One Foot in the Grave

by Jeaniene Frost

  So speaking, I led by example and sliced the neck of the corpse in front of me, digging my mouth in like a pit bull. For a second, no one moved. I picked my head up and scorched them with the emerald glare from my eyes.

  “Would Dave have shrunk back from avenging any of you out of squeamishness?”

  That did the trick. Soon the sounds of sucking and swallowing were heard in the cave. It tasted bad, decomposing as quickly as it was, but even after death, the blood still held power. After several hard pulls, I felt the change begin. The second it started to taste less heinous, I threw the vamp aside, shaking.

  “Everyone stop,” I ordered.

  There was glad compliance. With my mixed lineage, it took much less for me to acquire a liking for it. They weren’t in danger of succumbing to the urge to feed like I was.

  “Cat?”

  Tate reached out to touch me, and I flinched. His heartbeat was louder in my ears, and I smelled blood, sweat, and tears on him. That was the whole point. I could smell him now—and everyone else.

  “Don’t touch me. Wait.” My hands clenched. Dimly I remembered Bones flattening me on the bed, restraining me from chewing his throat open. Ride it out, Kitten, it will pass…

  Several deep breaths later I could think again. Un-erringly I went to where Lazarus had lain after I shot him. I took a long, deep whiff of his blood, and then licked it, letting his scent fill my nose. With grim satisfaction I turned to Tate.

  “I’ve got him. Give me the transmitter and follow me by car. When I stop moving, that means he’s down. We’ll find out what he knows.”

  “Cat…” Tate looked in wonder at his hands and then around the cave. I knew he was experiencing more than he had before. “I feel…”

  “I know. Let’s go.”

  SEVEN

  THE BULLETS SLOWED LAZARUS, SILVER BEING kryptonite for vampires. Lazarus had used his power to heal himself, but because he hadn’t fed yet, he wasn’t running on all cylinders. Most of Dave’s blood had spilled onto the ground, not in his mouth, and he’d hightailed it into the woods without stopping for another snack. I exceeded my previous maximum speeds and made up lost ground, his scent pointing the way like invisible road signs. Furthermore, I knew these woods. This was where Bones had trained me. Roots and potholes Lazarus stumbled on, I vaulted over with ease while the memories came so hard and fast, I could almost hear his voice behind me, that English accent mocking.

  Is this the best you can do, Kitten? That all you’ve got? You move that slowly and you’ll be nothing more than a flush in some bloke’s cheeks…come on, Kitten! This is a death match, not a bloody tea party!

  God, how I’d hated him those first few weeks, and oh! how I’d do anything to turn back the clock and be there again. Recollection spurred me on faster. I smelled Lazarus about five miles ahead. He couldn’t scent me yet, being upwind, but soon he would hear me. I hoped he was afraid. If he wasn’t, he would be.

  Lazarus broke through the trees to cross over a road, dodging traffic going both ways. Moments later I followed. Brakes screeched as drivers stopped in confusion with the blurs slicing in front of them. Across backyards and over railroad tracks I chased him, closing the distance between us. I could see him now, barely a mile away and heading for a lake. There was no way I could let him get to it. He’d lose me in the water with my dependency on oxygen. I reached down for something more to inspire me, and once again came up with a pair of dark brown eyes.

  Don’t fret, luv. I’ll be back before you know it.

  The last words Bones said to me. The last time I heard his voice. That was all the motivation I needed. Maybe if I ran fast enough, I could take it all back and feel his arms around me one more time…

  I tackled Lazarus from behind less than twenty yards from the water. The silver knife molded around my hand drove with all my anguish into his heart, but I didn’t twist it. Not yet. We had some talking to do first.

  “How’s that feel, Lazarus? Hurts, doesn’t it? You know what really hurts? If it moves the slightest bit…”

  I gave the blade a tiny shift. He got the picture and froze, his silvery eyes bleeding to green.

  “Release me at once,” he commanded in a resonating voice.

  I laughed maliciously at him. “Nice try but no cigar. Vampire mind control doesn’t work on me, pal. Know why?”

