“Is he threatening her?” Bones asked Ian with a cold pleasantness as I met my father’s steely gaze. “Perhaps you need to remind him that anyone who comes after my wife—or anyone belonging to her, such as her uncle—is in fact declaring war on me as well. Is that your position, Ian? Does he speak for you?”
Ian gave Max a truly menacing glare. “No he does not, and he has nothing else to say on the matter. Do you, Max?”
Max gave a glance around at all of Bones’s people, who were watching him with threat as well.
“No, I have nothing else to say about that,” he replied in a tone that said he’d have plenty to say under other circumstances. “But I do have something to say about her mother.” He fixed his eyes back to me. “You’ve been misinformed. I fucked her, oh yes. But I didn’t rape her.”
Bones tightened his grip on me, sensing I was about to explode. Ian saw it as well.
“You gave up your chance, Cat, and it works both ways. Max is mine and under my protection. If you lay a hand on him, it’s an act of war.”
I got ahold of myself. Another time, another place. Not here where it would turn into a bloodbath between Bones and Ian’s people.
“You’ve probably raped so many women that you don’t even remember who she was,” I settled on evenly.
Max smiled. “You never forget your first, and she was my first after I’d been changed. She was a beautiful brunette with big blue eyes and nice round tits. So young and eager. So fresh. I had such a great time fucking her in the backseat of that car, and the only time she objected was after I was done. She opened her eyes, saw mine glowing green, saw my fangs…and started to scream her head off. Started to cry, too. Just bawled hysterically and said I was a hell spawn or something like that. It was funny. So funny I didn’t bother to deny it. I told her she was right, that I was a demon. That all vampires were demons, and she’d just let herself be fucked by one. Then I drank her blood until she quit screeching and passed out, and that, little girl, is what really happened between your mother and me.”
“Liar,” I spat.
His smile turned cruelly knowing. “Ask her.”
Max was obviously capable of lying. Anyone who could conspire to murder his own daughter wouldn’t be above lying his ass off if he wanted to, but somehow…somehow…I wasn’t sure if he was lying now. My mother had vehemently stated from as far back as I could remember that all vampires were demons. I’d thought it was just a general term of repugnance, but maybe there was more to it than that. If Max had told her he was a demon, that all vampires were, it would certainly explain her mixed feelings toward me as well as her outright refusal to consider vampires as anything but evil.
“You remember her mum that distinctly, do you?” Bones asked in a conversational tone while I wrestled with this.
Max didn’t lose that hateful smirk. “Isn’t that what I just said?”
“What was her name?” Again, blandly.
“Justina Crawfield!” Max snapped. “Going to ask me what color panties she wore next?”
Bones suddenly smiled, but it was far from pleasant. “When Ian figured out you were her father, I also wager he mentioned that she very much wanted you dead. Scared the stones off you, didn’t it? Finding out someone strong enough to get the drop on him was coming after you. You remembered her mum—clearly, as you’ve proven—and it would have been simplicity itself to look up the name of the child she’d given birth to all those years ago. You gave that information to a hit man named Lazarus, didn’t you? Had him murder that couple in her old house to draw her out, yet even when she walked into his trap, he didn’t succeed in killing her. You must have been really scared then, so you decided to go after her through the one source you had. Your brother. You knew he’d sent her after Ian, who else would have, and so you dug around until you found a mole in his operation. One who could give another hit man her location and more importantly, her weaknesses. Good plan, mate, but I’m here to inform you that your little rodent and his accomplice have been exterminated.”
“You prick!” I gasped, seeing it all fall into place.
“What’s this?” Ian asked suspiciously.
“Max found her long before I did, but he kept that to himself. He’s been going behind your back for months, Ian, trying to murder her to protect his own miserable arse. Not very loyal of him, is it?”
“I don’t know what he’s talking about!” Max insisted.
I stared at the man who was my father and knew that now, unequivocally, he was lying. Ian wore a look on his face that said he knew it, too.
