At Grave's End

“I’m calling together members of my line, Ian’s, and other pertinent vampire Masters to witness Max’s torture.”

 

 

I blinked. “You’re holding a rally just to beat on my father in public?”

 

“Whoever aided Max and Calibos didn’t fret over my reaction to you being tortured, murdered, and mutilated. It’s obvious some people believe I don’t care, or that I’ve gone soft. But soon everyone will see what happens to those involved in a scheme to harm you.”

 

“There’s a certain sense to it,” Don said. “Making an example of one keeps the rest in line. But killing Max tonight, Bones, even if you hurt the literal hell out of him first, will only postpone another attack. You’ll still have to find out who else is involved to prevent this from happening again.”

 

“Quite right, old chap,” Bones agreed. “But I’m not going to kill Max. I’m going to keep him alive to demonstrate a new meaning of the term cruel and unusual punishment. Only when Max is completely broken in spirit will I kill him. I expect it will take years of daily suffering before that happens. Personally, I’m hoping it takes decades.”

 

Don looked ashen at this pitiless pronouncement. Rodney, Spade, and the three other vampires showed no surprise.

 

My mother stared at Bones. Then she smiled. “Now that I have to see.”

 

“You have got to be—” I began when Bones held up a hand.

 

“Wait, Kitten, this is between me and your mum. If you go, Justina, you understand you’ll be the only human there. You’d have to keep your insults directed only at the vampire on display. Can you handle that?”

 

My mother tossed her hair. “I’ve waited a long time for this. I’ll be fine. We’ll shake on it.”

 

Bones took her hand in the first time she’d ever willingly touched a vampire. To her credit, she didn’t wipe it on her clothes when he let go.

 

“Then we have an accord. Juan or Cooper, I want one of you to come, too. You can carry back what you see to her team as a warning of what awaits them should one of them be tempted to ever betray her. Don, you are not going. You don’t need to see what will happen to your brother.”

 

My mother stood up even as I thought, Uh oh. “Max is your brother?” she asked Don in a scathing voice.

 

He didn’t flinch from her anger. “Yes. He’s the reason why I founded my department. I wanted to kill my brother and all of his kind. I even used my niece to help me do it, and I never told her who I was. Bones did, when he found out. So if you’re angry at anyone, let it be me, not Cat.”

 

Brave words in a room full of pulseless creatures. Spade gave Don a disgusted glance while Rodney just licked his lips. No doubt he was mentally salting and peppering Don.

 

“You knew she was your niece when you found Catherine?” my mother asked in disbelief.

 

Don let out a sigh. “I read the assault report you filed that night you met Max. I knew it was him from your description, and then you gave birth to a child with an unusual genetic anomaly. Yes, I knew all along that Cat was part vampire—and my niece.”

 

My mother let out a bitter laugh. “So both of us used her for our own selfish reasons. That vampire over there has treated her better than her own family.”

 

Bones’s brows went up. “Justina, I believe that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

 

I was taken aback, too, but we’d gotten off the subject.

 

“I’m coming with you tonight,” I said, noticing Bones hadn’t included me in his list.

 

His face hardened. “No, Kitten. You’re not.”

 

Disbelief flared through me. “I’m the one who was beaten, shot, knifed, sliced, and burned, remember? Hell yeah, I am.”

 

“No you’re not,” Bones repeated, his voice sharpening. “If you want to give Max some comeuppance yourself, grand, but you’ll do it another time. Not tonight.”

 

The reason hit me. Bones thought I couldn’t handle what he’d dish out to Max. I’d been up to my ears in blood and guts since I was sixteen, but all of a sudden, I had to be sheltered from the ugly side of the undead?

 

“Bones, I’m not some delicate flower. I won’t be seeing anything I can’t handle.”

 

“Yes you will,” Bones replied. “If you go, you will be horrified, because I’m going to make damn sure it’s horrifying, else it doesn’t serve its purpose. No, Kitten. Your compassion is one of the things I love most about you, but in this case, it will drive us apart. You’re not going, and that’s the end of it.”

 

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