Destined for an Early Grave (Page 3)

"Bloody sneaking bastard," Bones ground out, even as my jaw dropped. "I’ll congratulate him on his cleverness – while I’m ripping silver through his heart."

"Don’t underestimate Gregor," Mencheres said. "He managed to escape my prison a month ago, and I still don’t know how. Gregor seems to be more interested in Cat than in getting revenge against me. She’s the only person I know whom Gregor’s contacted through dreams since he’s been out."

Why do these crazy vampires keep trying to collect me? My being one of the only known half-breeds had been more of a pain than it was worth. Gregor wasn’t the first vampire who thought it would be neat to keep me as some sort of exotic toy, but he did win points for cooking up the most original plan to do it.

"And you locked Gregor up for a dozen years just to keep him from altering my future with Bones?" I asked, my skepticism plain. "Why? You didn’t do much to stop Bones’s sire, Ian, when he tried the same thing."

Mencheres’s steel-colored eyes flicked from me to Bones. "There was more at stake," he said at last. "If you’d never met Bones, he might have stayed under Ian’s rule longer, not taking Mastership of his own line, and then not being co-Master of mine when I needed him. I couldn’t risk that."

So it hadn’t been about preserving true love at all. Figures. Vampires seldom did anything with purely altruistic motives.

"What happens if Gregor touches me in my dreams?" I asked, moving on. "What then?"

Bones answered me, and the burning intensity in his gaze could have seared my face.

"If Gregor takes ahold of you in your dreams, when you wake, you’ll be wherever he is. That’s why he’s called the Dreamsnatcher. He can steal people away in their dreams."

Chapter Two

I’D ARGUED, OF COURSE. BOTH MEN GAVE ME looks that said how stupid it was to debate something they knew for a fact. Gregor’s ability normally just worked with humans, since vampires and ghouls had a supernatural mind control that prevented such subconscious kidnappings. But since I was a half-breed, it was possible that Gregor’s trick would work on me, too.

Wait until I told my uncle that there was a vampire who could do this. He’d shit himself.

"Gregor will attempt to coerce you in your dreams," Mencheres said in parting. "You would do well to ignore anything he says and to wake yourself up as quickly as possible."

"You can bet your ass on that," I muttered. "By the way, what’s the significance of Paris? You said we’d chosen to come to Paris like that was significant."

"Gregor is French," was Mencheres’s reply. "You chose to visit his home of nearly nine centuries. I doubt that’s a coincidence."

I bristled. "What are you implying?"

"The obvious," Bones said, almost yanking on my arm as we walked up to a picturesque chalet partially concealed by clinging vines. "Gregor told you to come here."

We were greeted by a lovely French couple, both vampires, who met us at the entrance with welcoming words I didn’t understand. Bones spoke to them in the same language, his accent sounding as authentic as theirs.

"You didn’t tell me you knew French," I murmured.

"You didn’t tell me you’d had multiple dreams," he shot back in English.

He was still pissed. I sighed. At least we’d had a couple of peaceful weeks between us.

Introductions in English were made. Sonya and her husband, Noel, were our hosts for our stay in Paris.

"You’re married?" I asked in surprise, then flushed. "I didn’t mean to sound so shocked, I just – "

"You’re the first bonded vampire couple she’s met, mes amis," Bones smoothly filled in. "I think she was starting to believe she had a monopoly on the status."

They both laughed, and the awkward moment passed. Sonya never even batted an eye at the half dozen vampires who took up position around the perimeter of her home.

They showed us to our room, with views of the surrounding gardens. Sonya was a horticulturist. Her gardens could have been used as a blueprint for Eden.

"Diligence and patience, ma cherie," she said when I complimented her. "All things can benefit from the proper application of both."

She eyed Bones in a pointed way after she said it, letting me know she hadn’t missed his earlier curt comment.

"My dear Sonya, I’ll try to remember that," he replied dryly.

"You’ll want to refresh yourselves and settle in, of course. Cat, there is fruit, cheese, and chilled wine. Bones, should I send someone up for you now, or later?"

"Later. First I must speak with my wife."

Again, his tone held a note of challenge when he said those two words. Sonya and Noel left. Before their footsteps faded away, Bones started in on me.

"Blast it, Kitten, I believed we were past this, yet once again you’ve decided what I can and cannot handle without discussing it with me."

Some of my remorse left me at his accusing tone. "I thought it was nothing, that’s why I didn’t tell you."

"Nothing? That’s a fine way to describe a notorious vampire’s attempts to steal you straight from our bed."

"I didn’t realize that’s what was happening!"

"You knew something was off, but you hid it from me. I thought you’d learned six years ago that hiding things from me was a mistake."

That was a low blow. Several months after we met, my inhuman status was blown when I was arrested for killing the governor of Ohio. I didn’t know that Don, the FBI agent who interrogated me, was the brother of my deadbeat vampire father, who’d only impregnated my mother because he’d had sex with her so soon after turning. I also hadn’t known that Don had been aware since my birth that I was a half-breed. I’d just thought Don was a high-ranking FBI agent who knew about vampires – and who’d kill Bones if I didn’t take his offer to join Don’s elite secret team.

So I tricked Bones and went away with Don, believing it was the only way to save his life. Bones didn’t take being left behind very well. It took him over four years, but he found me, then he showed me how wrong I had been in thinking it was impossible for us to be together. I still had horrible guilt over what I’d done, and here he’d just shoved a hot poker in that old wound.

"How long are you going to punish me for that? If your last comment is any indicator, I guess I’ll have this thrown up at me for years."

Some of the anger went out of his face. He ran a hand through his hair, giving me a frustrated – but less damning – look.

"Do you have any idea what I would have gone through, waking up to find you vanished without a trace? It would have driven me mad, Kitten."