  For the first time, I let him see the flare in my gaze. With all the bullets I’d shot into his face, he’d missed it before.

  Lazarus stared at my glowing eyes uncomprehendingly. “It can’t be. You breathe, your heart beats…it’s impossible.”

  “Yeah, isn’t it? Life’s a bitch and then one stabs you.”

  A car screeched to a halt, then running footsteps. I didn’t need to look away to know it was Tate, Juan, and Cooper.

  “Well, amigos, look what the cat dragged in,” Juan drawled venomously. Their guns were drawn and pointed. Lazarus tried the mind control once more.

  “Shoot her. You want to shoot her. Kill her,” he ordered, glaring at them.

  “We don’t want to shoot her,” Tate corrected, firing a single round into Lazarus’s leg. “We want to shoot you.”

  Lazarus screamed once and then twice when Cooper squeezed a shot off as well, striking him in the thigh.

  “Hold your fire…for now. I have some questions for him. And I’m hoping he’ll be stupid and give me an excuse to carve him up like he did that couple last night.”

  Lazarus was dumbfounded at his helplessness. “What are you? How are your men not under my control?”

  “Because they just drank the juice out of your buddies back there and they have undead blood running in their veins. Like a remote control with low batteries, your signals aren’t getting through. Now, enough of this shit. I’m going to ask questions, and my friends here are going to cut something off you every time you don’t answer me. Gather ’round, boys. Plenty of flesh for everyone.”

  They crouched over Lazarus, and every hand gripped a knife. I smiled as I flipped Lazarus over, cradling him on my lap with the silver still imbedded in his back.

  “Now tell me, how did you meet Danny Milton…”

  The helicopter carried away Dave’s body, and the three of us watched it disappear into the sky. Our chopper with the rest of the team waited nearby. We were the only ones who hadn’t boarded.

  “Is this what you feel like every day, Cat? Stronger, faster…superior? That’s what I feel like with this crap in my body. Superior. It scares the hell out of me.”

  Tate spoke quietly, no need to shout even with the rotating blades churning up around us. My reply was low as well. For the next few hours, he’d hear the softest whispers from a block away.

  “Believe me, Tate, seeing Dave without his throat makes me feel anything but superior. Why didn’t you listen to me and deploy that missile? He’d be alive now if you had.”

  Juan touched my shoulder. “Dave wouldn’t do it, querida. He said no way was he going to detonate. Said we’d get to drag your ass out for once. Then we went to the cave…”

  “It’s not your fault.” My tone was brittle. “It’s mine. I told you not to fire. I should have warned you about the vampire first. First, before I said anything else.” Abruptly I turned away and walked to the helicopter. I was almost to the door when Cooper spoke. He hadn’t said a word to me since the cave.

  “Commander.”

  I stopped and waited. My spine was straight.

  “Yes, Cooper?” Any accusation I deserved. I was in charge and a man had died. The buck stopped with me.

  “When I first heard what you were, I thought you were a freak.” His voice was matter-of-fact. “Or an accident of nature, a mistake—I don’t know. But I know this. You lead, and I’ll follow. Just like Dave did. He didn’t make a mistake by doing that.”

  Cooper passed by me and climbed into the chopper. Tate and Juan each took my hand, and together we went inside.

  Don tapped his pen on the report in front of him, one of several. W
e were both depressed. Dave’s funeral had been earlier today. Before joining us, Dave had been a fireman, so it seemed everyone from his old precinct was there. Seeing Dave’s sister crumple as she closed the lid on his coffin would haunt me forever. Two days had passed since we returned from Ohio, and Don was reading the final descriptions of what happened.

  “Four years ago, after you rescued your mother when she’d been kidnapped by vampires, stories spread about a redheaded human with incredible abilities. After your years with us, those rumors increased. Lazarus was then subsequently hired to track down and kill this mysterious ‘Red Reaper.’” Don sighed. “Which still doesn’t explain how he tied Catherine Crawfield to you. You weren’t able to make him tell you that?”

