I readjusted the headset. Geri had just been telling Bones that she wanted to have sex on the church’s roof, but Cannelle was protesting.
“Non, there could be rats! Why can we not leave here for an evening? I told you I have very beautiful friends in Metairie I want you to meet.”
“Tell you what, sweet. We’ll go tomorrow. You’ve wanted me to meet these lasses for days; they must be terribly special.”
“Oui. Très magnifique.”
“Bitchsticks has been trying to get you out of the city, huh?” I said with rising anger. Maybe Vlad’s impalement thing wasn’t such a bad idea. “Now you know why.”
“Tomorrow we’ll do what you fancy, and tonight shall be my evening,” Bones went on. “I promise you’ll see a new side of me.”
And me too. I was really looking forward to seeing Cannelle in person again.
I couldn’t see the three of them anymore. They’d been off my satellite since they started walking. “Look around, Bones. Are you being followed?”
“It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it, ladies?” Pause. “I love this city. It’s so deliciously haunted.”
“Don’t worry about the ghost, if he’s the same one who’s been bugging you for days. He’s a friend.”
“I like haunted places,” Geri replied, keeping the conversation going. “You don’t think anyone will catch us climbing up on the roof, do you?”
Bones kissed her again. I couldn’t see it, but I could hear it. “Not at all.”
Okay. It was clear. God, I wanted this to be over soon. Safely, and soon.
“Here’s the score, Bones. A chopper’s going to do a pass over the church about two hundred yards up. He’ll have a chain ladder dangling. When you see him coming, you blast up with both chicks and grab it. As soon as you’re clear of the city, you’ll leapfrog onto the back of another plane. Spade will be on it.”
“Ah, here’s the church,” he said in reply. “Alexander, my lovely, look at me for a moment. You don’t need to fret about my eyes or my teeth, right? You don’t notice anything unusual about them. You’re not afraid, because you know I won’t hurt you. Say it.”
“You won’t hurt me,” Geri repeated. “I’m not afraid.”
So, that’s how he got around the glowy gaze and pointy teeth when he fucked humans. I’d thought as much but had never wanted to ask. I knew more about his past than I already cared to. This scene was for Cannelle’s benefit, I guessed, since Bones knew Geri was in on his secret. Just going through the usual motions.
I thought I’d puke.
“Cinnamon, shall we?”
“If we must, chéri.”
“We must.”
After a few moments of noisy rustling sounds, Bones spoke again. “The roof at last. No rats, petite, quit cringing.”
Vlad, get the chopper’s ETA, I thought.
He complied with the mental directive and took my cell, hitting redial.
“They’re on the roof,” he informed Don briefly. “How long? … Yes.” He set my cell back down. “Six minutes.”
“You’ve got six minutes, Bones. Remember, you have to have both of them with you when you jump, and Cinnamon won’t want to go.”
“Come here, lovelies. That’s better.”
Bones’s voice changed. Became that luxurious purr that used to melt me. Listening to it now only made me pissed. Worse, next there was the breathiness and the soft chafing noises of kissing.
Then Geri said, “Hey now, sugar. Ease up a bit.”
“Why?” Cannelle’s voice was belligerent. “I am ready for you to please me.”
I glanced at the time. “Two more minutes. Stall but be cool, Geri.”
“Cinnamon, don’t be so greedy. I’ll sweeten her up for you. You’ll like it better for the wait. Why don’t you find a better use for your mouth than complaining, petite? Ah, yes. Like that.”
“Sonofabitch,” I spat. It didn’t require a satellite to know where he’d directed her mouth.
“You, um, might not want to do that.” Geri sounded rattled.
Cannelle made a reply that was garbled. Vlad got up and started rubbing my shoulders. I was crying now. Silent, furious, useless tears.
“Accomplish your objective,” Vlad said, soft yet stern.
I beat my fists against my legs but didn’t scream like I wanted to. Instead, I watched the seconds tick past and tried to listen with clinical detachment for signs of danger. Unfortunately, most of what I heard wasn’t sounds of danger.