“You have any proof of this, Crispin?”
No one was fooled by his cool demeanor. Ian’s eyes had gone flat green.
Bones nodded. “I have copies of bank records and transactions from the most recent attempt. Stupid sod used a personal account to pay the informant at her uncle’s operation, and I reckon if you look, you’ll find that account can be traced to Max. You’ll also no doubt find another large transfer of funds in April, when the people living in her old house were murdered.”
Ian whitened around the lips. I grinned maliciously at Max.
“Uh oh. Looks like someone’s in trouble.”
Granted, it wasn’t his head on a stake, but from Ian’s expression, Max might soon be wishing I’d chosen to kill him earlier instead.
Ian gave Bones a last, long look, and then he turned away, gesturing curtly for Max to follow him.
“Hey Max,” I called out as he stalked after Ian. “Watch your back. You never know when someone might stick a knife in it.”
I saw his shoulders tense, but he didn’t turn around. He went right through those big double doors and then was gone. I’ll see you again, I promised him silently. I know who you are now, and you can run, but you can’t hide.
Perhaps my greatest shock was when the other vampires began to disperse as well, without even so much as a muttered threat among them. Guess they were taking Bones’s warning seriously that anyone starting trouble with me would get a piece of him and his people, too.
Spade made his way down to the arena to give Bones an affectionate slap on the back.
“Bloody hell, mate. You a married man? Now I’ve seen it all.”
The tension visibly drained from him as he smiled at his friend. “Charles,” he said, calling him by his human name. “I believe we’re in need of a lift.”
We hitched a ride with Spade, who drove us to the airstrip where the same helicopter that had brought me here would now take all of us back to the warehouse. Once we got there, Bones let Ian’s six men loose and told them they were free to go. They looked stunned to be released so easily, but didn’t question it, and melted away into the night. Then there was one more stop to let Spade off before we reached the compound. By that time I was tired, physically and emotionally, but there were still things to do.
When we arrived, the five of us went straight to Don’s office. My uncle’s forehead creased in what might have been embarrassment, and he quickly ceased his examination of my attire. Oh yeah. I’d forgotten I was barely dressed.
“Uh, Cat, would you like a lab coat or…something?”
Bones took off his jacket. “Here, luv, put this on before your uncle turns red. Best do that anyway, since I’m about to flog Juan for trying to memorize every curve of your arse.”
I took the proffered coat and glared at Juan pointedly. He smiled, unrepentant as always.
“What did you expect? You shouldn’t have let her walk in front of me, amigo, if you didn’t want me looking.”
“You’re all here, so obviously the operation was a success.” It was straight to business as always for Don. “Cat, you gave instructions to have Noah Rose transferred directly to a hospital? And to have his car wrecked and police reports of a hit-and-run accident filed?”
“That’s right. Bones just might put your brainwashers out of a job, Don. Noah has no idea what he saw tonight. All he’ll remember is that he was in a car wreck and he has to call his in
surance company in the morning. You don’t have to worry about him.”
“You know, that brings up a very good point.” Tate gave Bones a hostile glance. “How do we know he hasn’t been fucking with our minds this whole time? Your decision to make him part of this team could have been planted, Don!”
Bones answered the accusation for him. “He knows it wasn’t. For one, this office is being recorded by a battery-powered camera stuck up in the ceiling. I can hear it, old chap,” he supplied at Don’s flabbergasted expression. “Of course, I could have just made you think you watched what occurred when you hadn’t, but you went on alert as soon as you heard your niece was shagging a vampire. You’ve been tipping the bottle, as it were. Drinking vampire blood to immune yourself to mind control. I can smell it on you.”
Don’s face confirmed it all. I shook my head.
“You will just never trust me, will you? Look, I’m tired, so let’s make this brief. Ian and Max are still alive, but they won’t mess with either of us anymore. It’s been settled. Under nosferatu laws, Bones kind of…um, married me.”
