Change of subject. Change of subject! “As far as tonight,” I went on hurriedly, “you know I’ll go. I told you I want to stop Hennessey, and I meant it. You already found where the club was? That was fast.”
“I knew before, in fact,” he said, leaning against the doorframe. “I’d researched it this morning while you were sleeping. Was going to tell you about it when you woke up, but then you ran out like hell was chasing you and didn’t give me a chance.”
I had to drop my gaze. Looking him in the eye was more than I could handle. “I don’t want to talk about that. I’m not so shallow that I’d let my…” What to call them? “My misgivings about last night interfere with stopping a murderer, but I think it’s best if we leave that alone.”
His half smile remained. “Misgivings? Oh, Kitten. You break my heart.”
That brought my head up. Was he making fun of me? I couldn’t tell. “Let’s focus on priorities. If you want to, we’ll, ah, talk about that later. After the club. Wait here while I pack.”
He held open the door. “It’s not necessary, I brought your game clothes. After you.”
“I haven’t seen you here before, cherry pie,” the vampire said as he slid into the seat next to mine. “Name’s Charlie.”
Bingo! I was so happy, I almost clapped my hands. We had landed in Charlotte at ten, checked into our hotel at eleven, and arrived at Club Flame just before midnight. I’d been sitting in this disgusting place for two hours, and with the slutty dress I was wearing, it hadn’t been a lonely two hours.
“Sweet to eat, and easy as,” I replied, mentally gauging his power level. Not a Master, but strong. “Looking for a date, honey?”
He trailed his fingers along my arm. “You bet, cherry.”
Charlie’s accent was pure Southern. He had brown hair, a friendly smile, and an athletic build. His drawl, plus that aw-shucks demeanor, only made him seem more amicable. Who could be evil when he had an accent like candy, right?
The guy to my left, who’d been hitting on me all night, gave him a belligerent look.
“Hey, mister, I saw her first—”
“Why don’t you get up on outta here and go home?” Charlie cut him off, still smiling. “Best hurry, now. I don’t like to repeat myself.”
If I were that guy, I’d hear the steel underneath his good ol’ boy act, and be warned.
Of course, I wasn’t drunk, ignorant, and just plain oblivious to the danger in front of me.
“I don’t think you heard me,” the man slurred, laying a heavy hand on him. “I said, I saw her first.”
Charlie didn’t lose his smile. He took the man by the wrist and hauled him out of his chair.
“No need to fight and cause a ruckus,” he said with a wink at me. “We’ll flip for you, sugar. I’m feelin’ lucky.”
And he dragged the man out of the bar. The fact that no one commented spoke for the classiness of the place.
I looked around, torn. If I tried to stop Charlie, I’d blow my cover and wreck Bones’s chance to find Hennessey, again. So I did nothing. I sipped my drink and felt sick inside. When Charlie returned, he had that same genial grin, and he was alone.
“Turns out I am lucky tonight,” he commented. “Question is, are you going to make me very, very lucky?”
I was trying to listen for a heartbeat outside, but the interior noise was too loud. Whatever had happened was over. There was nothing to do but see this through.
“Sure thing, honey. I just need a little something to help with my rent first.”
My voice was flirty. Not a hint of stress. Practice did make perfect, and the rent comment was my ode to Stephanie. I thought it was darkly appropriate.
“What’s your rent, cherry pie?”
“Hundred bucks,” I giggled, shifting on my chair so my dress climbed higher. “You’ll be glad you donated, promise.”
Charlie’s gaze skimmed my thighs in the ridiculously short dress, and he took in a deep breath. Only months of training kept me from blushing at what I knew he was doing.
“Honey child, from the looks of you, I’d say that’s a bargain.”
He held out his hand and I took it, hopping off my chair.
“Charlie, wasn’t it? Don’t worry. You’re in for a real treat.”
As Charlie drove, I was quietly thanking God that he hadn’t attempted a quickie right on the premises. My hooker charade only went so far. Bones would be following at a discreet distance, and we were hoping I’d be taken back to Charlie’s place, breaking Bones’s cardinal rule of me avoiding a vampire’s home base. What information we might find was worth the risk of him having roommates.