Ninety seconds… sixty… thirty… twenty…
“Ten seconds,” I rasped. “Nine, eight, seven…”
“Know something, Cinnamon?” Bones lost the seductive timbre to his voice and it turned into cold steel. “You’re not any bloody good at that.”
“…one!” I yelled with all the bitterness in me.
Then there were only the sounds of the helicopter before I heard a clanging of metal, a thump, and the words I’d been waiting for from Geri.
“We’re in!”
The chopper had special silent blades that reduced its normal noise. It made Cooper and the two copilots inaudible, however.
Geri wasn’t, of course. “Zip up, Bones, and I hope you’re rich.”
He laughed. “Why?”
“Marriage counseling,” she replied. “You’re going to need the best that money can buy.”
“Drop it,” I told her very softly.
“I don’t know who misinformed you, luv, but I’m not married.”
“Is she still breathing?” Geri asked, wisely changing the subject. “You hit her pretty hard.”
“She’s alive.”
There was a thumping noise, and then Geri said harshly, “Try to shove my head between your legs, huh? Who’s happy now, bitch?”
“She can’t feel you kicking her,” Bones said, no criticism in his voice.
“Yeah, well, I can feel it, and I’m enjoying it!”
“Are you a friend of Charles’s also?”
Charles was Spade’s real name. Vampires never could just pick one. Great, now he was asking questions. That was my cue.
“She’s a friend of mine, Bones. So are the guys flying. Spade will explain everything when you see him. It should only be a few minutes until you’re clear of the city.”
“Then it is you I owe thanks to.” He sounded closer now. Must be right next to Geri. “How did you know my mother’s favorite perfume? I don’t recall ever telling Charles that.”
“Long… long story.” My throat closed off with suppressed tears. What was I going to say? You don’t remember me, but once we were madly in love?
“You can tell me about it. I’ll take you and your husband out for a grand evening. Former whore, was he? We have something in common.”
Geri gave a bark of laughter. “Boy, you have no idea what you’re saying.”
I couldn’t break down now, so close to the finish line. “Don’t bother. We’re, ah, we’re separated.”
“Oh?” Pause. “Then it shall just be you and me.”
“I’m three hundred pounds, have bad scoliosis, and I just turned sixty,” I snapped.
Bones didn’t miss a beat. “Dinner theater then.”
I laughed even as the tears started to flow again. I’d wanted confirmation that things were really over between us, and here it was. He didn’t even know me. It couldn’t get more over than that.
“I’m glad you’re safe, Bones. Tell Fabian thank you—he’s the ghost. He’s been a good friend.”
“And who shall I say is thanking him?”
“Cat.” I waited a second, but he had no reaction. “Cat says thanks.”
***
I waited until Bones had transferred to Spade’s plane as planned before unhooking my headpiece. Geri was probably delighted not to have my voice pumping into her eardrum anymore. Only Bones was doing the aerial jump; she and Cannelle were staying in the helicopter. Spade’s plane was supposed to rendezvous with me at one of Don’s locations, but that wasn’t necessary now.<
br />
I called my uncle. “Change Bones’s flight plan,” I said. “Don’t tell me where to, but don’t fly him where I’ll be.”
My uncle didn’t ask unnecessary questions. “All right, Cat.”
I hung up. Vlad had been watching me the entire time.
I managed to muster what had to be a terrible imitation of a smile. “That answers that.”
“He doesn’t even remember you, and it’s not as if his prior habits were unfamiliar to you,” Vlad replied, no false sympathy in his voice.
No, they weren’t. But I hadn’t expected to listen while Cannelle found the soft chewy center in Bones’s Tootsie Roll Pop. He’d been on the other plane over two hours now. Spade had called my cell several times, but I didn’t answer. I knew they were safe. Nothing else needed to be said.
We finally landed at a base, though I didn’t know where. From the outside, most military installations looked the same anyway, not that I was looking. I had my eyes shut and my hand on Vlad’s arm as I got off the plane.
“Hello, Commander,” a male voice said.
I smiled with my eyes still closed. “Cooper, I’d say nice to see you, but give me a minute.”
He grunted, which was his version of a belly laugh, and soon I was inside the facility.
