Cat Adams - Blood Song

Scowling, my hat pul ed down to my ears, I stepped out of the air-conditioned comfort of the store into

the heat of a ful -blown argument that ground to an abrupt and awkward halt when they saw me. Gee,

think they were talking about me?

I decided to pretend I hadn’t noticed. Smiling, I turned to the elder of the two. “Hey, Matty. Long time

no see. So, is she the demon and do you think she’l come back here?”

Matty turned, glaring with enough heat that I expected to burst into flames at any second. His

chocolate brown eyes had darkened to black, and there was a dangerous flush creeping up his neck.

Stil , Mama DeLuca raised her boys to be gentlemen. He responded politely—through gritted teeth.

“Hel o, Celia. We were discussing that very thing.”

Didn’t anyone ever tell you lying’s a sin, Father?

“Real y? What did you come up with?”

Matty started to say something negative, but Bruno talked over him, earning an even blacker look

than the one I’d been given. Brave man that he is, he ignored it. “She’s not a demon. Just a very old

and dangerous bat. But why do you think she’l come back?”

It was a good question. Logical y, she shouldn’t. There was an entire world of victims out there, a

veritable buffet. But I’d bet money she’d be back here tonight, waiting for those protections to fail.

“Celia?” No, the DeLuca boys weren’t impatient. Not at al .

I tried to explain what I’d been thinking. “She hated that she couldn’t get to him. Almost as if it were a

personal affront. And she didn’t like that Edgar ordered her back. I can’t swear to it, but I’d bet she’l be

back, if for no other reason than to prove he doesn’t control her.” Petty, maybe even stupid. But while

vamps may not keep their memories, they do keep their basic personality traits. I was betting Ms.

Übervamp had been quite the bitch back in the day.

“You sure about the demon thing?”

“Positive.” Matteo smiled, a baring of teeth. Reaching into the pocket of his black uniform trousers,

he pul ed out a little car that was very similar to the one I’d lost, except this one had a crucifix

emblazoned on its tiny little hood.

I whistled, impressed. I’d looked at one of those the other day. It had been so far out of my price

range.

“So what’s the plan? She’s not what you’re after, but she is a serious threat. Even if we put the barrier

back up, she bespel ed the kid last night as if there was no barrier. She might do it again.”

Bruno looked at his brother “Matty?”

Matty sighed. “We can’t afford to take anyone off of the main hunt. But if she got her hooks into the

kid deep enough, she’l be able to cal him. I can’t take that risk. I’l stay and deal with this.”

“Not alone you won’t.” That wasn’t diplomatic. Yes, he’d hunted bats professional y. But he hadn’t met

her. I had. One person was so not going to take this one down.

“Excuse me?” Matty puffed himself up to his ful height and would gladly have launched into me, but

Bruno stepped between us.

“She didn’t mean it like that, Matt. And it’s an old bat. You yourself have said that any bat over two

hundred needs at least a two-person team.”

Matty glared at me over his brother’s shoulder, but he didn’t argue, so Bruno continued. “Besides, it’s

been a while since we worked together.”

Oh, Lord. Male bonding. Male family bonding. I had to put a stop to this before I drowned in

testosterone. “Is Matty a mage, too?”

“Yessss.” Bruno drew the word out slowly. It was a subtle way of tel ing me that while Matty was a

mage, he wasn’t in Bruno’s league. No surprise there, few are.

“I’m only ranked at a six.” Matty spoke calmly, but the flush was stil there and his jaw was thrust out

just a little more aggressively than I would’ve liked.

“Six is enough to do a trip wire, isn’t it?” I turned to Bruno for confirmation. I thought I remembered

my lessons correctly, but my last class in the paranormal had been a long damned time ago.

He grinned, flashing deep dimples and showing a lot of white teeth. “Yes it is, you clever girl.”

Matty looked from one to the other of us. He was bright enough to know that he’d missed something,

but he didn’t share enough of the same background and education to know exactly what. I could tel it

irritated him, but beneath the frustrated anger there was a glimmer of comprehension. Until that

moment I think he’d figured I was just arm candy that his brother had been infatuated with. Our being

able to finish each other’s thoughts, however, meant there was more to our relationship than Matty had

original y thought. And while his figuring that out didn’t change a damned thing, it did make me feel a little

bit better. Because dammit, I’m not eye candy.

“Care to enlighten me?” He looked from Bruno to me, impatient for either of us to elaborate.

Bruno gave me the nod, so I started to explain.

“Either one of you could just put up the barrier. But if you do, she’l sense it. And she’l go somewhere

else for tonight’s kil , and we might lose her.”

“I know that.” He scowled.

“But we don’t dare leave them unprotected knowing that she’s singled this place out, and that kid in

particular.”

He was losing patience, but I wanted to make sure that we al were on the same page about the plan.

If he wanted to be pissy, fine, but better safe than sorry. There was no room for error here. Not with

lives at stake.

“So, we set up an invisible boundary line, a magical trip wire as it were. When she crosses over, it

signals both of you and you each raise a perimeter—one in front of her, one behind. Trapped between

them, she’l be pinned down enough that we can take her out with minimal risk.”

I watched him rol ing the plan over in his mind, looking for flaws. Honestly, I was surprised it wasn’t

one of the standard plans used by the order, but then again, maybe they didn’t get a lot of mages. It

wouldn’t surprise me. The church doesn’t pay nearly as wel as the private sector, and while the militant

orders only ask for a five-year stint, they stil require abstinence for the duration. Not too many people

are interested in that lifestyle anymore.

The plan wasn’t perfect by any means. First, it assumed she would come here, tonight. I thought she

would. But I wasn’t a clairvoyant. I was basing the whole idea on a hunch and my personal experience

of human nature. I’d bet money the vamp would strike here tonight—but not a lot of money.

Too, it would take a coordinated effort. And with both Bruno and Matty tied up working the spel , I’d

have to to take her out. Not that I couldn’t do it. I’ve done for more than a few bats in my time, after al .

Silver bul ets and holy water to wound her enough to move in for a kil , then a stake, and beheading with

an axe. Messy and gross, but effective. Of course, now that I had my spiffy new knives, it might be

easier to use them for the kil . I’d stil do the staking and beheading, after, and I’d stil make sure the

authorities took the body and the head to separate crematoria and spread the ashes over running

water. Paranoid? Maybe. But I didn’t like taking chances. I particularly wasn’t going to take chances