SEVENTEEN 1 страница

TWO

I WOKE UP ALONE IN OUR BED LATER. ASLEEPY glance around showed that Bones wasn’t in the bedroom. Curious, I went downstairs and found him on the couch in our family room.

Bones was staring out the window at the mountain ridge in the distance. Vampires had the ability to sit with utter stillness, as immobile as statues. Certainly, Bones was beautiful enough to be a work of art. Moonlight made his hair look lighter than its deep brown shade. He’d changed it from blond back to its natural color to be less noticeable when we were on jobs. Those faint silvery rays also caressed the dips and hollows of Bones’s crystal skin, highlighting his lean, rippled physique. His darker brows almost matched the color of his eyes when they weren’t lit up by vampire green. Shadows made his high cheekbones look even more perfectly etched when he turned his head and saw me standing there.

“Hey. ” I tightened the robe I’d thrown on, feeling his tension in the air. “Is something wrong? ”

“Nothing’s wrong, luv. I’m just a touch nervous, actually. ”

That got my attention. I sat next to him. “You never get nervous. ”

Bones smiled. “I have something for you. But I don’t know if you’ll want it. ”

“Why wouldn’t I want it? ”

Bones slid off the couch to kneel in front of me. I still didn’t get it. Only when I saw the small black velvet box in his other hand did it hit me.

“Catherine. ” If I hadn’t already guessed, his one and only use of my real name would have clued me in. “Catherine Kathleen Crawfield, will you marry me? ”

It didn’t hit me until right then how much I’d wanted Bones to ask me that. Sure, we were married under vampire law, but having Bones cut his hand, slap it over mine, and declare me to be his wife didn’t feel quite like the white wedding fantasies I’d had as a little girl. Plus, Bones had done it to prevent an all out brawl between his people and his sire Ian’s people over the issue of who had dibs on me.

Looking at Bones now made all my childish imaginings pale into nothingness, however. True, Bones was a former‑ human‑ gigolo‑ turned‑ vampire‑ hitman instead of a charming prince, but no fairy tale heroine could have felt the way I did, with the man I was insanely in love with asking me on bended knee to be his wife. My throat closed off with emotion. How had I ever gotten so lucky?

Bones made a noise of amused exasperation. “Of all the times for you to be speechless. If you don’t mind, choose one response or the other. The suspense is torturing me. ”

“Yes. ”

Tears came to my eyes even as I started to laugh at the sheer joy bubbling up inside me.

Something cool and hard slid on my finger. I could barely see it, since my vision was blurred, but I caught a flash of red.

“I had this cut and fashioned into a ring almost five years ago, ” Bones said. “I know you think I was pressured into binding myself with you before, but that’s not true. I’d always intended to marry you, Kitten. ”

For about the thousandth time, I regretted leaving Bones the way I had years ago. I thought I’d been protecting him. Turned out I was just hurting both of us needlessly.

“How could you be nervous about asking me to marry you, Bones? I’d die for you. Why wouldn’t I want to live for you as well? ”

He gave me a long, deep kiss, whispering onto my lips only when I pulled away out of breathlessness.

“I know it’s what I intend to do. ”

Later, I was stretched out in his arms, waiting for dawn, which wasn’t far off.

“Do you want to elope, or do you want to do the whole big wedding thing? ” I asked sleepily.

Bones smiled. “You know vampires, pet. Always like a fancy show, we do. Also, I know our vampire binding didn’t feel like a real wedding to you, so I want you to have something that does. ”

I gave an amused grunt. “Wow, a big wedding. We’ll have a hell of a time explaining the menu to a potential caterer. Choice of entree: beef or seafood for the humans, raw meat and body parts for the ghouls…and a keg of hot fresh blood at the bar for the vampires. God, I can just picture my mother’s face. ”

Bones’s smile turned devilish and he leapt up. I watched him, curious, as he went to the other side of the room and dialed his cell phone.

“Justina. ”

I vaulted after him as soon as I heard my mother’s name. Bones sprinted away from me, fighting back his laughter and continuing to speak.

“Yes, it’s Bones. Now really, that’s such a foul name to call me…um hmm, same to you, I’m sure…”

“Give me that phone, ” I demanded.

