Home for the Holidays: A Night Huntress Novella
Frost, Jeaniene
One
I GLANCED AT my watch. Ten minutes to midnight. The vampire would be back soon, and despite hours of careful preparation, I wasn’t ready for him.
A ghost’s head popped through the wall, the rest of his body concealed by the wood barrier. He took one look around the room and a frown appeared on his filmy visage.
“You’re not going to make it.”
I yanked the wire through the hole I’d drilled into the ceiling’s rafter, careful not to shift my weight too far or I’d fall off the ladder I was balanced on. Fabian was right, but I wasn’t ready to concede defeat.
“When he pulls up, stall him.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” he asked.
Good question. Unlike humans, vampires could see ghosts, but tended to ignore them as a general rule. While this vampire showed more respect to the corporeal-impaired, he still wouldn’t stop to have a lengthy chat with one before entering his home.
“Can’t you improvise? You know, make some loud pounding noises or cause the outer walls to bleed?”
The ghost shot me a look that said my witticism wasn’t appreciated. “You watch too many movies, Cat.”
Then Fabian vanished from sight, but not before I heard him muttering about unfair stereotypes.
I finished twisting together the wires along the ceiling. If all went well, as soon as the vampire came through that door, I’d use my remote transmitter to unload a surprise onto his head. Now, to set up the last of the contraptions I’d planned—
The unmistakable sound of a car approaching almost startled me into falling off the ladder. Damn it, the vampire was back! No time to rig any other devices. I barely had enough time to conceal myself.
I leapt off the ladder and carried it as noiselessly as I could to the closet. The last thing I needed was a bunch of metallic clanging to announce that something unusual was going on. Then I swept up the silver knives I’d left on the floor. It wouldn’t do for the vampire to see those right off.
I’d just crouched behind one of the living-room chairs when I heard a car door shut and then Fabian’s voice.
“You won’t believe what I found around the edge of your property,” the ghost announced. “A cave with prehistoric paintings inside it!”
I rolled my eyes. That was the best tactic Fabian could come up with? This was a vampire he was trying to stall. Not a paleontologist.
“Good on you,” an English voice replied, sounding utterly disinterested. Booted footsteps came to the door, but then paused before going further. I sucked in a breath I no longer needed. No cars were in the driveway, but did the vampire sense that several people lurked out of sight, waiting to pounce on him as soon as he crossed that threshold?
“Fabian,” that cultured voice said next. “Are you sure there isn’t anything else you want to tell me?”
A hint of menace colored the vampire’s tone. I could almost picture my friend quailing, but his reply was instant.
“No. Nothing else.”
“All right,” the vampire said after a pause. The knob turned. “Your exorcism if you’re lying.”
I stayed hidden behind the chair, a silver knife gripped in one hand and the remote transmitter in the other. When the sound of boots hit the wood floor inside the house, I pressed the button and leapt up at the same time.
“Surprise!”
Confetti unleashed from the ceiling onto the vampire’s head. With a whiplike motion, I threw my knife and severed the ribbon holding closed a bag of balloons above him. Those floated down more slowly, and by the time the first one hit the floor, the vampires who’d been concealed in the other rooms had come out.
“Happy birthday,” they called out in unison.
“It’s not every day someone turns two hundred and forty-five,” I added, kicking balloons aside as I made my way to the vampire in the doorway.
A slow smile spread across his features, changing them from gorgeous to heart-stopping. Of course, my heart had stopped beating—for the most part—over a year ago, so that was my normal condition.
“This is what you’ve been so secretive about lately?” Bones murmured, pulling me into his arms once I got close.
I brushed a dark curl from his ear. “They’re not just here for your birthday, they’re staying for the holidays, too. We’re going to have a normal, old-fashioned Christmas for once. Oh, and don’t exorcise Fabian; I made him try to stall you. If you were ten minutes later, I’d have had streamers set up, too.”
His chuckle preceded the brush of lips against my cheek; a cool, teasing stroke that made me lean closer in instinctive need for more.
“Quite all right. I’m sure I’ll find a use for them.”