“You can open your eyes now,” Cooper said.
His familiar face was the first thing I saw, dark skinned and with hair even shorter than Tate’s. I gave him a brief hug, which seemed to surprise him, but he was smiling when I let him go.
“Missed you, freak,” he said.
I laughed even though it was hoarse. “You too, Coop. What’s the news?”
“Geri’s chopper arrived thirty minutes ago. The prisoner was secured and is awake. Ian is here. He’s been questioning the prisoner.”
That made me smile for real. I’d had Ian flown here because he was a cold-blooded bastard—and right now, I liked that about him.
“You can stay here or come with me, it’s up to you,” I said to Vlad.
“I’ll come,” he replied, giving Fabian, who’d just floated up, a cursory glance. The ghost hovered over the ground next to Cooper, who as a human couldn’t see him.
“Fabian, you’ve been incredible,” I said. “No matter what, I’ll take care of you. You’ll always have a place to stay.”
“Thank you,” he said, brushing his hand through mine in his form of affection. “I’m sorry, Cat.”
He didn’t need to say what for. That was obvious.
My smile turned brittle. “Whoever said ignorance was bliss was shortsighted, if you ask me. But what’s done is done, and now I have an acquaintance to renew.”
The ghost looked momentarily hopeful. “Bones?”
“No. The little bitch inside, and you might not want to follow me for this one. It’s going to get ugly.”
I didn’t have to tell him twice. In a whirl, Fabian vanished. Neat trick. Sucked to have to be a phantom to do it.
Vlad gave me a slanted look. “You’re not intending to see him at all, then?”
“No. We have no official ties anymore, and now he wouldn’t even be able to pick me out of a lineup. Plus I’m a walking LoJack to the vampire who wants nothing more than to kill Bones. I’d say the best thing I could do is get away from Bones… and go back to Gregor.”
Vlad looked at me like I’d suddenly sprouted a second head. “Don’t be a fool. You can’t trust Gregor.”
I let out a noise that no one would misconstrue as a laugh. “I don’t. But I trust that I can keep Gregor occupied enough to lay off Bones until he and Mencheres can figure out how fix Bones’s mind.”
“You can stay with me. Gregor won’t dare to attack me to retrieve you; he has enough powerful enemies as it is.”
I touched his hand with a sad smile. “I appreciate the offer, really. But then Gregor will only use Bones to draw me out, and no matter how mad I am at him, it’ll work.”
Vlad said nothing, merely staring at me with a look I couldn’t decipher. I didn’t want to hear more arguments, so I headed toward my uncle’s office without waiting to see if Vlad followed.
Turned out, Don was waiting for me in the hallway. He looked… bad.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, instantly worried. Had Bones’s plane been tailed, or attacked, or worse?
“No.” He coughed. “I just have a cold.”
“Oh.” I gave him a hug hello. It surprised me when he squeezed back and held on. We weren’t a cuddly family.
Vlad sniffed the air. “A cold?”
Don let me go and gave him an annoyed look. “That’s right. Don’t concern yourself. I’m not contagious to your kind.”
He said it harshly. Jeez, maybe Don really did feel like shit. My uncle wasn’t normally so surly, even though vampires weren’t his favorite group of people.
Vlad looked him up and down and shrugged, taking out his cell phone to signify that Don didn’t merit a response. His fingers flew over it, texting the fastest message ever.
Don went right to business. It was his defining characteristic. “Dave radioed to confirm that Bones’s memory of you has been completely erased. He was astonished to hear he was married, and now he’s insisting on seeing you. Dave’s requesting permission to come here.”
“No,” I said at once. “You tell Dave to forget changing course. If Bones wants to satisfy his curiosity about me, someone can give him a picture. Gregor’s going to be mad as hell as soon as he realizes Bones has flown the coop, and if I’m with him, it’ll only make Bones easier for Gregor to track.”
“Is that the only reason?” Don asked in a quiet tone.
I had to look away and blink to clear my suddenly fogged vision. “Whatever chance we might have had—which was slim anyway, considering Bones left me and said everything but good riddance—it’s over now. I don’t know how Gregor did it, but when he carved me out of Bones’s mind, he killed any hope of a future for us. You can’t regret losing someone you don’t even remember, so… that’s that.”