Don tugged madly at his eyebrow. “What?”
I explained briefly about the laws of binding, and then shrugged.
“Humanly speaking, I’m still single. As far as anyone undead is concerned, however, I’m married to Bones lock, stock, and two smoking barrels. Sorry I couldn’t give Max your best, Don, but I’ll get him one day. I promise.”
Those same steel-gray eyes stared at me. At last, Don smiled faintly.
“I did give Max my best. I sent him you.”
A lump rocketed its way up in my throat, and I had to blink.
“There is another matter we need to discuss,” Bones said, surprising me.
“Okay, but make it fast. I’m about to fall asleep on my feet.”
“Yesterday Tate told me your friend drank vampire blood as he died. That’s a rather significant detail.”
I frowned wearily. “How so? It couldn’t have made him a vampire. He only had a few swallows at most. We buried him three days later, and believe me, he was dead.”
“Quite so, as far as being a vampire or a human is concerned. But there is another species, isn’t there?”
We all looked blankly at him. Bones made a noise of concession.
“Vampires and ghouls are sister races, as I’ve told you. You know a vampire is born after a human is bled to the point of death and then drinks deeply of vampire blood. Making a ghoul isn’t that dissimilar. You first mortally wound a human, then have him drink vampire blood, but not enough for him to live. After he dies, a ghoul takes the human’s heart and switches it with his own. Ghouls can survive having their heart ripped out, which is why the only way to kill them is decapitation. After the hearts are switched, you pour vampire blood over the transplanted heart. It activates it, for lack of a better term, and then you have the birth of a new ghoul.”
His meaning penetrated. Rodney’s face flashed in my mind last night when he had glanced at Bones and said, “Tricky.” He hadn’t been referring to Dave’s murder. He’d been alluding to his possible rebirth.
“Dave’s been dead for months, Bones. Planted in the ground after being pumped full of formaldehyde. You’re telling me it’s possible? Of course you are; why else would you bring this up? Oh God. Oh God.”
“It’s possible, but do you want that? He’d still be your friend, with all of his memories and personality traits except one: what he eats. Now, ghouls mainly eat just raw meat, but every so often, they have to vary their diet, and you know what I’m taking about.”
“Jesus,” Tate muttered. I seconded that. There went my appetite.
“Get past your instinctive aversion for a moment,” Bones went on. “Now, normally I wouldn’t even consider participating in changing a person without their consent, but as he’s unavailable for comment, I’m asking all of you. You were his friends; what do you think he would choose? To remain dead in the ground…or to come out of it?”
The opportunity to have Dave back—walking, talking, cracking jokes, and actually being here, was real. Suddenly I wasn’t a bit tired.
“Do we have to decide now?” Don asked.
Bones nodded. “Normally rejuvenation is done at the time of death, for obvious reasons. Each day he lingers in the ground, the chance of rousing him diminishes. As it stands, it will take a great deal of power to accomplish it. Rodney has offered to sire him, Kitten, but he wants to leave town because of this business with Ian. He’s of his own line, therefore not under my protection, and he reckons Ian might try to take retribution on those he can get away with. He leaves tomorrow, so if it’s to be done, it would have to be tonight.”
“If your friend is leaving, what would happen with Dave, if we do this?” Don asked practically. “Would he leave with him?”
Bones waved away the concern. “Not necessary. I could handle him. Vampires have been foster parents to ghouls for millennia and vice versa. As I said, sister races. After a few weeks of adjustment, you could get him back better than new, as it were.”
“What if we say yes, you do this, and Dave decides he’d rather be dead than undead? What then?” Tate looked tormented by the thought. The same one had occurred to me.
“Then he gets his wish,” Bones said softly. “He’s dead as it is, and if he chooses to return to that, he would. That’s why we’ll have a sword at the grave. It would be quick, and he would be as he was.”
I wanted to throw up at the mental image. The feeling looked mutual on everyone there. Bones tightened his hand over mine.
