Elise attempted to cover the slip and instead made it worse.
“Oh, of course. Are you two ladies sisters, then?” She indicated Annette with an inclination of the head. Denise lost it again.
“Look, Mom, gloves!” I yanked my mother safely away from the shopkeeper and ground out a warning between clenched teeth. “Don’t even. Long walk back, remember?”
It wasn’t really Elise’s fault for her gross misidentification. Come to think of it, I probably did resemble Annette more than my mother. Of course, Annette was four inches shorter and far more voluptuous, but still. Our skin and hair similarities were there. The sister remark hadn’t been without reason, either. Annette and my mother looked about the same age, even though in human years Annette was younger. Since they were shopping with the bride, it had been an honest mistake.
“They’re not related,” Denise hastily murmured to Elise when she ceased giggling. “Um, this is a friend of the groom’s. Cat’s mother is a little disapproving of him, so ignore any obscenities.”
“Ah.” Knowing smile. Apparently she’d dealt with this kind of thing before, but on a much lower scale, I’d bet. “Well, ladies,” she continued, coming over and taking my arm. “Let’s look at the fabrics, shall we? Are you interested in white, ecru, cream, eggshell, mother-of-pearl, alabaster, or another color?”
“I have no idea.” I sighed. “Let’s see them all.”
***
Who had any idea dresses came in such a multitude of materials? I’d grown up on a farm where denim was the staple of my wardrobe, and the clothes I wore on jobs were mainly of the sleazy variety. I felt lost in a sea of silk, satin, velvet, brocade, and lace. We hadn’t even gotten to style yet, and it had been over an hour.
“What about this one?” Denise fingered a bolt of delicate-looking lace and held it up.
I obediently uncurled myself from underneath a pile of cloth and went to her.
“It’s so soft, Cat. Feel it,” she urged.
She was right, it was soft. Holding it felt like holding spiderwebs, and the stitching was as intricate as one.
Elise beamed. “Our most luxurious lace, straight from Italy. Against your skin it would look magnificent.”
Annette reached for it just as my mother did, and dear old mom snatched her hand back to avoid their fingers grazing.
“How much is it?” my mother bluntly asked.
Elise carelessly rattled off a number that had me dropping the fabric like it had burned me.
“On to the next one,” I said.
Annette took the lace swath and held it next to my arm, ignoring me.
“It’s perfect.” Her tone was brusque. “You’ll look radiant. Crispin means too much to me for me to watch him marry someone that looks like a peasant. His closest friends will be there—don’t you want to look your best on your wedding day?”
I smiled tightly and spoke so low no one but she could hear me. “It costs more than half the cars on the fucking road. Are you out of your mind?”
She didn’t bother with the same subtlety. “Cat, you must be the most ignorant person alive.”
My brows shot up.
“Do you have any idea how much bloody money Crispin has? What do you think he’s been doing with it after all those jobs over the centuries?”
Elise backed away a foot. Denise pulled my mother out of harm’s way, anticipating a bloodbath at any moment.
“You know, Annette.” Acidly. “In the time I’ve spent with Bones, a total of just under a year combined, we never got around to discussing his portfolio. Maybe it’s because I was too busy either fucking him or trying not to get killed, I don’t know which!”
That put a perplexed look on Elise’s face.
Annette advanced a step and pointed emphatically at my hand. “That stone on your finger is worth more than seven million dollars, you blithering ingrate. Do you know how many red diamonds there are in the world today of similar size and color? Only one, and it’s smaller. The cost of your dress and this wedding won’t even put a dent in Crispin’s funds, so will you stop acting like a child and think about him for a moment? What he would want? You could at minimum concern yourself with his wishes.”
“You are the biggest bitch I have ever met,” I burst out. “God, if you hadn’t saved his life two hundred years ago, I’d stake you and wear your blood for a week!”
Elise looked alarmed now. She backed away farther.
