“His costume sucks.”
“He’s new,” I said, covering the sound of Spade’s warning growl.
“Well . . . have fun,” the blonde with the ponytail replied. Nerds, she thought. Then, Oh, he’s hot followed as she stared at the gaps in Bones’s pants when we walked past them.
If I hadn’t had the day from hell, I would’ve told her to stop checking out my husband’s ass. Instead, I took Bones’s arm and kept walking. If it wasn’t trying to kill us, it wasn’t worthy of my attention at the moment.
We made it out of the wildlife area without further incident, then we piled into a black Suburban that had Ian waiting at the wheel.
“Who’s the stiff?” was his only comment as he drove away.
“The sod that’s been after Cat,” Bones replied shortly.
“I’m looking for a little girl with auburn hair who might have passed by here an hour ago. Did you see her?” Tate asked Ian.
He shrugged. “Little as in short or young?”
“Very young. Around ten years old.”
At that, Ian’s brows went up. “Captivity’s made you right twisted, hasn’t it?”
Tate punched the back of Ian’s seat so hard, the headrest snapped off and beamed him in the head.
“She was a prisoner, you prick!”
Ian slammed on the brakes and put the car in park. Bones leaned over me and gripped Ian’s arm when he was about to yank open his door.
“I’ll handle it,” he said in a low, hard voice.
Ian’s eyes blazed green as he glared at Tate in the rearview mirror. “Don’t bother. I’ll forgive his assault on the basis of his being distraught after his recent experience.”
“Thanks ever so,” Bones said, still with that tempered steel in his voice. Then he swiveled around to face Tate.
“Years ago, when you wanted me to change you into a vampire, I told you that one day, you’d be finished with your job but still bound by the rules of my world. Today is that day, mate.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tate asked in a sour voice.
“It means that as my creation, your striking another vampire is the same as my doing it,” Bones responded sharply. “That’s why you won’t do it again without my permission. Quite clear now?”
Tate stared at him, the rugged lines of his face hardening.
“I’d forgotten how much I don’t like you,” he said softly.
I told myself that I wouldn’t interfere, but this was too much.
“Oh, stuff it, Tate. The upside of being Bones’s creation is his risking his life to break you out of prison, so deal with the less-fun fealty part. Like he said, it’s what you signed on for when you became a vampire.”
Then I turned to Ian. “A sleazy comment about a child? Really?”
“I thought he was being sleazy,” Ian responded at once. “And called him twisted for it, as is anyone who’s interested that way in a child.”
He actually managed to sound affronted. Good to know Ian had some sort of a moral center, even if it was covered by piles of pornography and violence.
“Then this was a misunderstanding that went too far,” I summarized while wondering how many wars had been started by the same thing. “Are we good now?”
That last part was directed at Bones. I didn’t know everything about vampire hierarchy, so I wasn’t sure if Tate still had to pay for assaulting his friend even if Ian was willing to overlook it.
“For now,” Bones said, staring at Tate.
The younger vampire looked away. From the way Tate crossed his arms over his chest, this wouldn’t be the last power struggle between them, but his silence confirmed his acquiescence.
Then Bones turned his attention to Ian. “You never said if you saw the little girl.”
“No, I didn’t,” Ian replied as he put the vehicle back into drive. “Why would your troublemaking corpse bother to imprison a child?”
Bones sighed. “That, mate, you’re not going to believe.”
Twenty-two
In case we were being followed, we ditched the Suburban once we were away from the prying eyes of populated areas. Then, since half of our group couldn’t fly, the rest of us grabbed a person and played Iron Man’s version of Barrel of Monkeys. Once in the air, the only tails we needed to worry about were planes, helicopters, or drones, but thankfully, we hadn’t seen any of those yet.
We didn’t fly for very long. The skies were too clear to risk traveling over cities, and Madigan could wake up at any moment. Plus, now that the immediate danger had passed, my burst of survival energy was gone, leaving me dangerously tired. Flying while carrying a good-sized male didn’t help. When I found myself eyeing a patch of farmland and fantasizing about crashing onto it so I could sleep, I knew I’d depleted whatever reserves I’d been running on. Thankfully, Ian and Spade began to descend, signaling that we were close to our destination.
That turned out to be a group of grain storage elevators next to a defunct railroad track. The area around the tall silos was deserted, and I didn’t hear any activity inside them, which meant I didn’t have to worry about being covert. I plowed into the soft earth behind the storage silos, landing even harder than my usual barely controlled splat. Dave, my unlucky passenger, let out more “oofs!” during our tumble than he had when Bones had cut his heart out.
“I call shotgun with anyone but her for the next flight,” he said when we finally rolled to a stop.
Then a scream jerked our attention about half a mile up. Tate rushed toward us, arms flailing as if he were trying to flap his way out of his free fall. It didn’t work, of course. He landed with enough force to create an inches-deep outline in the soft ground around him.
“Okay, shotgun with anyone except him, too,” Dave amended, as Ian floated down to land beside the Tate-sized hole. Bones landed next, but unlike Ian, he held on to his passenger the entire time.
