TWENTY‑NINE

ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?”

I nodded. “Do it.”

Bones sliced a long upward line along his forearm, splitting open his veins. That scrumptious red liquid filled the seam at once. My mouth watered.

Next, Bones smeared his blood onto his fingers and passed them within inches of my lips. I swallowed hard, fighting down my urge to snatch at his hand and suck his fingers–and then his forearm.

Then, Bones pressed those bloodied fingers into my mouth, teasing me with their unbelievable sweetness. I trembled but didn’t lick or bite down. You can do this, Cat. Don’t give in.

Bones handed me a napkin. “Spit it out, Kitten.”

I did, giving back those drops that had made my mouth physically ache with wanting. If I still could, I’d have been sweating bullets by then.

“Again.”

Bones repeated this tortuous act five more times, me spitting out what my body was howling at me to keep, until at last Bones smiled at me.

“You did it, luv.”

“Well done, Cat,” Spade said.

“It’s more than well done.” Bones kissed my forehead. “Getting control of the thirst inside of three days is extraordinary.”

“What time is it?”

“Round 12:30,” Spade replied.

Less than six hours until dawn. That was the other “side effect” of this transformation. When the sun rose, I conked out. Not just got sleepy, like I’d been accustomed to my whole life, I meant fall down in midsentence out. In a way, that was more concerning to me than my bouts of hunger. If I happened to be in a fight when dawn broke, I’d be toast.

I was working on staying conscious when the sun came up. As of now, I could keep my eyes open a few minutes while my body did an excellent impression of a limp rag. It would go away with time, but I worried about how much time. Right now, I couldn’t even move until noon.

“I want to go out,” I said. “Drive somewhere, stare at every street sign I pass, read road maps until I go blind, and get directions from anyone within twenty yards. Oh, but I’m taking a bath first. That tiny shower in the basement only had cold water.”

Mencheres strode into the room. As soon as I saw his face, I knew something was horribly wrong.

“It’s Gregor, isn’t it?” I said before he could speak. “What did he do?”

Mencheres put his hands on my shoulders. “Cat, your mother has disappeared.”

“No!”

It burst from me along with a sudden spurt of tears. Bones’s arm tightened around my waist.

“How? Was the junkyard attacked?” he asked.

Mencheres shook his head. “Rodney said she disappeared from her room. Her nightclothes were still in her bed.”

He’d snatched her from her sleep. Oh God, Gregor had pulled my mother right out of her dreams to kidnap her.

“He said he’d make me suffer,” I whispered, hearing Gregor’s snarl again from my last dream with him. “I didn’t think he’d go after my mother. How could he if he never drank from her?”

My voice trailed off. Gregor could have. I’d assumed he’d just used the power in his gaze to compel my mother to tell me that he was an old friend the night I met Gregor. But obviously, he’d taken her blood as well.

“I need to talk to Gregor,” I said at once. “Someone has to know how to reach him.”

Mencheres dropped his hands from my shoulders. “You know that’s what he wants. He’ll want to trade, you for her.”

“Then I’ll do it,” I said.

Bones’s grip on me turned to steel. “No, you won’t.”

“What do you expect me to do? Shrug my shoulders and just hope Gregor doesn’t kill her? I know you don’t like her, Bones, but she’s my mother. I can’t abandon her!”

“He absolutely will not kill her, Kitten,” Bones replied, his voice hard. “She’s the only advantage he has over you now that you’re a vampire and he can’t dreamsnatch you again.”

Fear, rage, and frustration boiled up in me to form a harsh scent, like burning plastic. You could go to Gregor, but then Bones could attack once they know where Gregor is. No, Gregor will expect that and have a trap waiting. If Bones brought enough people to get out of a trap, Gregor would know you were double‑crossing him and probably kill her out of spite.

“Mencheres!” I exclaimed, grabbing his shirt. “You could go with me. You imprisoned Gregor once, you could do it again! Or better yet, we’ll kill him.”

He shook his head. “I imprisoned him before in secret so as to avoid a war between his allies and mine. If Gregor disappears now, everyone would know Bones or I had a hand in it. Gregor’s allies would surely attack us in revenge.”

I cast around for another alternative. “You could hold Gregor and his men in a vise with just your mind–I’ve seen you do it. Then I get my mother back and we can escape.”

Some of his long black hair spilled over his shoulder from how hard I’d yanked at him, but his gaze was flat–and sad.

“I cannot do that, Cat.”

“Why?” I spat.

