Jeaniene Frost - This Side of the Grave

Killer, yes, but that was the smallest part of him in my eyes. I was a killer, too, but he gave me hope that I could learn to make it the smallest part of me, even if it was necessary in the world I’d chosen to live in.

“As long as you’re with me, I can handle it,” I said, reaching up to touch his face. “I can handle anything with you.”

“I’ll always be with you, Kitten. Always,” Bones rasped before his lips closed over mine.

Even though he was inside the house, I could still hear Vlad’s sardonic mutter of “Where’s a tissue when I need one?”

I turned my face away from Bones after a long moment, ending our kiss, and called out, “If you’re not too busy watching Hitman , I hear Dracula 2000 is a good movie.”

“Vicious,” came Vlad’s reply, amusement clear in his tone. “Just make sure you hold on to that ruthless attitude until Apollyon’s been defeated, Catherine .”

I couldn’t help my grin at his emphasis on the name I was born with but rarely went by anymore. Bones rolled his eyes, putting his arm around my waist as we walked into the house.

“If it’s not too much trouble, Tepesh, we could use some new clothes, blood, and a place to sleep. I don’t fancy retuning to New Orleans until it’s time to meet with Marie, in case more of this ghoul’s mates are hanging about.”

Vlad came out of a room down the hall. “I only arrived yesterday, so this house doesn’t have much, but it does have all of those things. Maximus.”

The tawny-haired vampire I remembered from my stay at Vlad’s home in Romania came out, bowing once to Vlad before gesturing to Bones and me.

“Please, come with me.”

Seeing the spectral forms twiningaround the whitewashed crypts inside of Saint Louis Cemetery Number One made me miss Fabian. Who knew I’d get so attached to a ghost? But just because Fabian was transparent didn’t mean he wasn’t also a great friend. Most of the ghosts in the cemetery weren’t sentient like he was. They were just shades of their former selves, no thought, no feelings, just repeating the same actions over and over like a snapshot on a Mobius strip. Occasionally, I saw some spooks that clearly had all their ectoplasmic marbles like Fabian did. They gave Bones and me looks ranging from curious to disdainful as we waited outside the cemetery gates. They were locked, a warning to visitors that no one but the dead or wannabe dead should be inside the graveyard’s walls at night.

I doubted we’d be attacked by any ghouls so close to Marie Laveau’s preferred meeting place, but Bones was rigid enough to shatter as I ran a hand along his arm.

“My poor cat’s going to hate me for disappearing on him again,” I remarked just to break the tension. We’d left Helsing back in Ohio since it would be animal cruelty to try and tote him on the back of the Ducati. I’d intended to leave him at a nice pet resort, but oddly enough, Ed and Scratch insisted on watching him. Seems they considered kitty-sitting Helsing as the least they could do to demonstrate their new loyalty to Bones as their Master. Considering what had happened at the Ritz, I was glad that we hadn’t attempted to take my cat with us to New Orleans. If the hotel management had figured out that we’d been part of the elevator destruction yesterday, they might have seized Helsing and turned him over to the pound in retaliation.

Tate already placed a few calls to have the ghouls’ bodies from the elevator shaft shipped to him instead of the local morgue. Nothing made cops ask a lot of questions like having corpses dated to be decades or even centuries old turn up at a crime scene. Tate handled everything with perfect competence, but speaking to him instead of Don about crime scene containment was just another reminder of how serious my uncle’s condition was.

I shifted impatiently. I couldn’t spend time with my uncle until this situation with Apollyon was resolved, and Don didn’t have a lot of time left. Then there was my mother’s bright idea of painting a bull’s-eye on her ass by joining the team. Family . Villains had nothing on the stress my relatives could cause me.

Speaking of that, where was the ghoul who always accompanied Marie’s guests into the cemetery to see her? He should’ve been here ten minutes ago.

As if I’d summoned him, a familiar dark-skinned ghoul rounded the bend on the opposite corner, looking almost taken aback to see us waiting by the gates.

“Jacques,” Bones greeted the ghoul, casting a pointed look at the clock on his cell phone. “Didn’t interrupt you from having a bit of fun, did we?”

The ghoul’s face cleared by the time Bones finished speaking, until it was smooth as polished obsidian instead of registering surprise.

“Majestic did not know you’d returned to the city. She assumed your absence meant you’d canceled your meeting tonight.”

The barest smile flittered across Bones’s mouth. “We only just arrived a few minutes ago.”

Yep, and not by plane, boat, train, or automobile, either. Not after the now-headless ghoul told us his cronies were watching all those venues. Bones flew us in under his own power about ten minutes ago, landing on the roof of Saint Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square before we hopped down and walked the couple blocks to the cemetery. He hadn’t wanted me to try my wings again for this jaunt into the city. Something about conserving my energy for later. Under other circumstances, I’d think he meant that in a naughty way, but I knew he was referring to possibly fighting for our lives later, if things went awry. I knew which activity I’d rather be conserving my energy for, if I had control over my own life, but that hadn’t happened much lately.

“I will notify Majestic,” Jacques said, staying on the other side of the street. He pulled out his cell, speaking quietly into it, his words indiscernible amidst the other noises of the nearby French Quarter. Jazz Fest was getting under way in the next day or so, but from the swell of extra tourists, the city was starting the party early.

“Why’d he even come by, if he didn’t think we’d be here?” I whispered to Bones.

“Because Marie would make sure nothing was left to chance” was his equally soft reply.

That sounded like the infamous voodoo queen. She might look like a cross between Mrs. Butterworth and Angela Bassett, emitting matronliness or a take-no-prisoners attitude depending on her mood, but Marie Laveau was nothing if not meticulous. Figures I’d be seeing her again under the same circumstances that we’d first met—me trying to find out if she’d back an asshole in his claims against me. This time, however, the stakes were much higher than determining who I was married to according to vampire law. I’d ended up settling that matter rather decisively by blowing my ex-husband’s head off. If only I could do the same to Apollyon soon, I’d consider meetings with Marie as a good-luck omen.

“She will be here in twenty minutes,” Jacques announced, coming back over to us. Bones let out a snort.

“I should think so, after the trouble we’ve gone through to speak with her.”

Jacques didn’t reply to that. He hadn’t been much of a talker the last time I’d met him, either. After waiting the stated amount of time, Jacques opened the gates to the cemetery and I went inside, knowing where we were headed but willing to let him take the lead. The ghoul started to close the gate after me, but Bones’s hand shot out to stop him.

“I’m going with her.”

He frowned. “Majestic said she will meet with the Reaper first and you afterward.”

Bones smiled, an easy stretch of his mouth that made his features even more startlingly gorgeous, but his voice didn’t match his playboy good looks.