“Do it, Catherine!” My mother played the cheerleader. It was the first thing she’d agreed with me on in months.
“But,” I continued in clenched tones, “you did save his life. More than that, according to him, you’ve stood by him loyally through the years. I think he more than thanked you by fucking you up one side down the other, but that’s just me.”
A horrified gasp came from my mother. She wasn’t as enthused now.
“However, Bones has put up with so much shit from me, I can stand to deal with you. You’re absolutely right, Annette, the lace is gorgeous. Elise, get back over here. We’re taking this one. Now let’s pick a frigging style and then get the hell out of here.”
“Catherine!” My mother pulled on my arm, shocked. “This creature and that animal together, what is wrong with you? How can you tolerate that?”
I was in no mood. “Mom, probably every female who will be at my wedding except for you and Denise has at one point in time fucked the groom.”
Annette gave a shrug in concurrence.
“I’m not wild about it, but there you are. What can I say? He was busy in his years, but as long as he keeps his cock away from anyone but me from now on, we’re square.”
That was the last straw for Elise. She turned and sprinted for the phone, presumably to call 911.
“Get her, Annette, and make her happier,” I instructed needlessly.
She had already grabbed Elise and bared her fangs. This caused my mother to charge forward, but I held her back.
“You are not my daughter if you stand by and let her murder that woman!” she railed.
Even Denise gave me an inquiring blink.
“Watch, Mom.”
Annette bit into Elise’s neck. Her eyes were now emerald green. They’d changed the instant she touched the shop owner. My mother screamed. Thank God we’d chosen to be the last appointment of the day and the store was empty. I watched as Annette took a few pulls and then daintily scratched her thumb, pressing it to the punctures on Elise’s neck. The wounds closed almost as fast as the cut in Annette’s thumb. One vampire bite, erased from sight.
Annette stared into Elise’s dazed face. “Your customers have decided on a fabric. Your last recollection since giving the price is that the bride accepted it. Now you’re going to help them choose the style. That is all.”
There wasn’t a drop of blood on anything, even Annette’s lips. After centuries, you could be neat if you wanted to. Denise was openly fascinated by the exchange. She’d never seen a vampire feed before, except the one who’d tried to kill her when we met and I saved her life. Elise nodded once and smiled, a contented expression on her face.
Annette’s eyes bled back to their normal color. Once free of their entrapping glow, Elise shook her head and then brightly announced she would begin showing the styles.
“Perfect,” I stated. “You all go on, we’ll be just a second.”
The three of them left us and went to the other side of the shop.
“Do you see now, Mom? That’s how easily a vampire can control someone’s mind. Hell, Master vampires can do it without even taking blood, and Bones is a Master vampire. He could have changed your attitude problem with him countless times before, but he hasn’t. If he were a low-life scum like you say he is, why wouldn’t he?”
“Is that why you can’t leave him? God, Catherine, is this how he keeps you under this thrall?”
I sniffed in annoyance. “He doesn’t have me in any thrall. That stuff doesn’t work on me, Mom, because I’m half-vampire. Believe me, many
of them have tried over the years. I wanted you to see this… so you’d know that what happened with you and my father could have been orchestrated. He could have tranced you into doing whatever he wanted, and you would have believed anything he told you…”
If I’d punched her, she would have looked less stunned. My father was an asshole, no doubt about that, but the two of them had different versions about the night I was conceived. My mother called it rape. Max said it was consensual and that she’d only cried foul after she saw his glowing eyes and realized he wasn’t human. She had no idea I’d ever met him, let alone heard his side of that story, and I wasn’t trying to say who was right. My motivation was to show that she would have been compelled to believe whatever he’d said. Especially his laughing assertion that all vampires were demons. I’d heard that since I was sixteen, and it had been a hard thing to bear, thinking half of me had roots in the pit of hell. Max said he told her that because he thought it was funny. Yeah, real funny. Made a laugh riot out of my childhood. Maybe this scene with Elise wouldn’t make a dent in my mother’s beliefs, but she deserved to know this much at least.
