One Grave at a Time

Ten

I shielded my eyes from the bright beam on Chris’s hard hat as he swung around in my direction. The glare was almost painful, but without those streams of light, Chris and his team would have been completely sightless in the cave. Bones and I had no need of artificial aid to see, and in any event, we both knew this place like the back of our hands. After all, this was where our relationship had begun.

“Reckon there should be enough limestone and running water for you here, and five hundred pounds of quartz and moissanite will be delivered later,” Bones stated, his wave encompassing the rocky underground riverbed we were gathered on. “Will that be sufficient?”

Chris’s headlight was aimed at Bones’s face, but unlike me, he didn’t blink under its harsh glare.

“It’s enough, but underground like this, cramped quarters, no electricity . . . it’ll take me a month at least to build the trap. Of course, the real problem is what’ll happen if the owner of this cave finds out what we’re doing.”

“No worries. I’m the owner, and it’s wired for electricity in places,” Bones replied.

Chris’s response reverberated across my mind. These people get stranger by the minute. “Great,” was what he said out loud. “Then in a few weeks, you’ll have—”

“Two,” Bones interrupted with a pleasant smile. The screech of protest in Chris’s head was silenced when Bones added, “Unless you’re not interested in a thirty percent bonus for each of you?”

Money might not be his primary motivator in being here, but Chris was interested in that bonus, and so were his crew. Over half of them were back at their headquarters examining the data from the sanitarium, but the four Chris felt were the most experienced were here. Lexie, Fred, Graham, and Nancy nudged each other, mentally and verbally running down different ways they could improve their efficiency.

“I think we could manage that,” Chris replied after a quick huddle with them.

“Splendid. You doubtless guessed that this work is strictly confidential, but here’s your reminder. No photos, video, or maps of the cave, and no mention of this to any of your mates.” The barest flash of green glinted in Bones’s eyes. “In fact, you are never to speak of this job to anyone once you’re finished. Understood?”

A subdued chorus of affirmatives followed. I had no doubt that in addition to mesmerizing this promise out of them, Bones would also manage to erase the records of our transactions with N.I.P.D. once they were finished. They’d all probably end up thinking they won their money due to office quick-pick lotto tickets or something.

For once, I didn’t think Bones was going overboard. This cave had been used as an ambush against me in the past when some vampires found out about it. I’d killed them, so the cave’s significance—and location—had slid back into obscurity. Now we were forced to reveal it to Chris’s team because it was made of limestone and had an underground river; two out of the four requirements for a ghost trap. Throw in the quartz and moissanite Bones was having delivered via trusted vampire courier, and we had all the necessary ingredients. Just any old cave wouldn’t do. We had to make sure the place that would—hopefully—serve as Kramer’s eternal prison was private and secure. Couldn’t stick a homicidal ghost in a cave where innocent spelunkers could free Kramer if they knocked over the wrong rock.

“Right, then.” Bones cracked his knuckles. “Let’s look for a section that will work best for the trap. Can’t have you wandering through here without us. You’d get lost.”

And with the cave’s dampness and internal temperature being a brisk fifty degrees, anyone lost would soon develop hypothermia. Since they’d be working here for two weeks, we’d have to bring in space heaters for the crew. Those had done the trick for me when I was half-human and spent many nights here with Bones.

“Are you sure you can see all right without a light?” Chris asked, doubt clear in his tone.

I had to bite my lip to stuff back my laugh. Bones’s teeth shone in pearly brilliance as he flashed Chris a grin.

“Quite sure.”

I lifted my leg out of the hot, soapy water, giving my foot a critical evaluation. After a nice soak in the tub, no more hints of dirt underneath my toenails, good. Helping the crew set up the trap in a shallow part of the underground river so it would be surrounded on all sides with running water meant that my feet had spent hours in finely ground silt during the past week. Bones did the heavy lifting—literally—with hauling the rocky debris in and out to make a solid platform for the trap. Chris and the other members of N.I.P.D. no longer questioned why I could stand in icy water for hours without showing any ill effects, or why Bones could pull large boulders off their perches with nary a busted hernia to show for it. A few flashes of green from our gaze took care of their curiosity on those issues.

With Bones and me helping the group lay the foundations of the trap, which was the hardest part, Chris said we were ahead of schedule. That was music to my ears. The sooner things were finished here, the sooner we could test the trap to see if it worked. Already Fabian had mentioned that the new, large quantities of quartz and moissanite made going in and out of the cave feel like traveling through a thick spider’s web, and they weren’t even positioned yet. Chris must know what he was talking about.

Bones appeared in the bathroom doorway, letting his gaze slide over me twice before he spoke. I had the shower curtain open, so his view was uninterrupted.

“Going out for a bit, luv.”

I didn’t ask what for. Bones might double as my all-you-can-eat buffet, but my blood didn’t have enough life in it to sustain him. Only human blood did, and he didn’t want to weaken any of N.I.P.D.’s crew by feeding off them.

Plus, that would strike me as, well, rude.

“See you when you get back,” I said, lifting my leg all the way out just to enjoy the heady change in his scent as I soaped it, caressing my skin a little more than necessary.

“Tease,” he murmured, voice huskier than it had been moments ago.

I learned from the best, I thought, but blinked like I didn’t know what he was talking about.

“Didn’t you say you were leaving?”

