I knew what this was. When I spoke again, my voice echoed with countless others that had been consigned to the grave.
“Back. Off.”
The Remnants flung themselves away as though Bones and I had become poisonous. Then they slithered along the walls like sinuous, silvery shadows. Marie lunged, either to grab me or to run, but she didn’t make it an inch before she stopped with the suddenness of hitting a brick wall.
Slowly, painfully, I pushed her off, then threw her detached arm down the staircase. It bounced at the final step, landing with a thud a few feet from Bones.
“As I said before, Marie,” I ground out, “we need to talk.”
Thirty-one
Our conversation was put on hold because the cops showed up. One of Marie’s neighbors must have called the police about all the noise. No surprise, the officers who came to investigate were ghouls. Her address being flagged for a disturbance would have concerned more than the regular authorities.
Marie kicked her severed limb under the nearest chair and hid its growing replacement beneath a quilt before she went to the door. Sure, Bones had threatened to kill her unless she played it cool, but I think she did it for another reason. Signaling for help or showing how she’d been injured would have been tantamount to admitting that two vampires had gotten the drop on her in her own home—something the ghoul queen would never admit to. Still, Bones kept his power wrapped around her neck as she spoke to the officers. After a few minutes, she sent them away, then covered the entrance with the broken door.
“What do you want with me?” she demanded when she faced us again.
Bones arched a brow. “Before I answer, is anyone else here?”
The glance she shot him was filled with hostility. “No. When I’m home, I value my privacy.”
We hadn’t expected her to be a gracious loser, so I didn’t comment on the look. Or her venomous tone.
“We want you to leave the child be,” I said, shivering from my new connection to the grave. Death was cold, and as the Remnants evidenced, always hungry.
“That means no sending ghosts, ghouls, or minions to look for her. And, of course, your promise never to kill her. Same goes with us.”
Marie began to laugh, a low, mocking sound that still managed to contain shades of real amusement.
“If that is your demand, you came in vain. I’ve already given the order. My people search for her as we speak.”
“Let’s get one thing straight, Majestic.”
Bones walked over to her, his aura crackling with barely controlled rage.
“When you sicced your ghostly little fiends on me the first time, I wanted to rip your head off. Doing it again tonight makes me really want to, but being forced to watch as they tore into my wife?”
He reached out, caressing her neck with a deceptively gentle touch.
“That makes me want to kill you so much, I can scarcely think of anything else,” he finished in a lethal whisper.
Then his hand closed around her throat, tightening until cracking noises were the only sound in the room. Marie’s hazelnut eyes began to fill with red, and the Remnants started to shift restlessly.
“Bones,” I said sharply. “Don’t.”
If we wanted to save Katie, we needed Marie. If we killed her, we were hastening a potential war with ghouls, and while we might manage to evade the Law Guardians, with Marie’s network of ghosts, anyone she wanted to find, she would, and sooner rather than later.
“We came to make you an offer,” I went on. “One that will be mutually beneficial.”
With Bones’s fist tightened so much that his fingers touched, she couldn’t laugh, but her mouth stretched in a pained smile.
“She can’t talk unless you let her go,” I said in a sterner voice.
He released her with obvious reluctance though his power remained coiled around her neck. Not tight; loose, like a snake deciding whether or not it was hungry.
Marie waited until her neck healed back to its normal shape before she spoke.
“What is your offer?”
“We’ll give you the people responsible for creating a cross-species child: Richard Trove and Jason Madigan. You can execute them to solidify your position as queen of the ghouls. In return, we want you to swear by your blood that you will call off your people and meet all our previous demands about the little girl and ourselves.”
Some of the hostility drained from her expression.
“I know she is your child, Reaper, but you must understand that nothing except her death will stop our races from warring.”
The words weren’t a surprise; the emotions they stirred were. Fangs that had receded jumped out as I fought a strong urge to rip her throat open for daring to say such a thing.
“That’s why you’re going to tell everyone that you already killed her,” I responded in a voice far calmer than I felt.
Disbelief creased her smooth, café latte skin.
“If the truth were discovered, my people would tear me apart!”
Bones’s smile was a mixture of ice and steel.
“Hence your motivation to keep your word should your honor prove vulnerable.”
Marie glowered at him for a moment. Then she let out a deep sigh.
“Even if I wished to, what you ask is impossible.”
Her neck dented as Bones’s power flexed in an instant vise. “If that’s true, then you’re no use to us.”
I gripped his arm, urging him not to increase that punishing hold. That’s when I noticed how warm he felt. He must have fed right before crashing through her window.
“Give it another chance,” I said, so low she wouldn’t be able to hear me. Then I stared at Marie.
“Your people spent hundreds of years in captivity because of their race. Even after all this time, the memory of it must still burn.”
Marie’s head jerked as Bones released her to answer. The connection we now shared let me feel her anger as it pulsated through the air.
“Don’t,” she snapped. “You have no right, white girl.”
“I don’t, but Katie does. Until she ran away, captivity was all she knew, too, and now she’s been marked for death because of her race.” My voice roughened. “Either you believe that’s wrong, or you don’t.”
