Destined for an Early Grave nh-4

by Jeaniene Frost

  Though maybe I should rethink that statement, since as a full vampire, I was insulting myself now, too.

  “What is your problem?” I asked, keeping my voice very low.

  Bones looked at me like I’d grown two heads. “My problem, pet, is you leaving my side to greet your former lover as if you’d severely missed him.”

  Now it was my turn to stare at Bones like he’d morphed into an alien being. “My former lover? Have you lost your mind?”

  In my disbelief, my voice wasn’t as soft as it had been before. Bones’s fingers tightened on my arm. “Do you want to air our business in front of everyone? Just say the word, then.”

  I forced myself to calm down, because otherwise, I’d get really shrill. “What gave you the idea that I’d had sex with Vlad?” I managed to ask in a whisper.

  Bones raised a brow. “Charles telling me about how he’d rung you when you were in bed with Tepesh.”

  Oh for God’s sake, that’s right. Spade’s phone call that morning when Vlad slept in my room. With everything that had happened, I’d forgotten about how that would have looked.

  “You know how you told me I should have asked you about what happened in New Orleans, instead of assuming based on appearances? Well, back at you, Bones. If you had asked, I’d have told you I’ve never had sex with Vlad. I’ve never even kissed him. We slept together because we were both lonely and needed a friend. Nothing more.”

  From his face, Bones was wrestling with the information. I tapped my foot. If I can believe you picked up girl after girl with Cannelle and only drank them to sleep, then you’d better be able to believe me about Vlad, I thought with a glint.

  “All right,” he said at last. “I believe you, and I should have asked.”

  “I can’t believe you thought I slept with Vlad, yet you decided not to mention it.”

  “Oh, I would have mentioned it, just not until this situation with your mum was resolved.” His voice was rough. “I thought you did it because you believed I’d cast you off and had been shagging multiple women myself. I understood how it could have happened, though I damn sure wasn’t going to let it continue.”

  So that was the other reason Bones challenged Vlad to a death match the night he’d taken me from the Impaler’s house. He hadn’t just wanted me away from Vlad out of concern over Vlad sacrificing me instead of his people if ghouls attacked.

  “You came to get me even though you thought I was cheating on you?”

  Bones cupped my face. “You pulled me out of New Orleans even though you believed I’d left you and humiliated you with several other women. That’s what vampires do, Kitten. We always come for what’s ours, no matter the circumstances.”

  I was just thinking I’d never been happier to be a vampire when a withering voice crackled the air.

  “Take your hands off my wife.”

  My whole body stiffened as I turned in disbelief. The opened door behind me gave a clear view of Gregor striding up.

  Bones pushed himself between me and the advancing vampire. I felt rather than saw Mencheres glide over to us.

  “You are not welcome here, Dreamsnatcher,” Mencheres said with frightening courtesy.

  “Mencheres.” Gregor had a cold curl to his lips. “You thought you’d won, taking her memory away and imprisoning me all those years, but you failed. Everyone now knows that Catherine and I are bound, and our laws state that at any formal gathering where one spouse is present, the other can’t be refused entry.”

  Gregor was right. In fact, why hadn’t I thought of that? Why hadn’t the several-thousand-year-old vampire next to me thought of that? Hell, where was one of Mencheres’s famed visions when it would actually be useful?

  “I’ve never been called a more degrading insult than your wife,” I ground out. “Where is my mother, Gregor?”

  Vlad also moved closer. Between him and Mencheres, if Gregor dared to attack, he’d be immobilized, then deep-fried until crispy.

  This might turn out to be a great party after all.

  “Your sharp tongue only guarantees you more punishment,” Gregor replied as he swept inside the house.

  Unexpectedly, Bones smiled, running his hand down my arm in a slow caress.

  “Don’t care for her tongue, do you? How strange. I find it’s one of my favorite parts.”

  Gregor started forward in a rage—and then stopped. Gave a cagey look at Mencheres and Bones. Then he let out a rich laugh.

  “No,” he said. “I won’t cast the first blow under an all-truce. You and I will have our day, chien, but not today. In fact, I came because I have a present for Catherine.”

