter. “It must be you,” he whispered. “You’re blocking me.”

  Shit. Dropping my defenses was about the hardest thing for me to do, especially with a stranger I didn’t trust.

  “I’m trying not to.”

  His eyes blazed. “Your delay could be costly.”

  Damn him, he was right. I had to get into this. Fast.

  I wound my arms around his neck and pulled his head down. When his mouth slanted over mine, I kissed him, slightly surprised that it felt familiar. With the distraction of him kissing me with a rough hungriness, I felt my shields waver and crack. Let go, Cat. Just ease up and relax…

  A roaring pain swamped over me, like I was being pulled inside out. Amidst the white noise and confusion, I would have screamed, but I didn’t have a throat, a voice, or a body. I felt the indescribable terror of being stripped from my own skin and flung into nothingness. It was the worst feeling of falling, only at sonic speed.

  When it culminated, I wasn’t reunited with my body; I was splattered back into it. The sensation of being blood, flesh, and bone again had me transfixed by the sound of my own heartbeat, a numbing cadence that was the sweetest thing I’d heard.

  “Catherine.”

  Only then did the rest of my senses kick into gear. Guess a molecular transport will knock the ever-living shit out of anyone unlucky enough to experience it. It occurred to me that I wasn’t standing anymore, though I was still wrapped up in Gregor’s arms. In slow motion, my mind began to take inventory. Two arms, two legs, check. Wiggle fingers and toes, check. Ribs still hurt, okay. Heart pounding like a jackhammer, right. But something was missing.

  Large hands slid down my bare back. Gregor, solid and very much not a dream, wore a triumphant smile on his face.

  And just like me, it was the only thing he had on.

  THIRTEEN

  WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?”

  It was a furious demand that earned me a reproving frown. “Don’t snarl so, Catherine. I can only transport the organic.”

  Maybe that was true, but it didn’t explain why he was also au naturel. I doubted it was an accident. His caressing me sure wasn’t accidental.

  “Get your hands off me, Gregor, and go call off your men like you promised. Right now.”

  I didn’t say it in the same angry tone. No, this was with a cold, flat insistence.

  He stared at me in a way that made me think he was going to refuse. Then, with deliberate slowness, he uncurled himself from me.

  “Don’t try to get up yet, you’ll need time to recover.”

  I was in a bed. Oh, sure, like this wasn’t specifically orchestrated. “I’ll be fine as long as you stick to your word.”

  He didn’t respond, just strode to the door and yanked it open. I had enough instinctive modesty to flop onto my stomach, but there was still no coordination to my limbs.

  Someone was right outside the room, and Gregor stepped back to let that person in.

  “Lucius, observe.”

  Lucius, a tall blond who might have been Nordic, observed, all right. He caught an eyeful of me glaring daggers at both of them.

  “I have my wife. She came of her own volition, so you can instruct Simon to pull back his forces.”

  “I have yet to learn that I’m your wife, and I came because you blackmailed me,” I replied, giving him a look that said I didn’t appreciate his play on words.

  “Be sure to detail her exact condition for Simon to report,” Gregor said, ignoring that. “And do be sure to include mine as well.”

  God in heaven, Bones was going to flip out. I felt a stirring of unease. Maybe I should have thought this over more.

  “Oui, monsieur.”

  Lucius left without a backward glance, and Gregor shut the door. I didn’t care for that, since he was still on the inside.

  “Is he going to call this Simon? How close are we to there?” I asked, able to grasp some of the blanket and roll myself into it.

  “He’ll call.” A light gleamed in his eyes. “But we’re very far from Bavaria, Catherine.”

  “Bavaria?” Jeez, no wonder it had seemed remote. “Where are we now? Or I suppose you won’t tell me.”

  It was very awkward having a conversation with a naked stranger. Gregor didn’t make any attempt to cover himself, either. I wasn’t looking, but I wasn’t blind. He was built like a football player, with a whole lot of muscle and intermittent scars on his skin.

  “I’ll tell you. I’m not like that scavenger who shuttled you back and forth while keeping you sightless and witless.”