Marie continued to glare at me, but she didn’t say anything.
All at once, it felt like the temperature dropped sixty degrees. At the same time, hunger rose with an ache that reminded me of waking up as a brand-new vampire. The Remnants began to sway as though listening to music no one else could hear. They were being reactivated.
“Stop it,” I said curtly. “If you try using them on us again, Bones will take your head off.”
Marie gave me an irritated look.
“I’m not the one channeling them. You are.”
“Kitten.” Bones’s voice was soft but urgent. “Look at me.”
He grasped my shoulders, and I almost jerked away. His fingers felt like they were scalding. It was only when his grip tightened, holding me steady, that I realized I’d been swaying like the Remnants.
Marie was right. Although I wasn’t having the same crazed response as the first time I drank her blood, I was being pulled into the icy, ravenous embrace of the grave. I forced it back, trying to forget about how good the cold was starting to feel. Then I shook my head to clear the whispers that didn’t come from the nearby neighbors’ thoughts. If I lost myself to this, it might take me days to recover, and we didn’t have that kind of time.
Snap out of it! I ordered myself. Focus on Bones. He’s what’s real, not that cold, hungry power, and—
“Why are you here?” I suddenly blurted. “We agreed that you’d come only after I called and gave you the all clear. That way, if things went south, you’d still be alive to help Katie.”
A sardonic smile curled his lips.
“I smelled your fear when Veritas asked if we wanted to change our statements. You’re never afraid for yourself, so I knew it was
fear for me.”
Then he drew me close, his lips brushing my forehead while his hands ran down my back in a way that was both soothing and possessive.
“That’s why I didn’t stick to our agreement, Kitten. If you couldn’t best Marie to save yourself, I knew you wouldn’t let me die.”
What a reckless, arrogant assumption, and how humbling that he’d been right. What he didn’t know was the other reason I’d fought harder than I knew I could in order to live.
Katie. I couldn’t let her die, either.
Thinking of her, out there all alone, gave me the strength to smother the siren call of the grave. Ready or not, I was a mother now, and my daughter needed me. I couldn’t let her down. Too many other people already had. I wasn’t about to add my name to that list.
Buoyed by that knowledge, I grasped Bones’s hands, glad they no longer felt like they were burning me. The voices were gone, too, and while I was still hungry, the bottomless hole inside me had eased. Satisfied I wasn’t about to lose it, I turned my attention to Marie.
“If you don’t want to do this for the right reasons, do it for selfish ones. We need you to have as much of a stake in this as we do, so either you call your people off and tell everyone that you killed Katie, or we’ll kill you.”
She let out a sigh that seemed to hold the weariness of the world, and when her dark gaze met mine, it was with resignation.
“I do remember my people’s captivity, Reaper, which is why if it were as simple as saying the child was dead, I would do it. Not merely to save my own life, but because I’m better than those who once enslaved my race.”
Then her voice became brittle with bitterness.
“But unless there is a public execution, they will keep hunting for her. Even if I swore that I killed her, they would not be satisfied, and our races would eventually war. I cannot allow that, so do what you must.”
At that, I expected Bones to tear her head off. A big part of me wanted him to. What she outlined was a future with nothing but death for Katie, and I couldn’t accept that.
From the grim look on Marie’s face, she expected that Bones would kill her, too. That’s why both of us were shocked when all he did was tap his chin in a thoughtful way.
“Public execution, hmm? If we promise you that, will you agree to the rest of our terms?”
“Are you out of your mind?” I asked, horrified.
“Will you or no?” he pressed, ignoring that.
Suspicion creased Marie’s brows into a single dark line.
“You came here to bargain for the child’s life. Now you’re willing to execute her?”
Bones’s teeth flashed in a feral grin. “Publicly.”
“The hell we are,” I snarled, hitting him hard enough to rock him backward.
His power flashed out, encompassing me in the equivalent of a supernatural straitjacket.
“Kitten,” he said very low. “Trust me.”
Marie stared at us with the same degree of wariness, but curiosity tinged her gaze, too.
“Agreed,” she said. Then she accepted the knife Bones extended, cutting her hand with a single hard slice. “I swear it by my blood.”
His invisible grip dropped from her neck.
“Then call your people off,” Bones stated, giving my hand a slight squeeze. “We’ll do the rest.”
Thirty-two
This section of Detroit’s east side reminded me of photos I’d seen of Germany after the Allied invasion. Abandoned buildings loomed like battered, concrete giants over streets that appeared empty until the humps of clothing alongside them moved. Most of the streetlights were out, which could explain the burning trash cans since the summer evening wasn’t chilly. Every so often, a faraway siren broke through the other sounds, but although fights, glass shattering, and the occasional gunshot seemed commonplace, I hadn’t seen a single police car.
Good for us. Bad for whoever called this derelict place that America forgot home.
“Cat!”
Fabian zoomed toward me, his face lit by a beautiful smile. Then movement on the roof of one of the lower buildings caught my eye. I tensed until I recognized the vampire striding toward the edge.
