Jeaniene Frost - This Side of the Grave

I couldn’t help but laugh at the dryness in his tone. “Right back at you, honey. You’re pretty good about pointing it out when I’m acting with my fears and not my brain. So I guess we’ve all been guilty of it.”

The tension in the room drained away, resulting in a few moments of companionable silence. Then Denise cleared her throat.

“So . . . let’s get started. I haven’t eaten all day to try and gear up for this, and I’m starving. If this works, I’m rewarding myself with enough food to choke a horse.”

So saying, she got up and stood a little way off from the couch. I went over to her, not really sure if I should say anything or if that would break her concentration. Mencheres and Kira had left, so the house was empty aside from us. No ghosts lingered in the vicinity, thanks to the illegal stink remedy on me and around the house, and the drapes were drawn even though the closest neighbor was a good two blocks away. We weren’t taking any chances of being observed by anyone—unless you counted my cat, who groomed himself while throwing occasional glances our way.

Denise looked me over from top to bottom, her forehead creased with concentration. Then her scent changed, souring from her natural jasmine base to a harsher aroma of agitation. Her pulse sped up as well, breathing becoming shorter, sharper. The air around her thickened as her scent changed even more, now tinged with faint undertones of sulfur. Even though I’d seen this reaction in her before, I couldn’t stifle a twinge of unease as her hazel eyes slowly filled with deep crimson.

Then Denise cried out, harsh and loud. Her skin seemed to ripple over her features in a misshapen, melted way, like wax held too close to flame. More moans came from her, the sounds almost animalistic in their intensity. She bent over, shudders wracking her body so viciously it looked like her muscles were being torn out of place. Unbidden, my hand rose to my mouth, stifling a gasp. Spade was right. I shouldn’t have asked her to do this. What the hell had I been thinking?

Denise fell to her knees, her hair falling over her face as a horrible shout wrenched from her. Spade was at her side even before I was, taking her in his arms and whispering to her. I touched her shoulder, heaping recriminations on myself.

“Stop, Denise, it’s not worth it. We’ll find another way—”

My voice broke off as her head whipped up suddenly, her eyes now gunmetal gray instead of crimson or hazel, dark brown hair changed to red and framing the same face I saw looking back at me from the mirror.

“Bugger me dead, you did it,” Bones whistled.

A slow grin spread across Denise’s face—except it wasn’t her face anymore. It was mine.

“That was so much easier than the last time!” she said, giving Spade a quick kiss before jumping to her feet. Even her body now looked exactly like mine, I noted with amazement. She’d grown inches taller and filled out in the butt and breast area, all in the space of about three minutes.

“Darling, are you all right?” Spade asked, rising and looking her over with far more objectivity than I felt. Staring at a mirror image of myself on my best friend was just . . . odd, even though this was what we’d hoped would happen. The demon’s essence hadn’t just made her virtually unkillable. It had also turned Denise into a shapeshifter like he’d been.

She smoothed her hand down Spade’s chest. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Looks and sounds much worse than it is, really. Now, where’s the kitchen? Did I mention I was starving ?”

I’d just gotten out of the shower when Bones shut the bedroom door behind him, his gaze somber. After dinner, which all of us ate so Denise didn’t feel like the odd person out, we’d finalized the details of our plan. Everyone agreed it was our best way to hopefully head Apollyon off at the pass, but Spade wasn’t the only one who had misgivings about his spouse’s safety. I was nervous for Bones, as he was for me, but we both knew not acting posed the greater danger. Still, now that we were alone, I felt his disquiet in the emotions grazing mine. His natural heady, burnt sugar scent was more reminiscent of kitchen accident than crème brûlée right now.

I stopped towel-drying my hair and went over to him, sliding my arms around his neck as I laid my head on his chest. Soon, I’d have to reapply the garlic-and-pot packets all over me, but for now, I could hold him without those smelly impediments.

“It’ll be okay,” I said, my words puffing onto the fabric of his shirt. “This will work.”

Hard arms encircled my back as he pulled me closer. “I know. Just don’t fancy being separated from you.”

I let out a small snort. “I don’t like it, either, but Denise is the ultimate decoy. You saw her. She’s now my twin, right down to my cup size. If you saw her out at a bar, even you would swear it was me.”

“Not as soon as I got close,” he replied, head lowering until his mouth brushed my jaw. “Forget the heartbeat; she doesn’t smell like you, her voice isn’t yours, her posture is different, and she looks at people differently than you do.”

“How do I look at people?” I asked, bemused. All the other things he’d listed made sense, but few except Bones knew me well enough to notice those differences. Denise’s heartbeat was the biggest concern, but we had a way around that which would work for all but someone right up next to her—and I didn’t think Spade would let anyone get that close.

Bones pulled back, staring into my eyes even as his fingers traced my face. “You have the gaze of a fighter. Noticed it right off when we met. You looked at me . . . and I could tell you were mentally assessing my strengths and weaknesses before anything else. At the time I thought it was odd, because that stare didn’t match the green girl who tripped over her words when she asked me if I wanted to fuck.”

Laughter bubbled from my throat. “I was trying to lure you outside so I could kill you, but unlike every other vampire I’d met up to that point, you weren’t cooperating. Should’ve known right then that you’d be trouble.”

His lips curled, a hint of green appearing in his gaze. “Ah, but that only made me more tempting to you. You couldn’t resist the challenge. That’s why you came looking for me the very next night, and why you agreed to let me train you even though you still plotted to kill me those first few weeks.”

He was right. Back then, believing all vampires were evil bloodsuckers, I’d been determined to kill Bones despite the fact that he was much stronger than me. And he was right that the lure of defeating such a powerful vampire appealed to my sense of challenge. Or recklessness, depending on who you asked.

“What about you?” I breathed, standing on tiptoe to brush his mouth with mine. “If I’d have fallen back with my legs open like all the other women you came across, you’d have given me the night of my life, and then forgotten my name before breakfast. But I was immune to your charms and prettiness. Must’ve shocked you.” I couldn’t stop my grin as I lightly nipped his lower lip. “So I’m not the only one who couldn’t resist a challenge.”

“You weren’t immune to my charms for long, as I recall,” he responded, a brow arching with sinful meaning.

“I admit to being stubborn when it came to resisting your appeal.” Spoken as I unwound my towel to let it drop to the floor. “But I’d have to be all the way dead not to want you.”

His eyes were now completely green, and fangs gleamed out from his upper teeth. I loved the way his gaze raked over me. Like it was the first time he’d seen me this way, and he couldn’t stop himself from staring. I knew my body, was well aware of its flaws, but Bones made me forget those when he looked at me. Under the hunger in his gaze and the swell of his lust cresting against my subconscious, I felt beautiful, strong, and sexy. Free to do anything without fear or shame.