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Underneath the rest of the uproar her low, pained voice penetrated. It was irregularly spaced but audible, and everyone shut up as her words became clear.
“…Crispin…it was Rattler-ah! Christ, that’s excruciating…Doc shot him…when he stabbed me…is that bloody blade out yet, Mencheres, I can’t bear to look…”
Bones released Doc. Vlad held Rattler in a punishing embrace, one hand on the silver knife I’d lodged in his chest, which was very close to his heart. Bones pushed past the people in the cramped space until he was in the hallway, kneeling by A
“Don’t move, sweet,” he said with the soothing cadence one would use on a child. “There, feel my hand? It’s almost over, squeeze very hard…”
With precision delicacy, Mencheres drew the wicked-looking silver blade from her chest. A laser beam would have been sloppier. The reason for his caution was obvious-she’d been skewered straight though the heart and any sideways motion would finish her. I held my breath as the last inch left her chest, because despite it all, I admired A
Zero came back, holding a wide-eyed teenager under his arm. Bones moved to allow the young man to be deposited next to her, and A
Doc stood also now, his spine having healed in the interim. He went to A
Doc stretched and his back made an audible crack.
“Think the last of them settled back into place. Bones, don’t try to play chiropractor with me again. After all, I’m the only certified medical professional in this room.”
“You were a bleedin’ dentist, and a rotten one from what I hear. Still, you are without a doubt the fastest shooter I’ve seen anywhere in any era, and I shall be grateful to you the rest of my days.” Bones glanced at Vlad next. “Pull that knife out of Rattler once my wife is clear of his reach.” To Spade, he said simply, “Let Tate loose.”
The clanking of irons was the only sound now as Spade released Tate from his restraints. Once free, Tate stretched in much the same ma
“Told you it wasn’t me.”
“I knew you suspected me,” Doc said. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable this morning, Cat, but Rattler had been skulking around the side of the house after you. He knew I saw him, and it made him des perate. I followed him down here just in time to see him stab A
Bones laid his hand on Doc’s shoulder. “Take A
After the two of them left, Bones turned to Vlad with a cold smile. “Let’s fill that vacancy on the wall, shall we?”
There was a matching smile on the former prince’s lips as the two of them strapped Rattler into the same clamps that had held Tate.
“You must be hungry,” I said to Tate, who’d gone to my side as soon as he was released. “They’re stocked here, believe me. Have someone show you.”
Tate rubbed his arms, as if he could still feel those clamps biting into them. “It can wait. Your head’s bleeding.”
“I’ll tend to her.”
With Rattler bound, Bones came to me, pressing his lips against the wound in my crown.
“You could have cracked your skull like an egg smashing into that wall, let alone the risk of getting shot. Mule-headed woman, at least it appears your stubbor
“No,” I said with a small smile.
Bones set me back, pulling a knife from his pants. “I will. Promise.”
He cut his palm and placed it over my head. The tingling sensation was almost instant as my flesh healed. With a last brush of his lips, he let me go, and turned to the vampire who was the center of attention.
“Why?”
It was asked with the threat of punishment and the pain of betrayal combined. Rattler dropped his gaze.
Spade rammed his elbow so hard into Rattler’s rib cage that half his arm disappeared from sight.
“You were asked a question, Walter!”
Walter, a.k.a. Rattler, gave a gasp of pain even as Bones laid a hand on Spade.
“It’s all right, mate. We’ll give him a chance to confess without bloodying him first.” Then to Rattler, with a much harder tone.
“You know how this will go down. No matter how brave you fancy yourself, everyone breaks eventually. So you will either detail exactly when, why, and how you threw your lot in with Patra with all your limbs and skin attached…or with new parts growing as fast as we can tear them off.”
For once, such a grim pronouncement didn’t fill me with the slightest bit of compassion. It was all I could do not to fling myself on Rattler and start ripping him to pieces just for the sheer enjoyment of it.
“Was it for money?” I hissed. “All that gold and glory she promised? Is that it, were you just greedy?”
“I don’t care about money.” Whether it was spoken to me or Bones was a toss-up; Rattler glanced at both of us. “I did what I had to do for love.”
“For love?” I repeated. “You’re in love with Patra? Then you’re stupid as well as a backstabbing asshole.”
“Not Patra. For Vivie
“Patra killed Vivie
“Ah, I see. All this time, then? You told me Vivi e
It clicked then. I remembered the explosion at Mencheres’s house caused by vampires who’d turned themselves into walking bombs all for the sake of whoever Patra had kidnapped beforehand. Seems Patra had done the same with Rattler by kidnapping someone he loved to get him to betray Bones. What a truly vile person Patra was. If possible, I hated her even more.
“How do you even know Vivie
Rattler looked even more pained than he did right after Spade had elbowed him out the other side.
“Because every week Patra calls me…and lets me hear her scream.”
Bones began to pace in limited, impotent strides.
“I only told her about the train,” Rattler went on. “I had nothing to do with the attacks on your wife. Earlier, I was going to snatch Cat and threaten to kill her unless you slew yourself in my sight, but Doc saw me, and I knew he’d shoot me before I could grab her. So I came to where you were holding the only other person the Reaper would endanger herself for, but I failed. I know you’ll punish me as an example, yet I ask one thing…”
“You’d dare ask me for anything?” Harshly.
“I don’t plead for lenience. I know you’ll put me with the other one, but before you do…Bones, my sire, I ask that you forgive me.”
Bones quit pacing. There was a loaded silence. Then he came to stand in front of Rattler.
“In 1867, I befriended you. Five years later, I changed you, and what did I say was the worst thing you could ever do as a vampire?”
Rattler looked away. “To betray your sire.”
“Right. You have committed the worst act you could in the eyes of our people, yet you ask my forgiveness. Do you know what I have to say to that, Walter Ta
Bones was completely still, and that should have been my warning. Maybe it was the aftereffects of slamming my head through solid concrete that slowed me, or it could have been that he moved too fast, outdistancing even Spade and Vlad as they tried to block him.