Puzzled, I watched as he walked out toward the road. When he reached the shoulder he stopped. There was moderate traffic, it being after seven and most people already having arrived home from work. From where I stood I had a clear view of him, and his eyes began to glow that penetrating green.

A car approached and Bones fixed his glare on it. It swerved for a moment, and then began to slow. He stepped out into the middle of the road as the car headed straight toward him, and the light from his eyes blazed brighter. The car stopped only a foot shy of him, and he jerked his head toward the shoulder, where it obediently rolled.Bones waited until it came to a full stop and then opened the driver's door. A man in his forties sat with a dazed expression on his face. Bones pulled him out and walked him over to where I stood.

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 compa.s.sion 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 a.s.sume 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 a.s.sume 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.

He dropped his head onto my lap a moment before replying.

"How can you even suggest that? First of all, this is my fault for getting you into this, because I should have stuck to my instincts and never allowed it. Then, I should have just killed Danny that night like I intended to. At the very least if I would have stolen his mind about how his hand got injured, he wouldn't have given your name to the police. But I was angry, and wanted him to know who did it and why. Of course I'm going. Even Hennessey, who hasn't the slightest idea that I love you, knows I will. Doesn't matter if she's already dead and there's nothing to be gained from it but vengeance, I'll still go, and I swear to you, I shall rip off every hand that touched her or your grandparents. That much at least I can do for you. The only thing that frightens me is the thought that you'll see me as a monster again, because it was vampires who did this."

Bones stared at me and his eyes were tinged pink. Vampire tears. So absolutely foreign from the clear streaks of saline zigzagging down my cheeks. I slid down until I sat on the floor and held him. He was the only thing that was constant and solid. Everything else around me was crumbling.

"I will never stop loving you. No one can change that. No matter what happens later, I'll still love you."

My illusions about tonight only went so far. We would be walking right into a trap, and in all likelihood, we wouldn't walk out.

Right now my mother was terrified, if she was even still alive, and there was nothing I could do but wait until later. This could be the last time Bones and I held each other. Life was too short to waste even moments of it.

"Bones. Make love to me. I need to feel you inside me."

He pulled back until he could look in my eyes as he stripped the shirt over his head. Mine followed suit and was thrown to the ground. He undid the belt around my waist, untied the knives and guns, and tugged off my boots with their stake accompaniments. The spandex around my legs was stiff from dried blood, but I pushed the image of my grandparents' crumpled forms out of my mind. They wouldn't go far. I would see them in my nightmares the rest of my life. If I ever lived to dream again.

"I know what you're thinking and you're wrong. This isn't goodbye, Kitten. I didn't survive over two hundred years to find you only to lose you within five months. I want you, but I'm not saying goodbye to you, because we will get through this."

Bones traced his hands over me with such delicacy, I could have been made of gla.s.s threads and not shattered. His mouth followed everywhere his hands did, and I tried to absorb the feel of him beneath my fingers. Not for a minute did I believe that this wasn't goodbye. Still, I had loved and been loved in return, and there was nothing greater than that. It far outweighed the alienation of all the previous years. Bones thought five months was too short; I was amazed I'd been granted joy for so long.

"I love you," he moaned, or maybe I said it. I couldn't tell the difference anymore. The lines had dissolved between us.

I refused to wash the blood off, wanting it to stain my skin. Later-if I lived-I would wash it off after it was covered by the blood of those who'd done this. Finally I understood why Bones's long-dead Indian friend had painted his skin before going off to battle. It was a symbol for all to see of the depth of his resolve, and my family's blood was mine. Before we were done tonight, many things on me would be painted. My mouth was one of them.

Bones raised the issue, and for once I accepted without hesitation. His blood would make me stronger-temporarily, that was true-but then that's all that was needed. On the extra plus side, it would also help heal any injuries I was no doubt going to incur.

The quicker I healed, the quicker I could kill.

First he topped off like a car getting gas. In this neighborhood, it took only minutes for him to find someone spoiling for trouble.

The unlucky victims were four men thinking they were going to score a wallet. They scored some iron deficiency instead. Not bothering to waste the power in his eyes, he simply knocked them out with a single swirling punch that connected with their jaws in one graceful blur of a semicircle. If the situation weren't so dire, I would have laughed at how they fell in a row without a blink among them. Maybe this would drive home that crime didn't pay.

Bones took from each of them, and his face was positively flushed when he glided back to me on feet that didn't touch the ground. With a shake of my head, I started back toward the hotel.

"You are going to wash your mouth out. If you kiss me, I don't want a face full of hepat.i.tis."

My shield of sarcasm was on with full armor backup. Any emotions deeper than the surface would have to wait to crawl out of the cage I'd locked them in.

Obediently he swished water around his mouth when we were back in our room. Needless to say, none of us had packed toothpaste.

"Don't fret, luv. With your lineage, you couldn't catch it if you tried. No germs or viruses can survive in vampire blood. You've never been sick a day in your life, were you?"

"Actually...no. But germs aside, it's gross."

I marveled at the point he'd brought up. No one appreciates their health until they're sick, so I'd never stopped to wonder at the flawless record of mine. We'd see if I lived long enough to catch a cold.

"Come here."

Bones was seated on the bed and he patted his lap. Like a child visiting Santa at the mall, I sat on it. Unlike a child, I curled my arms around him and prepared to drink his blood for all I was worth. "You'll tell me when to stop?"