He ignored me, darting out of my reach. Ever since my father, my mother hated vampires with a pathological passion. She’d even tried to have Bones killed before‑ twice‑ which was why he was taking such delight in giving her a little payback now.

“Actually, Justina, I didn’t just ring you to chat about what an undead murderer I was…right, degenerate whore as well. Did I ever tell you my mum was one? No? Oh, blimey, I come from a long line of whores, in fact…”

I sucked in a breath as Bones divulged yet another tidbit about his past to my mother, who must be frothing at the mouth by now.

“…called to give you the good news. I asked your daughter to marry me and she accepted. Congratulations, I will officially be your son‑ in‑ law. Now, do you want me to call you Mum straightaway, or wait until after the wedding? ”

I flew through the air in a dive that finally tackled him, wrenching the phone away. Bones was laughing so hard, he had to breathe to get it all out.

“Mom? Are you there? Mom…? ”

“You might want to give her a moment, Kitten. I believe she fainted. ”

There were some days when I felt a pang of wistful regret that I’d never be a mother. Sure, my father had been newly undead enough that he’d managed to impregnate my mother, but as a rule, vampires couldn’t reproduce. And I’d never risk passing on my genetic abnormalities to a child by means of artificial insemination, let alone my dangerous lifestyle by adopting one.

Right now, however, I was glad I wasn’t a mother. I’d faced some scary sights hunting vampires and ghouls, but hordes of children hyped‑ up on sugar, squealing as they ran from one video game to the next, while I knew there was no escape for me? Truly frightening.

Bones was outside the Chuck E. Cheese, lucky bastard. It was because of his power level. Other vampires felt him when he was near, like inside, so Bones usually watched the premises until the gig was up and our target knew he or she was being hunted. I lacked the typical undead aura that felt like anything from static electricity to full‑ blown electrocution, depending on the strength of the vampire. No, I had a beating heart and I breathed, which made me look harmless‑ to those who didn’t know what else to look for, anyway.

Toward that end, I had almost all my skin covered up. Hey, I wasn’t playing bait, so I didn’t need to wear my usual slut gear. Belinda was the one in a low‑ cut top with hip‑ hugging jeans that revealed several inches of her belly. She’d curled her hair and wore makeup, which was a rarity, since as Don’s captive, she didn’t get out much.

Looking at Belinda, with her blond hair, pouty smile, and eye‑ popping curves, people would never guess she was a vampire, especially since it was day‑ light. Even those whomight believe in vampires still bought the myth that vampires could only come out at night, which, along with the whole sleeping in coffins, being repelled by religious symbols, or being killed by a wooden stake, was wrong.

The little boy next to me tugged my arm. “I’m hungry, ” he announced.

I was confused. “But you just ate. ”

He rolled his eyes. “Lady, that was an hour ago. ”

“Call me Mom, Ethan, ” I reminded him, fixing a bright smile on my face while I fished out more money. This had to be the strangest job ever. Where Don had gotten a ten‑ year‑ old boy to act as a prop, I’ll never know. But he had arranged for Ethan to come with us, saying if we spent hours lurking at a Chuck E. Cheese without a child, we’d be suspected of either being pedophiles or‑ duh‑ being vampire hunters by our target.

Ethan snatched at my handful of money without waiting for me to peel the bills off.

“Thanks! ” he said, and scampered off toward the pizza counter.

Okay, that looked authentic‑ I’d seen kids do the same thing to their parents all day today, plus all day yesterday. Good God, between the food and the endless tokens for games, I’d gone through more money in two days here than I normally did at a week’s worth of bar jobs downing multiple gin and tonics. At least this was on Uncle Sam’s dime, not mine.

There was only one floor at Chuck E. Cheese’s, so that made it easier to keep Belinda in sight without resorting to looming over her. She was in the section to the left of the front door, playing Skee‑ Ball. She landed yet another perfect throw into the center of the circles. Lights went off while more tickets spat out of the side of the machine. Belinda had a pile of them near her feet, and more than a few admiring fathers as well as kids clustered around her.

But no other vampire was here, even though this Chuck E. Cheese had been linked to the disappearance of a family three weeks ago. Not that any of the patrons here knew that. It was only because a security camera had caught a pair of glowing green eyes in the parking lot that Don even suspected vampires were involved in the family’s odd disappearance.

