Jeaniene Frost - Halfway to the Grave

Bones gave his head a little shake and pulled the note out of his belt.

“You won’t understand it. They knew I would.”

Carefully I uncrumpled the paper that held the only clue to my mother’s whereabouts:

Recompense. Twice past day’s death.

“Does it mean she’s still alive?”

“Oh, that’s what it’s supposed to mean. If you trust them.”

“Do you trust them in this? Is there some kind of…vampire code not to lie about hostages?”

He glanced over at me. The compassion on his face didn’t lend comfort.

“No, Kitten. But Hennessey might figure he has a use for her. Your mother is still a lovely woman, and you know what he does with lovely women.”

White-hot fury coursed in me at the picture he painted, but it was an honest one. Lies wouldn’t help me, but the truth might save her, if I could control my anger and be smart, for once.

“When are we supposed to meet them? I assume they’ve designated a time? What do they expect?” Questions were bubbling in my mind faster than I could ask them, and he held up a hand.

“Let me find a place to stop off first and then we’ll talk. Don’t want the police chasing us and making a bad situation worse.”

Mutely I nodded and folded my arms across my chest. Bones drove for another twenty minutes or so, and then got off an exit and pulled in to a Motel 6.

“Wait here for a moment,” he answered the puzzled look I threw him. After I waited for ten minutes in the car, he came out and pulled around to the back of the lodging. We weren’t in a very upscale neighborhood, and I glanced around at the predatory looks that flicked to us from some of the people loitering in the area.

“Come on, we’re this way.”

Ignoring everyone else around him, he took my hand when I exited the car and led me inside Room 326. The interior looked as uninviting as the exterior, yet it was hardly my main focus.

“Why are we here?” Obviously romance wasn’t the reason.

“We’re off the road for a bit, less attention to attract, and we can talk without interruption. No one here will notice anything much beyond a drive-by shooting. Also, you can wash the blood off.”

With barely a glance at my red-caked hands, I looked back at him. “Do we have time for that?”

Bones gave a light nod. “We have hours. They want to meet at two. That’s what the ‘twice past day’s death’ part means. Midnight is the death of every day, and they chose two hours past it. Guess they were giving you plenty of time to hear about your grandparents and contact me.”

“How considerate.” My voice was thick with hatred. “Now tell me what they’re offering, if anything. Me for her? Does he want the bait who almost got him killed?”

Bones led me to the edge of the bed and sat me down on it. My whole body was stiff with rage and grief, and he squatted in front of me and took my bloodstained hands. We hadn’t turned the lamp on, but I didn’t need it to see him. His hair was nearly white in the moonlight and the contours of his face looked like marble brought to life.

“You know Hennessey doesn’t want you, Kitten-he wants me. He’s given no thought to you beyond how he could use you. You realize, luv, they would be making your mother spill any details on you they could. With luck, they won’t be asking the right questions. I didn’t believe you myself when you told me what you were, it was only seeing your eyes that convinced me. Even if your mum is coerced into telling them, chances are they’ll think she’s raving and pay it little heed. They would have no doubt broken in to your apartment by now looking for you. Those detectives probably saved your life by coming by this morning and scaring you into leaving. They’ll find your weapons, but they could easily assume they were mine and I kept them there for convenience. They want me, and I’ll go to them. But they won’t be expecting you. This is our only advantage.”

“Bones, you don’t have to do this. You can tell me where she is and I’ll go. As you said, they won’t be expecting me.” She was my mother, so no matter what, I was going, but he didn’t have to get killed trying to save her when she might not even be alive.

He dropped his head onto my lap a moment before replying.

“How can you even suggest that? First of all, this is my fault for getting you into this, because I should have stuck to my instincts and never allowed it. Then, I should have just killed Danny that night like I intended to. At the very least if I would have stolen his mind about how his hand got injured, he wouldn’t have given your name to the police. But I was angry, and wanted him to know who did it and why. Of course I’m going. Even Hennessey, who hasn’t the slightest idea that I love you, knows I will. Doesn’t matter if she’s already dead and there’s nothing to be gained from it but vengeance, I’ll still go, and I swear to you, I shall rip off every hand that touched her or your grandparents. That much at least I can do for you. The only thing that frightens me is the thought that you’ll see me as a monster again, because it was vampires who did this.”

Bones stared at me and his eyes were tinged pink. Vampire tears. So absolutely foreign from the clear streaks of saline zigzagging down my cheeks. I slid down until I sat on the floor and held him. He was the only thing that was constant and solid. Everything else around me was crumbling.

“I will never stop loving you. No one can change that. No matter what happens later, I’ll still love you.”

My illusions about tonight only went so far. We would be walking right into a trap, and in all likelihood, we wouldn’t walk out. Right now my mother was terrified, if she was even still alive, and there was nothing I could do but wait until later. This could be the last time Bones and I held each other. Life was too short to waste even moments of it.

“Bones. Make love to me. I need to feel you inside me.”

He pulled back until he could look in my eyes as he stripped the shirt over his head. Mine followed suit and was thrown to the ground. He undid the belt around my waist, untied the knives and guns, and tugged off my boots with their stake accompaniments. The spandex around my legs was stiff from dried blood, but I pushed the image of my grandparents’ crumpled forms out of my mind. They wouldn’t go far. I would see them in my nightmares the rest of my life. If I ever lived to dream again.

“I know what you’re thinking and you’re wrong. This isn’t goodbye, Kitten. I didn’t survive over two hundred years to find you only to lose you within five months. I want you, but I’m not saying goodbye to you, because we will get through this.”

Bones traced his hands over me with such delicacy, I could have been made of glass threads and not shattered. His mouth followed everywhere his hands did, and I tried to absorb the feel of him beneath my fingers. Not for a minute did I believe that this wasn’t goodbye. Still, I had loved and been loved in return, and there was nothing greater than that. It far outweighed the alienation of all the previous years. Bones thought five months was too short; I was amazed I’d been granted joy for so long.

“I love you,” he moaned, or maybe I said it. I couldn’t tell the difference anymore. The lines had dissolved between us.

I refused to wash the blood off, wanting it to stain my skin. Later-if I lived-I would wash it off after it was covered by the blood of those who’d done this. Finally I understood why Bones’s long-dead Indian friend had painted his skin before going off to battle. It was a symbol for all to see of the depth of his resolve, and my family’s blood was mine. Before we were done tonight, many things on me would be painted. My mouth was one of them.