“Ass . . . hole,” Tate groaned as he pushed himself upright, to the accompanying sound of multiple bones snapping back into place.
Bones glanced at Tate, then Ian, who didn’t bother to hide his smirk.
“Good to know you stuck by your word to let his assault slide,” Bones said with heavy sarcasm.
That smirk turned into a wolfish grin. “Changed my mind, Crispin.”
Spade’s arrival with Denise and Cooper cut short whatever Bones had been about to reply to that.
“He’s very weak,” Spade announced, still holding on to Cooper despite their now being on solid ground. “I gave him blood, but whatever experiments they’ve run on him is killing him.”
I went over to Cooper, noting the cloying aroma of sickness that overpowered his natural scent of cloves and oak moss. Even with the healing effects of vampire blood, his skin tone still held a grayish tone, and his obsidian gaze appeared slightly unfocused.
“Remember when I used to call you a freak?” he asked, his laugh wheezing a bit at the end. “What they’ve done to me makes you seem normal.”
I swallowed back the lump that rose in my throat. “Madigan tried to duplicate Katie’s tri-species nature with you, didn’t he?”
Another harsh chuckle. “Yep, but it didn’t work. Not on me or the two thousand unlucky bastards before me. Madigan kept hoping for another fluke like Katie, but he must’ve needed more of whatever he took from you years ago to make it work. That, or wait ’til Katie got older.”
I knew what that last part meant—forcible breeding. Madigan had intended to do the same to me, so while it made me sick, it didn’t shock me. The number Cooper relayed did.
“Madigan told you how many people he killed with his experiments?” Was the bastard proud of being America’s biggest serial killer?
“He didn’t need to tell us. We could count.”
This from Tate, who finally got up from the impact hole he’d made wh
en he landed. Cooper nodded in grim assent.
“I was W98. Hard to make a cute nickname out of that.”
“Explain,” Bones said, echoing my own thought.
Tate paused to glower at Ian once before he spoke.
“Madigan labeled his test specimens alphabetically and then numerically, up to one hundred per letter. When he first brought us here, he pitted us against his only success, Specimen A80, in order to sharpen her fighting skills. From her early specimen number, he must’ve had her so long, he had to have grabbed her when she was a baby, so she wouldn’t know her real name. I couldn’t stand to refer to her by a specimen number like he did, so I called her Katie.”
Now there was no swallowing the lump that rocketed up my throat. At the same time, I trembled with rage. I’d been designated a specimen number, too. A1, according to Madigan’s guards, but how could Madigan have kidnapped and experimented on a baby? Katie never had a chance because of him.
It was senseless, yet I spun around and kicked Madigan’s corpse hard enough that it ricocheted off the nearby silo.
“Wake up!” I yelled at it. “You can’t stay dead, you have so much to answer for!”
“Kitten, stop.”
Bones grabbed me when I would have punted Madigan’s body into the grain silo again.
“You might dislodge his heart and prevent him from rising.”
I stopped, sagging into the strong arms that gripped me.
“Who are we kidding? It’s been three hours. He’s not coming back.”
Bones glanced at the fading sunlight that painted the silos in various shades of orange, pink, and mauve before he spoke.
“Perhaps not, but we’ll stay with him tonight to be sure. Tate.”
His head snapped up, indigo gaze filled with barely restrained aversion. “What?”
“You established a rapport with Katie?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. With her abilities and glowing eyes, I knew right away what she was, but Madigan didn’t let us socialize. The only time we had together was when she was instructed to kill me. At first, she was merciless about it. Then I started calling her Katie and talking to her while we fought. She never said so, but she liked that.”
“How could you tell?”
Tate met his stare without resentment this time. “Because in the past two weeks, she got good enough to take my head off, yet she didn’t, and she hid that from Madigan.”
My eyes burned from more unshed tears. The poor girl had been in the most heartless form of captivity since she was an infant. Tate must have been the closest thing she’d ever had to a friend.
“So if she saw you,” Bones went on, “she might not run. Or try to murder you as she did Denise.”
Spade tensed at that. Denise looked away guiltily. Guess she hadn’t told him who’d bloodied her up the most.
Tate’s smile was wry. “Depends. I told her to kill anyone who came after her. That might include me, with how methodical her mind works.”
“Are you willing to take that risk?” Bones asked bluntly.
Tate snorted. “Do I look like a pussy to you?”
“No,” Bones replied with a ghost of a smile. “You look like the same stubborn, reckless, devoted sod I’ve almost killed a hundred times over, which is why you’re perfect for the job.”
“And you’re the same overbearing asshole you’ve always been,” Tate replied, eyes glinting green. “But you’re right. For this, I’m your man.”
Somehow, after that insult-laden discourse, they exchanged a look of complete understanding. I shook my head. Maybe they’d always dislike each other, but perhaps mutual respect could still exist between them.
“Then get to it,” Bones stated. “Ian? Take him back to Point Pleasant. Fabian stayed behind to help. Perhaps he’ll have good news.”