  “No.” My voice was flat. “He struggled as we were questioning him and my knife shredded his heart. How he found out the Red Reaper is really the supposedly dead Catherine Crawfield, I don’t know. Maybe it was just a lucky guess, like how he found the cave by reading old police reports that had me pegged in that area of the woods. Danny he found because the jerk apparently liked to brag about how he slept with the infamous governor murderer.”

  “And the ‘here, kitty kitty’?”

  “Years ago Hennessey, the vampire who’d been running the old governor’s operations, knew me as Cat. He must have repeated it to people.”

  Don rubbed his forehead, a sign he was tired. We were all tired, but I couldn’t sleep, only seeing Dave’s throat when I closed my eyes.

  “I suppose all that matters is that Lazarus didn’t know your current identity. On to the next concern. You were clocked at speeds of up to eighty miles an hour when you chased down Lazarus, and some of the team said that after the three of you left the cave, you came out with blood on your faces. Anything you want to tell me about?”

  Don was no fool. He knew my previous best was sixty miles an hour. Add that to the elevated levels of antibody in my bloodstream, and he had every cause to be suspicious. The three men categorically denied any unusual activity, citing Brams as the reason for their pathology results. Who was I to make it easy for him?

  “No.”

  Don sighed and pushed his chair back to stare at the wall for a minute. When he turned around, he’d given up on that line of questioning.

  “You shot Danny Milton. Is that a new hostage negotiation tactic I’m not aware of?”

  He sounded faintly approving. Danny didn’t have many fans, especially after nearly blowing my cover and Dave’s subsequent death.

  “I wanted to distract the vampires. It worked.”

  “Yes it did. We have him in witness protection. I don’t think he’ll be stupid enough to brag about you anymore. Not that there’s anything he could tell now. The cleaners have been busy with him.”

  Cleaners. A nice term for the brainwashers. I wished I’d shot him in the head instead of the side. Then I could have staked Lazarus, and Dave would have been alive. Now I owed Danny for three things—my virginity, ratting me to the police years ago, and Dave.

  “Cat.” Don stood and I followed suit. “I know you blame yourself. Everyone liked Dave. After reading the reports, it’s been determined that it was his own error which led to his death. He should have remained at attention instead of lowering his gun. It was a mistake that cost him his life. I’m giving you the next two weeks off. No training, no recruiting, no checking in. Clear your mind and shake off the guilt. There’s something to be said for living instead of just existing.”

  I gave a humorless laugh. “Living? What a neat idea. I’ll try that.”

  EIGHT

  CAT, NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN.”

  Don’s words were pleasant, but his expression told me he was about to piss me off. It was my first day back from a two-week forced vacation, and I was actually glad to get back to work. I spent the time either condemning myself over Dave’s death, or brooding over the knowledge that Bones was truly lost to me. Somehow, I’d pictured him still in that cave, waiting should I ever decide to return. Illogical, irrational, and incorrect, as it turned out. The scent of him to my improved nose was so faint as to be almost nonexistent. Bones hadn’t been there for years.

  So, back to the grind where my life was regularly in peril? Sounded good to me.

  “There’s something you’re not aware of,” Don went on. “It was a judgment call not to tell you immediately, but it’s time to inform you.”

  “What?” Ice edged the single word. “What did you in your cleverness decide to hide from me?”

  He frowned. “Don’t be snide. I made my decision based on the information that was pertinent at the time. Since you’re recovering from a poor call yourself, you shouldn’t be so quick to cast blame.”

  Uh oh, he was defensive. That wasn’t a good sign. “Okay, lay it out. What don’t I know?”

  “After Dave died, you were understandably distraught. That’s why I gave you time off. Four days into your vacation, I received a phone call from witness protection. Danny Milton had disappeared.”

  “He what?!” I jumped up and pounded my fist against the top of his desk. All his papers and equipment jumped. “How could you not have told me that? I didn’t kill Lazarus because of that sniveling shit, and Dave died because of my decision!”

  Don regarded me calmly. “I didn’t tell you because of how you’re reacting now. Dave was a soldier before he met you, Cat. He knew the risks. Don’t take that away from him. It would make him a lesser man than he was.”

