In an instant his mouth clamped onto the man’s neck, and the hapless stranger let out a small whimper. Bones released him after a few moments, wiping his sleeve across his lips.
“You’re tired,” he instructed him in that resonating voice. “You’re going to lie down here and go to sleep. When you wake up you won’t fret about your car. You left it at home, and you went for a walk. You want to walk home, but only after you’ve rested. And you are very, very weary.”
Like a child the man curled in a semicircle on the ground and rested his head on his arms. He was asleep instantly.
“We needed a car they weren’t looking for,” Bones said by way of explanation. I followed him to the new vehicle. When we were back on the highway, I turned to him.
“Show me the note.” Since we’d been riding on a motorcycle before, I hadn’t asked, fearing it would be lost in the hundred-plus-mile-per-hour wind from our speed.
Bones gave his head a little shake and pulled the note out of his belt.
“You won’t understand it. They knew I would.”
Carefully I uncrumpled the paper that held the only clue to my mother’s whereabouts:
Recompense. Twice past day’s death.
“Does it mean she’s still alive?”
“Oh, that’s what it’s supposed to mean. If you trust them.”
“Do you trust them in this? Is there some kind of…vampire code not to lie about hostages?”
He glanced over at me. The compassion on his face didn’t lend comfort.
“No, Kitten. But Hennessey might figure he has a use for her. Your mother is still a lovely woman, and you know what he does with lovely women.”
White-hot fury coursed in me at the picture he painted, but it was an honest one. Lies wouldn’t help me, but the truth might save her, if I could control my anger and be smart, for once.
“When are we supposed to meet them? I assume they’ve designated a time? What do they expect?” Questions were bubbling in my mind faster than I could ask them, and he held up a hand.
“Let me find a place to stop off first and then we’ll talk. Don’t want the police chasing us and making a bad situation worse.”
Mutely I nodded and folded my arms across my chest. Bones drove for another twenty minutes or so, and then got off an exit and pulled in to a Motel 6.
“Wait here for a moment,” he answered the puzzled look I threw him. After I waited for ten minutes in the car, he came out and pulled around to the back of the lodging. We weren’t in a very upscale neighborhood, and I glanced around at the predatory looks that flicked to us from some of the people loitering in the area.
“Come on, we’re this way.”
Ignoring everyone else around him, he took my hand when I exited the car and led me inside Room 326. The interior looked as uninviting as the exterior, yet it was hardly my main focus.
“Why are we here?” Obviously romance wasn’t the reason.
“We’re off the road for a bit, less attention to attract, and we can talk without interruption. No one here will notice anything much beyond a drive-by shooting. Also, you can wash the blood off.”
With barely a glance at my red-caked hands, I looked back at him. “Do we have time for that?”
Bones gave a light nod. “We have hours. They want to meet at two. That’s what the ‘twice past day’s death’ part means. Midnight is the death of every day, and they chose two hours past it. Guess they were giving you plenty of time to hear about your grandparents and contact me.”
“How considerate.” My voice was thick with hatred. “Now tell me what they’re offering, if anything. Me for her? Does he want the bait who almost got him killed?”
Bones led me to the edge of the bed and sat me down on it. My whole body was stiff with rage and grief, and he squatted in front of me and took my bloodstained hands. We hadn’t turned the lamp on, but I didn’t need it to see him. His hair was nearly white in the moonlight and the contours of his face looked like marble brought to life.
“You know Hennessey doesn’t want you, Kitten—he wants me. He’s given no thought to you beyond how he could use you. You realize, luv, they would be making your mother spill any details on you they could. With luck, they won’t be asking the right questions. I didn’t believe you myself when you told me what you were, it was only seeing your eyes that convinced me. Even if your mum is coerced into telling them, chances are they’ll think she’s raving and pay it little heed. They would have no doubt broken in to your apartment by now looking for you. Those detectives probably saved your life by coming by this morning and scaring you into leaving. They’ll find your weapons, but they could easily assume they were mine and I kept them there for convenience. They want me, and I’ll go to them. But they won’t be expecting you. This is our only advantage.”
“Bones, you don’t have to do this. You can tell me where she is and I’ll go. As you said, they won’t be expecting me.” She was my mother, so no matter what, I was going, but he didn’t have to get killed trying to save her when she might not even be alive.