Elise was musing over selections with Denise and Annette, oblivious that she had just been a blood donor to the undead. It was how vampires managed to remain undetected by the rest of the world. As far as ghouls, well… Dead men told no tales, as the saying went, and there was no shortage of natural deaths for them to choose their meals from. My mother would faint if she knew most funeral homes were owned by ghouls. Both species had that in common: they didn’t need to kill to eat, they only killed if they wanted to.
Then again, the same could be said for humans. I guess in that regard, all species were equal.
“Come on,” I said softly. “Let’s go see the styles.”
She gave me a sharp look but pursed her lips and didn’t say anything else.
***
Bones came out of the front door before we came to a complete stop in Denise’s driveway. How he got there, I didn’t know. Randy could have picked him up, or he could have flown from the compound, I suppose.
Annette straightened in her seat and smoothed a hand across her hair. My mother, who hadn’t seen him in about two months, mumbled something about vultures.
Bones just gave her a merry smirk and tapped on her window. “Justina, don’t you look fetching? If you weren’t about to be my mother-in-law, I’d be tempted to steal a kiss.”
“I just bet you would, you depraved whoreson!” she replied, incensed. With her car available, she wasn’t concerned about walking home anymore. “And here I thought you only preyed on young girls, but clearly your debauchery runs the full gamut of feminine ages!”
Bones arched a brow as he opened my car door. “Didn’t you ladies have an interesting chat? Annette, you haven’t been entertaining your companions with tales of me again, have you?”
There was thinly veiled menace in his tone. Even though a shallow part of me enjoyed his displeasure with her, I spoke up in her defense.
“She didn’t spill it, I did. Along with a few other points of interest regarding your past love life. I might have lowered my mother’s opinion of you, I’m afraid.”
“That wouldn’t be possible,” she growled and stomped off toward her car.
“Lovely to meet you,” Annette called out after her.
A rude expletive was my mother’s response as she drove off without even saying good-bye to me. Typical.
“Crispin, that was a particularly wretched thing for you to do,” Annette said. “That woman called you more names than I have ever stood to hear without killing someone. She will destroy your wedding.”
“Hallo, Annette, and you well deserved it. Don’t fret about my wedding, she’ll pull it together. She loves her daughter. She just doesn’t know how to express it.”
He’s giving her more credit than she deserves, I thought darkly. Instead of throwing rice, my mother would probably fling silver knives.
Annette flicked a piece of lint off his dark shirt, her hand lingering a second longer than necessary. “You look well.”
Bones pulled me closer. “I’m very happy,” he said simply.
I almost pitied her. She loved him, and it must hurt like a motherfucker to see him with me. If I were honest, I’d admit I didn’t blame her for her prior attempt to sabotage us. If she didn’t care for him enough to fight dirty to try to keep him, I wouldn’t respect her at all.
“Where are you staying, Annette?” I asked. Respect aside, I wasn’t about to have her over for the next few weeks until the wedding.
She glanced at Bones and hesitated.
“She’s staying with Tate, Kitten,” he answered for her. “Helping him with learning our customs and such. Invaluable opportunity for him, really. He’ll learn far more with her than he would with me.”
My hand tightened on his. Tate had slept with her before, mostly to spite me since Bones and I had been in the same house at the time, and apparently Annette thought he’d been worthy of a repeat performance.
I raised a brow. “Oh, I’m sure he’ll learn plenty of new tricks.” Wait until I got ahold of Tate later, that hypocritical son of a bitch. He hadn’t said a word to me.
Annette overlooked my pointed observation. “He’ll make a strong vampire, Crispin, but one day he’ll be trouble for you because of her.”
Bones shrugged. “I have my reasons, aside from my promise to her uncle. I’m not concerned.”