“Because Gregor has rights to your mother under our laws,” Mencheres said quietly. “To attack him for taking one of his own people would bring more than Gregor’s allies against us.”

“Gregor doesn’t have any rights to my mother,” I snapped. Then something cold ran over me that had nothing to do with my new temperature.

Yes, he did. Under vampire law, I was Gregor’s wife, which meant anyone belonging to me was his, too. And on top of that, Gregor had bitten my mother, making her his property under vampire law if he chose to claim her as such.

Oh, God. No vampire would violate their laws to help me get my mother back, not even Vlad.

“If the laws are so strict, why haven’t I been forced back to Gregor?” I asked bitterly. “Why am I free, when she isn’t?”

“You haven’t admitted in public to being his wife, for one. Even still, some vampires who believe Gregor have advocated your being forced to return to him, Kitten. But most consider it not their business that you’ve chosen someone else. Attacking Gregor to retrieve your mum would make it their business, however. You know she’d be considered his property one way or the other, so stealing his property opens up the possibility in people’s minds that Mencheres and I might try to steal some of their people without cause, too.”

“Without cause?” My tone was lethal.

Bones gave me a look. “Cause in their eyes, not ours.”

“I can’t just abandon her to Gregor, laws or no laws,” I stated.

He turned me until we faced each other. “Kitten, neither will I, but we must wait. Once Gregor’s dead, your mum will be free. Gregor is expecting you to rush to him with all haste. He won’t be prepared for you to use caution. Will you trust me and wait until the timing is right?”

I bit my lip. The blood filling my mouth reminded me that my fangs were out. Amidst everything else, a wave of hunger swept through me. How could I just wait and hope that Gregor wouldn’t get impatient and send me parts of my mother as motivation to return to him? And yet how I could just rush into the fray without a plan, or backup? My damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead strategy hadn’t been working for me lately.

Bones touched my cheek. “I will find him, luv. And I will kill him. Trust me.”

I swallowed, feeling a tear slide down my face and knowing it would be colored pink.

“All right.”

Bones kissed me, quick but tender. Then he turned to Mencheres.

“We will announce her change. A formal gathering is best, so her introduction to vampire society can be done under an all‑truce, avoiding the danger of an attack.”

“Agreed,” Mencheres said. “I’ll set it up at once.”

“You want to have a party?” I asked, not sure if I was hearing them right. “That’s your big idea?”

“There are still ghouls who consider you a threat to their species,” Bones replied. “One in particular, Apollyon, has made the most noise about you. Showing him and the others that you’re a vampire will get rid of that problem. It will also garner goodwill toward us with the other vampires in the community, which we’ll need when Gregor has his unfortunate, gruesome demise.”

Cold and practical. Those were Bones’s strong suits. If I wanted my mother back alive, they’d better become mine as well.

“Good thinking.” My smile was bitter. “If I’d listened to you more often, my mother probably wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Bones grasped my chin. “Don’t you dare blame yourself. How many people you’ve protected in your very young life is nothing short of remarkable. You place too much pressure on yourself. All the answers don’t have to come from you, Kitten. You’re not alone anymore.”

For all but the two years Bones had been in my life, it felt like I’d been alone. No wonder it was such a hard mind‑set for me to break.

“Okay, we’ll have my undead unveiling party. I’ll even suck on a human’s vein in public if that helps, since I assume we’re still keeping my eating habits under wraps.”

Bones shrugged. “I see no reason to alarm anyone over something so trivial, so yes, we’ll be keeping that a secret. But there’s no need to do something so dramatic. You’re clearly a full vampire now. That’s all anyone needs to see.”

“Where will this coming‑out party be held?”

“Here. We’ve stayed in this house long enough. We’ll have the gathering here, then depart for another place afterward. And then, soon, we’ll find a way to rescue your mum.”

I was looking forward to that. Right now, slicing through Gregor’s guards sounded more fulfilling than anything else I could imagine.

But what if I couldn’t slice through his guards? I could be as weak as any new vampire now. There hadn’t been time to test my physical strength in the past few days. Only my mental fortitude as I got over the hunger insanity.

“Bones. We need to fight.”

To my profound relief, I discovered my strength had not been reduced to that of an average new vampire. In fact, Bones had been stunned in our first fight when I’d taken advantage of his restrained attack and beaten him. He’d gaped in shock at the knife in his chest–steel, not silver–then tossed back his head and laughed before engaging me in a no‑holds‑barred assault that left me feeling like I’d been dropped off a cliff–and then run over by a train.