Anxiousness clouded my voice. This wouldn't turn me, but it was taking a short trip down a road I'd never wanted to travel. "Promise."

The single word calmed me. He'd never lied to me.

"Tell me again why we aren't doing your wrist?" That seemed somehow less...icky.

Bones tightened his arms around me.

"Because then I couldn't hold you. Quit stalling. You know what to do."

I pressed my mouth to his neck where his jugular would be. Since his heart didn't beat, there wouldn't be a rush of arterial spray.

No, this would take suction. You know what they say, I thought darkly as I bit down hard enough for my square teeth to pierce his skin. Life sucks and then you die.

The first warm splash made my stomach recoil, but I forced myself to swallow. A normal person can only drink a pint of blood before the body naturally regurgitated it. My normality had never been an issue before and it wasn't now. I bit him again when the wound started to close, and Bones held the back of my head and pressed me closer.

"Harder." The word was clipped, and he let out a small gasp. Pain or pleasure, I wasn't sure, and didn't want to ask.

"More."

This when I attempted to pull away. The harsh copper taste of his blood curled in my mouth. In this volume, it was miles away from the drops I'd taken over the last few months. I drank deeper, ignoring the urge to spit it out.

Something started to happen inside me. Strength grew, unfurling its tentacles and branching out to slither through me. Everything seemed at once sharper. His skin under me had a scent far stronger than I'd ever noticed. The room was perfumed with the earlier sweat from my body, and the bodies of those before us. Background noise of the people in the units around us increased in volume, as did the sounds from outside. My vision crystallized into a clarity it had never experienced. The darkness lightened shade by shade.

The feel of his skin splitting beneath my teeth became almost sensual. I bit him harder, suddenly enjoying the spill of his blood into my mouth. I yanked his head back, biting him again, and it felt so good. Like something I'd waited my whole life to do. I started to feel warm. My legs curled around his waist as I pressed against him, yanking his head back farther still, and all at once his blood tasted...delicious.

"Enough."

Bones wrenched my mouth away and I fought him, because I didn't want to stop. Couldn't stop. With a snarl, I tried to snap my teeth back onto his throat, but he twisted my arms behind me and threw himself on top of me. The weight of his body and his strength pinned me down.

"Just relax. Breathe. Ride it out, Kitten, it will pa.s.s."

At first I struggled, then gradually the craze that gripped me eased until I no longer looked at Bones and wanted to drink him dry.

The word bloodl.u.s.t had a whole new meaning for me now.

"How do you stand it?" My breath came in shallow pants and he released his iron grip on my arms. He didn't move off me yet, however.

"You don't, not for the first few days. You kill anything near you to fill the need when it hits. After that, you learn to control it.

What you had was only a taste. By next week, the effects will be out of your system. You'll be back to yourself."

His complete confidence that I would see next week was unflappable. Who was I to argue?"I can smell you." Wonder etched my voice. "I smell myself on your skin. I smell everything. My G.o.d, there are so many scents in this room...."

Out of all the other senses, which were merely heightened, this one was almost completely new. Bones had often commented that my nose was for decoration only, since it was one of the few parts of me that was almost human. Never before had I any idea what an incredible a.s.set a sense of smell was. I could be blind and deaf and know exactly what was around me by odor alone.

"I didn't realize how different things were for you. How can you ever walk by a public bathroom and not pa.s.s out?" Funny what the mind thinks of at the most absurd moments.

Bones smiled and kissed me lightly. "Willpower, pet."

"Is this what it feels like to be a real vampire?" That was the question. It felt...good. Superior. That scared the h.e.l.l out of me.

"You've just had about two pints of aged nosferatu. Fermented for two hundred and forty years. You're like a hitchhiker on my power, so in a way, yes, it is. Are you telling me you like it?"

Whoa. That was a thought I couldn't even allow myself to dwell on, because I liked it so G.o.dd.a.m.n much, I feared I would get addicted to it.

He read the emotions in my eyes and knew he wouldn't get a response. Instead, he kissed me again with more substance, and I groaned in surprise. Even the taste of him was keener.

When he ended the kiss, he gave me an unblinking stare.

"When it is time, no matter what we find, I want you to unleash everything you have in you. Hold nothing back. You've got strength and I want you to use all of it. Give in to the rage and let it feed you. Kill anything, vampire or human, that stands in your way from retrieving your mum. Remember, if they're there and they're not in chains, then they're Hennessey's and they're your enemy."

"I'm ready." Mentally I threw my conscience down a dark, deep well I would fish out later. a.s.suming there was a later.

Bones sprang off the bed with the grace and speed only the undead could manifest. Except for me now. With his blood coursing in my veins, I almost matched him in fluidity. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his head around his shoulders, and the emerald light pinpointing in his dark brown eyes was echoed by mine.

"Then let's go kill them all."

TWENTY-THREE.

M Y STAKES AND KNIVES WERE IN MY BOOTS and lined along my thighs. Inside my belt were jammed other deadly goodies. We drove to meet Hennessey's men at the same place where we'd tried to kill him and where he'd left Francesca.

That's what the other part of the little cryptic note meant. From there they would be sure we weren't being followed by any backup and proceed to where they held my mother. Bones hadn't been concerned about the obvious packing of weapons on me.

Since Hennessey and his men had no idea I could use them, they would probably only be amused at my artillery of silver. Bones carried nothing on him, knowing it would only be taken away. His plan was terrifying in its simplicity-let them take him inside whatever building held my mother, and when they double-crossed us and didn't release her, I was to come in blazing.