“How long you been a working girl, sugar?” Charlie asked, as if discussing the weather.
“Oh, about a year,” I answered. “I’m new to this town, but I’m saving to move again.”
“Don’t like Charlotte?” he said as he pulled onto the highway.
I allowed a hint of nervousness to enter my voice. “Where are we going? I thought you were just going to pull off the side of the road or something.”
“It’s or something, cherry.” He chuckled. “Believe that.”
How would a normal prostitute react? “Hey, don’t go too far. I don’t want to walk all night to get back to my ride.”
Charlie turned his head and looked me full in the face. His eyes blazed emerald and he lost that friendly demeanor.
“Shut the fuck up, bitch.”
Okay. Guess the pleasantries were over! That suited me just fine. I hated to make small talk.
I nodded with what I hoped was a glazed expression and stared ahead without another word. To do anything less would be suspicious.
Charlie whistled “Amazing Grace” as he drove. It was all I could do not to whip my head around and snap, Are you kidding me? Couldn’t he pick something more appropriate, like “Shout at the Devil” or “Don’t Fear the Reaper”? Some people had no sense of the proper music for a kidnapping.
He pulled up forty minutes later to a tiny apartment complex. It was set back from the other, similar buildings along the street. The neighborhood was lower-middle-class, but not ghetto. Just something you wouldn’t see people strolling through for the view.
“Home sweet home, cherry pie.” He grinned, shutting the car off. “At least for a little while. Then you’ll get to leave town like you wanted to.”
Interesting. I hadn’t been told to speak, though, so I continued with my catatonic act. Anger simmered in me, thinking of all the girls who hadn’t been faking it. Tainted blood had advantages.
Charlie opened my car door and yanked me out. I let him propel me up the single flight of stairs to the second floor. He didn’t even bother holding on to me as he fumbled with his keys. That’s right, buddy. Don’t worry about me. I’m helpless.
He shoved me inside when he opened the door. I let myself trip, partially to stay low and get a view of my surroundings, and also so my hand was near my boots.
Charlie didn’t care about me sprawling on the floor. He stepped over me and plopped himself onto a nearby couch.
“Got another one, Dean,” he called out. “Come see.”
There was a grumble, a creak of furniture, and then presumably Dean.
Seeing him almost cracked my cover, because he strolled out buck-naked. I had to steel myself not to instinctively look away. Bones was only the second guy I’d seen that way, and Danny had been so fast, it barely counted. In the midst of everything, I was embarrassed. How absurd.
Dean came right over to me and tilted my face up. His parts were swinging so close, I fought a blush. And a recoil.
“She’s gorgeous.”
Charlie grunted. “I found her. I go first.”
That statement wiped away my embarrassment. Son of a bitch. These pigs were going to get it, all right. Permanently.
I’d just heard footsteps outside when Dean turned to Charlie.
“You expecting someone…?”
My stake cleared my boot the same in
stant Bones leveled the door with one kick. Maybe I was being spiteful. Could have been convenience due to its proximity, but the first place I drove it into was Dean’s groin.
He let out a high-pitched scream and tried to grab me. I rolled away, yanking out my other stake and flinging it into his back. That brought him to his knees and I pounced, jumping onto his back like this was a macabre rodeo.
Dean bucked frantically, but I grabbed the stake with both hands and slanted downward, shoving with all my strength. He flattened under me. Splat. I gave the stake another shove for good measure and moved away with a kick he didn’t feel.
“Guess you went first after all, asshole.”
Bones already had Charlie beat when I looked their way next. He hoisted him on the couch, sitting him on his lap in a pose that would have been comical for two grown men. If you didn’t count the wicked-looking blade protruding from Charlie’s chest.
“Good thing I didn’t need the other bloke, luv,” he commented dryly.
I shrugged. Too late now. “Then you should have told me.”
Charlie was staring at me in the most astonished way.