Undead killers liked to hit the same hunting grounds more than once. Which confounded the hell out of me. If vampires or ghouls never went back to the same crime scene, my uncle’s special department of Homeland Security would be out of business. Some of them didn’t have enough sense to be like lightning, never striking the same place twice.

My cell vibrated. I took it off my belt, glanced at it‑ and smiled. The number flashing was 911, which meant a vampire had just been seen in the parking lot. I kept my eye on Ethan as I sidled over to where Belinda was. She gave me an irritated glance when I laid a hand on her arm.

“Showtime, ” I murmured.

“Get your hand off me, ” she replied without losing her sweet smile.

I squeezed instead. “If you try anything, I’ll kill you. And that’s only if Bones doesn’t beat me to it first. ”

Belinda’s eyes flashed green for a second, but then she shrugged. “Ten more years, then I don’t have to deal with you anymore. ”

I let her go. “That’s right. So don’t fuck up a better deal than you deserve. ”

“Don’t you need to get away from me, Reaper? ” she hissed, so low even I could barely hear her. “You don’t want to scare the fish away, do you? ”

I gave Belinda a cool, evaluating stare before I turned my back and walked away. I’d meant what I said. If Belinda pulled any tricks during this job and endangered one of the many kids here, I’d kill her. But, as the saying went, we were giving her enough rope to hang herself. Now we had to wait and see if she swung from it.

On my way over to Ethan, my cell vibrated again. I glanced at it and mentally groaned. Another 911. That meant there were two vampires. Not good.

I reached Ethan, wanting to keep a sharp eye on him as well as the door. It wasn’t long before I saw two men walk in with the distinctive skin and purposeful movements that marked the difference between a regular person and a vampire.

I gave the interior of Chuck E. Cheese’s another frustrated glance. With all the children here, this was the worst kind of place to have a showdown with the undead. If I were playing bait, I’d try to maneuver the vamps into the parking lot to minimize the danger to bystanders. But Belinda probably wouldn’t care enough to do that. Well, I’d just have to try and help her out.

I grasped Ethan’s hand. “It’s time, ” I told him.

His blue‑ green eyes widened. “The bad people are here? ” he whispered.

I doubted Don had explained to Ethan‑ or his parents, whoever those crazy folks were to let their son do this‑ what sort of “bad people” we were after. I wasn’t about to elaborate, either.

“You don’t leave my sight, remember? ” I said, soft but stern. “It’ll be okay. ”

He nodded, visibly mustering up his courage. “Okay. ”

What a good boy.

My cell phone vibrated again, with another series of numbers flashing across the screen.

911‑ 911

“Oh, f‑ crap, ” I caught myself just in time.

Ethan blinked up at me. “What’s wrong? ”

I got a tighter grip on his hand. “Nothing. ”

That was a lie, of course. I looked up in time to see a third vampire walking in the door. Then a fourth. I saw Belinda pause in her next Skee‑ Ball toss, look at them, and smile. Widely.

This was going to be a hell of an afternoon.

THREE

THE VAMPIRES DIDN’T TAKE LONG TO NOTICE Belinda. Maybe they even smelled her before they saw her, because they weren’t inside the place for a minute before they sidled over to her. I kept a good grip on Ethan’s hand as I heard Belinda exchange hellos, straining my hearing to make sure she wasn’t saying anything else. Like, trap orReaper. So far, so good. Belinda was just being flirty‑ with a homicidal edge to it, inquiring if they were up for eating anyone here.

“Why do you think we’re here? ” one of them said with a smirk. “It ain’t for the big fake mouse. ”

The others laughed. My jaw clenched. Bastards.

“You here with anyone? ” another asked, giving Belinda an up‑ and‑ down leer.

“Some chick I met and her son, ” Belinda said dismissively. “One of you can eat her, but I call dibs on the kid. ”

“Point them out, ” the dark‑ haired vampire said.

I glanced away right as Belinda’s hand arced up, putting a false smile on my face as I looked at Ethan. Don’t worry. Nothing’s going to happen to you.

