Jeaniene Frost - At Grave’s End

“Still trying to be brave, little girl?” a voice witheringly asked.

Horror crawled over me. I knew that voice.

The haze lifted, and I screamed in a long, piercing wail as Bones and the bed faded, and I was somehow on the floor in front of my father. Those serpentine sheets became knives that speared me through the wrists. My gut, leg, and arms throbbed in agony.

“Know what I’m going to do to you, little girl?” Max went on. “I’m going to rip your throat out again.”

He came toward me. I tried to twist away, but those knives in my wrists prevented me. Max laughed as his fangs neared my skin, my struggles as frantic as they were useless. Then I screamed as he dragged his fangs slowly across my neck.

“Stop stop stop stop-!”

Max pressed something to my mouth. I coughed, sputtered, and swallowed, but after a few moments, Max faded and I could see someone else.

“Wake up, Kitten!”

Bones focused in front of me. Before my gaze, welts and scratches on him healed, leaving only blood to show where they’d been. His wrist was pressed to my mouth, the sheets were shredded all around us, and we weren’t alone in the room.

Spade was at the side of the bed grasping my shoulders. He let go and sat back with a noise of relief when I blinked at him. Dave, Rodney, and Tate hovered by the door, Denise almost hopping to see over them. Then all I saw was Bones’s chest as he clutched me to him.

“Bloody hell, you’re awake.” He pushed me back and cupped my face. “Do you know where you are?”

In my bedroom. Stark naked and so was Bones. Spade rose to his feet and I looked away. We weren’t the only ones undressed.

“Bones, what is everyone doing in here? Spade, cover up. Frigging vampires think everyone wants to see what they’ve got.”

Bones still had me clasped to him. At least being in his arms kept my breasts from being on display.

“Will you animals get out of my way!”

Good Lord, mymother was in the hallway trying to get in? She’d faint if she saw this.

“Spade, towel, bathroom,” I hissed. “Save some of the mystery.”

He laughed, but it sounded more like a tired wheeze. “Crispin, she’s all right. I’ll take myself off so she doesn’t exhaust herself chiding me.”

Spade had blood in drying lines on him as well. What the hell? Tate stared at me, and his presence made me squirm. He shouldn’t see me like this.

Ian pushed by the other people in his way, snapping a cell phone shut.

“I told him it worked, Crispin. He said to call him later-”

“Now this is too much,” I shouted. Forget Ian’s businesslike manner, not even a wink or inappropriate leer. “I had a bad dream, there isn’t a full-scale assault going on, so everyone, go.”

Ian looked at me with pity. “More concerned with propriety than peril. We’ll talk soon, Crispin.”

“Right, then.”

Finally, the room emptied. When the last person closed the door, I relaxed enough to tremble.

“God, that was the worst nightmare I’ve ever had. If I didn’t know better, I’d say my neck still hurt…”

Which it did, actually. How was that possible?

Bones met my gaze. “Kitten, that wasn’t just a dream. It was a spell to trap you in your own nightmare. Your neck hurts…because the spell was reenacting that day with Max, and if you hadn’t have woken up, it would have finished the job and killed you.”

I tensed everywhere, trying to get control. “How do you know it was a spell?”

“You started screaming in your sleep. Charles dashed in the room-that’s why he was naked, he came straight from bed-and we tried to wake you. Then you became violent. Obviously, we knew it was more than a nightmare, and when I concentrated, I could read in your mind what was happening to you. No one had a bloody idea what to do. Ian rang Mencheres to tell him what was happening. He’s the one who knew how to stop it.”

“How long did this go on? It only seemed like a few minutes.”

“It lasted round half an hour, though to me, it felt like years.”

Half an hour! “You said Mencheres knew how to stop it. How’d he know?”

“Because Patra did it,” Bones replied with quiet fury. “Practicing witchcraft is forbidden, but Patra studied it in secret. The spell would have been sealed with her blood, so only her blood-or the blood of her sire-could break it. Mencheres was too far away, so since he’d shared his blood and power with me, he thought it was possible mine would suffice. It did.”

I shivered. Maybe the next time I went to sleep, I wouldn’t wake up. Killed by my own memories. What a shitty way to go.

“So Patra can cast one of these spells anytime, anywhere?”

Bones’s lips thinned into a grim line.

“Not if she’s dead, she can’t.”

Later that afternoon, I called five delivery places. No, the humans in my house weren’t that finicky, I was being practical. After all, we had several vampires to feed. The delivery people never knew that they were the real dinner, not the food they carried. They just left with a good tip and a lower iron count. Rodney made his own version of a square meal that he shared with Dave.

“…get ahold of one of Patra’s people before we plan any counterattack,” Ian said during a pause in the conversation. “Or, if we’re lucky, find a turncoat.”

“You of all people should have the most experience in turncoats.”

The spiteful remark came from Don, and I blinked. He’d hardly said a word since finding out who Patra was.

“Bollocks.” Ian sighed. “Look, Max got what he asked for. He wanted to leave his job and his humanity, and I changed him because I can always use another bright, ruthless lad. End of story.”

Don regarded Ian with disgust. “End of story? Do you know what Max did, when I tried to take him in after finding out he’d changed into a vampire? He murdered our parents and left their bodies on my doorstep! You enabled him to do that. You gave him the power.”

This was something I hadn’t heard before. After I found out Don was my uncle, I’d asked if I had any more relatives, but he’d curtly said no. Now I knew why the subject bothered him.

Ian gave Don a look. “Max was a killer before he met me, so the only power I gave him was to do it with fangs.”

“You can’t help your parents, but your niece is still alive, old chap,” Bones said. “We could use your wits to ensure she stays that way. Right then, to the issue of-”

He stopped, staring up at the wood paneling in our ceiling. I followed suit in confusion. What, did we have termites?

“Mencheres is here,” he stated.

Spade also picked his head up. “I don’t sense him yet.”

Bones stood. “I do. And he’s not alone.”

I rolled my eyes. Great. Guess we’d better call that new Italian place. Time to break in their driver’s neck…and Denise and I could sample the chicken parm.

“Who’s with him?” I asked.

Bones gave an irritated growl. “It’s the bloody show hound.”

That made Ian laugh. “Indeed? This should prove to be an interesting night, after all.”

Unlike Ian, Spade didn’t seem amused by the news. “Why would he bring him, Crispin? He knows the two of you don’t care for each other.”

“Not to mention I don’t like him knowing where I live.” Muttered as Bones began to pace. “But he loathes Patra even more than he hates me. My enemy’s enemy is my friend and all that rot.”

“Who?” I repeated. “Do I know him?”

Bones snorted. “You know who he is.”

The sound of a helicopter approaching staved off further conversation. Minutes later, the grind of metal on concrete announced the landing of our uninvited guests.

Mencheres and another vampire stepped out of the chopper. Bones welcomed his grandsire with a hug, but gave the other man only a cool nod.