“You should have listened to Brandy,” one of the vampires purred at me in a bad imitation of a sinister voice.

“Miss Pink Toenails?” I asked as I hitched up my dress.

They watched with interest as my hem climbed higher up my legs. My hiking it up wasn’t for distraction, although that was a secondary benefit. It was to access the knives I’d strapped to my legs. When they were revealed, the mood in the room shifted from hungry and lustful to wary.

“Now, you fuckers,” I said as I rolled my head around my shoulders and palmed some knives. “Let me introduce myself.”

“You forgot one.”

I was just about to fling more knives when his voice stopped me. Bones came in and cast a thorough look around at the carnage. Most of the vampires I’d dispatched with my blades, but the ones who’d killed the kids I’d torn apart with my bare hands. It was the least I could do.

“Who?”

His smile was pleasant. “The little bitch who was sneaking around for a gun, but she’s not doing that any longer.”

Must have been Brandy with the pink toenails. His benign expression didn’t fool me. Knowing him, she’d be wearing that shade in hell.

“Two of these girls are still alive. Give them blood. Yours will work faster than what I have to offer.”

Bones took the knife I handed him and sliced his palm, going to each girl and making them swallow his blood.

“Will she be okay?” the ghost asked, hovering over his girlfriend.

Gradually I heard her pulse return to a slow but steady rhythm as Bones’s blood went to work in her, offsetting her injuries. After a moment, I smiled. “Yeah. She will be now.”

He smiled back, showing that in life, he’d had dimples. God, he was so young! Then he frowned.

“They’re not all here. There were three more of those creatures. They said they’d be back.”

Probably went out to rustle up more dinner. Bastards. “I’ll get them,” I promised. “Don’t worry. It’s my job.”

He smiled again…and then started to fade at the edges, growing fainter, until there was nothing left of him.

I stared in silence. Then, “Is he gone?”

Bones knew what I meant. “I expect so. He accomplished what he wanted to, so he’s moved on. Sometimes a few stubborn people hang on long enough to do one last thing.”

And he’d trusted me to take care of that last thing for him. There might not be much I could say I was good for, but avenging people who’d had their lives stolen from them was definitely my specialty.

I headed for the door.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Bones asked.

“Grabbing Miss Pink Toenails and piling her in here with the rest of them,” I threw over my shoulder. “Then I’m going to wait until their friends come back, and kill the hell out of them.”

Bones came after me. “Sounds like fun.”

We were on the dance floor nearest to the bathrooms. Anyone looking to access that grisly private room would have to pass by us first. I’d objected to dancing with him, even though it was our best cover option, but Bones just dragged me onto the floor in much the same way he had on our first date.

“You are a professional killer, aren’t you?” he asked. “You can’t hover around that hallway with blood spattered on you and expect to look inconspicuous.”

My lavender dress did have red streaks on it. I’d washed the blood off my hands in the bathroom, but there was no fixing that. Bones was right-I’d stick out like a sore thumb loitering in the hallway, or even at the bar. Pressed against him on the dance floor, however, no one would see it.

Except that being pressed against Bones on the dance floor was playing hell on my self-control. The last time I’d held him this way had been the morning I left him. I remembered it like yesterday: me fighting back tears and reminding myself that leaving him was the only option.

Yeah, some things hadn’t changed.

I sought around for a distraction. Anything other than focusing on how much I’d missed being in his arms.

“Why are you here anyway? I thought you’d be busy with Felicity, what with how the two of you looked.”

His brow rose. “Did seeing me kiss her bother you? I can’t imagine why. Didn’t you tell me in your note to move on with my life?”

A low blow. I started to pull away, but he just tightened his grip. It was either stay put or cause a scene and possibly miss catching the killers.

Grimly I began to dance again, hating that I still cared so much when it seemed Bones only had anger left in him.

“They knew what I was, Bones. The men who came to the hospital that day, they knew everything from my pathology reports. And they knew about vampires. The one in charge-”

“Don?” he supplied.

Oh, so he’d done his homework. “Yes, Don. He said he’d been looking his whole life for someone strong enough to fight vampires who wasn’t one of them. He offered me a deal. He’d relocate us, and I’d lead his team. In return he promised to leave you alone. We couldn’t have all survived any other way. We would have been hunted like animals, and you know my mother would have rather died than gone with you. She’d also rather see me killed than changed into a vampire, and let’s face it, that’s what you would have eventually wanted me to do!”

Bones let out a bitter snort, twirling me a little too hard.

“Is that what this whole bleedin’ thing was about? You believing I’d turn you into a vampire? Bloody hell, Kitten, did it ever occur to you to talk to me instead of just running off?”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. You would have insisted on it eventually,” I replied stubbornly.

“You should have trusted me,” he muttered. “When did I ever lie to you?”

“When have you lied to me?” I pounced. “How about when you kidnapped and murdered Danny Milton? You swore to me you’d never touch Danny, but I don’t suppose he’s off in Mexico sipping margaritas, is he?”

“You made me swear not to kill, cripple, maim, dismember, blind, torture, bleed, or inflict any injury on Danny Milton. Or stand by while someone else did. You should save your concern for someone worthy; Danny gave you up like a bad habit straightaway. You know that brainwashing rot doesn’t hold up under a Master vampire’s eyes. At least the bugger was finally useful. He told me where you lived. Virginia. I had you narrowed down to three states, and Danny saved me some time. That’s why I told Rodney to kill him fast and painless-and I didn’t stay to watch.”

“You bastard,” I managed.

Bones shrugged. “Since the day I was born.”

We danced in silence for a few minutes. I kept looking around for any telltale crystal skin on the patrons, but so far Bones and I were the only nonhumans. Where are you, bloodsuckers? Here, fangy, fangy, fangy…

“So, how long have you been dating the pet vet?” Bones asked.

The derisiveness in his tone stiffened my spine. “None of your business.”

He gave a short laugh. “Indeed? You looked like you were about to ram a stake through Felicity’s heart earlier, yet you begrudge me a simple question?”

The music changed to something slower. I cursed it, Bones, and the killers who’d put me in this situation.

“I wanted to ram a stake through her heart because she’s a shallow bitch who pisses me off. It had nothing to do with you.”

Bones’s laugh became softer. “Liar.”

He moved closer, his body dipping into mine in time with the music. The feel of his muscles moving in sinuous ripples under his clothes made my hands clench. Now I was fighting back something other than tears as I reminded myself it could never work between us.

His nostrils flared. Inwardly I cursed. I could fake cool all I wanted, but Bones was a vampire. He’d be able to tell from one whiff how he was affecting me.

“Perhaps you did miss me after all,” he said low, flecks of green appearing in his eyes.