“The blonde wearing the black turtleneck sweater and jeans, holding the little boy’s hand. That’s them. ”

“Pretty, ” the brunette drawled, then added quickly, “but not as pretty as you, of course. ”

“Thanks. ” Belinda’s voice said his backpedaling wasn’t sufficient, but she’d let it go. “So, how do you all normally do this? Just snatch a kid and run? ”

“See that guy over there? ” The tall, scrawny vampire pointed to someone wearing an employee badge. “After a few flashes of my eyes, I’m going to steal his outfit from him. ”

“Why would you want to take some guy’sclothes? ” Belinda asked in disbelief. I glanced back over to them casually. I’d just been wondering that myself.

“Not his clothes, the Chuck E. Cheese costume, ” the vampire replied with a grin. “It’s easy to get kids to follow you outside without arousing suspicion when you’re wearing that. Even if their parents notice, one of us just gives ’em the gaze and they go home thinking everything’s fine. Takes them a day or so to even realize their kids are gone, and they don’t remember where they lost ’em from. ”

“We take them out one at a time and store them in the trunk, ” another added. “It’s cool enough this time of year, so they don’t die and go stale, and with a flash of the eyes, they stay quiet while they’re there. ”

My hand tightened on Ethan’s until he let out a yelp. I loosened my grip, fighting to keep my eyes from glowing out of pure rage. I couldn’t kill these guys soon enough.

Belinda smiled. “A vampire in a Chuck E. Cheese costume? That I have to see. ”

The vampire returned her grin. “Wait right here, honey. You’ll love the show. ”

As if on cue, the robotic figures in the theater came to synthetic life. The kids squealed in delight. I watched as one of the vampires followed the employee they’d pointed out behind the stage. My intention to follow as well was cut short by what I heard next.

“…hungry now, I’m getting someone to eat, ” the russet‑ haired vampire said, sauntering away from Belinda and the others.

I let go of Ethan’s hand. Belinda had pointed him out as hers; he was the safest kid in the place at the moment. I knelt down until I was eye‑ level with him.

“See that game? ” I asked, pointing to the one closest to us. “You play that and you don’t move from it until me or one of the other guys you met earlier comes to get you. Promise me. ”

Ethan nodded. “Promise. ”

“Good boy, ” I murmured. Ethan went over to the game and set all his tokens down by it. Cold fury seized me as I watched the other vampire hunt for his prey.

“All units, stand by, ” I whispered into my cell phone. This could get ugly real fast.

I discreetly kept him in sight as the vampire wandered through the room, his sharp eyes picking out which kids were being supervised and which weren’t. There was a young boy by the change machine, gathering up his tokens. The vampire watched him, sidling up behind him as the boy started to browse the games. Then he waited until they were near a corner, and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

The boy looked up‑ and that was all it took. The vampire’s eyes flashed green for a moment and he murmured something, too low for me to catch. No one else noticed. The boy followed him into the next room without a pause, disappearing behind one of the partial walls.

I went after them, noticing the vampire had picked the least busy place, where all the out‑ of‑ order games were kept. He was kneeling, the little boy in front of him. I could see the green light of the vampire’s gaze reflecting off the skin of the boy as he stood there, making no attempt to run or scream.

He’s going to bite him right now. Right here, and he could have his body stuffed behind one of those broken machines in less than a minute. His parents will never even know he’s in danger until he’s already dead…

The russet‑ haired vampire leaned down, no fear of parents or God or anyone else stopping him. I pulled out a silver knife from my sleeve and crept forward. Say hello to my little friend, asshole!

“What the‑? ”

I whirled, feeling the inhuman power at my back even as I heard the voice. The vampire wearing the Chuck E. Cheese costume stood behind me, his big fake mouse head tilted questioningly to the side. The other vampire dropped his hands from the little boy, and his gaze narrowed on my knife.

“Silver, ” he muttered.

The gig was up. “Deploy! ” I screamed, knowing Bones would hear me, and flung the knife.

It buried into his chest to the hilt. I leapt on him in almost the same movement, knocking him over to give a few rough twists of the blade. At the same time, something heavy landed on me. And cushy. It was the vampire in the Chuck E. Cheese getup.

I rolled over, crunching my legs up and then kicking the vampire off me. He hit a video game hard enough to make it crash through the window. I heard Tate shout, “Homeland Security, nobody move! ” as I palmed more knives and then flung them with perfect accuracy into vamp Chuck E. ’s chest. He staggered back, but didn’t go down. Damn costume must be too thick.

