FOURTEEN.

W E ONLY STAYED LONG ENOUGH TO MAKE sure Charlie didn't get out. Bones trailed more gasoline to the other units on the upper floor, and they lit up the sky as well. The girl had yet to speak. Her eyes hadn't even really focused when I carried her out of there.

Bones gave her a few drops of blood. Said they'd tide her over until he got her somewhere safe. We couldn't hang around here for many reasons. The fire department would be on their way. The police, too. And any of Hennessey's goons who'd soon find out that one of his residences had been torched with his people inside.

I was surprised when Bones went over to Charlie's car and popped the trunk. "I'll be right back," I murmured to the girl, and left her in the backseat. She didn't seem to even hear me.

I went around to the back of Charlie's car, curious. Bones was bent over the trunk. When he came back up, he had a man in his arms.

I gaped. "Who the h.e.l.l is that?"

The guy's head drooped into view and I sucked in a breath. The obnoxious jerk from the bar!

Even though I didn't hear a heartbeat, I had to ask. "Is he...?"

"Dead as Caesar," Bones supplied. "Charlie took him 'round the back and snapped his spine. Bloke would have felt me, too, if he'd been paying more attention. That's where I was hiding."

"You didn't try to stop him?"

It came out with all of my residual guilt over the unknown man's death. I hadn't tried to stop him, either. Maybe that's what sharpened my tone.

Bones fixed his gaze on me, unblinking. "No. I didn't."

I felt like beating my head against a wall. Technically, we'd won tonight, but the victory was hollow. An innocent man killed. A young woman traumatized beyond comprehension. No names of who else was involved, and the knowledge that now it would only get worse.

"What are you doing with him?"

He set him in the gra.s.s. "Leave him as he is. There's nothing more to be done. With this fire, he'll be found soon. He'll have a proper burial. That's all he's got left." It seemed so callous just to leave the man there, but Bones had a practical, if not cold, point. There was nothing more we could do for him. Dropping him off at a hospital with a note wouldn't make his family hurt any less.

"Let's go," he said briefly.

"But what about Charlie? You're just going to leave him and Dean for the police to find, too?" I persisted, getting into the backseat and taking the girl's hand as we sped away.

"Coppers?" A humorless smile played on his lips. "You know that when vampires died, their bodies decomposed to their true ages. That's why they look like bloomin' mummies sometimes afterwards. Just let them try to figure out why a bloke dead 'round seventy years ended up stuffed into a bed frame and torched. They'll be scratching their chins about that for days. And I'm leaving Charlie the way he is for a reason. I want Hennessey to know who did it, and he will, because when we get back to the hotel, I'm going to call around and find out if there's any money on this sod. If there is, I'll claim it, and word will get to him. He'll be nervous, wondering what Charlie told me, and with luck it'll draw him out of hiding. He'll want to shut me up for good."

That was a very risky move. Hennessey wasn't alone in wanting Bones as worm food. From what Charlie had said, there were about twenty other people who'd be happy about that also.

"Where are we taking her?"

"Give me a moment." He flipped out his cell and dialed, driving one-handed. I whispered useless comforting things to the girl and thought of my mother. Once, many years ago, she'd been the victim. This wasn't the same scenario, true, but I didn't imagine it felt much different.

"Tara, it's Bones. I'm sorry to ring you so late.... I have a favor to ask.... Thank you. I'll be there within the hour."

He met my eyes in the rearview mirror. "Tara lives in Blowing Rock, so it's not that far, and the girl will be safe with her. No one really knows Tara, so Hennessey won't think to look there. She'll be able to give her the help she needs, and not just physically.

She's been through something similar."

"A vampire got her?" What a horrible club to be a member of.

Bones looked away, turning his attention back to the roads.

"No, luv. He was just a man."

Tara lived in a log home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was accessible only by a private driveway. This was the first I'd been out of Ohio, and I was awed by the steep cliffs, high bluffs, and rugged scenery. If these were different circ.u.mstances, I would have demanded that Bones pull over just so I could look around at it all.

An African-American woman with salt-and-pepper hair waited on the porch. Her heartbeat announced her as human, and Bones got out and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Something unpleasant twisted in me as I watched. Old girlfriend? Or not-so-old girlfriend?