  Rodney elbowed people out of the way, glaring at Gregor with almost as much hatred as I did. Gregor didn’t mind. He smiled as he looked behind him at the woman making her way to the house. She was dressed in a red gown with a white fur coat. She had a leash in her hand, another vampire crawling behind her at the end of it.

  “You’re dead,” I said in disbelief.

  The auburn-haired woman laughed. “Oui, Catherine! You should know, as it was you who killed me. But you made a mistake. You fed me vampire blood just before slaying me, and then you sent me back to Gregor with my head attached. Merci for that. He wouldn’t have been able to raise me as a ghoul otherwise.”

  Cannelle smirked the whole time she said it. Meanwhile, I wanted to smack myself. Of course. Cannelle had swallowed some of Ian’s blood right before I stabbed her in the heart. Gregor would have known that by filching it from my dreams, same way he’d learned countless other details. Cannelle had wanted to be a vampire, but as it turned out, I’d helped make her a ghoul instead.

  Cannelle kicked the vampire near her feet. I glanced down, saw long dark hair hiding a woman’s face…and my blood ran cold.

  “No,” I whispered.

  The vampire’s head came up, her hair falling to the side—and I sprang forward.

  “Mom!”

  Bones snatched me back. I struggled, desperate to get to her and horrified by the glowing green ringing her previously blue eyes.

  “Catherine.” Her voice wavered, so unlike its normal, strident tone. “Please. Kill me.”

  “Bones, let me go!”

  He mercilessly tightened his grip and hauled me back instead. Next to me, Spade had Rodney in a similar grip as the ghoul hurled curses at Gregor. Mencheres strode forward and pointed his finger an inch from Gregor’s chest.

  “What is the meaning of this?”

  Gregor threw back his head and laughed. “This is my present to my wife. See how merciful I am? Now Catherine can have her mother forever with her…once my loyal Cannelle no longer needs a servant, that is.”

  Cannelle smiled and delivered a kick to my mother’s face. She fell over.

  “I will kill you for this, Gregor!”

  A booming began in my ears. At first I thought it was just the thwacking of my fists against Bones, who was using all of his strength to hold me. But then I realized the noise wasn’t coming from that. It was coming from inside of me.

  Cannelle’s eyes bugged. There were shocked mutters. People all around began to stare. Apollyon pushed his way through the crowd, then glared at me.

  “Her heart’s beating. What trickery is this?”

  I don’t know who threw the first punch, but all of a sudden, everyone was brawling. Apollyon and the ghouls surged toward me, shouting.

  Bones snapped, “Get her away from here,” then handed me to Vlad before jumping into the melee. Vlad held me in a viselike grip, backing away. Mencheres began casting out his power like a net to try to and subdue the violence, but there were too many powerful undead people to freeze them all. Shouts flew through the air, then people, as things got more physical, and at last, there was fire as Vlad decided to make an exit.

  A wall of flame appeared around us, protecting us as he elevated straight upward while clutching me. In the next instant, the ceiling blasted over our heads. Then the next one, and the next, until nothing but the night sky
was above us.

  “Goddammit, I won’t leave them!” I shouted, as we vaulted through the ruined roof.

  “It’s the only way,” Vlad muttered, squeezing me so hard I would have puked if I still could.

  Boom. Boom. Boom. My heart continued to bang in my chest. It made me dizzy, the sensation amazingly unfamiliar after only a week. A slew of images tormented me as our distance from the house grew. Mom. Oh God, Mom. Changed into a vampire. Being dragged and beaten while on a leash. Bones flinging himself into the fray. Gregor laughing at it all.

  “Mencheres will settle things down,” Vlad said. He had to shout to be heard above the wind as our speed increased. We were even trailing fire like a comet. “But not if you’re there with your rage at Gregor and your mystifying heartbeat. You stay, and this won’t end until half the people are dead.”

  I wanted to fling myself out of his arms and go back to the house, but the bitter truth was that Vlad was right. Once again, everyone I cared about would be better off if I was gone.