“Your eyes…” he managed.
I didn’t need to glance in a mirror to know they were all lit up. Fighting was a sure way to bring out their glow. In that way, it was like an optical erection. Unavoidable once things went past a certain point.
“Lovely, aren’t they?” Bones said silkily. “So at odds with her beating heart. Feel free to be shocked. I know I was when I first saw them glow.”
“But they’re…She can’t…”
“Oh, don’t concern yourself with her any longer, mate. It’s me you need to fret about.”
That returned Charlie’s attention to him. He wiggled, but a flick of the knife stilled him.
“Kitten, someone’s in the other room. They’re human, but don’t rush to assume they’re harmless.”
I pulled out three small throwing blades from my boot and went to check it out. Now I also caught the sound of a heartbeat coming from the back of the apartment. It was in the room Dean had come out of. Did he have warm-blooded backup?
When I neared the room, I dropped to my knees and moved forward in a crawl. A gunshot to the head would be all she wrote for me. I hoped anyone aiming would assume I’d be higher up, and I’d rush him before he squeezed off a shot. Did I have it in me to kill another human? Only one way to find out.
I peered cautiously around the bottom of the door frame—and then ran in with a cry.
“We need an ambulance!”
The girl was staring sightlessly at the ceiling. One look revealed she had no weapons. The only thing she was wearing was her own blood. Her arms and legs were flung out in a blatant pose, and she wasn’t moving. Of course not. She would have been told she couldn’t.
My knives fell from nerveless fingers. I couldn’t stop looking at her. All these years, the vampires I’d killed, and I’d never seen a victim before. Reading about it didn’t even begin to compare to the living, breathing evidence of someone else’s cruelty. My gaze went from her throat, to her wrists, and to the crease of her thigh. All bore distinct puncture wounds that slowly oozed.
They shook me from my state of horrified shock. I grabbed the bedsheet and began ripping it. The girl didn’t even move when I used the strips as bandages and tied them to everything but her neck. That wound I manually applied pressure to, using the remains of the sheet to cover her while I carried her out of the room.
“I have to take her to a hospital—”
“Wait, Kitten.”
Bones gave me an inscrutable look as I hurried into the main room of this hellhole. Charlie barely glanced at the figure in my arms. He seemed more concerned with his own predicament.
“But she’s lost a lot of blood! And worse!”
Bones knew what “and worse” meant, even if he couldn’t already tell from one sniff. Blood loss could be replenished. Her emotional wounds might never heal.
“You rush her to a local hospital and you may as well kill her.” Evenly. “Hennessey will send someone to silence her, she knows too much. I’ll take care of her, but let me deal with him first.”
Charlie swiveled his head as much as their close proximity allowed.
“I don’t know who you are, sonny boy, but you’re making a big mistake. If you get up on out of here now, you might just live long enough to regret it.”
Bones let out a mocking laugh. “Well said, mate! Why, some of the others groveled straightaway, and you know how tedious that is. You’re right, we haven’t been properly introduced, even though I already know your name. I’m Bones.”
The slide of Charlie’s eyes let me know he’d heard of him. One day, I might have to ask how he’d earned his reputation. Then again, I probably didn’t want to know.
“There’s no reason to be uncivilized ’bout things.” Charlie was suddenly back to his charming drawl. “Hennessey said you’ve been slinking after him, but why don’t you smarten up? You can’t beat him, so you should join him. Hell, he’d love to have someone like you batting for his team. This is a big, sweet pie, my friend, and there ain’t nobody who wouldn’t like a piece of it.”
Bones angled him so he could look at him. “Is that right? I’m not so sure Hennessey would want me. Killed an awful lot of his blokes, you see. He might be cross about that.”
Charlie smiled. “Aw, hell, that’s like a job interview for him! Don’t you worry none about that. He’d figure if they was dumb enough to get dried by you, he don’t want them in the first place.”
“We don’t have time for this,” I snapped, setting the girl on the floor. “She’s bleeding to death while you’re making friends!”