I grabbed more knives from under my clothes and tackled him. He fought as hard as he could‑ while being encased in a large mouse suit. Our struggles had us rolling, me attempting to stab deep enough to penetrate that costume, and him trying to beat me while seriously hampered in his movements.

“Leave Chuckyalone! ” I heard a child wail. Several more screamed.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, talk about emotionally scarring these kids, watching what must appear to be a crazy woman trying to stab their beloved icon to death. They’d have nightmares for years unless Bones wiped their memories.

I didn’t focus on that, however. I kept hammering away with my knives, hearing another fight break out. The other vampires. I finally got a deep enough slant on the knife under me to have the vampire go limp, and I gave the blade a final twist.

I got up to the horrified gaze of children and parents alike, but there was no time to explain that Chucky wasn’t Chucky, but his evil twin instead. The blond vampire came roaring across the room to me, almost kicking people big and small out of his way. I reached for another knife, found I had only a few left, and went toward him as well. I couldn’t risk throwing my knives at him‑ if he ducked, whoever was behind him would get hit. No, this would have to be a brawl. My eyes blazed green. Come on, Blondie, let’s see what you’ve got.

Seeing my eyes glow made him falter, but only for a moment. In my peripheral vision, I could see Belinda wrestling with the dark‑ haired vampire. We hadn’t given her any weapons, for obvious reasons, but it was a relief to see her fighting for us instead of against us.

Behind the blond vampire, the last one appeared. He snarled and started toward me, too. Then his gaze flickered to the door.

“Oh shit, ” I heard him say right before he turned and ran behind the stage.

I didn’t have to turn to know what had scared him; I could feel Bones enter the place. But the other vampire hit me at the same time, so I couldn’t enjoy the view of that one tucking tail and running.

“You take him, I’ve got Blondie, ” I called out, avoiding a set of fangs aimed for my throat.

“I’ll get the sod, ” Bones growled, disappearing behind the large, fuzzy, robotic figures that still sang and joked among themselves on the stage.

“Let’s move it outside, people! ” I ordered in between receiving and giving brutal blows. Fast, before any parents or kids became hostages.

A quick glance showed Belinda roughly handling the dark‑ haired vampire, moving him outside by almost bear‑ hugging him. She seemed to be speaking to him, too, but with all this racket, damned if I knew what she was saying.

A hard swipe brought my attention back to the blond vampire in front of me. Just a little farther, I chanted in my mind. I don’t want to kill you, too, in front of dozens of children. They’ll have nightmares as it is.

When he was in front of the hole in the window left by the video game, I charged him, ducking low to avoid his mouth. We spilled out the window into the parking lot, pounding each other on the asphalt. I only had a couple knives left on me, not expecting losing so many of them to Chucky’s thick hide. I had to make sure I chose my moment.

“Mommy, make themstop, ” a child wailed, and I cursed inwardly. This was theworst setting for a vampire takedown. From the sounds of it, the guys were having a hard enough time keeping the parents and kids from fleeing to the parking lot in a panic, which would compound the problem even more. Dave barked out orders to have the dark‑ haired vampire Belinda had wrestled out secured in the capsule. Smart. He’d be no threat there, and we could cart him off and stake him at our leisure later.

I was ducking to avoid a roundhouse punch that would have snapped my neck when I saw Belinda, no longer restraining the other vampire, suddenly seize Zachary, a newer recruit, and bury her fangs into his throat.

“Tate, stop her! ” I screamed, helpless to do anything as Belinda gave a jerk and Zachary fell back, clutching his neck with red streaming between his fingers. Then Belinda ran.

I heard gunshots, cursing, and the scrambling of feet as several of the team rushed over.

“Hostile on the loose, secure the perimeter! ” Cooper shouted.

I gave the vampire in front of me a grimly cold stare. “I don’t have time for this, ” I growled, and charged him, knocking both of us over. His fists pummeled me, but I didn’t defend myself. I took the battering, holding his mouth away from my throat with one hand and ramming my knife into his heart with the other. Three rough scissors of that blade and he was dead the permanent way.

I crawled off him. My ribs hurt tremendously, but I didn’t cradle my aching sides like I wanted to. A scuffle to my left made me whip my head around, just in time to see the dark‑ haired vampire who had been about to be pronged in the capsule fling the two soldiers nearest him to the ground. Most of the team who weren’t guarding the exits had gone after Belinda, except for the ones kneeling by Zachary. This vampire had taken full advantage of their distraction.

