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“Oui, sí, any language the word for yes is in. Please tell me you’re not about to say ‘psyche’.”
“I’m not. The performance is about to start; let’s find our seats.”
“Okay.”
“Very agreeable, aren’t you?” That sly tone was back in his voice. “I’ll take advantage of it later.”
When the curtain came down at intermission, I knew three things: I loved the opera, I wanted a drink, and I had to pee.
“I’m going with you,” Bones a
I rolled my eyes. “They have rules about that.”
“I have to freshen my lipstick, Cat, would you mind if I accompany you?” Sonya asked. “Bones, you could fetch some champagne, I’d love a glass as well. It’s across from the facilities, so you’ll have no trouble finding us.”
The translation was obvious. Bones would be close in case there was trouble of any kind, be it misguided dream suitor or murderous undead opera buff, and I’d have a bodyguard.
He nodded. “I can escort you. That’s not being overprotective. It’s only ma
“Sure.” My lips twitched. “Whatever you say.”
There was a long line at the ladies’ room. Bones let out an amused snort when he saw my speculative glance at the empty entrance to the men’s facilities.
“They have rules about that,” he mocked.
“I know all these chicks aren’t waiting to let out their bladders, they should have a separate makeup room so the rest of us can pee,” I grumbled, then turned to Sonya apologetically. “Um, I didn’t mean you. Just ignore everything I say, we’ll both be better off.”
She laughed. “I know what you meant, chérie. Often I’ve thought the same myself, since the latrines have been of no use to me for a long time.”
“Bring me some liquor, Bones, fast, to take my foot out of my mouth.”
He kissed my hand. “I’ll see you back here.”
When he walked away, I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the view of him leaving.
“Mmm hmmm.”
The low exhalation came from a brunette farther up in line. I gave her an arched brow and tapped my engagement ring for effect.
“Taken, honey.”
She was human, or I’d have thrown down at the second lingering look she gave Bones before shrugging at me.
“Nothing lasts forever.”
My teeth ground. “Except death.”
Sonya said something in French that made the woman’s mouth curl sulkily before she turned away with a last parting shot.
“If you can’t stand for your man to be admired, you would do better to keep him at home.”
With her heavy French accent, her h’s were almost silent. You can’t kill her just because she’s a tramp, I reminded myself. Even if you could have her body discreetly disposed of…
“He fucks even better than he looks,” I settled on saying. Several heads turned. I didn’t care; I was pissed. “And that beautiful face is going to be clamped between my legs as soon as we get ooome, don’t you worry.”
From the crowd at the bar, I heard Bones laugh. Sonya chuckled. The woman gave me a venomous glare and stepped out of line.
“Bon, one less person in front of us, we’ll be finished before he has our drinks,” Sonya observed when she quit laughing.
“One down.” I eyed the line of women, most of whom either smiled or avoided my gaze due to that little scene. “About a dozen more to go.”
Ten minutes later when we entered the bathroom, I was trying not to hop on one leg in impatience. It had been all I could do to wait my turn and not have Sonya use vampire mind control to get the other women out of my way, but that wouldn’t have been fair.
When I came out, Sonya was putting her lipstick back in her small clutch bag. I joined her by the mirror to wash my hands.
“Small world,” someone said to my right.
I turned, noticing a cute blonde staring at me. “Excuse me?”
“You don’t remember me?” She shook her head. “It was a while ago. I wasn’t even sure it was you until you snapped at that woman, but your coloring stands out. Plus, you were antsy the first time we met, too.”
From her accent, she was American. And I’d never seen her before in my life.
“I’m sorry, you have the wrong person.” After all, I was good at placing people. Half-vampire memory skills, and it had come with my old job.
“It was at the Ritz on Place Vendôme, remember?” I still shook my head. She sighed. “No big deal. Sorry it didn’t work out with the other guy, but you seem to have traded up, so good for you.”
“Huh?”
Now I was wondering if she was crazy. Sonya moved closer to me. The girl dabbed powder on her nose before tucking her compact back in her purse.
“You looked way too young to get married anyway, so I don’t blame you—”
“Huh?” With open incredulity.
She sighed. “Never mind. Nice to see you again.”
She left the bathroom. Sonya started to grab her when I muttered, “Don’t bother. She’s just got the wrong person.”
Pain went off in my head, like little needles were jabbing at my brain. I rubbed my temples.
“Are you well, chérie?” Sonya asked.
“Fine. She had the wrong person,” I repeated. “After all, this is my first trip to Paris.”
We walked along the Rue de Clichy with our bodyguards trailing several paces behind us. I’d opted against a full di
Sonya and Noel hadn’t joined us, choosing to let us have our quasi privacy. It did seem kind of intimate, escort and hundreds of passersby notwithstanding. We were just another couple, one of countless, strolling the midnight streets of Paris.
Bones narrated along the way about buildings and structures still standing…and what they’d been before. He had me laughing at stories about him, his best friend Spade, and his sire Ian. I could just imagine the hell the three of them must have raised.
We stopped at the end of one of the long streets where the buildings were particularly close together. Bones called out something in French, then led me farther down the narrow alley.
“What did you just say?”
He smiled. “You’d rather not know.”
Then he covered my mouth in a deep kiss and molded me to him. I gasped when I felt his hands bunching up my dress.
“Are you crazy? There are half a dozen vampires nearby—”
“None within eyesight,” he cut me off with a chuckle. “As instructed.”
“They can hear, Bones,” I continued to object, facing the building as he spun me around.
He continued to laugh. “Then do be sure to say flattering things.”
Bones had an arm around my waist, locking me next to him. My squirming only ratcheted my dress higher as his hands bunched it up. Then the sudden pierce of his fangs into my neck made me freeze. A low rumble of pleasure came from him.
“Ah, Kitten, you love that almost as much as I do. Sink into me, luv, as I do the same.”
The blood leaving me and spilling into him felt like it was replaced by sweet fire. Bones was right; I loved it when he bit me. My skin felt hot, my heartbeat quickened—and then I was rubbing against him and moaning at the delay of his unzipping his pants.
“Bones,” I managed. “Yes—”
The building hit me in the face so hard I felt my cheek fracture. And then the gunfire registered.
It came in staccato bursts from above us, on all sides…everywhere but from the building I was mashed against. Bones had me pressed into the brick. His body covered mine, and he was draped over me, shuddering while he punched at the wall in front of me. Trying to make a door where one didn’t exist.
That’s when I realized why he was shaking. He was being strafed with bullets.
It sounded like our guards were taking even worse treatment. From the intermittent spaces without Bones jerking in reflex, they must have formed a perimeter around our crouched bodies. When a concentrated burst of gunfire ended with a scream cut off, I started to struggle in a panic. It was much worse than I’d thought. Whoever this was, they were firing silver bullets.