“Sorry,” I muttered.
“Quite all right,” he said with a smile that somehow made me feel less of a schmuck than I’d acted like. “Just a bit more difficult to walk.”
I laughed at the picture of him trying to go any distance with my throwing hand clutched to his chest and my other one pried to his ass. Yeah, that would be dicey.
“You can let go now,” I whispered, feeling more in control and determined to be adult about things. Okay, so chances were, at one time he and our little would-be turncoat had had a fling. Could have been a century ago. Before my grandparents were even born. I could handle it. If I were a man, I’d want to have sex with her, too. See? Very adult.
Bones sat next to me on the couch, Spade took the empty space by him (raising my opinion of him), and that left Francesca to slink into the chair opposite us. My feeling of superiority was short-lived, however, when she settled herself down and then crossed her legs.
I didn’t need a mirror to know my whole face had just turned red. With a hemline up to her thighs, that gesture didn’t leave anything to the imagination. Bones curled his fingers around mine and squeezed. His hand was still warmed from our contact moments ago. That’s how fast he had to grab me again to keep me sitting where I was instead of yanking off my jacket to make her a pair of panties.
“We all know why we’re here,” he said in an unruffled voice, as if Francesca hadn’t just flashed him a shaved beaver pelt. “It’s no secret that I’m after Hennessey and you’re one of his, Francesca. I know you and he aren’t close, but it is still the highest offense to betray your sire. Make no mistake, I’m out to kill him, and any information you give me will be used for that purpose.”
You go, boy! I silently applauded him. Cut right to the point and show her a little snatch doesn’t distract you! You are SO getting lucky tonight.
Francesca’s mouth curled. “Why else would I be here, if I didn’t want you to kill him? If you were to do less, I wouldn’t risk it. You know I’ve hated him for the past ninety-three years. Ever since he took me from my convent and turned me.”
“You were a nun?” I asked in disbelief, actually peeping back up her dress to make sure I hadn’t misunderstood. “You’re kidding.”
“Bones, what is her purpose here? Why must she stay?” Francesca demanded, ignoring me.
His eyes glinted emerald at her. “She’s here because I want her to be, and it’s not up for discussion.”
That statement just upgraded him from sex to sex with a blow job first. Not that I minded the extra activity, to be honest. I’d found out I enjoyed it. Guess that made for two tramps in this room.
“I want Hennessey dead,” Francesca summarized after losing a staring contest with Bones. “He has been my Master for too long.”
This bewildered me. “What does she mean, her Master?” I asked Bones. Was Francesca a slave? Just when I thought Hennessey couldn’t sink any lower in my opinion.
“Vampires operate under a form of pyramid scheme,” Bones explained. “Each line is ranked by the strength of its head, or the Master, and every person the Master sires is under the Master’s rule. Feudalism would be another example of it. There you had the lord of the manor, and they were responsible for the welfare of all those on their lands, but in return, their people owed them loyalty and part of their income. Such is the way with vampires, with a few more variations.”
This was news to me, and it sounded barbaric. “So. In other words, vampire society is like Amway and a cult rolled into one.”
Francesca muttered something in Spanish that didn’t sound complimentary.
“Speak English, and without the sarcasm,” Bones said to her curtly.
Big dark eyes blinked in anger. “If I didn’t know you to be the man you are, I’d leave right now.”
“But you do know me,” Bones replied smoothly. “And if I choose to detail our world to the woman I’m with, that shouldn’t suggest I take your position less seriously. You really should show Cat a bit more respect. It was because of her your fondest wish was nearly granted and Hennessey was almost dust.”
At that, Francesca laughed. “You’re the vomiter!”
I didn’t know if that was technically a word, but I got her drift. What a way to be referred to.
“That’s me.”
She was still smiling. It made her even more radiant. With that faint dusky tone to her flesh, she looked like she was made of colored diamonds. “Well, ni?a, that does afford you some latitude. Hennessey didn’t say very much about you. He was too incensed, and so humiliated. It was truly a pleasure to witness.”
“Does he know how much you hate him?” I asked with skepticism. “Because if he does, how are you going to get close enough to help us?”