Jeaniene Frost - Halfway to the Grave

“Then let’s go kill them all.”

M Y STAKES AND KNIVES WERE IN MY BOOTS and lined along my thighs. Inside my belt were jammed other deadly goodies. We drove to meet Hennessey’s men at the same place where we’d tried to kill him and where he’d left Francesca. That’s what the other part of the little cryptic note meant. From there they would be sure we weren’t being followed by any backup and proceed to where they held my mother. Bones hadn’t been concerned about the obvious packing of weapons on me. Since Hennessey and his men had no idea I could use them, they would probably only be amused at my artillery of silver. Bones carried nothing on him, knowing it would only be taken away. His plan was terrifying in its simplicity-let them take him inside whatever building held my mother, and when they double-crossed us and didn’t release her, I was to come in blazing.

“But what if they stake you on sight?” My gut twisted at the thought. “God, Bones, you can’t risk it.”

He threw me a jaded look. “Not Hennessey. He’ll want to drag it out for weeks. I told you, he doesn’t do quick mercy kills. Especially on a chap who’s already caused him a world of trouble. No, he’ll want to hear me beg. There will be time.”

The casual way he described his own potential torture and death stunned me, since I had rather strong feelings about those issues myself. Then again, he was just being practical. Either our plan would work or not, and if it didn’t, there was no Plan B.

“Bones.” I gripped his hand and my eyes screamed everything there wasn’t time to say. He squeezed back and gave me a jaunty smile.

“Hold that thought, Kitten. I intend to collect on it.”

We were almost there. He leaned in to whisper to me before we got too close. “Let them smell your fear, it will lull them. Don’t be strong until you have to be.”

Well, that was certainly one thing I could comply with. Even I could scent it coming from me with my new nose. It smelled sickly sweet, like rotten fruit. Give in to the fear for effect? One stink platter, coming right up.

Four large SUVs waited in the dark along the shoulder of the road, their lights off. Our car came to a halt, and instantly we were surrounded by six vampires. They seemed to materialize from nowhere, but with a sense of relief I realized their movements looked perceptibly slower to me. Viva la Bones blood, I thought wryly. Amen.

“So, you came after all.”

One of them stood at the window and Bones lowered the glass and glanced at him.

“Hallo, Vincent. Fancy seeing you here.”

There was a bored tone to his voice that made me blink. I could never fake that kind of cool.

Vincent smiled. “Call me Switch.”

Son of a bitch! This was Hennessey’s enforcer? The one who did all the dirty work Hennessey didn’t like to bother with? Switch looked even younger than me, with boyish features and chestnut-colored hair. My God, he even had freckles! Dress him in a Boy Scout uniform and he wouldn’t look out of place.

“You surprise me, bringing her with you,” Switch continued.

“She insisted on coming. Wanted to see her mum, couldn’t sway her from it.” Again the blandness in his voice unnerved me.

Switch looked me over, and obligingly I let anxiety leak from my pores. His smiled widened, revealing fangs protruding from behind his lips.

“Nice family you have, Catherine. Sorry about your grandparents. I know it’s rude to eat and run, but I was short on time.”

With extraordinary difficulty I bit back my rage. Couldn’t let them see my eyes glow and give away the surprise. Thank God I’d gotten to be an expert at controlling my gaze. That son of a bitch thought he was going to get away with taunting me about killing my grandparents? Right then and there I made up my mind that if I died, I was taking him with me.

“Where’s my mother?” There was no nonchalant banter for me, only pure hatred. That much he would have expected.

“We have her.” Another one approached Switch and informed him they hadn’t observed anyone following us, and Switch turned back to Bones.

“Well, let’s be on our way. I trust you won’t lag behind?”

“Don’t fret over me,” Bones replied evenly.

Switch grunted and sauntered off to his vehicle.

“I’m afraid,” I said as we pulled away, speaking the words we’d rehearsed earlier. Even five car lengths away they could hear us.

“Just stay in the car and don’t come out. When your mum gets in, you leave straightaway, remember?”

“Yes. I’ll do it.” When hell snowed. My hands itched to tear them apart. On cue I began to cry, making little whimpering sounds while mentally counting down the moments. Soon, very soon, they would find out what one of their kind had sired. Paybacks were a bitch, and that also happened to be my specialty.

The drive lasted forty minutes until we pulled up to a ramshackle house ten miles off the interstate. It was nice and secluded, with a long driveway. The perfect place for a massacre. Bones came to a stop and put the car in park, the engine still running. His eyes met mine for only an instant before his door was yanked open.

“End of the road. Hennessey says we’ll send her out when you come in.” Switch was at the door again, that same malicious smile wreathing his face.

Bones raised a dark brow at him.

“Don’t think so, mate. Bring her to the door so I can see her and then I’ll come. If not, you and I dance right now.”

The mildness left his tone and his eyes bled to green. Even though the car was blocked from behind by the other vehicles and we were surrounded, Switch still looked uneasy.

“You can hear her heartbeat in there. She’s alive,” he defensively countered.

Bones gave a short humorless laugh.

“I hear seven heartbeats in there, and who’s to say any of them are hers? What’s to hide? Is this a bargain or not?”

Switch glared at him, then, with a jerk of his head, one of the other vamps scurried inside.

“Look now.”

I gasped. In the window lit by low lighting, my mother’s face was shoved into view. A hand was wrapped around her throat, holding her against the chest of her captor. Blood seeped from her head and her blouse was red from where more of it had stained.

“There. Your proof. Satisfied?”

Bones nodded once and stepped out of the car. Immediately he was encircled by the six vampires. I slid across into the driver’s seat and locked the door.

Switch smirked at me through the glass.

“Wait there. We’ll bring her out and then you can leave.”

By his complete lack of concern over me, either my mother hadn’t disclosed what I was or, as predicted, they didn’t believe her. Thank God for fools.

The front door closed behind Bones and I was left alone in the car, blocked on three sides by the SUVs. My mother was wrenched away from the window and out of sight, to my relief.

A voice boomed out from the house, sounding sinister and cheerful. I recognized it at once as Hennessey’s.

“Well, look who’s come to join the party! Be careful what you wish for, Bones. You’ve wanted to find out who was involved with me for years, so take a good look around. Except for one, here we all are.”

There they all were. The people who’d wrecked hundreds of lives, not just mine. I thought of all the families these scum had torn apart, and it gave me strength. With hands rock-steady, I picked up the cell phone and dialed the number on the card Detective Mansfield had given me, seemingly another lifetime ago. A woman’s voice answered.

“Franklin County Sheriff ’s Department, is this an emergency?”

“Yes,” I breathed. “This is Catherine Crawfield. I’m off of Interstate 71 and 323, just a few miles from Bethel Road in a house at the end of a dead-end street. Earlier I speared Detectives Mansfield and Black with silver knives through the wrists. Come and get me.”