Jeaniene Frost - At Grave’s End

Ian cast a meaningful look at Tate and then grinned. “I’ll go with you, Crispin,” he said.

I began walking toward Don’s office. It didn’t surprise me that Tate followed. I heard Bones let out a sardonic snort right before the elevator doors closed. Yeah, he wasn’t surprised by Tate’s actions, either.

Tick Tock and Zero kept pace behind us. I glanced back at them, once again struck by their dissimilarity in appearance. If ever there was a pair of vampires who looked less alike, it was the albino-ish Zero and the chocolate-skinned Tick Tock.

“Where did the two of you meet Bones?” I asked, struggling to fill the silence before Tate did.

“Poland,” Zero replied.

“Australia,” Tick Tock said.

I’d never been to either place. Tate’s comment that I didn’t really know Bones after spending just one year with him out of the two hundred and fifty he’d lived echoed in my mind. Then I squashed it.I know what counts, I reminded myself firmly.

“So, how are you and Crypt Keeper doing?” Tate asked in a casual tone.

“Fine.” My voice was clipped.

Tate stopped walking and grabbed my arm. “How long are you going to pretend nothing happened, Cat?”

“Don’t!” I said to Tick Tock, who’d already cleared his knife from his belt. “Back down, guys. I can handle this.”

Zero’s fangs slid back into his gums, and after another hard stare, Tick Tock put away his knife. Then I rounded on Tate, looking him full in the eye.

“It was a job, Tate. Things went further than they should have, but we got our targets and that’s what matters. Now, before you permanently burn our friendship, would you pleasestop reading anything more into it than it was?”

“I know what I felt,” Tate said roughly. “You can pretend all you want, Cat, but for a while there, you weren’t acting, and you can’t say you were only thinking of me as a friend.”

I had a moment of warning at the power filling the air before I heard Bones’s mocking laugh.

“Just as I suspected,” he snorted from the other end of the hallway. “Knew it wouldn’t be two minutes before you’d make that claim, but you’re barking mad if you think you’ll ever come between me and my wife.”

Tate folded his arms. “I already have.”

Bones came closer. More of that cracking power filled the air. Ian just leaned against the wall in the hallway and smiled, like he was enjoying the show. Zero and Tick Tock moved aside, until nothing stood in Bones’s way to Tate except me.

“What are you about to do?” I asked low.

Bones arched a brow. “Nothing, pet. Why?”

Because you look like you’re about to play soccer with Tate’s head,I said to him silently.And that’s not going to happen, even if he is being an idiot.

My uncle came out of his office, looked at the vampires lined up in the hallway and Tate’s defiant stance, then coughed.

“Cat, Bones, glad you arrived safely. Won’t you come sit down? I have some whiskey I was about to open up.”

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen Don drink, but I was glad for the tension dissipater. Bones smiled.

“A nip would do me just fine, old chap.”

I laced my fingers in Bones’s as we went inside, which was a good thing, because I almost tripped when Bones said, “You, too, mate,” to Tate.

The three of us filed into Don’s office. I took a seat on the couch and Bones sat next to me. Tate stood, his posture stiff and unyielding.

Don looked over each of us in turn before he sighed. “Why do I feel like I just interrupted a potentially nasty scene out there?”

“It doesn’t matter, they’re done now,” I said to Don, glaring at Tate to let him know he’d better stick to that. “It was a vampire pissing contest, but it’s over.”

“Right you are, luv.”

Bones leaned over to place a light kiss on my cheek. Then he dropped the bomb.

“I can read humans’ minds now, Don. Therefore, I know the dilemma you’re in, but the way out is right in front of you. It’s commendable you haven’t used your assets for monetary gain before, but desperate times call for desperate measures, don’t you agree?”

“What?” I gasped, both confused by his last sentence and astounded that Bones had told Don about his new power.

My uncle didn’t blink. “I won’t expose the public to Brams. Synthetic vampire blood made into medicine is too experimental. In the wrong hands, it could turn the entire population into superhuman killers.”

“What are you two talking about?” I demanded again.

“Don’s in a bind,” Bones replied. “His government’s implemented deep budget cuts, and he’s looking at closure in a year or two. He didn’t want to tell anyone for fear of lowering morale.”

My jaw dropped. Don’s face confirmed it. “How could you have not said anything?” I gasped.

Bones tapped his chin and gave Don a calculating look. “Smart of you to realize how destructive Brams could be, but you don’t need it. What’s got the politicians in a twist today? Terrorism. Scares ’ em sackless. What can you offer that no one else can? An interrogator guaranteed to get all the facts, names, places, and plots quicker than they can say full-scale retaliation.”

Bones paused to let his words sink in. I was still shocked that Don had held back something as important as closing from the rest of us.

“You’re offering to do that?” Don asked, openly skeptical.

Bones chuckled without humor. “Not me. Tate. Ship him to wherever their most stubborn hostage is, have him green-eye information out of the bloke, then sit back and sell him out to the highest bidder. You’ll be flush inside of two months while providing an invaluable service to your country to boot. Best of all, the Geneva Convention can kiss your arse, because the hostage-and his holders-won’t even remember how it happened.”

“You bastard!” Tate burst, advancing on Bones in a fury.

“Sit down, soldier!” Don shouted in a tone I’d never heard him use.

Tate halted in his tracks, staring at me. “He’s only doing this to get me away from Cat. He doesn’t give a shit about our operation, this country, or anything else but her!”

“That’s not the question, is it?” Bones asked icily. “Doyou care about your operation, this country, or anything else but her? I seem to remember you saying your love for her wouldn’t interfere with your job. Prove it.”

I knew then that Bones had planned this ever since he’d ripped the roof off that limousine.Don’t get mad, get even didn’t begin to cover it.

Don stood up. “Well, Tate? What’s your answer?”

Tate gave Bones a look of pure hatred. “You order me to go, Don, and I’ll go.”

Don sighed. “You’re the finest man I know. You’ll prove that everything I believed about integrity being corrupted after turning into a vampire was wrong.” Don’s gaze flicked to Bones. “I’ll need someone to replace him. Cat’s gone too much now, and Dave isn’t enough.”

Bones didn’t flinch. “Let me have Tate ’round another week, then you can ship him off and I’ll provide you with a replacement.”

Don turned back to me. “Go on, Cat. I’ll handle things from here.”

Even though this was for the best, I felt anguished for Tate. I knew what it was like to be forced to walk away from the person you loved. I just wished that with this absence, Tate would fall in love with someone else. Maybe being away from me would wake him up to the fact that there were plenty of great women out there, instead of always having the person he thought he wanted dangled just out of his reach.

“Damn you,” Tate growled to Bones.

“I hope…” The proper words failed me, so I just mumbled, “Take care of yourself, Tate,” and walked out the door with Bones beside me.