She hugged him in return and listened as he briefly outlined what had happened to the girl, leaving out any names, I noticed. Bones finished with an admonition for Tara not to tell anyone of her new guest or who had brought her. Then he turned in my direction.

"Kitten? Coming?"

I hadn't known whether to get out or stay, but that decided it.

"We're going to meet this nice lady," I told the girl, and carefully supported her out of the car. I wasn't really carrying her-if directed, she would walk. I was just keeping her sheet from falling off and leading her in the right direction.

Tara's face pinched with sympathy as we drew near. I noticed then that she had a scar running from her eyebrow into her hairline, and I was ashamed for my previous, petty reaction to whatever her relationship with Bones was.

"I'll take her," the man in question said, picking up the girl like she was weightless. "Tara, this is Cat."

I was surprised to hear him call me that, but I held out my hand and Tara shook it warmly.

"I'm glad to meet you, Cat. Bones, put her in my room."

He went inside without asking where that was, and once again I reminded myself that it was none of my business.

"Come in, child, you must be cold!" Tara said with a shiver of her own. At four a.m. in these alt.i.tudes, it was chilly out.

That also had me glancing down at myself with a mental groan. Didn't I look lovely? With this dress and my heavy makeup, Tara was probably thinking I must be ten shades of a s.l.u.t.

"Thanks, and it's nice to meet you, too," I responded politely. At least I could show I had manners.

I followed Tara into her kitchen, accepting the cup of coffee she handed me. She poured herself one, too, and gestured for me to sit.

A scream shattered the quiet, causing me to bolt up as I was about to sit down.

"It's okay," Tara said quickly, holding out a hand. "He's just bringing her back."

Over that terrible keen I heard Bones speaking urgently, telling the girl she was safe and no one would hurt her anymore. Soon her screams turned into sobbing.

"It can take a little while," Tara went on matter-of-factly. "He'll let her remember everything, and then put in a mental patch so she doesn't get suicidal. Some of them do."

"He's done this before?" I asked stupidly. "Brought traumatized girls to you?"

Tara sipped her coffee. "I run an abused women's shelter in town. Most of the time I don't bring anyone back here, but every once in a while we get someone who needs extra care. When they need extra, extra care, I call Bones. I'm glad to finally do him a favor. I owe him my life, but I 'spect he told you about that."

I looked at her quizzically. "No, why would you think so?"

She gave me a knowing smile. "'Cause he's never brought a girl here before, child. Not one that didn't need my help, leastways."

Oh! That pleased me, but I quashed it. "It's not like that. We, ah, kind of work together. I'm not his, er, what I mean is, he's all yours if you want him!" I finished in an insane babble.

There was a disgusted grunt from upstairs that didn't come from the girl. I cringed, but it was too late to take it back.

Tara considered me with a clear, unwavering gaze. "My husband used to beat me. I was afraid to leave him 'cause I had no money and I had a little girl, but one night he gave me this." She pointed to the scar near her temple. "And I told him that was it. I was done. He cried and said he didn't mean to do it. Man said that every time after he laid into me, but h.e.l.l, yes, he meant it. No one hits you 'less they mean it! Well, he knew I meant it when I said I was leaving, so he waited behind my car that night when I went to work. I finished my shift, went out to the parking lot, and he stood up and smiled while he pointed a gun right at me. I heard a shot, thought I was dead...and then I saw this white boy, looking like a G.o.dd.a.m.n albino, holding my husband by the throat. He asked me did I want him to live, and you know what I said? No." I swallowed my coffee in one gulp. "Don't wait for me to judge you. In my opinion, he had it coming."

"I said no for my daughter, so she'd never be scared of him the way I was," she said, taking my empty cup and refilling it. "Bones didn't just snap his neck and leave, either. He got me out of that flea-hole apartment I was in, gave me a place to stay, and eventually I got my own place and opened up the shelter. Now I'm the one helping out women who don't have nowhere else to turn. G.o.d has a sense of humor sometimes, doesn't He?"

That made me smile. "You could say I'm proof of that."

Tara leaned forward and dropped her voice. "I'm telling you this because he must have taken a shine to you. Like I said, he don't bring n.o.body here."

This time, I didn't argue. There was no point, and I couldn't tell her that my presence was more necessity than preference.

Something the girl was saying upstairs redirected my attention.