Green began to replace the mahogany in his gaze, his scent richening even further. Almost idly, he stroked his collar, pale fingers flicking between the fabric and the luscious curve of his neck.

Shivers broke out across my skin even though I was several degrees warmer than normal from being submerged in the tub. The line where his neck met his broad shoulders was my second-favorite place to bite him. Bones shifted to lean against the frame, as if he were positioning himself more comfortably, but what it did was send ripples along his muscles that even the dark pullover he wore couldn’t hide. One leg casually crossing over the other drew my attention down his body, noting how the fabric briefly clung to a rock-hard thigh before loosening and concealing the defined shape beneath.

Need flared in me, causing my nipples to harden and strands of exquisite sensation to tighten in my loins. And all of this was before I noticed that his hips were slightly tilted, allowing for a better view of the growing bulge in the front of his pants.

“Tell me, Kitten.” That deep, smooth voice brushed over me like a physical caress. “Shall I leave now, or wait until later?”

His eyes glowed pure emerald, half smile letting me know how much he enjoyed this game. I did, too. If I admitted that I couldn’t wait for him to feed, he’d join me in the tub, but then would draw out the foreplay until I begged him to take me. And he would, chuckling at my impatience while possessing me with hard, slow strokes. At that thought, more nerve endings tightened in silent demand.

But if I told him to feed first, his own lust would build while he was forced to wait and seek out a nice vein to secretly suck on. By the time he came back, he’d be almost ruthless in his passion—and Bones in a primal state was truly something to experience.

At that thought, heat swept through my body like the water had suddenly turned into flames. I licked my lips and cleared my throat, but my voice still came out as a gravelly purr.

“Go now.” So all that lovely lust can build until it rips away your control.

Bolts of power unleashed from his aura, filling the air to land on my skin like velvet-lined whips. His mouth opened, fangs dragging across his lower lip until they drew glittering drops of blood. My gaze latched there, and it was all I could do to keep from charging out of the tub to catch those drops before they rolled off his lip.

“Are you sure?”

Merciless tease! Drinking Bones’s blood while he was inside me was the most incredible thing ever—and he knew it. A creaking noise warned me that I gripped the edge of the tub so hard, it was about to shatter under my hand.

“Go.” No purr, all growl now. Bones wouldn’t be the only one burning with unrequited desire until he got back.

I vowed erotic retribution for the knowing smile he gave me before he disappeared from the doorframe. A soft click was our hotel room door shutting behind him moments later. I leaned back, blowing out a sigh of sheer willpower. I would not call out for him to come back even though I knew he’d be lingering close by to see if I did. I’d show him that I could tease him with the same sensual resolve that he’d so often shown me.

And my reward for patience now would be a lover who was single-minded in his domination of my body later. More tremors of anticipation rippled through me. I smoothed my hands over my nipples and down my thighs, tempted to reach lower and release a little of that simmering tension before he got back, but decided not to. Some things were worth the wait, and Bones was definitely one of those things.

I’d drained the tub and was busy rinsing conditioner from my hair when my cat let out an extended yowl that was loud enough to be heard over the shower. In the next room, Dexter barked sharply, ending on a piercing whine. I tensed. Helsing might be temperamental for no reason, but I’d only heard the dog bark that way when—

Something slammed against the back of my head with enough force to send my face crashing into the wall in front of me. I spun around, blinking to get the tiny tile shards out of my eyes thanks to the new head-sized hole in the wall, but even though I couldn’t see, I knew who’d attacked me. Kramer. How had the ghost managed to sneak up on me without any of my inner warning bells going off?

“Hexe,” the heavily accented voice of the Inquisitor hissed.

I ripped the iron shower rod off the wall, whipping it like a sword toward the source of that voice before realizing the futility in the gesture.

“Oh, if you had flesh, I’d beat the ass off you!” I swore, throwing the rod aside.

My vision cleared enough for me to see the tunic-clad figure about six feet away. The exposed cistern and chunks of ruined ceramic at my feet showed that Kramer had used the toilet tank lid to bash the back of my head. Fucker had slid that off quiet as a mouse, hadn’t he? I braced to dodge whatever other bathroom items he might try to bludgeon me with next, but after a disgusted moment, I saw that Kramer’s attention was focused on the apex of my wide-legged fighter’s stance.

A towel was within reach, but I fought my urge to snatch it up because one, I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of acting ashamed, and two, my cold-blooded practicality recognized that distraction was a weapon.

Luckily, it wasn’t the only weapon I had.

I shoved my hand into the hole my face had formed in the wall, bloodying it on the ragged tile edges. “Sic him and don’t let him leave,” I snarled, willing forth the Remnants with all the energy I had.

Kramer’s eyes widened right before he rapidly began to fade. But aside from the cool blast of air I felt, covering my skin with gooseflesh from head to toe, nothing else happened.

“I said, sic him!” I repeated, slicing my hand so hard that the tile crumpled beneath my force.

Nothing. The only thing filling the room was my growing alarm. What was the problem? I had blood running down my fingers, my skin felt as though it crawled with icy ants, and I wanted the Remnants here like damn, but my fiendishly lethal, wrath-of-the-grave buddies were nowhere to be seen.

Kramer must have heard or sensed that I wasn’t able to summon help, because he rematerialized into such clarity that I could see the white stubble on his chin and the different places where his tunic was rent from age. But despite cutting my hand repeatedly and concentrating hard enough to make my jaw grind, he was still the only apparition in the bathroom.