Jeaniene Frost - At Grave’s End

“I’m glad you’re here,” I said, meaning it. We might have had a rough start-okay, avery rough start-but aside from my mother, Don was the only family I had.

“Have some breakfast,” I offered, gesturing to the multiple covered dishes near the stove. “Rodney’s cooked more food than I even knew I had.”

Don gave the items a wary flick of his eyes that made Rodney laugh.

“It’s a ghoul’s version of vegetarian,” he assured Don. “Nothing in there you wouldn’t find in a grocery store.”

Don, still looking hesitant, filled a plate and sat down. I watched him take a tiny bite, swallow…and then spear a bigger portion. Yeah, Rodney was a superb cook.

Bones’s cell rang. He excused himself to answer it, speaking in a low tone. I could only make out a few words, since Juan and Cooper began talking to Don about the new compound we were moving to. Getting everything up and running on no notice was going to be challenging.

Bones came back in the room and snapped his cell shut. There was something tense in his shoulders that hadn’t been there before.

“What?” I asked.

“I have to leave for a while tonight, Kitten, but it’s nothing to fret about.”

“Who was on the phone? And what’s going on later?”

Bones seemed to choose his words. “That was my grandsire, Mencheres. He was confirming he’ll be at the showing.”

I sighed. “You’re being deliberately vague, Bones. What showing? What’s this about?”

The other vampires all pretended to be fascinated by the decor around them. Bones’s expression closed off into unreadable planes.

“I’m calling together members of my line, Ian’s, and other pertinent vampire Masters to witness Max’s torture.”

I blinked. “You’re holding a rally just to beat on my father in public?”

“Whoever aided Max and Calibos didn’t fret over my reaction to you being tortured, murdered, and mutilated. It’s obvious some people believe I don’t care, or that I’ve gone soft. But soon everyone will see what happens to those involved in a scheme to harm you.”

“There’s a certain sense to it,” Don said. “Making an example of one keeps the rest in line. But killing Max tonight, Bones, even if you hurt the literal hell out of him first, will only postpone another attack. You’ll still have to find out who else is involved to prevent this from happening again.”

“Quite right, old chap,” Bones agreed. “But I’m not going to kill Max. I’m going to keep him alive to demonstrate a new meaning of the termcruel and unusual punishment. Only when Max is completely broken in spirit will I kill him. I expect it will take years of daily suffering before that happens. Personally, I’m hoping it takes decades.”

Don looked ashen at this pitiless pronouncement. Rodney, Spade, and the three other vampires showed no surprise.

My mother stared at Bones. Then she smiled. “Nowthat I have to see.”

“You have got to be-” I began when Bones held up a hand.

“Wait, Kitten, this is between me and your mum. If you go, Justina, you understand you’ll be the only human there. You’d have to keep your insults directed only at the vampire on display. Can you handle that?”

My mother tossed her hair. “I’ve waited along time for this. I’ll be fine. We’ll shake on it.”

Bones took her hand in the first time she’d ever willingly touched a vampire. To her credit, she didn’t wipe it on her clothes when he let go.

“Then we have an accord. Juan or Cooper, I want one of you to come, too. You can carry back what you see to her team as a warning of what awaits them should one of them be tempted to ever betray her. Don, you are not going. You don’t need to see what will happen to your brother.”

My mother stood up even as I thought,Uh oh. “Max is yourbrother?” she asked Don in a scathing voice.

He didn’t flinch from her anger. “Yes. He’s the reason why I founded my department. I wanted to kill my brother and all of his kind. I even used my niece to help me do it, and I never told her who I was. Bones did, when he found out. So if you’re angry at anyone, let it be me, not Cat.”

Brave words in a room full of pulseless creatures. Spade gave Don a disgusted glance while Rodney just licked his lips. No doubt he was mentally salting and peppering Don.

“You knew she was your niece when you found Catherine?” my mother asked in disbelief.

Don let out a sigh. “I read the assault report you filed that night you met Max. I knew it was him from your description, and then you gave birth to a child with an unusual genetic anomaly. Yes, I knew all along that Cat was part vampire-and my niece.”

My mother let out a bitter laugh. “So both of us used her for our own selfish reasons. That vampire over there has treated her better than her own family.”

Bones’s brows went up. “Justina, I believe that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

I was taken aback, too, but we’d gotten off the subject.

“I’m coming with you tonight,” I said, noticing Bones hadn’t included me in his list.

His face hardened. “No, Kitten. You’re not.”

Disbelief flared through me. “I’m the one who was beaten, shot, knifed, sliced, and burned, remember? Hell yeah, I am.”

“No you’re not,” Bones repeated, his voice sharpening. “If you want to give Max some comeuppance yourself, grand, but you’ll do it another time. Not tonight.”

The reason hit me. Bones thought I couldn’t handle what he’d dish out to Max. I’d been up to my ears in blood and guts since I was sixteen, but all of a sudden, I had to be sheltered from the ugly side of the undead?

“Bones, I’m not some delicate flower. I won’t be seeing anything I can’t handle.”

“Yes you will,” Bones replied. “If you go, youwill be horrified, because I’m going to make damn sure it’s horrifying, else it doesn’t serve its purpose. No, Kitten. Your compassion is one of the things I love most about you, but in this case, it will drive us apart. You’re not going, and that’s the end of it.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Hurt and anger competed inside me. How could Bones just take it upon himself to decide what I could and couldn’t handle? This was supposed to be a relationship, not a dictatorship.

“Want to know one of the things I’ve loved most aboutyou?” I asked, a feeling of betrayal welling up in me. “That you never lorded your age over me. Yeah, there’s nothing I’ve seen or done that isn’t old news to you, but you’d always treated me like an equal. Well, now you’re treating me like the pathetic little girl Max accused me of being. You want to have your nasty event without me? Fine. But whatever I would have seen later wouldn’t have come between us as much as what you just pulled did.”

“Kitten…” Bones said, reaching out to me.

I brushed past him and went upstairs. Below, Juan cleared his throat. Rattler whispered something about giving me time to cool off. Don coughed and muttered that he had to make more calls. Bones didn’t say anything else, and he didn’t come after me.

MY HURT LASTED THE REST OF THE DAY. I stayed in my room, not wanting to talk to anyone, especially Bones. He’d left me alone, too, not even attempting to come upstairs.

But as the sky darkened, I decided I couldn’t just keep sulking. I showered again and went downstairs. Rodney had made dinner. God only knew where he’d gotten the steaks from; he must have sent someone to the store.

Don, seated at the table with my mother, gave me a wintry smile. “We were just discussing hiring Rodney to cook for the team. I think it would improve productivity by thirty percent.”