Halfway to the Grave (16 page)

I
DROVE STRAIGHT HOME, MY EMOTIONS IN A
tug-of-war the whole way. Making love to Bones had been beyond incredible, and he was right. There was no way I could pretend this didn’t happen. But there was more to consider than just my feelings. Left to myself, I would only be moderately wigged about having slept with him. The main reason for my panic, however, was knowing how my mother would react. I couldn’t tell her, ever. And that meant I had to stop this before it went any further.

My grandparents were on the porch, drinking iced tea when I pulled up two hours later. They looked like a postcard of Americana with their white hair and plain clothes, faces weathered from time.

“Hello,” I greeted them distractedly.

There was a hiss from my grandmother. Immediately afterward came a bellow of outrage from my grandfather. I just blinked at them.

“What’s the matter with you two?”

Curious, I watched as my grandfather turned three
shades of red. After all, it wasn’t like I hadn’t strolled in the next day several times before, and they’d never commented about it. They’d adopted a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when it came to my late nights.

“Justina, get on out here, girl!” He ignored my question and rose to his feet. A moment later my mother came out, her face as bewildered as mine.

“What? Is something wrong?”

He answered her while still shaking with wrath.

“Just look at her. Look at her! You can’t tell me she wasn’t doing anything wrong last night! No, she was consorting with the devil, that’s what she was doing!”

I blanched, wracking my brain to figure out how he found out I’d slept with a vampire. Had I grown fangs? Reaching out, I fingered my teeth, but they were as square and flat as normal.

The gesture enraged him further. “Don’t flick your finger off your teeth at me, missy! Who do you think you are?”

To her credit, my mother at once began to defend me. “Oh, Pa, you don’t understand. She’s—”

Her voice abruptly choked as she stared at me with a lesser look of shock.

“What?” I demanded, frightened.

“Your neck…” she whispered, disbelief in her eyes.

Terrified, I pushed past her and ran to the nearest bathroom. Were there fang marks? God, had he bitten me without my realizing it?

Once I stared at my reflection however, the reason for their reaction became clear. Erratically spaced and in different shades of blue were four—no, make that five—hickeys. No telltale puncture wounds from a vampire’s teeth, but plain, unmistakable hickeys. Opening Bones’s shirt, I saw that my breasts bore similar marks. Good thing this top didn’t have cleavage or they’d all have fainted dead away.

“I know what those are!” Grandpa Joe roared at me from
the porch. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, running around, not married, staying out all night. Ashamed!”

“Ashamed!” my grandmother echoed. Good to know they still agreed on things after forty-three years of marriage.

I went upstairs to my room without answering them. It was definitely time for me to seek alternate accommodations. Perhaps that apartment would be vacant immediately.

To my utter lack of surprise, my mother followed me.

“Who is he, Catherine?” she asked me as soon as she shut the door behind her.

I had to tell her something. “He’s someone I met while I was out looking for vampires. We, ah, have something in common. He kills them, too.”

No need to go into further details. Like a very important one regarding him
being
one.

“Is…is it very serious between the two of you?”

“No!” My denial was so vehement she frowned. Great, didn’t that sound nice?
No, we can’t have a relationship because he’s technically dead, but my God is he gorgeous and fucks like a Trojan.

“Then why…?” She looked genuinely puzzled.

Sighing, I lay down on the bed. How to detail mindless lust to your mother?

“Well, it just happened. It wasn’t planned.”

A look of horror crossed her face. “Did you use any protection?”

“It wasn’t necessary,” I answered truthfully without thinking.

She clapped a hand to her mouth. “What do you mean, it wasn’t necessary? You could get pregnant! Or a disease!”

It took a lot of effort to keep me from rolling my eyes. I could just imagine my reply.
Good news, Ma. He’s a vampire and an old one, so no pregnancy or diseases. It’s impossible.

Instead, I just told her not to worry.

“Don’t worry? Don’t worry! I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to drive into the next couple of towns where no one knows us, and I am going to buy you condoms! You’re not going to end up young and pregnant like I was—or worse. There’s AIDS now. And syphilis. And gonorrhea. And even things I can’t pronounce! If you’re going to engage in that kind of behavior, then at least you’re going to be safe about it.”

