Jeaniene Frost - Destined for an Early Grave

Apollyon moved past me reeking with anger—I was getting good at this scent thing!—and I fixed another false smile on my face as I greeted the next dubious well-wisher.

IT WAS AFTER I’D SHAKEN THE LAST PERSON’Shand in line that Bones turned to me and spoke through a clenched jaw.

“Why did you invite Tepesh?”

I glanced over at Vlad, who was on the far side of the room talking with a vampire named Lincoln. To my knowledge, it wasn’t the same man who’d freed the slaves, but then again, he was really tall.

“I didn’t.”

Bones stared at me as if weighing whether I was telling the truth.

“Ask him yourself if you don’t believe me,” I said, exasperated. “Not that I mind Vlad being here, but it didn’t occur to me to invite him since he wasn’t one of the people screaming for my head.”

“Keep your voice down,” Bones hissed, tugging me none too gently toward an alcove near the front door.

I didn’t know what he was so angry about. Had it really been such a big deal for me to leave the line and say hello to Vlad? Frigging vampires and their warped rules.

Though maybe I should rethink that statement, since as a full vampire, I was insulting myself now, too.

“What is your problem?” I asked, keeping my voice very low.

Bones looked at me like I’d grown two heads. “My problem , pet, is you leaving my side to greet your former lover as if you’d severely missed him.”

Now it was my turn to stare at Bones like he’d morphed into an alien being. “My former lover? Have you lost your mind?”

In my disbelief, my voice wasn’t as soft as it had been before. Bones’s fingers tightened on my arm. “Do you want to air our business in front of everyone? Just say the word, then.”

I forced myself to calm down, because otherwise, I’d get really shrill. “What gave you the idea that I’d had sex with Vlad?” I managed to ask in a whisper.

Bones raised a brow. “Charles telling me about how he’d rung you when you were in bed with Tepesh.”

Oh for God’s sake, that’s right. Spade’s phone call that morning when Vlad slept in my room. With everything that had happened, I’d forgotten about how that would have looked.

“You know how you told me I should have asked you about what happened in New Orleans, instead of assuming based on appearances? Well, back at you, Bones. If you had asked, I’d have told you I’ve never had sex with Vlad. I’ve never even kissed him. We slept together because we were both lonely and needed a friend. Nothing more.”

From his face, Bones was wrestling with the information. I tapped my foot. If I can believe you picked up girl after girl with Cannelle and only drank them to sleep, then you’d better be able to believe me about Vlad, I thought with a glint.

“All right,” he said at last. “I believe you, and I should have asked.”

“I can’t believe you thought I slept with Vlad, yet you decided not to mention it.”

“Oh, I would have mentioned it, just not until this situation with your mum was resolved.” His voice was rough. “I thought you did it because you believed I’d cast you off and had been shagging multiple women myself. I understood how it could have happened, though I damn sure wasn’t going to let it continue.”

So that was the other reason Bones challenged Vlad to a death match the night he’d taken me from the Impaler’s house. He hadn’t just wanted me away from Vlad out of concern over Vlad sacrificing me instead of his people if ghouls attacked.

“You came to get me even though you thought I was cheating on you?”

Bones cupped my face. “You pulled me out of New Orleans even though you believed I’d left you and humiliated you with several other women. That’s what vampires do, Kitten. We always come for what’s ours, no matter the circumstances.”

I was just thinking I’d never been happier to be a vampire when a withering voice crackled the air.

“Take your hands off my wife.”

My whole body stiffened as I turned in disbelief. The opened door behind me gave a clear view of Gregor striding up.

Bones pushed himself between me and the advancing vampire. I felt rather than saw Mencheres glide over to us.

“You are not welcome here, Dreamsnatcher,” Mencheres said with frightening courtesy.

“Mencheres.” Gregor had a cold curl to his lips. “You thought you’d won, taking her memory away and imprisoning me all those years, but you failed. Everyone now knows that Catherine and I are bound, and our laws state that at any formal gathering where one spouse is present, the other can’t be refused entry.”

Gregor was right. In fact, why hadn’t I thought of that? Why hadn’t the several-thousand-year-old vampire next to me thought of that? Hell, where was one of Mencheres’s famed visions when it would actually be useful?

“I’ve never been called a more degrading insult than your wife,” I ground out. “Where is my mother, Gregor?”

Vlad also moved closer. Between him and Mencheres, if Gregor dared to attack, he’d be immobilized, then deep-fried until crispy.

This might turn out to be a great party after all.

“Your sharp tongue only guarantees you more punishment,” Gregor replied as he swept inside the house.

Unexpectedly, Bones smiled, running his hand down my arm in a slow caress.

“Don’t care for her tongue, do you? How strange. I find it’s one of my favorite parts.”

Gregor started forward in a rage—and then stopped. Gave a cagey look at Mencheres and Bones. Then he let out a rich laugh.

“No,” he said. “I won’t cast the first blow under an all-truce. You and I will have our day, chien, but not today. In fact, I came because I have a present for Catherine.”

Rodney elbowed people out of the way, glaring at Gregor with almost as much hatred as I did. Gregor didn’t mind. He smiled as he looked behind him at the woman making her way to the house. She was dressed in a red gown with a white fur coat. She had a leash in her hand, another vampire crawling behind her at the end of it.

“You’re dead,” I said in disbelief.

The auburn-haired woman laughed. “Oui, Catherine! You should know, as it was you who killed me. But you made a mistake. You fed me vampire blood just before slaying me, and then you sent me back to Gregor with my head attached. Merci for that. He wouldn’t have been able to raise me as a ghoul otherwise.”

Cannelle smirked the whole time she said it. Meanwhile, I wanted to smack myself. Of course. Cannelle had swallowed some of Ian’s blood right before I stabbed her in the heart. Gregor would have known that by filching it from my dreams, same way he’d learned countless other details. Cannelle had wanted to be a vampire, but as it turned out, I’d helped make her a ghoul instead.

Cannelle kicked the vampire near her feet. I glanced down, saw long dark hair hiding a woman’s face…and my blood ran cold.

“No,” I whispered.

The vampire’s head came up, her hair falling to the side—and I sprang forward.

“Mom!”

Bones snatched me back. I struggled, desperate to get to her and horrified by the glowing green ringing her previously blue eyes.

“Catherine.” Her voice wavered, so unlike its normal, strident tone. “Please. Kill me.”

“Bones, let me go!”

He mercilessly tightened his grip and hauled me back instead. Next to me, Spade had Rodney in a similar grip as the ghoul hurled curses at Gregor. Mencheres strode forward and pointed his finger an inch from Gregor’s chest.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Gregor threw back his head and laughed. “This is my present to my wife. See how merciful I am? Now Catherine can have her mother forever with her…once my loyal Cannelle no longer needs a servant, that is.”