THIRTY

IT’LL TAKE ME ABOUT TWO HOURS TO FETCH Rodney and pick up your blokes, Kitten. Are you going to be all right with Annette until then?”

Bones was already running late. I was the reason for his tardiness, and I couldn’t bring myself to care.

“Don’t worry about it. If she gets really lippy, I have my silver.” For emphasis, I glanced at the stack of weapons in the closet.

He snorted in laughter. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather come back to both of you the way I left you.”

“If you insist. Go on, I’ll be waiting for you.”

It was said automatically, but his eyes clouded. With a sigh, I flung myself out of bed and hugged him.

“You can tell Rodney to bet his ass I’ll be here this time.”

Bones pressed his lips to my forehead and smiled, chipper again.

“Too right you will. Call your men and have them ready; I’ll see you shortly.”

“Don’t smack Tate on the way over.”

He snorted. “We’ll see.”

After he was gone, I made the invite to dinner, then listened for five minutes as Don argued about the men leaving the compound with Max on the loose.

“Two vamps and a ghoul, Don, plus me. Who’s gonna take that on? It’s only dinner, for God’s sake. I swear they’re not on the menu. They may as well meet one of the people they’ll be trusting their lives to.”

He finally gave the phone to Tate and relayed the offer. Tate accepted at once. He wanted to check out every deadhead he could, as he so nicely put it. There was no food in the house and not enough time to cook, so I showered and went to the kitchen to find the phone book. Rodney would be shit out of luck, because no delivery place I saw advertised raw meat or body parts. I settled on Italian, and ordered different dishes for everyone. Delivery would be in an hour, right about when they’d arrive.

Annette glided into the room twenty minutes later, dressed in a long, flowing skirt with a pale peach top. She looked like a million bucks, but as soon as I felt her vibe, I knew she was itching for trouble.

“Well, my dear, you must be feeling quite smug after that scene in the car, but let me remind you that I have been with Crispin for over two hundred years, and I will last the next two hundred. You, on the other hand, will astonish me if you last out the month.”

I shut the Yellow Pages with a bang. Oh, so the gloves were off, were they?

“I can see why you feel threatened, Annette. When the person you love falls in love with someone else, that’s a real bad day, isn’t it? Look, I’m willing to overlook your previous relationship and be friendly, but piss me off and you’ll regret it.”

She smiled, a nasty little curl of the lips. “You silly girl, I’ve weathered thousands of dreamers like you. Tens of thousands, as it were. Crispin always comes back to me, and do you know why? Because I give him what he really wants. He didn’t mention the rest of the story about his birthday years ago, did he? It wasn’t just the three of us-it was the five of us. Two human girls plus Belinda and I, all shagging together. I picked the humans out myself. Crispin just adores warm living flesh, and besides, we had to eat something. Well, something else, that is.”

Motherfucker. Annette chuckled at my livid expression, her goal scored. “Oh, my sweet, I can’t count all of the times there were at least two of us with him. Crispin’s so bloody insatiable. He always was, even as a human. And you’re not that sacred to him, darling. Did he tell you about the two of us just a couple months ago? You’re nothing more to him than a mere bump in a long, winding road. Best you realize that now.”

A couple months ago. So she was the “almost” from Chicago. My knuckles went white on the table.

“In fact Bones did tell me about that, Annette, but you didn’t get your usual service, did you? Bones told me he gave you a tongue lashing and then left you high and dry. That must have stung a bit, hmm? All fired up and no cock to ride?” If she wanted to play dirty, I was ready to roll. Let’s see who got covered in the most sludge.

Both impeccably plucked brows arched. “You haven’t had much experience with men, have you? He might have left me high, but it was in no ways dry. Crispin can do more with his mouth than most men can accomplish with their entire bodies. I was well satisfied, I assure you, before he left. Not what I would have preferred, certainly, but vampires are a patient lot. He’ll be back, and I’ll be waiting.”

That was it. “Do you know what you’ve done?” I asked in a bland tone. Annette gave me an inquiring look. “You’ve gotten on my last nerve.”

The table went crashing into her before she could blink, and then my fist found a home in her perfectly arranged hair. She sprawled on the tile floor before leaping up with nosferatu quickness. My cat decided to run up the stairs, apparently not interested in who won this battle.

“Fast little child, aren’t you?” Annette mocked. “You’d have to be, to still be alive. Oh dear, did I upset you? Listening to you two in bed earlier almost lulled me to sleep. I’ve never heard Crispin sound so bored.”

“I am going to knock the slut out of you, Annette,” I gritted between clenched teeth. “And that should take some doing, you uppity English tramp!”

“I am not so easily-oof!”

The chair cracked over her head, smashing into pieces, and then I threw her bodily into the next room. She wasn’t a shrinking violet, however. Annette came at me with her eyes lit up and her fangs pointed, splinters decorating her from the ruined dinette chair. Instead of waiting for her to make a move, I charged and knocked her to the floor. She snapped her jaws with purpose, but I held her by the neck, landing brutal blows with my legs and free fist. We rolled around on the floor in a blur of limbs, but the bitch never stopped speaking the whole time.

“You’ve never had him the way I have, you puritan baby. Leaving Crispin was the cleverest thing you could have done, because it only inflamed his interest. He’d have tossed you away long ago if you hadn’t. I can’t imagine why he endures the monotony of shagging you at all, since you couldn’t handle him without his leash on. Oh, and Crispin telling you he loves you? I’ve heard that from him a thousand times as well, but in my case, time has borne the truth of it. You may as well pack up and leave now; you’re already through.”

I bashed her head into the floor to shut her up, smiling when I heard a crack as something fractured. Annette was strong, but not strong enough. I jabbed my knee into her spine until it snapped. She howled as her body bent at a wrong angle. While she was temporarily immobilized, I dashed up the stairs to the bedroom, grabbing a curved silver knife.

Annette was still on the floor when I ran back down, and a bark of grim amusement escaped me.

“By God, you think I’d fall for that? The first thing Bones taught me was to kick someone when they were down.”

I drew back my foot to slam it into her ribs when she moved faster than I’d given her credit for, sweeping my other leg out from under me.

“I know that, you insolent half-breed, but you clearly didn’t listen to him instruct how to block it!”

Back on the carpet we rolled, furniture flying in our wake. For a solid ten minutes, we grappled with each other. Annette scored several blows, but in the end, I plunged that silver blade through her chest.

She froze. Her eyes went from emerald back to champagne at once, and a single ragged breath escaped her.

“At least you lived up to your billing, but you missed. Not close enough.”

I straddled her, holding the knife still. “I didn’t miss, bitch. One flick of my wrist and you’re a bad memory and an even worse smell. I think we need to have a little talk, woman to skank. I know why you’re doing this. You want me to leave him again, but I can save you the oxygen in your words, because it won’t happen. Bones forgave me for deserting him and running off for years, so you can bet your overused, group-orgy twat that I will forgive him for one bad mouthful of you. Now, are we very clear on that?”