One Foot in the Grave

TWENTY-FIVE

ARE YOU LEAVING US?” DON BEGAN WITHOUT preamble when I shut the door.

It was a good question, since I now knew what he’d hidden from me these past years.

I looked around Don’s office and then back at the man himself. Don and I didn’t have similar features, but he was my blood, as surely as my mother was. After several quiet moments, I realized I didn’t hate him for his lies, both outright and of omission. Who was I to judge him so harshly for his mistakes? After all, I’d made an exceptional number of my own.

“No.”

Don let out a sigh that might have been relieved, but Bones ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“Bloody hell. You just won’t take the easy road.”

“I need to do this.”

Bones stared at me for a long moment, then turned to Don.

“The only way you’re keeping her is if I’m with her. Consider it a two-for-one deal. I won’t stop her from doing what she considers her job, but I will not see her die for it. None of those men are strong enough to back her up, but I am. You want her? Then you’ll get me also.”

This I hadn’t expected. Clearly neither had Don. He gaped.

“You can’t expect me to allow a vampire inside an operation designed to kill vampires! That’s not even lunacy-it’s suicide!”

Bones smiled a very patient smile and sat down, tapping his fingers on Don’s desk.

“Look, mate, I could give a rot about your operation, but do happen to care a great deal about her life, so I’m going to make you an offer, and you’re going to accept it.”

Don blinked at the baldness of the statement. I was curious myself to hear what this offer was, because it was news to me, too.

“Why does the success of your missions hinge on her?” Bones went on. “Because she’s your strongest fighter. Without her, you have a group of men who might do jolly well in a regular war, but against ghouls and vampires, they’re roadkill. You know it, too. That’s why you got your knickers in a twist when you discovered how lethal she was at twenty-two. And don’t think I’ve forgotten that it was your manipulating that kept me alone the past several years. Just for that, I’d fancy peeling your skin off like an orange while you were alive and screaming, but that’s off topic.”

“Quite,” I said edgily.

Bones continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “But since she insists on still working here, we have to come to an arrangement. As skilled as she is in battle, no one is infallible. If she went down in a fight right now, your operation would be finished, since you have no one strong enough to replace her. This is the first part of what I’m offering. You will never have to fret about her coming back from a job, because unless I’m shriveled on the ground, she will.”

“You want to work for me?” Don asked in astonishment.

Bones laughed. “Not for you, old chap. For her. She’s the only one I’d listen to, anyway.”

My expression must have been as astonished as Don’s, because Bones paused and took my hand.

“I’m not fretting over control with you. You can have all of the command you desire as long as we’re together. I’ll just save my demands for the bedroom.”

I flushed. Bones just chuckled and brought my hand to his lips.

Don also looked as though a change in subject were in order. “What’s the second part of your offer?”

Bones straightened but still grasped my hand. “Ah, the second part, and this is why you won’t refuse me. I can give you what you’ve been secretly itching for ever since you started your little science project here.”

“And what do you think that is?” Don asked, openly skeptical.

“Vampires,” Bones responded. “You want to make your own vampires.”

“No he doesn’t!” I immediately denied.

Except Don wasn’t jumping to his own defense. Instead he stared at Bones in a very odd way. Like he’d just found him interesting.

Bones settled back into his chair. “You want what every commander of troops wants-loyal soldiers who are stronger than your enemy. How many times have you wished more of your team had her powers? How often have you longed for soldiers blessed with the same advantages your enemies had? This is a onetime offer, mate. You choose your best, and I’ll make them better.”

Stunned, I watched Don consider the offer, then he set his hands on the desk.

“What if after they crossed over, they turned on us? That happens, as I know, and then I’d have unleashed mayhem on myself and my remaining team.”

“Simple. They threaten you, then they threaten her and I kill them. I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to eliminate a danger to her, and you already have two bodies to prove that. However, a period of apprenticeship might rest your mind. Pick your potentials and give them raw blood. See how they handle the new power. If they can’t control a little, then they can’t control the rest of it. But if they can…” Bones let the sentence dangle.

