“Oh, this’ll be fun!”
“Where’s she off to?” I heard Spade ask.
Bones made a noise that was almost pitying. “To hand you your arse, and for the record, if I thought I had a chance of keeping her out of this, I would. Woman’s stubborn beyond reason.”
“Stubbornness won’t keep her alive. I’m astounded you’d allow her to—”
Spade stopped talking when he saw me, probably because of what was in my hands.
“Okay, you’re a big bad vampire who’s gonna rip my throat out, right? You see I’m armed—with steel, by the way, since this is a demonstration and I don’t want you to end up smelly—and you don’t care because you’re all that and I’m just an artery in a dress. If you get a mouth on my throat, you win, but if I plug your heart first, I do.”
Spade’s eyes slid to Bones. “Is she joking?”
Bones cracked his knuckles and stepped aside. “Not at all.”
“Dinner’s getting cold,” I taunted him. “Come and get me, bloodsucker.”
Spade laughed—and then feinted right before leaping at me with blurring speed. He was a breath away when he looked down in surprise.
“Well, strike me pink!” he said, pulling himself up in midtackle.
“I don’t know what that means, but okay.”
Two steel blades were in his chest. He stared at them before ripping them out and turning to Bones in amazement.
“I don’t believe it.”
“That’s just what I said, mate,” Bones replied dryly. “She has a real talent with knives. It’s a damn good thing she hadn’t practiced throwing them before we met, or I might not be here.”
“Indeed.” Spade was still shaking his head when he looked my way next. “All right, Cat. You’ve made an excellent point that you’re far deadlier than you look. I see I can’t sway you to leave this business with Hennessey alone, and Crispin clearly has confidence in you, so I bow in defeat.”
He actually did give me a bow, his long dark hair brushing the cave floor with the graceful motion of it. It was such a courtly, refined gesture that I laughed.
“What were you before they sent you to prison, a duke?”
Spade straightened and smiled. “Baron Charles DeMortimer. At your service.”
The streetlight above me was broken. Farther down the alley, a cat snarled at some unknown threat. On the opposite corner, the sandy-haired vampire bounced on the balls of his feet, almost hopping in place. He was clearly excited.
I wasn’t. It was two a.m. and most people were in bed, which sounded good to me. Thanks to the hyper vampire I was walking toward, however, that wasn’t in the cards.
“Hey, man.”
I twitched as I approached, flicking my gaze in several directions and hunching my shoulders. With my fresh bruises, scratches, and dingy clothes, I looked like the poster child for drug addiction. It wasn’t hard to pull off. I’d just refrained from taking blood after Bones roughed me up for authenticity.
“You got some horse, man?” I continued, rubbing my arms as if fantasizing about a needle.
He let out a high-pitched giggle. “Not here, chickie. But I can get some. Come with me.”
“You’re not a cop, are you?” I backed up as if wary.
Another giggle. “Not that.”
Had a sense of humor, did he? Well, wait until he heard my punch line. “I don’t have time for you to call someone, I’m hurtin’ here—”
“It’s in my car,” he cut me off. “Right down this way.”
He almost skipped down the alley. At the other end of it was an even more derelict street.
“This way,” he sang out as I followed more slowly, looking around to see if there were any more dead men walking near him. “Right here, chickie.”
The vampire held open his car door and beamed at me. Obligingly, I crouched down to look inside.
The blow was expected, but it still hurt. I fell forward into the passenger seat as a normal person would, letting my limbs go limp. The vampire giggled and swung my legs inside, slamming the door. Another tee-hee-hee later and we were off.
I was slumped next to him. He didn’t pay any attention to me, but kept snickering as he drove. It was annoying. I had PMS and a test this morning. Boy, had he picked the wrong girl.
Without warning, his car was rammed from behind. The sharp impact provided the perfect distraction for me to pull my silver out of my boot. He let out a loud squeal as I plunged it into his chest, missing his heart deliberately, but close enough to get his attention.
“Shut up, chirpy!” I snapped. “Pull over, or you’ll get rear-ended again. And if that happens, you can guess where this blade will end up.”
The shock on his face was almost comical. Then his eyes flared.
“Take your hands off me!”
“Don’t waste that glow on me, buddy, it won’t work. You’ve got about three more seconds to pull over, or it’s nighty-night for you.”