Ian really didn’t like Tate, so I expected anything except his jubilant, “Let’s be off, then!” before he snatched Tate up and blasted off like a rocket. Why would he . . . ? Oh, right.
“Stop him; he’s happy about this because he intends to kill Tate!”
Bones gave me a jaded look. “That’s not why, luv. Ian collects the rare and unusual, and that child is the rarest, most unusual person in the world right now. He’ll scour the globe with Tate and Fabian looking for her.”
That notion was almost as unsettling as my first. Then I consoled myself with the knowledge that Ian was many things, yet a pedophile wasn’t one of them. He might want to “collect” Katie, but he wouldn’t lay a lustful—or harmful—finger on her. The same couldn’t be said for others who might also be hunting for Madigan’s missing experiment.
“Since all urgent business has been attended to, I need a private moment with my wife,” Spade said, interrupting my line of thought.
Denise threw me a rueful look before she walked off with Spade. The two of them disappeared into the farthest silo away from us. With the thick concrete and metal walls going a hundred feet up, I could barely hear them once they were inside.
My jaw clenched. I had a few things to discuss with my spouse, too, but before I could, Cooper’s condition still needed to be addressed.
“After what Madigan’s done to you, we can’t risk taking you to a hospital,” I said, mentally switching gears. “But Bones knows a few off-the-grid doctors—”
“No more doctors.”
Cooper shuddered when he said it, memories of brutal experiments flitting through his mind. After all he’d been through, I sympathized, but Spade was correct. Cooper was fading right before our eyes. I wasn’t even sure more vampire blood could heal all the cellular damage. He didn’t just need one doctor. He needed several.
“Cooper, you’ll die,” I said as gently as I could.
White teeth flashed in a brief smile. “That’s my plan, and I’d prefer it sooner rather than later since I hurt everywhere. Bones?”
“You don’t need to ask,” my husband replied evenly. “You’ve been one of mine for years. It’s time you receive the full benefits of that.”
Oh, he meant that sort of death. My tenseness eased. Madigan might be worm food, but it appeared we were bringing someone back from the grave tonight after all.
“Kitten, have Charles ring Mencheres and tell him we need a secured vehicle for new vampire transport,” Bones stated since neither of us had a cell phone.
Then he pulled Cooper to him, bending his head back almost casually before slamming his fangs into the other man’s throat.
Looked like Spade needed to place that call to Mencheres right now.
By the time I got back from informing Spade and Denise of what was going on and waiting while Spade made the call, Bones was already done. Cooper lay on the ground, his pulse silent, only a small smear of red on his mouth indicating the enormity of the change taking place in him. Sometime in the next few to several hours, he’d rise as a vampire, permanently free from all the damage Madigan had inflicted on him and vulnerable only to decapitation and silver through the heart.
Well, and to passing out at sunrise for the first few months, but Bones’s people would protect him through that temporary stage.
And since we finally didn’t have any life-and-death situations to resolve, I could turn my attention to other pressing matters.
“Bones.” My voice was soft yet steely. “We need to talk.”
Twenty-three
The inside of the grain silo reminded me of Madigan’s elevation platform. Both were tall, circular spaces with smooth, un-climbable walls. The main difference was that light shone through the top of the silo and its hundred-foot height was far shorter than Madigan’s mile-high secret elevator.
The barren interior suited me fine. Bones and I had nothing to focus on except each other though I stood as far away from him as the narrow space would allow. For his part, Bones locked his aura down until I felt nothing from him
except a slight tinge in the air. His expression was equally inscrutable. Only smudges of blood marred his chiseled features, the color in vivid contrast to his creamy, crystal skin.
“Sabotaging the Dante machine, ripping off doors, disabling entire security systems, and throwing soldiers around like rag dolls . . . your telekinetic powers have grown tremendously,” I started with. “You hid that from me. Why?”
His mouth curled as though he’d swallowed something distasteful.
“Initially, I thought to surprise you with how they’d developed. Then I didn’t say anything because I feared one day, I’d need them to stop you from doing something rash.”
“You were planning to restrain me with them?” I couldn’t contain my angry snort. “What was your plan for when you let me go? Run like hell?”
“Didn’t much care what happened afterward, if I ever needed to employ such drastic measures,” he retorted. Then his tone hardened. “The most dangerous enemy you’ve ever faced is yourself, Kitten. I know that even if you still won’t admit it.”
This wasn’t at all how I had imagined this conversation would go. I expected Bones to ask forgiveness for his terrible deception. Instead, it seemed like he was putting my actions on trial.
“I’m a danger to myself? On the pier, you used an inherited power that’s only worked by accident once before,” I flung back.
His dark brown gaze didn’t waver. “No, luv. I made sure I’d mastered the gift I inherited from Tenoch before I used it at the pier.”
He’d. Been. Practicing. For a few seconds, I was so stunned I was speechless. Then I said the words that had been burning inside me ever since I figured out his degeneration into a corpse had been a trick.
“You let me watch you die.”
My voice was raw, while the memory of seeing him wither ripped through me like razors had replaced my emotions. I wished our supernatural bond went the other way so I could shove those feelings back into him and watch him buckle under their weight.