“Just a moment, pet. Charlie and I are talking. Now, about this pie, mate. Big and sweet, you say? I’m afraid I’ll need a little more incentive to let you live than just ‘big and sweet.’ I’m sure I can find someone who would pay a pretty penny for your corpse.”
“Not as much as you can get by playing for Hennessey instead of against him.” He nodded in my direction. “You see that li’l gal your wildcat is cradling? Each one of those honeys is worth ’bout sixty large, when it’s all put to bed. We doll them up and have them work the breathers first. Then we auction ’em off to one of ours. Full meal, no cleanin’ the dishes afterwards! And then they’re a perfect plate for a hungry bone-muncher! I mean, these gals were never more useful in their lives—”
“You piece of shit!” I cried, marching toward him with my stake.
“Stay where you are, and if I have to tell you to shut it one more time, I’m going to knock your bloody head off!” Bones thundered at me.
I froze. His eyes blazed with a dangerous glint in them I hadn’t seen since we first met. All at once, I was uneasy. Was he still trying to get information out of Charlie…or being recruited instead?
“That’s better.” Bones turned his attention back to Charlie. “Now, then, you were saying?”
Charlie laughed like they’d shared a joke. “Whew! Your kitty’s high-strung, isn’t she? Better watch your small and wrinklies before she wears ’em on her belt!”
Bones laughed as well. “No chance of that, mate. She likes what they do to her too much to rob me of them.”
I felt ill, and my head started to pound. How could he waste so much time while this girl was bleeding all over the carpet? My God, what if this was the real Bones? What if everything before this had been an act? I mean, how well did I know him, anyway? This could have been his intention all along, and how amusing that I’d been tricked into helping him. My mother’s voice echoed in my head. They’re all evil, Catherine. They’re monsters, monsters….
“Sixty grand each, that’s nice, but split up how many ways? It’s not a lot of quid if you’re splashing it over a big pond.”
Charlie relaxed as much as he could while being pronged. “Naw, it’s not much if it’s only a few dozen cooches, but tally that number up against hundreds. There’s only ’bout twenty
of us in this, and Hennessey’s expanding his treats. Going global with ’em. Hell, the Internet’s opened up a whole new client base for us, know what I’m sayin’? But he wants to keep his inner structure small. Just enough to keep those wheels movin’ over that sweet track to happy land. Aren’t you tired of scratching out a livin’ from job to job? Residual income, that’s the key. We’ve run through our last batch of gals, and it’s roundup time again. Few months of shoring up, and then it’s just sit back and watch the bank account grow. It’s sweet, let me tell you. Sweet.”
“Indeed. You paint a tempting picture, mate. However, there are a few chaps of Hennessey’s where there’s no love lost between us, so tell me—who else is on this quid train? Can’t sign me up if I’ve shagged one of their wives or shriveled their brother, right?”
The smile was wiped from Charlie’s face. Something cold settled over his expression and his voice lost that Deep South twang.
“Fuck you.”
With those words, Bones straightened from his easy slouch.
“Right.” His tone became crisp as well. “Knew you’d figure it out eventually. Well, thanks anyway, mate. You’ve been moderately helpful. Only twenty of you, you say? That’s less than I thought, and I’ve a decent inkling who the rest of them might be.”
Relief slammed into me with such force that my knees trembled. Oh God, for a second, I hadn’t thought he was faking. I thought I’d been played in the worst way possible.
“Kitten, I don’t feel anyone else, but take a look around this building anyway. Break down the doors if you have to, but make sure no one else is here.”
I gestured to the girl, who hadn’t moved. “What about her?”
“She’ll hold a bit more.”
“If you kill me, it won’t only be Hennessey who’ll come down on you. You’ll wish your mother had never been born,” Charlie hissed. “He’s got friends, and they go higher up on the pole than you can handle.”
I left, but heard Bones’s reply as I started on the closest unit.
“As far as Hennessey and his friends go, I thought they wouldn’t miss anyone stupid enough to get dried by me? Your words, mate. I suspect you’re regretting them.”
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