“Welcome,” Ian said, sounding anything but convivial. “Hope you enjoy the smell. A little more raw sewage, and it would be just like the place I grew up in.”
Another form appeared behind him. At some point since I’d last seen Tate, he’d shaved his face and shorn his hair into its usual buzz cut.
“Mr. Fancy Pants hasn’t stopped bitching since he arrived,” he muttered. Then Tate frowned, looking farther down the empty street.
“Why do you have a bunch of ghosts following you?”
I turned to see at least two dozen ghosts trailing about fifty yards behind us. Good. We’d been hoping Marie’s borrowed power would lure nearby spooks like they were moths and I a shining flame. Detroit was a large city, and though Ian and Tate had scented Katie in several spots, they hadn’t managed actually to set eyes on her.
Now we had reinforcements, and thanks to the grave power running through my veins, the ghosts would be compelled to obey my commands.
“Where do you think you have Katie’s location narrowed down to?” I asked, avoiding Tate’s question.
His frown said he noticed my omission, but he replied without further comment.
“From what we’ve gathered, she moves around, but her scent has been strongest at the old book depository, the former Packard auto plant, former Central Station, and the old church on East Grand Boulevard.”
“Thanks.”
Then I faced the ghosts, who drifted closer at my beckoning wave.
“I need you to find a little girl for me,” I told them. “She’s about four feet tall, auburn hair, and her eyes might glow. She’s probably hiding in one of the places my friend just mentioned. If you see her, only tell me or this ghost here.” As I nodded at Fabian.
My entourage dispersed as soon as I finished speaking. Fabian left with them before I could specify that he wasn’t included in the order. Tate shook his head in disbelief, but a knowing look crossed Ian’s face.
“You’re back on Marie’s sauce.”
Bones flew up to the roof. I followed, landing with only an additional extra step to balance myself.
“Yes,” I said shortly.
“What sauce? And who’s Marie?” Tate wondered, reminding me that he’d missed a lot while working for Don these past years.
“Not relevant at the moment,” Bones stated. “These new developments are.”
I said nothing while he brought them up to speed on Richard Trove’s being a demon and why he’d backed Madigan for nearly a decade. I still didn’t speak when Bones disclosed that Katie was my biological daughter, and how that was possible. Only after Ian asked, “If she’s the mother, who’s the father?” did I break my silence.
“The records Trove published never gave a name. Since the sperm donor was a hundred percent human, he was considered . . . unimportant.”
Then I paused. I’d gone back and forth over revealing this next part, but so much had been kept from me that I couldn’t do the same to someone else. Especially a friend.
“I asked Madigan, but all we got out of him was that it was one of the soldiers I was working with at the time,” I finished.
Tate let out a disgusted snort.
“That’s why they kept getting samples of every fluid in our bodies. Don said it was to make sure no one was drinking vampire blood on the side, so even he must not have known what it was really for . . .”
His voice trailed off as the dots connected. Then he sank to his knees as if buckling under the weight of the realization. I wasn’t as affected because I’d already done the math. About two dozen soldiers had been working with me during my first year. Some had been killed on missions, more had dropped out from the stress, and some had transferred to other divisions, but only one had been there the entire time.
“My God,” Tate breathed.
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“It’s not definite,” I said softly. “It could have been one of the other guys, but Tate . . . even if we tested both of you, there’s no way to be sure. Since you became a vampire, every cell in your body changed. Katie’s would’ve, too, once they added ghoul DNA to her genetic makeup.”
Tate still looked shell-shocked at the possibility that the little girl he’d been trying to find might be his biological daughter. Finally, he ran a hand through his hair and looked up at me.
“If tests are useless, she’ll never know who her father is.”
Bones slipped his hand into mine, his grip strong and sure.
“She will always know who her father is.”
That had Tate on his feet in a flash. Ian hauled him back when he lunged at Bones.
“You will not—” Tate began before his mouth froze along with the rest of him.
“That’s better,” Bones said in satisfaction.
I didn’t appreciate his method of stemming Tate’s argument, but in fairness, we were short on time.
I bridged the distance between them and touched Tate’s clenched fist, which had been frozen in place mid-swing.
“You have a one-in-twenty-something chance of being her biological father, so if you want to be part of Katie’s life, of course you can. Bones won’t stand in your way, but he’ll be there for her, too. As will I.”
Then I angled myself so Tate couldn’t avoid my gaze.
“But first, we have to get her out of here alive. That takes priority over everything else, doesn’t it?”
Tate blinked, which I took for a yes. Bones released him. The two men stared at each other while Tate shook his limbs as if to reassure himself that they were back under his control. Then his hands clenched, and a look of pure determination crossed his features.
Not again, I thought, expecting him to swing at Bones once more. Relief filled me when all Tate did was stick out his hand.
“I don’t like you, and I probably never will, but from this day forward, I’m willing to call a truce for Katie’s sake.”
Bones shook his hand with a brief, sardonic smile.
Up From the Grave: A Night Huntress Novel Page 20