  When my eyes opened, it took me a few seconds to get my bearings. The first thing I knew was that I was in the backseat of a car. Second, it didn’t seem to be moving. Third, I had my mouth clamped ferociously on someone’s throat, and I knew from the taste that it wasn’t Bones.

  I flung myself back to reveal it was Vlad I’d just neck-raped. His shirt was ripped open, and I’d had him pressed against the side of the car door.

  He straightened to an upright position. “What was that?” he asked calmly.

  I cursed myself for forgetting to tell him about a very important detail concerning my eating, even though that had been the last thing on my mind. After our aerial exit from the free-for-all that had once been a party, Vlad kidnapped the first person he came across, green-eyed him, and had us driven to the train station. There, we boarded the next available train. Once on it, I’d insisted on calling Bones, who hadn’t answered. Neither had Spade or Mencheres.

  Vlad dismissed my concerns, saying they were probably too busy to bother answering their phones. My further attempts to reach them were cut short when the sun rose an hour later, and I passed out in my chair. That was the last thing I remembered.

  “Have you heard from Bones?”

  “I spoke with him a few hours ago. He should be here soon.”

  I digested this, noting that my heartbeat, which had precipitated the melee, was silent now. How ironic that we’d had the coming-out party to try and soothe any ghoul concerns. Now the repercussions from last night might give Apollyon more fuel for his paranoid fire. I could only hope that Mencheres and Bones had managed to calm things down, and that my being a weird vampire was less threatening to ghouls than being a half-breed.

  Vlad drew the torn edges of his collar together and I brought my attention back to explaining my earlier actions.

  “Something strange happened after I was changed. I went straight for any vampire near me instead of drinking human blood. For some reason, vampire blood is what I, ah, crave—and now you already know that sometimes my heart still beats.”

  Vlad looked as stunned as I’d ever seen him. “Extraordinary,” he murmured.

  Even as he said it, I couldn’t help but lick my lips. Vlad’s blood had a different flavor, sure, but it was still delicious.

  Vlad watched me doing it, and I stopped. Even though I hadn’t been aware when I did it, I felt guilty for munching on my friend.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  His lip curled. “Never let it be said that you’re predictable, Cat.”

  I wished I were. First, I’d been a freak as a half-breed, now I was an even bigger one as a vampire.

  And now my mother was a vampire, too. My mother, who’d hated vampires ever since she first found out about them. My mother, who’d begged me to kill her last night.

  “You might want to rethink your friendship with me, Vlad, because I’m getting my mother back even if I have to break every vampire law to do it.”

  Vlad’s coppery green gaze was steady. “I wouldn’t expect any less from you.”

  I didn’t reply to that, just glanced out the window. The sun was halfway up in the sky. It must be around noon. I’d been unconscious for hours. All vampire laws aside, how I’d make good on my promise to rescue my mother, considering that dawn stole all the strength from me, was the real question. Not to mention I didn’t know where the hell Gregor had my mother hidden away. She could be anywhere by now.

  “Cat.” I looked up to find Vlad still staring at me. “I can’t help you with this, you know that.”

  A small, sad smile twisted my lips. “Yeah, I know.” I understood, but oh, I would have liked Vlad as backup.

  “Gregor’s greatest weakness is his pride,” Vlad stated. “Use it against him. He’ll fall for it every time.”

  I felt Bones minutes before I heard the car. Since he’d changed me, I was attuned to him in a way that defied logic. Even now, I could sense his impatience, like sandpaper grating across my subconscious.

  I was already out of the car by the time the black Mercedes pulled up next to Vlad. Bones got out, yanking me to him before I could speak. He gave me a hard kiss that would have stolen my breath if I still had any. Then he set me back, tracing my mouth while his eyes turned green.

  I knew he could taste Vlad’s blood on me. Part of me wanted to apologize while the other argued that out of all people, Bones would understand.

  “Bones,” I began.

  “Don’t fret about it,” he said, brushing my mouth again. “Let’s go. Tepesh.” Bones gave Vlad a short nod. “Until the next time.”

