Bones arched an unperturbed brow, not disputing that.
“You’d just have him pull Don out from under the dirt, Cat,” Dave said with a wry smile.
I smiled back. That’s what Bones had done to Dave after Dave had been killed on a job. I’d known vampire blood was a powerful healing elixir, but I hadn’t known that if a mortally wounded person swallowed some before dying, he or she could be brought back later as a ghoul.
Don coughed. “Be that as it may, everyone agrees it’s become too dangerous for you to continue on as bait. Think of the bystanders, Cat. Whenever there’s a Code Red, more of them stand a chance of getting killed.”
He was right. Tonight was a prime example. Vampires and ghouls got pretty desperate when they were cornered. Add in the fact that I didn’t have a reputation for taking prisoners, and what did they have to lose by taking as many humans down with them as they could?
“Shit.” It was an acknowledgment of defeat. “But we don’t have any females on our team, thanks to your sexist rules, Don, and we have another job next week. That’s not enough time to round up a qualified female soldier, break the bad news to her about vampires and ghouls, train her to defend herself, and then have her dolled up and ready for action.”
There was silence after this pronouncement. Don tugged at his eyebrow, Juan whistled, and Dave cracked his neck.
“What about Belinda?” Tate suggested.
I gaped at him. “But she’s a murderer.”
Tate grunted. “Yeah, but she’s performed well as a training toy with the men. Based on her good behavior, we’ve promised to let her go in ten years. Maybe taking her out on jobs will be a good indicator of whether she’s turned over a new leaf like she’s claimed.”
Bones gave a slight shrug. “It’s risky, but Belinda’s a vampire, so she’s strong enough for the work. Plus she’s fetching enough to pose as bait, and she’d require no training.”
I didn’t like Belinda, and that wasn’t just because she’d once tried to kill me. She also had a history with Bones that involved his birthday party, another vampire named Annette, two other girls, and very little talking.
“Don?” I asked.
“We’ll try Belinda next week,” he said at last. “If she can’t handle it, then we’ll find a suitable replacement.”
Using a vampire as bait to trap and kill other vampires. It was almost as crazy as what we’d been doing, which was using me, a half vampire, for the same thing.
“There’s one more thing to discuss,” Don said. “When Bones joined us over three months ago, it was with conditions. His most significant contribution to our operation hasn’t been requested…until today.”
I tensed, because I knew what that meant. To my left, Bones lifted a bored brow.
“I won’t welsh on our agreement, so name the man you want me to change into a vampire.”
“Me.”
The single word came from Tate. My gaze swung to him.
“You hate vampires!” I burst out. “Why would you want to turn into one?”
“I hatehim,” was Tate’s immediate agreement. “But you’re the one who said it’s the person who makes the character of a vampire, not the other way around. Which means I would have hated Bones when he was human, too.”
Nice, I thought, still shocked by Tate’s intention.Good to know he was keeping an open mind about the undead. Yeah, right.
Bones raked Don with a look. “I’ll need time to prepare him for the transition, and let’s get one thing clear straightaway.” He turned his attention back to Tate. “It won’t make her love you.”
I glanced away. Bones had said out loud what I’d been worried about, too. God, I hoped I had nothing to do with Tate’s decision to be the first person on the team to turn into a vampire.Please let him not do something that drastic because of me.
“I love you as a friend, Tate.” My voice was soft. I hated to say this in front of a group, but they all knew how Tate felt. He hadn’t been very shy about it recently. “You’re one of my best friends, in fact. But a friend is the only way I see you.”
Don cleared his throat. “Unless you or Bones have a legitimate concern, Tate’s personal feelings are irrelevant.”
“Motivation is my concern,” Bones said at once. “What if bitterness overwhelms him when he can’t pry her from my side, and let me assure you, mate, you won’t. So the question remains-is he choosing this for himself, or for her? If he does it for the wrong reason, he’ll have plenty of time to regret it.”
At last Tate spoke. “My reasons are my own, and my commitment to my job won’t suffer for them.”
Bones gave him a thin smile. “In a hundred years this job and your boss will be long gone, but you’ll still be my creation. You’ll owe me your fealty unless I permit you your own line or you challenge me and take it. Sure you want to sign on for that?”
“I can handle it,” was all Tate said.
Bones shrugged. “Then it’s settled. If all goes well, soon you’ll have your vampire, Don. Like I promised.”
Don had an expression that was both grim and satisfied. “I hope I won’t regret it.”
So did I.
TWO
I WOKE UP ALONE IN OUR BED LATER. ASLEEPY glance around showed that Bones wasn’t in the bedroom. Curious, I went downstairs and found him on the couch in our family room.
Bones was staring out the window at the mountain ridge in the distance. Vampires had the ability to sit with utter stillness, as immobile as statues. Certainly, Bones was beautiful enough to be a work of art. Moonlight made his hair look lighter than its deep brown shade. He’d changed it from blond back to its natural color to be less noticeable when we were on jobs. Those faint silvery rays also caressed the dips and hollows of Bones’s crystal skin, highlighting his lean, rippled physique. His darker brows almost matched the color of his eyes when they weren’t lit up by vampire green. Shadows made his high cheekbones look even more perfectly etched when he turned his head and saw me standing there.
“Hey.” I tightened the robe I’d thrown on, feeling his tension in the air. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, luv. I’m just a touch nervous, actually.”
That got my attention. I sat next to him. “You never get nervous.”
Bones smiled. “I have something for you. But I don’t know if you’ll want it.”
“Why wouldn’t I want it?”
Bones slid off the couch to kneel in front of me. I still didn’t get it. Only when I saw the small black velvet box in his other hand did it hit me.
“Catherine.” If I hadn’t already guessed, his one and only use of my real name would have clued me in. “Catherine Kathleen Crawfield, will you marry me?”
It didn’t hit me until right then how much I’d wanted Bones to ask me that. Sure, we were married under vampire law, but having Bones cut his hand, slap it over mine, and declare me to be his wife didn’t feel quite like the white wedding fantasies I’d had as a little girl. Plus, Bones had done it to prevent an all out brawl between his people and his sire Ian’s people over the issue of who had dibs on me.
Looking at Bones now made all my childish imaginings pale into nothingness, however. True, Bones was a former-human-gigolo-turned-vampire-hitman instead of a charming prince, but no fairy tale heroine could have felt the way I did, with the man I was insanely in love with asking me on bended knee to be his wife. My throat closed off with emotion. How had I ever gotten so lucky?
Bones made a noise of amused exasperation. “Of all the times for you to be speechless. If you don’t mind, choose one response or the other. The suspense is torturing me.”
“Yes.”
Tears came to my eyes even as I started to laugh at the sheer joy bubbling up inside me.