My uncle didn’t argue even though his expression said he was doubtful. “Ian’s been asking the prisoner about how Gregor did it. She hasn’t been very forthcoming.”
Oh, hasn’t she?
“Then it’s time for me to see my old friend.”
***
Cannelle didn’t appear to have aged a day in the twelve years since I’d seen her. In fact, only her reddish-brown hair was different with its new, shorter length. I guessed it was where she got her name. Cannelle. French for cinnamon.
She sat on a steel bench which took up an entire wall in the square, boxlike space. Cannelle wasn’t restrained since Ian and Geri were in the room with her. Even if by some miracle she got past them, there were still three more guards outside the door. Her eye was black, and blood dripped from her mouth and temple, but she wasn’t cowed.
When I walked in, she blinked, then laughed.
“Bonjour, Catherine! It’s been a long time. You finally look like a woman. I am very surprised.”
I felt a nasty grin pull my lips. “Bonjour yourself, Cannelle. Yep, I grew tits and ass and a whole lot more. What a difference a dozen years makes, huh?”
She went right for the throat. “I must compliment you on your lover, Bones. Qu’un animal, non? In this instance, his reputation was… not gracious enough.”
Bitch. I wanted to rip the smirk right off her face. “Too bad he didn’t seem bowled over by your bedroom skills. I mean, the fact that you couldn’t get him to leave the city for a ménage a cinq doesn’t speak well, does it? And how do you even give a bad blowjob? Those words are usually an oxymoron.”
Ian chuckled with malevolent humor. “Oh, you two ladies have a history, do you?” He looked at Cannelle. “You might want to start speaking now, poppet. I’ve been gentle with you, but Cat has a wicked temper. She’ll likely kill you before I can reason with her.”
“Her?” Cannelle flicked her finger contemptuously at me. “She’s a child.”
Boy
, did she pick the wrong girl in the wrong mood.
“Hand me that knife, Ian.”
He passed it over, his turquoise eyes sparkling. Geri looked a little nervous. Cannelle didn’t even blink.
“You won’t kill me, Catherine. You play the hard woman, but I still see a little girl before me.”
Ian regarded Cannelle with amazement. “She’s unhinged.”
“No, she’s just remembering who I used to be. Gregor made that mistake also, at first.”
I smiled at Cannelle again while twirling the knife from one hand to the other. Her eyes followed the movement, and for the first time, she looked uncertain.
“Remember that big bad bitch Gregor didn’t want me turning into? Well, it happened. Now, I’m in a hurry, so here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to circumcise you, and the only way you’ll stop me is by talking, so please. Please. Don’t talk.”
She didn’t believe me. When Ian held her and I cut her panties off, she was still giving me that I-dare-you glare. When I used my hips to open her legs, she still thought I was bluffing. Only when I severed the aforementioned tissue with a single upward swipe did she get the picture.
And couldn’t stop screaming.
“Whoa, I bet that hurts,” I said coldly. “Ian’s licking his lips at all that blood. You have a choice, Cannelle. We can put this thing back on and a dab of vampire blood’ll have you good as new. Or…”
“Put it back! Put it back!”
“You’ll tell us what we want to know?”
“Oui!”
After listening to her go down on Bones, I was almost disappointed. “Ian?”
Cannelle was still screaming when he took her severed hunk of flesh, coated it with his blood, and slapped it between her legs like he was playing pin the tail on the donkey.
Then he sliced his palm and cupped it over her mouth. “Quit wailing and swallow.”
She gulped at his hand. In seconds, her bleeding stopped and her flesh knit itself back together.
Geri couldn’t tear her eyes away from Cannelle’s mending clitoris. She shivered and rubbed her own crotch as if in reflex. I was more concerned with Cannelle’s face and judging whether or not she’d go back on her word.
“Since we’ve established that I’m in a really foul mood, let’s move on to the question-and-answer phase. Oh, and if you make me use this knife again… I’m not putting anything back. How did Gregor do it? How did he steal Bones’s memory?”