She grabbed her purse with a determined gleam and headed toward the door.

“But Mom…”

I followed her downstairs, trying to convince her not to leave, but she ignored me. My grandparents eyed me from the porch, faces drawn together like thunderclouds as my mother got in her car and drove off. It was definitely time to call that landlord.

The landlord, Mr. Josephs, told me I could move in the following weekend. It couldn’t come soon enough. I occupied myself with showering, shaving, brushing my teeth, anything but wondering what Bones was doing. Maybe I was worrying for nothing. Maybe it had just been casual for him, and I wouldn’t even have to tell him it couldn’t happen again. After all, the man was a couple hundred years older than me and a former gigolo. I certainly hadn’t robbed him of his virginity.

A car pulled into our driveway around six, and it didn’t sound like my mother. I looked out the window, curious, and saw it was a taxi. A familiar bleached head appeared next as Bones got out of it.

What was he doing here? Another panicked look revealed my mother still wasn’t back, but if she showed up now and saw him…

I ran down the stairs so fast, I tripped and landed in a heap at the landing just as my grandfather opened the door.

“Who are you?” he demanded of Bones.

I was mentally coming up with a story about him being a fellow college student when Bones answered him in perfectly polite tones.

“I am a nice young girl here to pick up your granddaughter for the weekend.”

Huh?

My grandmother poked her head out, too, mouth open at the sight of Bones in her doorway.

“Who are you?” she parroted.

“I’m a nice young girl come to pick your granddaughter up for the weekend,” he repeated the odd line, staring her directly in the eyes with a flash of green. She soon got the same glazed look her husband wore, and then nodded once.

“Oh, well, isn’t that nice? You
are
a nice young girl. Be a good friend to her and set her straight. She has love bruises on her neck and didn’t come home until this afternoon.”

Sweet Holy Jesus, why couldn’t the ground just swallow me? Bones stifled a laugh and nodded solemnly. “Don’t fret, Grannie. We’re going to a Bible retreat to scare the devil out of her.”

“Good for you,” my grandfather said in an approving voice, expression blank. “That’s what she needs. Been wild all her life.”

“Go have a pot of tea whilst we pack, both of you. Off you go.”

They went, still with empty eyes, and trod to the kitchen. Soon I could hear the water being sloshed into the kettle. They didn’t even drink tea.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” I asked in an angry whisper. “If only the movies were right and you couldn’t come in unless invited!”

He laughed at that. “Sorry, luv. Vampires can go anywhere they please.”

“Why are you here? And why did you trick my grandparents into thinking you’re a girl?”

“A
nice
girl,” he corrected me with a smile. “Can’t have them believing you’d taken up with a bad sort, can we?”

I was in a rush for him to leave. If my mother came back, it would take more than a flash of his eyes to convince her that he wasn’t what she’d see him as—her nightmare, come to life.

“You have to go. My mom will have a heart attack if she sees you.”

“I am here for a reason,” he said calmly. “Not that I want you to be involved any further, but you were very emphatic last night that you wished to be informed if I discovered where that club was. I have. It’s in Charlotte, and I’m flying there tonight. I bought you a ticket, if you want to go also. If you don’t, I’ll just go into your kitchen and convince your grandparents I was never here. That way you won’t have to explain my presence later to your mum. It’s up to you, but you have to decide now.”

I knew what I would choose, but I was still rattled at how this could have been a very ugly scene. “Why didn’t you call instead of just coming over?”

His brow arched. “I did. Your grandfather hung up on me as soon as I asked for you. You really ought to get a cell phone. Or remind them that you’re twenty-two years old and it
is
appropriate for a gentleman to ring you.”

I left the gentleman comment alone. “Yeah, well, they’re old-fashioned, and they kind of lost it when they saw my neck—which was very inconsiderate, by the way! Leaving all those ‘Been there, done that!’ stamps for them to see!”

A grin tugged at his mouth. “In all fairness, Kitten, if I didn’t heal supernaturally, I’d be covered with similar markings, and my back would be a river of scars from your nails.”