“Coming inside or leaving?” Denise asked us, heading to the door.
“Leaving, regrettably,” Bones smiled. “Duty calls. Kitten’s boss wants to meet Annette. I think he’s fretting she’ll take a bite out of his top soldier if she stays with him.”
Denise giggled. “Didn’t she already?” Okay, so I told her everything.
“Love you, thanks for your help,” I said.
Annette got in her car to follow us to the compound, and Denise was in the process of closing the front door, but then she flung it back open with a bang.
“Wait!” Denise started laughing so hard she could barely speak. “Don’t forget Bones’s birthday present in Annette’s trunk. It might run out of oxygen!”
She dissolved in a seizure of giggles that bent her over. Bones looked at me in wonder. “How much gin did you drink?”
I slid into the car and fastened my seat belt. “The whole bottle. But that part I let slip before I touched it. Annette told me to remind her that your present was in the trunk, and I told her it better not have a pussy. Sorry, it just flew out.”
He snorted with laughter. “I love you, Kitten.”
I smiled back. “I love you too.”
Chapter Twenty
After the S&M Club
Author’s Note: This scene originally took place at the end of chapter 12 in At Grave’s End. It was later cut because I thought the sex scene would be somewhat gratuitous and might drag down the pacing. So why did I write it to begin with? In this version, Bones intends to leave Cat at the compound for the next few days while he goes out of town to secretly check out a lead on Patra, so “going away” sex made sense. Since Bones didn’t leave in the published version of the book, having them pause for uninhibited nookie felt like it took away some of the seriousness of what Bones and Cat were facing at the time, and I deleted the scene.
We flew back to the compound, dropping the humans off first at a local military hospital for checkups. Actually, we didn’t even have to give them new memories of the night. All three knew about vampires and ghouls and had gone willingly to the club with them as playthings. The only thing they hadn’t figured on was the merriment turning so sour. Not my business, I reminded myself. My job was to save them, not lecture them on their lifestyle.
When we reached the third sublevel, Bones tugged me right past Don’s office where my uncle waited up for the evening’s report. He didn’t reduce his stride as Tate called after us.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Both of us had coats on f
or propriety as well as practicality. Miami might not have needed the outerwear, being still seventy-plus degrees even in November, but Virginia was chilly. Mine was belted modestly over my skank wear; his flew open with a swirl and trailed behind him.
“Less than three hours before dawn,” Bones replied. “I’m not wasting it on show-and-tell. Not with you sods, that is. He’ll get our input come the morning.”
I would have argued, but what Tate didn’t know was that Bones had an early flight tomorrow. We’d have to be at the airport at nine thirty, and it was a half-hour drive. For vampires, that was practically the crack of dawn. He was right. Time was of the essence.
Bones led me to the only really private place I had at the compound—the shower. Since I was the sole female on the team, there were no concerns about anyone coming in and interrupting us. In recent months, Don had even enlarged the area, adding sufficient room for Bones to have closets, his penchant for showering with me instead of the men infamous. Don had also added a chair and ottoman to the corner of the room. I supposed a bed would have been too blatant. Besides, we’d never required one before.
Bones locked the door behind us, wrenching me into his arms as soon as it shut. “I have been waiting all bloody night to do this,” he growled, kneeling in front of me. He took off my jacket, threw it aside, and then snapped the chains which held up my leather bra. His lips locked over my nipple, that spike in his tongue grating the sensitive peak in a way that made me gasp.
Yet in addition to the heat rising inside me, a stab of jealousy remained. “How do you stand it, Bones?” I wasn’t talking about the discomfort it must have caused putting in those pieces of jewelry. “Dave had to slap me to prevent me from ripping that bitch’s head off when she kissed you. How do you watch me, job after job, making out with other men to lure them into position?”
It was hard to form coherent words when he paid such thorough attention to the task in front of him. Both my nipples soon throbbed, and his hands hadn’t been idle.
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