My recovery period was now lightning fast in comparison to what it had been as a half‑breed, but there was a price to pay for those upgrades. Everything felt more intense. This was great when it came to bedroom activities, but not when it came to brawling. A broken bone or knife wound might heal in seconds, but those seconds hurt with a mind‑numbing intensity. Bones explained it was because my body no longer went into shock. No, it just went right from scorching pain into complete healing, assuming I was fast enough to not get any new injuries before the old ones cleared up.

The other thing I discovered was how different it felt to be cut with silver versus another metal. Never before had I realized how strong vampiric aversion was to silver, or how much my being half‑human had shielded me from it. When injured by silver, I had all the blasting pain of my nerve endings going into shock, plus an added burning agony that made a steel‑inflicted wound feel like bliss in comparison.

I’d have to learn how to control my instinctive reaction to the new, amped‑up levels of pain. Right now, they stumbled me and cost me time. Time I couldn’t afford with the looming battle to get my mom back.

Four days passed with no word about my mother. I spent them in constant activity–when I wasn’t immobilized from dawn’s power over me. I found that the more blood I drank from Bones, the more I could force myself to stay awake as the sun crept over the horizon. I was up to being awake for an hour after dawn. Granted, that hour consisted of being in a state of near paralysis, but it was progress, though there was no meter for me to compare my progress to. I wasn’t the world’s only known half‑breed, but apparently, I was the only one who’d been turned into a vampire. No one knew how long a typical new vampire’s weakness to dawn would affect me. I could be doing cartwheels at sunrise in a week–or it might take me a year.

The fifth night was my coming‑out party. I was in no mood to stand there, smile, and greet a bunch of people who might have been screaming for my head recently, but that’s what I’d be doing. If it prevented more tensions between vampires and ghouls, as well as helping my chances of getting my mother back, I’d do it naked if I had to. Since this was a formal undead gathering, there would be food–all kinds–drinks, dancing, and festivities, while those in power pondered whether or not to slaughter half the people around them.

In other words, like a high‑school prom.

I had just finished drying my hair when I heard the downstairs front door slam, then rapid footsteps on the stairs. Bones was back. He’d gone to get me a dress, since for whatever reason, he didn’t feel anything in the house was good enough. He came through the door with a garment bag in hand.

“Just in time,” I said. “I’m about to curl my hair. So, let’s see the dress.”

Bones zipped the bag open to reveal a long black dress, spaghetti‑strapped, narrowing to a nonde‑fined waist but with crystals embedded in the fabric around the bodice. Those crystals would mold around my breasts, I could tell from the cut, and even in the low light in the room, they sparkled and threw off dazzling colors.

“Beautiful,” I said, then smiled wryly. “Can’t wear a bra with it, though. I’m sure that was accidental on your part.”

He grinned. “Of course.”

It really was a beautiful dress. Simple, gothic, yet sparkly. Very appropriate for a vampire coming‑out party.

“This’ll go great with my fangs,” I said, trying for flippancy to cover my nervousness. Even still, I could smell it on me. It was sickly sweet, like an overripe peach. If only there was a way I could cover my tension with the scent of eau de brass balls instead.

Bones kissed my bare shoulder, easy to do since I was still only wearing a towel. “It will be fine, Kitten.”

I smiled, ignoring the squeeze in my gut that didn’t agree. “Of course it will.”

The last receiving line I’d stood in had been at Randy’s funeral. This one was almost as cheerful. For one, my conversation with Bones was mostly limited to him saying, “This is so‑and‑so. So‑and‑so, may I present Cat, the newest member of my line,” and I would shake hands with someone who might just as soon roast me over hot coals.

Rodney was here, looking as grim‑faced as I felt. He blamed himself for not waking my mother when Gregor stalked her in her sleep. I’d tried to tell Rodney there was no way he could have known what was happening, but my reassurances fell on deaf ears.

Fabian floated around like a transparent maître d’, reporting in when the drinks or hors d’oeuvres ran low. Spade and Ian paid their formal respects in line. About thirty introductions later, Annette was next. She wore a strapless dress that looked poured onto her voluptuous figure. Long black gloves added a classy touch to the gown’s sexiness. Next to her, I felt like Carrot Top in drag.

She put her arms around me. Taken aback, I froze. Annette squeezed me once, and whispered, “You made the right decision,” and then let me go with a smile.

“Don’t you look lovely, Cat? It would seem death becomes you indeed.”