  “Save the sermon for Sunday, preacher,” I snapped. “Has there been any word of Danny? A body, anything? How the fuck did he vanish four days after we left Ohio? Wasn’t he moved to a safe location like I instructed?”

  “We flew him to Chicago and had him in the hospital under guard. Frankly we don’t know what happened. Tate went to the scene himself after it happened. He saw nothing. Danny Milton hasn’t been seen or heard from since.”

  “It was a vampire.” My reply was immediate. “Only a vampire could move in and out that easily without being noticed or alarming the guards. Probably mind-fucked them into forgetting they even saw him. Something had to be left at the scene. Vampires always leave a clue—it’s like their calling card! I’m going to that hospital.”

  “No you’re not. The scene was checked and photographed, but that isn’t the issue now. The issue is whether Danny is still alive, and if so, whether he’s a security risk. Is there anything you said in front of him that could be used against you? Even though he had his memory altered, is there any risk you can think of?”

  My mind was too fixated on the sly way Danny was taken. There had to be a clue. Tate just hadn’t found it.

  “Let me see the pictures. Then I’ll think about your issue.”

  He grunted in annoyance. “I’ll give you the pictures. I’ll even do you one better. We have all of the items here at the compound, down to the last piece of lint. I’ll have them delivered to your office and you can waste your time, but when you’re done, you tell me if there’s anything Danny could repeat that should worry us.”

  I snorted rudely. “I’ll do that, Don.”

  Thirty minutes later I flipped through the photos of the hospital room. Don was correct. Everything looked as tidy as could be. Even the IV needle that had been pulled from Danny’s arm rested innocently on the bed, as if waiting for its next vein. No footprints, no fingerprints, no blood, no bodily fluid, not even a frigging sheet out of place. Molecular transportation couldn’t have been neater. Maybe that was it. Maybe Danny had been beamed right the fuck out of there. It would almost be worth telling that to Don just to see the look on his face.

  After I examined the pictures for an hour, I moved on to the personal and medical paraphernalia that were tucked in another medium-sized box. A pair of shoes, the tread not even worn. Clothes, underwear, socks, shaving cream (I poured some onto my desk. Yep, plain old shaving cream), cotton swabs, bandages, hypodermic needles carefully capped, wadded-up paper towels, a watch…

  Spots danced in
front of my vision. The hand I extended to pick up the watch shook so, I missed it twice. My heart pounded, and I felt like I was going to faint. I knew that watch. After all—it used to be mine.

  To anyone else, it was a plain old watch. Nothing fancy, no pricey brand, just an ordinary watch that could be a man’s or a woman’s. The lack of flash had been deliberate so as not to draw attention, but it had an extra feature that didn’t come standard. Push a button barely visible on its side and a page went off. A page that was short-range and only connected to one beeper. That button had saved my life once, and the last time I’d seen this watch was when I took it off my wrist and left it on top of the goodbye note I’d written Bones.

  If I’d been the one to go to Chicago, I would have found the watch. Had Don not kept me out of the loop this one time, it would have been me who went there. Me, not Tate, and Bones had all but left me his goddamn phone number. The pager was only good for a radius of five miles. He would have been that close, waiting to see if I came and pressed that button.

  I held the watch so hard, it cut into my skin. How Bones had heard about Danny or what happened I had no idea, but he’d been quick. After all these years, he’d reached out to me. I just hadn’t gotten the message in time.

  The sheer irony of it all made me laugh. That’s how Don found me, on the floor and chortling in mirthless laughter. He eyed me with caution but stayed near the door.

  “Do you mind telling me what’s so funny?”

  “Oh, you were right,” I gasped. “There’s nothing here. No clues whatsoever. But you can rest your mind about Danny Milton. Believe me when I tell you, that man is dead.”

  “What kind of vampire are we talking about?” I asked while climbing in the van. Normally the guys didn’t pick me up at home unless one was still at the scene. When Tate called to say he was on his way, I apologized to Noah, who I’d had dinner plans with, and left. Another night interrupted. Why Noah was still around, I had no idea.