“Let me get this straight,” Don said briskly. “You’ll accompany Cat on missions in order to minimize her risk. You’d also agree to change selected soldiers into vampires. They would be under your supervision, terminated if necessary, and directed by me via her. Do I have this right?”

“Yes.” No hesitation in Bones’s reply. I was still dumbfounded over the entire negotiation.

“Anything else?”

“I have some conditions,” I interrupted, seizing the opportunity. “My schedule changes. Your operation just got seriously upgraded, Don, so I don’t want to hear any complaints. First, no more surveillance. I better not see or hear any of my team spying on me anymore, because after tonight, my location’s going to be secret. That way, no one can torture or green-eye the information out of them, or have them just give it up for money, like Brad Parker did. And everything else waits until my father is taken care of. Your brother takes priority, don’t you agree, Uncle?”

Don was silent for several moments. At last he gave a sardonic smile.

“Well, Cat, Bones…I guess we have an agreement.”

Parley completed, there were some loose ends before we could leave. “Is my mother still here?”

“She’s in one of the bunkers. You want to see her?”

“No. But keep her here. If my father knew where to find me, then she’s not safe at her house.”

“We also can’t have your team wandering around for Max to snatch them up and discover I’m involved, Kitten,” Bones stated. “As for the rest of your employees, round them up. They won’t remember seeing me.”

“What about Noah?” This from Don, and I winced.

“He doesn’t know anything.”

“That’s not what he means,” Bones stated in an even way. “Noah would make right good bait for you, whether or not he knows why. Max might reckon you still hold feelings for him.”

I hadn’t thought of that. “Then put a watch on Noah, Don, work and home. Any sign of the supernatural, and we move in. Maybe we can catch Max at his own trap.”

“I’ll make the call now,” Don promised.

We stood. It had been a long day, and it wasn’t over.

“Bones, while you and Don play Bright Eyes with the other staff, I’m going to talk to the team about your new status.”

Bones grinned. “Give your bloke my regards, Kitten. Can’t wait to start working on him.”

I knew who he meant. “With Tate, Bones. Not on him.”

His smile broadened. “Right.”

An hour later, my temples pounded with a nasty headache. Tate, as I expected, had hit the roof. Juan had been unexpectedly blasé after I answered some of his concerns, and since Cooper was the third captain, he’d been roused from his concussion and informed that the cause of it was now officially joining our team. Tate had expected Cooper to back him up, but he’d actually taken it better than Juan had.

“He whipped our asses, Commander. If he wanted us dead, I guess we would be.”

“He’s the same vampire who trained me, Coop. Oh, and I’m sleeping with him, to save Tate the trouble of announcing it next. Got a problem with any of that?”

Cooper didn’t flinch. “You’re a freak. Why wouldn’t you want a freak also?”

“I don’t fucking believe this,” Tate said in disgust.

Bones strode into the room. Tate glared at him as Bones put his arm around me.

“Feeling better, mate?” he inquired of Cooper. “If not, you will soon. Don drained a pint out of me just now, Kitten,” he said with a grin. “Seems the head pathologist didn’t want to stick me himself. Poor bloke was quite jittery, though I can’t imagine why.”

“Could be because you made dinner out of his assistant, amigo,” Juan dryly commented.

Cooper hadn’t heard that. He swung his gaze to me.

“We’re letting him eat people?”

“Apparently,” Tate snarled.

“Brad Parker plotted with another vampire to put me out of my misery, Cooper.” I shot Tate a dirty look. “You heard about last night? Well, you can thank the late Mr. Parker for giving away my location and my weaknesses.”

Cooper eyed Bones, and then shrugged. “So he deserved it. Too quick, though. He should have been hurt first.”

Bones smothered a laugh against my temple. “You and I will get along famously, soldier.”

Tate muttered something profane, and I’d had enough.

“I want you with me on this, Tate, but I can’t force you. Are you in or are you out? Decide now.”

Tate folded his arms across his chest. “I’m in, Cat. I’d never leave you. Especially when you’ve got death breathing down your neck.”

“Very funny,” I retorted, since Bones was inches from my throat. “And as you know, he doesn’t breathe. Now that details about our new team member are settled, I’m leaving. I’ve got a family reunion to plan.”