"...made me call my roommates. I told them I'd met up with my old boyfriend and we were going away together, but it was a lie.

I don't know why I said it, I heard the words coming out of my mouth, but I didn't want to say them...."

"It's all right, Emily." Bones' voice was soft. "It wasn't your fault, they made you say that. I know this is hard, but think. Did you see anyone else aside from Charlie and Dean?"

"They kept me in that apartment the whole time, but no one else came in. I have to take a shower now. I feel so dirty."

"It's all right," he said again. "You'll be safe here, and I'll find all of the sods who did this."

It sounded like he was out the door when she suddenly shouted.

"Wait! There was someone else. Charlie took me to him, but I don't know where we were. It seems like I blinked, and then I was in this house. I remember the bedroom was big, wood floors, and it had red and blue paisley wallpaper. There was this man wearing a mask. I never saw his face, he kept it on the whole time...."

Her voice wavered. Tara shook her head in repugnance at what didn't need to be elaborated.

"I'll find them," Bones repeated with resolve. "I promise."

He came down the stairs a few minutes later.

"She's settled down," he said, more to Tara than to me. "Her name is Emily, and she doesn't have any family to contact. She's been on her own since she was fifteen, and her mates think she's off with an ex-boyfriend. No need to tell them otherwise and put them in danger."

"I'll brew another pot of coffee and be right up," Tara said, rising. "You staying?"

"Can't," Bones replied with a shake of his head. "We have to catch a plane this afternoon and we're booked at a hotel. But thank you, Tara. I'm indebted to you."

She kissed his cheek. This time, my gut didn't knot. "No, you ain't, honey. You keep safe, now."

"And you." He turned to me. "Kitten?"

"I'm ready. Thank you for the coffee, Tara, and for the company."

"Wasn't nothing, child." She smiled. "You be sweet to our boy here, and remember, be good only if being bad ain't more fun!" I let out a surprised laugh at this mischievous directive, which was unexpected considering the very unfunny circ.u.mstances we were meeting under.

"I'll try to remember that."

Bones didn't speak during the hour drive back to the hotel. There were so many things I wanted to ask him, but of course, I couldn't bring myself to.

When we pulled in the parking lot, however, I couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"So what's next? We find out if Charlie has a bounty on him? Or see if anyone knows who the masked a.s.shole might be? I wonder why the guy bothered to wear a mask. Kinks, do you think, or maybe he was someone she knew and he didn't want her to recognize him?"

Bones parked and gave me an unfathomable look. "Either one is a possibility, but regardless, I think it's best if you bow out now."

"Oh, don't give me that unsafe c.r.a.p again!" I said, instantly angry. "You think I can see what was done to Emily, know it's going on with countless other girls, and just hide under my bed? Remember, I was supposed to be one of those girls! I'm not bowing out, no way!"

"Look, it's not your bravery that's in question," he replied with an edge.

"Then what?"

"I saw your face. The look in your eyes when I spoke to Charlie. You wondered if I was going to join Hennessey. Deep down, you still don't trust me."

He hit the steering wheel with his last comment. It dented, and I winced from more than the accusation in his words.

"You were doing a great job acting, and I got confused. G.o.d, can you really blame me? Every day for the past six years I've had it drummed into my head that all vampires are lying, vicious sc.u.m, and to date, by the way, you're the only one I've met who isn't!"

Bones let out an amazed snort. "Do you realize that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me?"

"Was Tara your girlfriend?"

It just flew out. I sucked in a horrified breath. Good Lord, why did I ask that?

"Never mind," I said quickly. "It doesn't matter. Look, about last night...I think we both made a mistake. h.e.l.l, you've probably realized that as well, so I'm sure you'll also agree that it should never happen again. I didn't mean to flake out earlier with Charlie, but old habits die hard. Okay, bad metaphor there, but you get my point. We'll work together, bring down Hennessey and whoever else is in his little gang, and then we'll, ah, go our separate ways. No harm, no foul."

He stared at me silently for several moments. "'Fraid I can't agree to that," he finally answered.

"But why? I'm great as bait! All the vampires want to eat me!"

A small smile touched his mouth even as I mentally groaned at my choice of words. Bones reached over and stroked my face.

"I can't just let us go our separate ways, Kitten, because I am in love with you. I love you."