THE Hummer was equipped with bulletproof windows, a reinforced frame, and a backseat that couldn’t be opened from the inside. Tammy found that out when she tried to escape as soon as we’d thrown her in and sped off. Then she’d shrieked for another ten minutes, ignoring my repeated statements that we weren’t going to hurt her. Finally, she calmed down enough to ask questions.

“You shot that guy in the head.” Her eyes were wide. “But that didn’t kill him. How is that possible?”

I could lie. Or I could use the power in my gaze to make her believe she hadn’t seen anything unusual. But it was her life on the line, so she deserved the truth.

“He wasn’t human.”

Even after what she’d seen, her first reaction was denial. “What kind of bullshit is that? Did my cousin send you?”

“If he’d sent us, you’d be dead now,” Bones said, not taking his attention off the road. “We’re your protection.”

I knew the exact moment Tammy got a good look at the vampire who’d snatched us out of thin air, because she stared. Her scent changed, too. That former reek of terror became a more perfumed fragrance as she checked out his high cheekbones, dark hair, ripped physique, and sinfully gorgeous profile.

Young, old, alive, undead, doesn’t matter, I thought ruefully. When Bones is around, women go into heat.

But Tammy had just been through a very traumatic experience, so I ignored the vampire territorialism that made me want to grab Bones and snap, “Mine!” Instead, I handed her a pack of wet wipes.

She looked at them with an incredulous expression. “What do you expect me to do with these?”

“Nothing works better to wipe off blood, believe me,” I said, showing her my newly cleaned arms.

Tammy looked at them, at me, and at Bones. “What is going on?”

“She already told you,” Bones said, pulling over on the side of the road and putting the vehicle in park. “But you need more proof before you believe us, right?” He held up his hand. “Watch.”

Bones dragged a knife across his hand, cutting open a line of flesh. Tammy stared as it closed moments later as if it had an invisible zipper. Fabian didn’t even blink. The ghost was used to the healing abilities of the undead.

“I’m a vampire, that’s why I can do this. Name’s Bones, by the way.”

“And I’m Cat,” I added. “I’d introduce you to Fabian, but you can’t see him anyway. We’re your guardians until my uncle tracks down your cousin and arrests him.”

Tammy’s face was almost comical in its incredulity. “But it’s daylight,” she said at last. “Vampires can’t go out in the sun, everyone knows that!”

Bones chuckled. “Right. And we shrink back from crosses, can’t travel over water, can’t enter a home unless invited, and always get staked in the end by the righteous slayer. Really, who’d be afraid of a creature like that? All you’d need is a Bible, a tanning bed, and some holy water to send us shivering to our dooms.”

Tammy shook her head slowly. I watched with sympathy. Denial was how I’d reacted at sixteen when I found out my absentee father had been a vampire, and that it wasn’t puberty causing my strangeness, but the growth of my inhuman traits.

“I know it’s hard to believe since vampires and ghouls look human most of the time,” I tried again, “but—”

“Let me get this straight,” Tammy interrupted. “I asked some of my father’s old government friends for help when ‘accidents’ kept happening to me, and someone sent a vampire to protect me?”

Fabian began to laugh. I gave the ghost a censuring look that silenced his chuckles, but even though he was partially transparent, it was clear his lips were still twitching.

“Actually, two vampires,” I corrected. “The ghost was a bonus.”

“I’m a dead woman,” Tammy muttered.

Bones snorted. “Told you this job wouldn’t be easy, luv.”

He was right, but I owed Don a favor. Even if I hadn’t, I would still be here. Last month, Tammy had almost been killed by a “freak” electrical surge. Two weeks ago, a drive-by shooting nearly took her life. Could’ve been unfortunate coincidences, except for the fact that if Tammy died before her twenty-first birthday, all her father’s millions would go to her cousin, Gables. Tammy’s late father had been an old friend of my uncle’s, and Don didn’t believe in coincidences. Then Don did some digging and heard that the next attempt on Tammy would involve an “exotic” kind of hit man who never failed.

Don knew what that meant. He ran a special Homeland Security division that dealt with the supernatural—not that taxpayers knew part of their money went toward policing things that supposedly didn’t exist. I was retired from the unit, but that made it even better for my uncle. Don didn’t need to use an active team member to look after his old friend’s daughter. No, he could call me, knowing I wouldn’t turn away a girl who had her head on a preternatural chopping block.

Tammy seemed to have gotten over her initial shock. She tossed her blond hair. “I offered to pay for protection, and if you’re the ones protecting me, that means you work for me. So I’m going to lay some ground rules, got it?”

My brows rose. Fabian whistled, but of course Tammy couldn’t hear the ghost. You better hurry up and arrest her cousin, Don, I thought.

Bones gave me a knowing look. “Told you not to answer your mobile whilst we were on vacation, Kitten.”

I sighed.

Tammy ordered, “Take me back to my house,” but Bones ignored her, pulling onto the road and continuing in the opposite direction of where she lived.

“It’s only for a few days,” I said.

Or so I hoped, anyway.

Two

MOST people who’d had three brushes with death—one involving a ghoul—would be scared into a very cooperative state. Tammy appeared to be channeling her inner Paris Hilton instead. Evidently she’d never heard the word no before. She was outraged that we didn’t let her go back to her house to pack, and then she was really upset once she saw the town we were hiding out in.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Tammy gave a disparaging glance at the rustic countryside and overgrown cherry orchard bordering the property where I’d grown up.

“It’s in the middle of nowhere,” Tammy went on. “You probably have psychotic inbreds living in the woods!”

She’s suffered a traumatic experience, I reminded myself again, gritting my teeth. Cut her some slack.

Licking Falls was in the middle of rural nowhere, but that was the point. It might not look appealing to a young heiress, but for safety, it was ideal. No one would think to look for Tammy here.

We’d rounded the last turn and were heading down the long gravel road that led to my old house when Bones abruptly stopped.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, feeling his tenseness like invisible ants marching across my skin.

“Your house isn’t empty,” he stated low. “And the occupant isn’t human.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Tammy said, her voice rising. “Now!”

I had my hand over her mouth even as Bones slid soundlessly out of the car. All we needed was for Tammy to start screaming to really alert whoever the undead intruder was. How the hell had someone beaten us here? We’d told no one we were coming! Instinct made me want to follow Bones, but that would leave Tammy unprotected. I glared at Tammy and ordered her in a low tone to be silent. The power from my gaze rendered Tammy mute at once. Then I let go of her mouth and pulled out a few weapons, all my senses directed toward the house half a mile up the road.

Relief rolled across my subconscious moments later, causing me to lessen my grip on my knives. Bones must have killed the intruder. Being connected to Bones this way was like hitchhiking on his emotions. In situations like this, it also came in handy.