Change of subject.
Change of subject!
“As far as to
night,” I went on hurriedly, “you know I’ll go. I told you I want to stop Hennessey, and I meant it. You already found where the club was? That was fast.”

“I knew before, in fact,” he said, leaning against the doorframe. “I’d researched it this morning while you were sleeping. Was going to tell you about it when you woke up, but then you ran out like hell was chasing you and didn’t give me a chance.”

I had to drop my gaze. Looking him in the eye was more than I could handle. “I don’t want to talk about that. I’m not so shallow that I’d let my…” What to call them? “My
misgivings
about last night interfere with stopping a murderer, but I think it’s best if we leave that alone.”

His half smile remained. “Misgivings? Oh, Kitten. You break my heart.”

That brought my head up. Was he making fun of me? I couldn’t tell. “Let’s focus on priorities. If you want to, we’ll, ah, talk about that later. After the club. Wait here while I pack.”

He held open the door. “It’s not necessary, I brought your game clothes. After you.”

“I haven’t seen you here before, cherry pie,” the vampire said as he slid into the seat next to mine. “Name’s Charlie.”

Bingo! I was so happy, I almost clapped my hands. We had landed in Charlotte at ten, checked into our hotel at eleven, and arrived at Club Flame just before midnight. I’d been sitting in this disgusting place for two hours, and with the slutty dress I was wearing, it hadn’t been a lonely two hours.

“Sweet to eat, and easy as,” I replied, mentally gauging his power level. Not a Master, but strong. “Looking for a date, honey?”

He trailed his fingers along my arm. “You bet, cherry.”

Charlie’s accent was pure Southern. He had brown hair, a friendly smile, and an athletic build. His drawl, plus that
aw-shucks demeanor, only made him seem more amicable. Who could be evil when he had an accent like candy, right?

The guy to my left, who’d been hitting on me all night, gave him a belligerent look.

“Hey, mister, I saw her first—”

“Why don’t you get up on outta here and go home?” Charlie cut him off, still smiling. “Best hurry, now. I don’t like to repeat myself.”

If I were that guy, I’d hear the steel underneath his good ol’ boy act, and be warned.

Of course, I wasn’t drunk, ignorant, and just plain oblivious to the danger in front of me.

“I don’t think you heard me,” the man slurred, laying a heavy hand on him. “I said, I saw her
first
.”

Charlie didn’t lose his smile. He took the man by the wrist and hauled him out of his chair.

“No need to fight and cause a ruckus,” he said with a wink at me. “We’ll flip for you, sugar. I’m feelin’ lucky.”

And he dragged the man out of the bar. The fact that no one commented spoke for the classiness of the place.

I looked around, torn. If I tried to stop Charlie, I’d blow my cover and wreck Bones’s chance to find Hennessey,
again
. So I did nothing. I sipped my drink and felt sick inside. When Charlie returned, he had that same genial grin, and he was alone.

“Turns out I am lucky tonight,” he commented. “Question is, are you going to make me very, very lucky?”

I was trying to listen for a heartbeat outside, but the interior noise was too loud. Whatever had happened was over. There was nothing to do but see this through.

“Sure thing, honey. I just need a little something to help with my rent first.”

My voice was flirty. Not a hint of stress. Practice did
make perfect, and the rent comment was my ode to Stephanie. I thought it was darkly appropriate.

“What’s your rent, cherry pie?”

“Hundred bucks,” I giggled, shifting on my chair so my dress climbed higher. “You’ll be glad you donated, promise.”

Charlie’s gaze skimmed my thighs in the ridiculously short dress, and he took in a deep breath. Only months of training kept me from blushing at what I knew he was doing.

“Honey child, from the looks of you, I’d say that’s a bargain.”

He held out his hand and I took it, hopping off my chair.

“Charlie, wasn’t it? Don’t worry. You’re in for a real treat.”

As Charlie drove, I was quietly thanking God that he hadn’t attempted a quickie right on the premises. My hooker charade only went so far. Bones would be following at a discreet distance, and we were hoping I’d be taken back to Charlie’s place, breaking Bones’s cardinal rule of me avoiding a vampire’s home base. What information we might find was worth the risk of him having roommates.