“We give a warning and show the proof. Like you said, Tate—I’ll use those heads as props.”
“All units, stand by,” Tate said into his radio. It didn’t escape me that he sounded both pissed and resigned.
We made our way single file back up the stairs. Bones went first, followed by me, Tate, Dave, and our rescued couple, who hadn’t said much all night. When we were all out, Bones lifted me up onto the counter of the fake bar, since my hands were full, and let out a whistle that pierced even over the loud music.
“Shut that noise off,” he barked, giving a menacing green glare to the puzzled vampire in what I assumed was the DJ box.
The pumping techno beat was silenced. There were sounds of protest that cut off when people saw me. You could say I stood out, what with being perched on a bar holding four severed heads by their hair.
“I’ll make this quick so you can get back to your fun. I’m the Red Reaper, and these four”—I held the heads up for better viewing—“took their games too far by killing my kind. If it happens again here, I’ll come back.”
Two hundred pairs of eyes stared at us, and most of them didn’t come with heartbeats. Inside I tensed. Who knew how this would go? Things could get very unpleasant very fast.
Bones held out his hand to help me down, and I dropped my grisly trophies and took it.
Maybe some of them recognized who he was, or could guess. Or maybe it was simple apathy. Either way, one by one, the humans and nonhumans pulled back until there was a clear path from our position to the door. Bones set me down from the bar, and all of us walked uninterrupted to the exit.
“Un-fucking-real,” Tate muttered when we reached the parking lot.
“Which just shows you how much you have to learn,” Bones replied.
THIRTEEN
B ONES AND I DROVE TO DENISE’S THE NEXT day. I hadn’t seen my best friend in a while, what with gearing up for Tate’s change and then the whole aftermath of my kidnapping. So just to hang out with her and relax was nice. Denise also knew everything about me, Bones, vampires, ghouls, and even the war we were in. I had to call her and explain the reason behind her abrupt relocation, after all. Don probably just told her and her husband, Randy, to pack without giving any reason why.
Their new house was on the outskirts of Memphis. It was a good thing Randy was a private computer consultant and could work wherever, because I would have hated to be the cause of him losing his job. Denise had quit her job shortly after they got married, so again, I was spared some guilt. They hadn’t said anything, but I thought they were trying for a baby. It would explain her sudden interest in things she’d never bothered with before. Case in point, she made dinner for us instead of ordering out. Definitely a new trait.
“This is really good,” I enthused, helping myself to more pot roast. “We’ll have to come here for the holidays. As you know, I burn water.”
Denise grinned. “Or you could have your own party and let Rodney cook. Didn’t you tell me he was amazing in the kitchen?”
“Oh, he is,” I answered, mouth still full. Then I cocked my head. “Bones, how dangerous would it be for us to have a Christmas party?”
He considered the question. “Have to only invite a few people, but I don’t think it would be cause for any real alarm.”
I swallowed as the idea grew in my mind. “I’ve never done that kind of thing before. My grandparents weren’t social butterflies and I didn’t much feel like entertaining during the years we were apart. Our guesthouse is finished, so we’d have plenty of room. We can’t have our wedding right now, but we can have a small holiday party. It’ll be our first Christmas together, Bones.”
He smiled at me. “That’s an excellent reason to celebrate, and I know Rodney would be delighted to come and cook. It’s his favorite pastime.”
Denise clapped her hands. “Oh, it’ll be so cool. I’ve never celebrated a holiday with dead people before!”
Randy rolled his eyes, but Bones just laughed. “Yes, that usually does make for a more interesting time than a midnight Mass at church, I suspect.”
“We’ll have to invite my mother, too,” I said. “In fact, she’s not that far from here. Rodney’s place is what? About an hour away?”
Bones nodded. “Yes. Want to visit her next?”
I considered my options. If she knew I’d been this close to her and hadn’t stopped by, I’d never hear the end of it. Okay, so that was settled.
“We’ll drop by. God knows she’ll be there. The woman never goes out.”
“When’s her new place going to be ready?” Denise asked.
“Next week. I think Don deliberately took a while relocating her out of Rodney’s to pay her back for some of the grief she’s heaped over him in the past. There’s no reason it should have taken so long to get her a safe place, not that I’ll tell her that.”
Denise got up, rummaged in her pantry for a minute, and then came out with an unopened bottle of gin.
“Here. If you’re going to your mother’s, you’ll need this.”