“If none of you can accept him as a ghoul, then don’t expect him to accept himself. He would have to have your unprejudiced support or this conversation ends now. Being a ghoul wouldn’t change him as a person; it would only change his abilities. He would be stronger, faster, and with new senses, but still be the same man. Is that man worth more to all of you than your squeamishness over what he’d eat?”
“Yes.”
It was Juan who spoke. His eyes were bright with unshed tears. “We wake him up and let him choose. I miss my friend. I don’t care what he eats.”
That lump was back, with reinforcements. Nearby Cooper shrugged. “I didn’t know him very well, so my opinion should count the least. However, if Cat can handle being half of a freak, couldn’t Dave handle being a whole one? It would seem easier to me.”
Tate stared at Bones in a measured, calculating way. “You don’t give a shit what the rest of us think. You’re only offering to do this for her.”
“Absolutely,” Bones said at once. “Better for the rest of you as well? That’s just your luck.”
“Yeah, well, I say go for it, but I think you’re full of shit and you can’t pull him out from under that headstone. But I’ll be sure to apologize if I’m wrong.”
Don and I were the only ones not to ante up, and it was betting time. There was almost no hair left at the end of my uncle’s eyebrow as he stared at Bones.
“We have a saying in the military: Leave no man behind. We haven’t done that on any of our missions yet, and I’m not about to start. Bring him up.”
That only left me. I thought of Dave, and the fear of trying to get him back and failing. Or even worse, him coming back and then being repelled into suicide by what he was. Finally I thought of Dave’s last garbled comment as he bled to death in my arms: ’on’t…let me…’ie…
That made the decision for me. “Do it.”
THIRTY-NINE
THE CEMETERY WAS COMPLETELY QUARANTINED off. Even the airspace above it was closed. My entire team was in place around the perimeter. Farther back, there were more guards. Don wasn’t taking any chances on interruption. He was even filming, and one of the dozen men in the immediate vicinity of the grave held a portable camera.
Rodney glanced at all the pomp and shook his head.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Look at all this shit.”
“All this shit” encompassed the hundred-plus military presence. Rodney w
as camera-shy. He didn’t trust the government as far as he could throw them, which, in his case, was actually pretty far, but suffice it to say he didn’t like the audience of brass.
Bones didn’t care about the onlookers. When it was finally time, he held up three fingers. From the dozen volunteers in our unit, that number stepped forward. We could have used plasma bags, but according to Bones, fresh blood had more kick to it. My three captains and I weren’t on the menu tonight, because he wanted us strong in case things went south. Like Dave’s head, for example. A sword was at my feet just in case. I’d insisted on being the one to wield it, if it came to that. Dave was my friend. If he wanted to die a second time, it would be from the hand of someone who loved him, although what comfort that might give was questionable.
A medical team stood by, discreetly out of direct eyesight. After Bones drained them to the point of dizziness, the three men staggered over to the med unit. They would get transfusions on the spot with the handiness of modern science.
The casket had been raised from the dirt. It hurt just to see it. All the clamps and seals were broken, and the spotlights illuminated Dave’s face when the lid was flipped back. We were under a tent even though it was well after dark. Don’s paranoia that someone would witness this attempt mandated the tent, on top of everything else. A little corpse reanimation made him downright jittery.
Rodney had a special curved knife for the next part. The five of us gathered closer as Dave was lifted from his casket and laid on the ground.
“Jesus,” Tate mumbled as he saw Dave fully under the lights.
I gripped his hand and found that it was shaking. So was mine. Even Juan trembled next to me, and I clasped his hand as well. My grip increased when they cut the clothes off him from the waist up.
I smothered a gasp when that wickedly curved blade drove into Dave’s breastplate as easily as a knife through cake. Rodney carved out a sizable piece of his rib cage, exposing the heart and surrounding organs. Bones casually placed that piece aside on a waiting tray that now resembled nothing short of a platter.