  That last sentence told it all. It had been me after all.

  I gave Gregor a level look. “I might not be dreaming of you, but you’re still in my head poking around. You must have been doing a pretty thorough job to know details like that.”

  Gregor sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to stop me from rolling away. The lack of synchronization in my movements frightened me. I wanted to jump out of the bed, but all I could do was twitch.

  “I know what you know,” he said, tracing his hand down my arm. “I cannot transport someone, or invade their mind, without their blood having been inside me. Even though it was many years ago, your blood is still a part of me, Catherine.”

  Another tidbit no one had mentioned before. “If you know what I do, then you’re aware I love Bones,” I answered.

  “You think you do.” His hand slid lower, to the bottom of the blanket and slowly up inside it.

  Feeling his fingers climb up my calf didn’t arouse me. It pissed me off.

  “What kind of piece of shit would fondle a woman who can’t move to stop him?”

  His hand froze on my leg. I managed to flop back around and keep the blanket over me with a shaky grip. At least now I was facing him instead of craning my neck around.

  “The only reason I agreed to withdraw my men in exchange for your compliance is because Bones has saved you from death several times,” Gregor ground out. “But now, he gets no more passes from me.”

  “Is that what you call not murdering him, my mother, and my friends in a dirty ambush at dawn? A pass? How’d you find us, anyway? It wasn’t from me this time.

  Gregor’s jaw clenched. “I found you because of Bones’s stupidity, and if he’d had me and my men in a similar circumstance, he’d have acted with the same ruthlessness.”

  I opened my mouth to respond when there was an urgent knock.

  “I said no interruptions,” Gregor barked, streaking to the door and flinging it open.

  It was Lucius again. He almost hopped up and down in nervousness. “Master, you must come with me. I-I have…news.”

  The way his eyes kept flicking to me had me swinging my rubbery legs out of bed and managing to stand.

  “What happened? Did what’s-his-name not get the message?” I asked, fighting dizziness.

  “You need me to come with you now?” Gregor repeated, gesturing to me. “This is the first I’ve spent with my wife in a dozen years. This can’t wait?”

  “No, monsieur,” Lucius whispered, lowering his head.

  “Is it Bones?” I demanded, staggering and falling when my legs wouldn’t hold. “If he’s dead, Gregor�
�”

  “Is that swine still alive?” he interrupted. “Answer so she won’t become hysterical.”

  “Ah, yes, he is.” The sweetest of words. “If you would please come this way—”

  “My mother?” I cut him off, thinking what else might have gone tragically wrong.

  “I have no knowledge of any fatalities among your friends,” Lucius said, almost wringing his hands.

  “You’ve heard what you requested,” Gregor said, picking me up and depositing me back in bed. “If you don’t want to injure yourself, stay there. I won’t be long.”

  With that, he swept out. There was the distinct sound of bolts sliding after he shut the door. Left with few other productive options, I lay there and practiced moving my limbs.

  Gregor came back about an hour later, dressed in pants but no shirt. Some clothes were better than none. I sat up with the sheet to my chin and pillows propped behind me. When he met my gaze, something flickered across his hard features. His mouth softened, but he didn’t quite smile.

  “You remind me of the girl you were. You’re not her anymore, but right now, you look like you are.”

  It was incredibly strange. He was remembering someone I used to be, and I had no idea who that was. A sixteen-year-old Catherine who didn’t hate vampires and went to Paris with one? Never met her.

  “No, I’m not her anymore,” I agreed. “Since there’s no turning back the clock, why don’t we part in a semifriendly manner now?”

  He didn’t respond to that. “Your body’s also different. You’re an inch taller, and you’ve gained weight.”

  “Everyone’s a critic,” I muttered.

  That made him smile, creasing the scar on his eyebrow. “Twas no insult, ma femme. It plumps your breasts and softens your thighs.”

  Way too much information and in the wrong, wrong direction. “Gregor,” I shifted, and a strained breath escaped me. The movement put pressure on my ribs.

  In the next instant, he was looming over me. “You’re hurt. I thought it was just unease after the transport, but you’re in pain.”