Dave leapt for him, but the vampire ducked under, slid like a macabre penguin on his belly, and then took off at a flat run.

I sprinted forward, following the sounds from Tate and Cooper as they chased after Belinda. But being human, there was no way they could catch her.

I made my decision in a split second and went after Belinda instead. She was the bigger threat. Belinda knew the names of my team. She knew intimate details about the workings of Don’s organization, and she’d had enough experience being trapped by the security system in the compound to give detailed descriptions to anyone who might be crazy enough to try to breach it. There was no way I could let her repeat any of that.

I ran as fast as I could, quickly catching up to Tate and Juan. Up ahead, I couldn’t see Belinda, but I could hear where she’d been by squealing brakes and excla mations from people as she crossed what must have been a busy intersection.

“Get the car, ” I gasped out to Tate, darting past him. “Track me! ”

I had a transmitter in my beeper, and by car, they could follow faster. Plus handle any police, if it came to that. There were more tires screeching and I headed in that direction, bursting through an intersection and catching a glimpse of Belinda right before she darted down a side street. Oh no you don’t, I thought.

I put more effort into it, wishing my ribs didn’t feel like they were breaking with every step. Inside I was praying that Belinda didn’t dash into someone’s home and try to get a hostage, but maybe she’d seen and heard enough about me and the team to know that wouldn’t work in her favor. No, she just ran like hell, and I was cursing her even as I kept up.

Belinda leapt over a fence without even a pause in her stride. At least she wasn’t a Master vampire who could fly; I’d be screwed then. I took the fence almost as quickly as she had, but the gash it gave me when a jagged edge of metal scored my leg didn’t heal instantly, as it did for her. There were days when I envied undead healing abilities. Just not enough to turn myself fully into a vampire to get them.

When I gained on her enough to take the chance, I threw my knives. I only had two of them left, so these had to count. The blades landed in the right area in Belinda’s back, making her stagger, but she didn’t go down. Dammit, I missed her heart! My accuracy while running full‑ out over uneven ground with a weaving target wasn’t nearly what it was if we’d been in close quarters while I was stationary. Note to self: Work on knife‑ throwing skills while in a chase.

But the blades began to slow her. All that jostling must be driving the one dangerously near to her heart, and Belinda couldn’t stop to get a good enough grab on the handles to pull them out. She tried swiping at her back while maintaining her breakneck speed, but all she succeeded in doing with her flailing was to slant a knife deeper in her back instead of pulling it out. Belinda staggered again, and I willed myself to go faster. Almost there…hit the gas, Cat, you can’t let her get away!

I gathered my strength and sprang, managing to grasp Belinda’s ankles and knock her over. She whipped around, her fangs snapping at any piece of my flesh they could find. I ignored that and flung myself on top of her, bearing all my weight into her torso.

Belinda stilled at once. Her wide, cornflower‑ blue eyes met mine for a second, and then her lids dipped even as she let out a scream that was cut off in the next moment. Those blades, still in her back, had been driven through her heart.

I wasn’t about to take any chances. I flipped Belinda over and gave both knives a hard twist, feeling her go completely limp under me. You should have taken the ten‑ year deal, I thought coldly. Instead you brought it to this.

A scream alerted me to my surroundings. Belinda and I were on the edge of someone’s lawn, it looked like. The homeowner, an older woman, was clearly upset at seeing two women fight to the death in her backyard.

I sat back with a sigh. “Go ahead, call 911. It’ll make you feel better. ” Even though the police would never get their hands on me. No, not with Don’s credentials. Besides, Tate and the guys would be here soon, and so would Bones, I’d bet. He didn’t need my transmitter to track me; he could do it by scent.

She babbled something that sounded like, “Murderer, ” and went inside, slamming her door. Moments later, there was the sound of her calling the police.

I stayed on the grass near Belinda, nodding politely at the few nearby neighbors who came out to gawk at me before running inside and placing their own emergency calls. I’d been there less than three minutes before Bones came streaking into view. He slowed when he saw me, walking the last several yards to where I sat.

“All right, luv? ”

I nodded. “Scratches and bruises, nothing serious. The vampire you were after? ”

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