  Vlad leaned against his car with his usual jaded half smile.

  “Somehow I think that might be sooner rather than later.”

  THIRTY-ONE

  I WAS SURPRISED TO HEAR THAT ONLY THREE people had been killed last night. Since it was a formal gathering under an all-truce, most of the guests had been unarmed. The three who’d been killed were humans, who couldn’t survive a weaponless undead free-for-all the way vampires and ghouls could. As far as the ramifications of breaking an all-truce, no one knew—or would say—who’d started the violence. Mencheres and Bones managed to get people calm enough to leave without wars being declared. Gregor left with my mother and Cannelle in tow. As for how Apollyon and his ghouls would deal with my unprecedented vampiric heartbeat…time would tell.

  I was less worried about that as I was about hatching a plan to rescue my mother. I brooded over ideas the entire drive and train ride to Bucharest. Don and my old team couldn’t help. My uncle had international connections, true, but not of the undead variety. He’d be as out of depth in this scenario as I was. I also stalled calling him because I didn’t want to start the whole, “So, I’m a vampire now,” conversation. Overcoming my uncle’s long-held prejudices was the last thing on my To Do list at the moment.

  We arrived at our destination, a mansion that looked straight out of a horror novel, after 3:00 A.M. With dawn in just a few hours, I’d be comatose again soon. Losing morning time was something I’d thought I’d prepped myself for before changing into a vampire, but I hadn’t figured on how dire the circumstances would be when it happened. Now every minute I was passed out seemed like a taunt. What was Gregor doing to my mother? God, what was Cannelle doing to her? I’d thought the worst thing Gregor could do was kill my mom. I should have known he wouldn’t be that merciful.

  Rodney came out to meet us. The ghoul had the same smoldering-furious look in his eyes that I probably did. On impulse, I hugged him, feeling a lump in my throat when he squeezed me back, hard. Bones would walk through fire to get my mom back, if that’s what it took, but he’d do it out of love for me. Not out of any affection for her. My mother didn’t have many fans, which was her own fault; but right now, it meant more to me than I could articulate to know someone cared for her, flaws and all.

  “She’s tough,” Rodney said. His beard rasped my cheek as he leaned back. “If we can get her back, she’ll make it. Doesn’t matt
er what she is now or what he’s done to her.”

  “She wanted me to kill her,” I whispered. “God, Rodney, she always said she’d rather be dead than be a vampire.”

  “She’ll make it,” he repeated. His voice hardened. “You had it hard growing up, but so did she. Justina’s shocked and scared now, but she’s not a quitter. I’d bet my life on it.”

  “Rodney, the laws,” Bones began.

  “Save it.” The ghoul let go of me to stare at Bones. “If you don’t manage to kill Gregor soon, I’m going after her, laws or no laws—and backup or no backup.”

  “Don’t be a fool, that would be suicide,” Bones snapped.

  Rodney gave him a cold smile. “You always said no one lives forever.”

  I was torn between wanting to hug Rodney again and knowing Bones was right. “She’ll need you when we get her back,” I said, choosing logic for once. “My mother and I, you know we clash. You’re the only one she seems to listen to, but you can’t help her cope with being a vampire if you’re dead.”

  Rodney flicked his gaze to me, then walked back into the house without another word. I had no idea if that meant he’d wait, or if that was his way of saying he wouldn’t.

  “This won’t last long, Kitten,” Bones said, breaking the loaded quiet. “Gregor’s run out of tricks. He’ll be forced to seek me out soon, because each day he doesn’t, people will question why Gregor refuses to face the man who stole his wife and who’s daring him to a duel over her.”

  That snapped my attention away from my mother. “When did you dare him to duel?”

  Bones’s gaze was dark and steady. “I publicly challenged Gregor as soon as Mencheres told me he was invading your dreams.”

  I’d known Bones had planned to fight Gregor in New Orleans, but I hadn’t known a standing challenge had been thrown down. The realization that at any time Gregor could accept it, resulting in a fight to the death between him and Bones, filled me with icy fear.

  “He’s stronger than you are.” My voice was barely above a whisper.