Blood Song

Holy crap, it was the prince and the rest of the royal family posed in front of a row of beefy, heavily

armed men who looked more like military than bodyguards, with the prince’s new fiancee.

I stood there blinking stupidly for at least a ful minute, long enough that the cashier had to actual y say

something to get my attention. I grabbed the magazine, tossing it onto the stack of stuff I was buying.

I’d read it in the car while Bruno and Matty reinforced the wards around PharMart. They refused to

leave the night shift defenseless, particularly after I’d told Bruno about Edgar’s female companion and

how she’d been able to bespel the kid last night—through the line of protection and with his cross

glowing—without so much as breaking a sweat. In fact, that little tidbit, combined with her ability to fog

my brain, made both men very nervous.

Either she was an ubervamp, a thousand years old or better, or she was that lesser demon Matty and

his fel ow priests had been hunting. Of course, thus far they’d been so busy doing the sibling arguing

thing that I didn’t think they’d even gotten around to investigating. I’d had a chance to meet the entire

DeLuca clan one Christmas when Bruno and I were stil engaged. They’d argue long and loud, but it

never kept them from getting the job done, and it wouldn’t keep them from uniting against anything or

anyone that went after another family member. It was a perfect example of the classic “nobody picks

on my brother but me” attitude you find in so many big families, and it had made me wistful for my own

sister.

I paid for my purchases, but my mind was elsewhere. Something about the magazine picture was

nagging at me. Actual y several things, but whether it was stress, lack of sleep, or something else

entirely, I couldn’t seem to bludgeon my brain into coughing up the answer.

Scowling, my hat pul ed down to my ears, I stepped out of the air-conditioned comfort of the store into

the heat of a ful -blown argument that ground to an abrupt and awkward halt when they saw me. Gee,

think they were talking about me?

I decided to pretend I hadn’t noticed. Smiling, I turned to the elder of the two. “Hey, Matty. Long time

no see. So, is she the demon and do you think she’l come back here?”

Matty turned, glaring with enough heat that I expected to burst into flames at any second. His

chocolate brown eyes had darkened to black, and there was a dangerous flush creeping up his neck.

Stil , Mama DeLuca raised her boys to be gentlemen. He responded politely—through gritted teeth.

“Hel o, Celia. We were discussing that very thing.”

Didn’t anyone ever tell you lying’s a sin, Father?

“Real y? What did you come up with?”

Matty started to say something negative, but Bruno talked over him, earning an even blacker look

than the one I’d been given. Brave man that he is, he ignored it. “She’s not a demon. Just a very old

and dangerous bat. But why do you think she’l come back?”

It was a good question. Logical y, she shouldn’t. There was an entire world of victims out there, a

veritable buffet. But I’d bet money she’d be back here tonight, waiting for those protections to fail.

“Celia?” No, the DeLuca boys weren’t impatient. Not at al .

I tried to explain what I’d been thinking. “She hated that she couldn’t get to him. Almost as if it were a

personal affront. And she didn’t like that Edgar ordered her back. I can’t swear to it, but I’d bet she’l be

back, if for no other reason than to prove he doesn’t control her.” Petty, maybe even stupid. But while

vamps may not keep their memories, they do keep their basic personality traits. I was betting Ms.

Ubervamp had been quite the bitch back in the day.

“You sure about the demon thing?”

“Positive.” Matteo smiled, a baring of teeth. Reaching into the pocket of his black uniform trousers,

he pul ed out a little car that was very similar to the one I’d lost, except this one had a crucifix

emblazoned on its tiny little hood.

I whistled, impressed. I’d looked at one of those the other day. It had been so far out of my price

range.

“So what’s the plan? She’s not what you’re after, but she is a serious threat. Even if we put the barrier

back up, she bespel ed the kid last night as if there was no barrier. She might do it again.”

Bruno looked at his brother “Matty?”

Matty sighed. “We can’t afford to take anyone off of the main hunt. But if she got her hooks into the

kid deep enough, she’l be able to cal him. I can’t take that risk. I’l stay and deal with this.”

“Not alone you won’t.” That wasn’t diplomatic. Yes, he’d hunted bats professional y. But he hadn’t met

her. I had. One person was so not going to take this one down.

“Excuse me?” Matty puffed himself up to his ful height and would gladly have launched into me, but

Bruno stepped between us.

“She didn’t mean it like that, Matt. And it’s an old bat. You yourself have said that any bat over two

hundred needs at least a two-person team.”

Matty glared at me over his brother’s shoulder, but he didn’t argue, so Bruno continued. “Besides, it’s

been a while since we worked together.”

Oh, Lord. Male bonding. Male family bonding. I had to put a stop to this before I drowned in

testosterone. “Is Matty a mage, too?”

“Yessss.” Bruno drew the word out slowly. It was a subtle way of tel ing me that while Matty was a

mage, he wasn’t in Bruno’s league. No surprise there, few are.

“I’m only ranked at a six.” Matty spoke calmly, but the flush was stil there and his jaw was thrust out

just a little more aggressively than I would’ve liked.

“Six is enough to do a trip wire, isn’t it?” I turned to Bruno for confirmation. I thought I remembered

my lessons correctly, but my last class in the paranormal had been a long damned time ago.

He grinned, flashing deep dimples and showing a lot of white teeth. “Yes it is, you clever girl.”

Matty looked from one to the other of us. He was bright enough to know that he’d missed something,

but he didn’t share enough of the same background and education to know exactly what. I could tel it

irritated him, but beneath the frustrated anger there was a glimmer of comprehension. Until that

moment I think he’d figured I was just arm candy that his brother had been infatuated with. Our being

able to finish each other’s thoughts, however, meant there was more to our relationship than Matty had

original y thought. And while his figuring that out didn’t change a damned thing, it did make me feel a little

bit better. Because dammit, I’m not eye candy.

“Care to enlighten me?” He looked from Bruno to me, impatient for either of us to elaborate.

Bruno gave me the nod, so I started to explain.

“Either one of you could just put up the barrier. But if you do, she’l sense it. And she’l go somewhere