I hadn’t expected such a warm greeting from her. “Thank you,” I managed. “I heard it was all the rage this season.”

She laughed, her chuckle holding a sinful undercurrent. “Dare I hope your heterosexual exclusivity has been buried along with your pulse?”

Now there was the Annette I knew. A voracious shark disguised behind a beautiful woman.

“That hasn’t changed,” I told her dryly. “Kind of you to inquire, though.”

Her eyes sparkled. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say. Ah, well, must move along. Frightful lot of blokes here to watch you not breathe, after all.”

I saw a familiar frame lingering near the front entryway. Dark straight hair with its pronounced widow’s peak framed an angular face while coppery green eyes met mine.

“Vlad!”

The tenseness of the past hour had taken its toll on me, making me so glad to see someone I trusted that I left my place to greet him. He smells like cinnamon and smoke, I thought when I hugged him. What an interesting combination of scents.

Then I became aware that the room had fallen silent. When I looked around, everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare at us–and the look Bones gave me could have freeze‑dried steam.

“Kitten,” he said. “Would you kindly return…now .”

Uh‑oh. Guess I’d committed a faux pas by greeting a friend out of order.

“I gotta go do this,” I muttered to Vlad. “Thanks for coming.”

“Of course.” His smile changed from the genuine one he’d given me to its usual sardonic curl. “Go greet your fans.”

My fans, indeed. I’d never felt more judged or dissected in my life than I had tonight. Forget my lack of heartbeat or breathing; if someone had pried open my mouth and demanded to see my fangs, I wouldn’t have been surprised.

“So sorry,” I said to Bones. It surprised me that he was rigid, anger wafting from him like he’d been splashed with kerosene.

“Quite,” he said, ice warmer than his tone. “Let me introduce you to Malcolme Untare. You’ll recognize him by another name. Apollyon.”

I almost snatched my hand back from the insipid grip of the man I’d barely glanced at. This was the ghoul who’d been spreading the most rumors about me?

Malcolme Untare, or Apollyon, as he’d named himself, was my height if I was in bare feet. He had black hair anybody could see was dyed, and even had one long piece wrapped around his head in that way some men did to fool no one into believing they weren’t bald. I resisted a sudden strong urge to tug away that piece and scream peekaboo! at his bare crown underneath. Since I just left him standing there after I’d dashed off to welcome Vlad, however, I thought that might be pushing things.

But some things couldn’t be helped. “How do you do?” I asked, giving him a more‑than‑firm handshake.

Apollyon let go like touching me had been distasteful. He had flat blue eyes and those smooth baby cheeks seemed at odds with his persona. Somehow I thought he should be covered in warts because he reminded me of a mean, squat toad.

“You are just as I expected you to be,” he said with a scornful twist of his lips.

I straightened to my full height. In heels, I had two inches on him. A prick like Apollyon would hate to be looked down on by a woman. “Let me return the compliment.”

“Kitten,” Bones drew out.

Right, this was supposed to be a “no stones thrown” affair. “Great to meet you, Apollyon, and make sure you save me a dance. I’ll just bet you’ve got on your boogie shoes.”

Vlad made no attempt to hide his laughter. Mencheres gave me one of those you’re‑not‑being‑prudent glares, and Bones looked like he wanted to throttle me. Well, too bad. Apollyon had tried to incite people to kill me and other vampires, all based on lies and paranoia. Damned if I was going to kiss his ass and say it tasted like candy.

Apollyon moved past me reeking with anger–I was getting good at this scent thing!–and I fixed another false smile on my face as I greeted the next dubious well‑wisher.

THIRTY

IT WAS AFTER I’D SHAKEN THE LAST PERSON’S hand in line that Bones turned to me and spoke through a clenched jaw.

“Why did you invite Tepesh?”

I glanced over at Vlad, who was on the far side of the room talking with a vampire named Lincoln. To my knowledge, it wasn’t the same man who’d freed the slaves, but then again, he was really tall.

“I didn’t.”

Bones stared at me as if weighing whether I was telling the truth.

“Ask him yourself if you don’t believe me,” I said, exasperated. “Not that I mind Vlad being here, but it didn’t occur to me to invite him since he wasn’t one of the people screaming for my head.”

“Keep your voice down,” Bones hissed, tugging me none too gently toward an alcove near the front door.

I didn’t know what he was so angry about. Had it really been such a big deal for me to leave the line and say hello to Vlad? Frigging vampires and their warped rules.

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.”

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 423