Jeaniene Frost - Destined for an Early Grave

Cannelle smiled and delivered a kick to my mother’s face. She fell over.

“I will kill you for this , Gregor!”

A booming began in my ears. At first I thought it was just the thwacking of my fists against Bones, who was using all of his strength to hold me. But then I realized the noise wasn’t coming from that. It was coming from inside of me.

Cannelle’s eyes bugged. There were shocked mutters. People all around began to stare. Apollyon pushed his way through the crowd, then glared at me.

“Her heart’s beating. What trickery is this?”

I don’t know who threw the first punch, but all of a sudden, everyone was brawling. Apollyon and the ghouls surged toward me, shouting.

Bones snapped, “Get her away from here,” then handed me to Vlad before jumping into the melee. Vlad held me in a viselike grip, backing away. Mencheres began casting out his power like a net to try to and subdue the violence, but there were too many powerful undead people to freeze them all. Shouts flew through the air, then people, as things got more physical, and at last, there was fire as Vlad decided to make an exit.

A wall of flame appeared around us, protecting us as he elevated straight upward while clutching me. In the next instant, the ceiling blasted over our heads. Then the next one, and the next, until nothing but the night sky was above us.

“Goddammit, I won’t leave them!” I shouted, as we vaulted through the ruined roof.

“It’s the only way,” Vlad muttered, squeezing me so hard I would have puked if I still could.

Boom. Boom. Boom. My heart continued to bang in my chest. It made me dizzy, the sensation amazingly unfamiliar after only a week. A slew of images tormented me as our distance from the house grew. Mom. Oh God, Mom. Changed into a vampire. Being dragged and beaten while on a leash. Bones flinging himself into the fray. Gregor laughing at it all.

“Mencheres will settle things down,” Vlad said. He had to shout to be heard above the wind as our speed increased. We were even trailing fire like a comet. “But not if you’re there with your rage at Gregor and your mystifying heartbeat. You stay, and this won’t end until half the people are dead.”

I wanted to fling myself out of his arms and go back to the house, but the bitter truth was that Vlad was right. Once again, everyone I cared about would be better off if I was gone.

When my eyes opened, it took me a few seconds to get my bearings. The first thing I knew was that I was in the backseat of a car. Second, it didn’t seem to be moving. Third, I had my mouth clamped ferociously on someone’s throat, and I knew from the taste that it wasn’t Bones.

I flung myself back to reveal it was Vlad I’d just neck-raped. His shirt was ripped open, and I’d had him pressed against the side of the car door.

He straightened to an upright position. “What was that?” he asked calmly.

I cursed myself for forgetting to tell him about a very important detail concerning my eating, even though that had been the last thing on my mind. After our aerial exit from the free-for-all that had once been a party, Vlad kidnapped the first person he came across, green-eyed him, and had us driven to the train station. There, we boarded the next available train. Once on it, I’d insisted on calling Bones, who hadn’t answered. Neither had Spade or Mencheres.

Vlad dismissed my concerns, saying they were probably too busy to bother answering their phones. My further attempts to reach them were cut short when the sun rose an hour later, and I passed out in my chair. That was the last thing I remembered.

“Have you heard from Bones?”

“I spoke with him a few hours ago. He should be here soon.”

I digested this, noting that my heartbeat, which had precipitated the melee, was silent now. How ironic that we’d had the coming-out party to try and soothe any ghoul concerns. Now the repercussions from last night might give Apollyon more fuel for his paranoid fire. I could only hope that Mencheres and Bones had managed to calm things down, and that my being a weird vampire was less threatening to ghouls than being a half-breed.

Vlad drew the torn edges of his collar together and I brought my attention back to explaining my earlier actions.

“Something strange happened after I was changed. I went straight for any vampire near me instead of drinking human blood. For some reason, vampire blood is what I, ah, crave—and now you already know that sometimes my heart still beats.”

Vlad looked as stunned as I’d ever seen him. “Extraordinary,” he murmured.

Even as he said it, I couldn’t help but lick my lips. Vlad’s blood had a different flavor, sure, but it was still delicious.

Vlad watched me doing it, and I stopped. Even though I hadn’t been aware when I did it, I felt guilty for munching on my friend.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

His lip curled. “Never let it be said that you’re predictable, Cat.”

I wished I were. First, I’d been a freak as a half-breed, now I was an even bigger one as a vampire.

And now my mother was a vampire, too. My mother, who’d hated vampires ever since she first found out about them. My mother, who’d begged me to kill her last night.

“You might want to rethink your friendship with me, Vlad, because I’m getting my mother back even if I have to break every vampire law to do it.”

Vlad’s coppery green gaze was steady. “I wouldn’t expect any less from you.”

I didn’t reply to that, just glanced out the window. The sun was halfway up in the sky. It must be around noon. I’d been unconscious for hours. All vampire laws aside, how I’d make good on my promise to rescue my mother, considering that dawn stole all the strength from me, was the real question. Not to mention I didn’t know where the hell Gregor had my mother hidden away. She could be anywhere by now.

“Cat.” I looked up to find Vlad still staring at me. “I can’t help you with this, you know that.”

A small, sad smile twisted my lips. “Yeah, I know.” I understood, but oh, I would have liked Vlad as backup.

“Gregor’s greatest weakness is his pride,” Vlad stated. “Use it against him. He’ll fall for it every time.”

I felt Bones minutes before I heard the car. Since he’d changed me, I was attuned to him in a way that defied logic. Even now, I could sense his impatience, like sandpaper grating across my subconscious.

I was already out of the car by the time the black Mercedes pulled up next to Vlad. Bones got out, yanking me to him before I could speak. He gave me a hard kiss that would have stolen my breath if I still had any. Then he set me back, tracing my mouth while his eyes turned green.

I knew he could taste Vlad’s blood on me. Part of me wanted to apologize while the other argued that out of all people, Bones would understand.

“Bones,” I began.

“Don’t fret about it,” he said, brushing my mouth again. “Let’s go. Tepesh.” Bones gave Vlad a short nod. “Until the next time.”

Vlad leaned against his car with his usual jaded half smile.

“Somehow I think that might be sooner rather than later.”

I WAS SURPRISED TO HEAR THAT ONLY THREEpeople had been killed last night. Since it was a formal gathering under an all-truce, most of the guests had been unarmed. The three who’d been killed were humans, who couldn’t survive a weaponless undead free-for-all the way vampires and ghouls could. As far as the ramifications of breaking an all-truce, no one knew—or would say—who’d started the violence. Mencheres and Bones managed to get people calm enough to leave without wars being declared. Gregor left with my mother and Cannelle in tow. As for how Apollyon and his ghouls would deal with my unprecedented vampiric heartbeat…time would tell.