Jeaniene Frost - One Grave at a Time

“It’s Sarah,” I said, squaring my shoulders. “I’ll go get her.”

Spade was off like a shot before the last word left my mouth. A few moments later, I heard a scream. Saw a streak of movement going straight up until that scream faded away, and I couldn’t follow them with my gaze anymore. And then, about a minute later, I heard a rush of panicked thoughts right before something fell from the sky at a great speed, landing in the field with a thump I more sensed than heard.

Spade came plummeting down far slower. He landed without a single hitch in his stride, a dark little smile playing about his lips.

“Turns out she doesn’t need your assistance,” he said, tone as casual as if he’d just helped Sarah cross a street, not dropped her from at least a mile up. Spade was usually chivalrous to a fault, but try to kill his wife, and you wouldn’t have a former eighteenth-century nobleman on your hands. You’d have a lethal, avenging vampire.

If possible, Francine and Lisa turned even paler. They might have hated Sarah for what she did, but this was a little too much for them to handle at the moment.

“Tyler, can you take them to one of the ambulances so they can get treated?”

I wanted to stay and keep an eye on Kramer, though Bones had him well under control. Besides, the way I looked would draw too much attention if I got around people.

“Come on, sweethearts, let’s get you fixed up,” he urged, putting an arm around each of them. Then he winked at me. “Catch you later at the homestead. Spade said he’d send a car. Dexter’s going to flip when he sees me.”

“Is it over?” Francine asked, and the same question repeated in Lisa’s mind.

I looked at Kramer, still muttering threats and thrashing in Bones’s grip even though both got him nowhere. “It is for you two. You won’t see him again. We’ll take care of the rest.”

With a last, long look at us, Francine and Lisa let Tyler escort them down the street to wait for one of the ambulances. I was eternally grateful that it seemed Kramer had been too busy following me and setting up his ambush to have spent it torturing them, but they were still the worse for wear. They had deep lacerations on their wrists and ankles from struggling against the metal restraints, and that was just what I could see.

“Do you feel up to coming with us, Kitten?” Bones asked. His aura wrapped around me in strong, soothing bands even though his hands were still full with a livid ghost.

I had no hesitation in my response. “I’ll need someone to carry me, but I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

I was still too weak from healing the many injuries I’d received to fly myself, but I wanted to be there when Kramer was sealed into his prison. Hell, I wanted to dance around it, chanting.

More noise drew my attention to the sky. I’d expected to see firemen, policemen, and ambulances descend on the farm, but I was surprised to see a military helicopter land in one of the cleared areas of the street. It was far enough away from the remaining flames for the churning air from the rotors not to fan them, but close enough that I recognized one of the men who exited it.

“Tate’s here.”

Bones’s head whipped in that direction, lips tightening when he saw the brown-haired vampire shouting orders to the other, helmeted soldiers who exited after him. They were too far away to see us, but as if Tate could feel our stares, he turned, looking right at us.

“You go, I’ll deal with him,” Spade muttered.

We did need to leave. The trip to Ottumwa would take almost four hours, and if Tate was here, Madigan probably wasn’t far behind, but I put a hand on Bones’s shoulder.

“Let’s wait a minute,” I said, motioning to Tate. “If he calls anyone else over, we’ll leave.”

Tate trotted over after a last shouted command, slowing down to stare at Francine, Tyler, and Lisa when he drew abreast of them. Then he resumed his brisk pace, his indigo gaze flitting between me, Bones, and the cursing ghost between us.

“Cat, your hair . . .” he began.

“If you think I look like shit now, you should’ve seen me when I was on fire. But enough of that. Why are you here?”

His features tightened at my brisk overview of being burned, but then they turned stony at my question.

“Madigan confiscated some amateur footage a week ago of you throwing a car off yourself, so he knows you’re in Iowa. He’s hot to get his hands on the ghost who killed his men, and he knows you’re after it, too. So we’re supposed to keep a lookout for you.”

“Was the footage from a cell phone video?” I wondered irreverently.

Tate nodded. “Those things fucking annoy me.”

He’d get no argument from me on that one. “Someone reported seeing a flaming person fly through the air with one of the 911 calls about the fire,” Tate continued. “We were deployed to investigate if it that was hysterical witness exaggerating, or if something supernatural was involved.”

“You will all be thrown into the eternal lake of fire!” Kramer shouted. I slammed my elbow into his face without bothering to look at him. From the zzzt! sound that followed, Bones zapped him again.

“So Madigan’s after me because he wants revenge for his murdered soldiers,” I mused.

Tate grunted. “No. He wants you to trap the ghost, then have us steal the trap so he can use the thing later as a weapon. Stupid bastard thinks he could control it.”

“And what are you intending to report to him?” Bones asked, his aura changing to icy, warning currents.

Tate shrugged. “That I didn’t see any vampires here but me.”

Kramer continued with his ranting about how we were all going to suffer, burn, beg, etc. None of us paid any attention to him, which enraged him more.

“This is the ghost,” I said, noting the shock that crossed Tate’s expression as he looked at the very solid Kramer. “We need you to make sure your team stays here for a while so no one follows us.”

The slightest smile crossed his face. “Then again, maybe I did see something suspicious on the far end of the field. Might take hours to investigate.”

I smiled back. “Thank you.”

He cast a final glance at Kramer before heading back toward the helicopter. The dangerous currents eased from Bones, changing into waves of determination.

“Let’s finish this, Kitten.”

I looked at Kramer and, for the first time, saw fear in the Inquisitor’s green gaze.

“Yes, let’s,” I drew out with supreme satisfaction.

Acar pulled up to the former combined sewage facility, no door on the driver’s side. Denise sat behind the steering wheel, bundled up in a thick coat with her seat belt around the outside of it. Not a hint of the damage Sarah had inflicted on her showed anymore, as her bright smile evidenced. My mother dozed in the passenger seat, her lids fluttering when Denise parked. The sun had come up a few hours ago, and she was still noticeably feeling its effects.

“We here?” I heard her mumble.

Denise rolled her eyes at me. “Do you know how many times I had to poke her awake so she could mesmerize the cops who pulled us over into forgetting we were driving a car that clearly isn’t street legal?”

Seeing her so chipper after the awful thing that had happened to her brightened my mood even more. She didn’t say a word about my hair, which meant Spade had called her and warned her in advance. Oh well. There were always wigs if Bones had been stretching the truth about special vampire hair-growing abilities to lessen the stress I was dealing with at the time.

Spade stood, smiling at Denise in a way that made me glad my best friend was so cherished. Then again, I knew what that felt like, as Bones’s arms around me and his mouth brushing my temple attested.