“You were a bleedin’ dentist, and a rotten one from what I hear. Still, you are without a doubt the fastest shooter I’ve seen anywhere in any era, and I shall be grateful to you the rest of my days.” Bones glanced at Vlad next. “Pull that knife out of Rattler once my wife is clear of his reach.” To Spade, he said simply, “Let Tate loose.”
The clanking of irons was the only sound now as Spade released Tate from his restraints. Once free, Tate stretched in much the same manner Doc had, only with a lot less graciousness for his rough treatment.
“Told you it wasn’t me.”
“I knew you suspected me,” Doc said. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable this morning, Cat, but Rattler had been skulking around the side of the house after you. He knew I saw him, and it made him desperate. I followed him down here just in time to see him stab Annette. At least my bullets kept him from finishing her.”
Bones laid his hand on Doc’s shoulder. “Take Annette out of here, and once again, you have my deepest gratitude.”
After the two of them left, Bones turned to Vlad with a cold smile. “Let’s fill that vacancy on the wall, shall we?”
There was a matching smile on the former prince’s lips as the two of them strapped Rattler into the same clamps that had held Tate.
“You must be hungry,” I said to Tate, who’d gone to my side as soon as he was released. “They’re stocked here, believe me. Have someone show you.”
Tate rubbed his arms, as if he could still feel those clamps biting into them. “It can wait. Your head’s bleeding.”
“I’ll tend to her.”
With Rattler bound, Bones came to me, pressing his lips against the wound in my crown.
“You could have cracked your skull like an egg smashing into that wall, let alone the risk of getting shot. Mule-headed woman, at least it appears your stubbornness is well protected by a thick layer of bone. Have I thanked you yet for your reckless disregard of my directive to stay upstairs?”
“No,” I said with a small smile.
Bones set me back, pulling a knife from his pants. “I will. Promise.”
He cut his palm and placed it over my head. The tingling sensation was almost instant as my flesh healed. With a last brush of his lips, he let me go, and turned to the vampire who was the center of attention.
“Why?”
It was asked with the threat of punishment and the pain of betrayal combined. Rattler dropped his gaze.
Spade rammed his elbow so hard into Rattler’s rib cage that half his arm disappeared from sight.
“You were asked a question, Walter!”
Walter, a.k.a. Rattler, gave a gasp of pain even as Bones laid a hand on Spade.
“It’s all right, mate. We’ll give him a chance to confess without bloodying him first.” Then to Rattler, with a much harder tone.
“You know how this will go down. No matter how brave you fancy yourself, everyone breaks eventually. So you will either detail exactly when, why, and how you threw your lot in with Patra with all your limbs and skin attached…or with new parts growing as fast as we can tear them off.”
For once, such a grim pronouncement didn’t fill me with the slightest bit of compassion. It was all I could do not to fling myself on Rattler and start ripping him to pieces just for the sheer enjoyment of it.
“Was it for money?” I hissed. “All that gold and glory she promised? Is that it, were you just greedy?”
“I don’t care about money.” Whether it was spoken to me or Bones was a toss-up; Rattler glanced at both of us. “I did what I had to do for love.”
“For love?” I repeated. “You’re in love with Patra? Then you’re stupid as well as a backstabbing asshole.”
“Not Patra. For Vivienne.”
“Patra killed Vivienne, why would you—” Bones began, and then stopped. He shook his head with a sound that was much too callous to be laughter.
“Ah, I see. All this time, then? You told me Vivienne had been slain months ago. I grieved with you, you sod, and all the while you were waiting for your chance!”
It clicked then. I remembered the explosion at Mencheres’s house caused by vampires who’d turned themselves into walking bombs all for the sake of whoever Patra had kidnapped beforehand. Seems Patra had done the same with Rattler by kidnapping someone he loved to get him to betray Bones. What a truly vile person Patra was. If possible, I hated her even more.
“How do you even know Vivienne’s still alive?” Bones asked.
Rattler looked even more pained than he did right after Spade had elbowed him out the other side.
“Because every week Patra calls me…and lets me hear her scream.”
Bones began to pace in limited, impotent strides.
“I only told her about the train,” Rattler went on. “I had nothing to do with the attacks on your wife. Earlier, I was going to snatch Cat and threaten to kill her unless you slew yourself in my sight, but Doc saw me, and I knew he’d shoot me before I could grab her. So I came to where you were holding the only other person the Reaper would endanger herself for, but I failed. I know you’ll punish me as an example, yet I ask one thing…”
“You’d dare ask me for anything?” Harshly.