Kira grinned mischievously at them before linking her arm with Mencheres. “Good to meet you, Leila.”
“Yeah, you too,” I said, piqued that I didn’t get to hear this question, either. It was probably about how best to use my abilities, so you’d think I should at least be privy to it.
The three of them departed, leaving me with the vampiric versions of Ken and Barbie—which I regretted thinking as soon as Cat let out a snort.
“Thanks, I think.”
“Sorry,” I said while grinding my teeth. “It was a compliment because the two of you are really, uh, pretty.”
Perfectly so, and not just their features. Their skin was pale and creamy, not a visible flaw on an inch of it. Just looking at them made me feel as though my scar stretched and widened until it covered half my face and all of my arm.
“Oh, I have scars, too,” Cat said, tapping her leg. “Stake puncture, right here. Stab wound in my stomach, another one on my back—”
“Stop, please,” I said, holding up my hand.
“Really intrusive when your thoughts aren’t your own, isn’t it?” Bones stated, giving me a speculative look. “Used to drive my wife barmy before she changed over, but”—here his voice lowered—“there’s a way to limit what someone can listen to, if you’re interested.”
My eyes widened. Was I interested? I’d give all my teeth for some mental privacy right about now!
Bones grinned. “Thought so. See, it takes a rare form of willpower for a human to block a mind-reading vampire from their thoughts, and most people don’t have that. But what you can do whenever you suspect you’re being eavesdropped on is sing something wretched to yourself.”
“Sing?” I repeated doubtfully.
A nod. “In your mind, of course, but remember—it has to be so annoying and repetitive that it distracts the person from breaking past that mental melody.”
Cat looked at Bones with open suspicion. “I think I know why you’re doing this, and it’s mean—”
“Tepesh has it coming,” Bones interrupted, his tone hardening. Then he smiled at me. “Go on, try to block me.”
I understood that Bones wasn’t helping me for altruistic reasons, but if it gave me a shield against Vlad reading my mind whenever he wanted . . . well, then his enemy was my friend. Annoying and repetitive, huh? I thought back to the eighties music my mother had loved listening to. It had certainly made me crazy when she’d play the same songs over and over.
I began to mentally sing the lyrics to “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Bones tapped his chin.
“I like where you’re going with this, but dig deeper.”
I sighed and began to think of other songs. Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” had been played to death, but it was too apropos considering my own state. I decided on Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again” and repeated the chorus a few times in my mind.
Bones nodded. “Better, but still not slit-your-own-throat annoying. Come on, Leila. Do you want this or not?”
I let out a frustrated noise while shooting him a dirty look. Then inspiration struck and I smiled. Take this!
After the first few lyrics of the new song, Bones laughed.
“Perfect. Repeat that whenever Tepesh is around you, and he’ll run screaming in no time.”
Cat shook her head. “You are really twisted, honey.”
Bones just smiled. “As I said, he had this coming.”