Halfway to the Grave (3 page)

“Look at your bloody eyes!”

He gripped either side of my head as though it would spin off. Still in a fog from teetering on the brink of mortality, I mumbled my response.

“Don’t need to look at them, I’ve seen them. They change from gray to green when I’m upset. Happy now? Going to enjoy your meal more?”

As if my head were scalding, he released me. I sagged in my chains, the adrenaline abandoning me and leaving dizzying lethargy in its wake.

The sound of his pacing bounced off the stone walls.

“Bugger, you’re telling the truth. You have to be. You have a pulse, but only vampires have eyes that glow green. This is unbelievable!”

“Glad you’re excited.” I peeked at him through my hair, which had tumbled back onto my shoulders. In the
near-complete darkness I saw he was definitely worked up, his steps brisk and full of energy, eyes fading from feeding green to snapping brown.

“Oh, this is perfect! In fact, it could come in right handy.”

“What could come in handy? Either kill me or let me go already. I’m tired.”

He spun around, beaming, and clicked the lamp back on. It cast the same harsh light it had previously, flowing over his features like water. He looked ghostly beautiful under its blanket, like a fallen angel.

“How would you like to put your money where your mouth is?”

“What?” To say I was baffled didn’t begin to describe it. Seconds ago I was a nick away from eternity, now he wanted to play guessing games.

“I can kill you or let you live, but living comes with conditions. Your choice, your pick. Can’t let you go without conditions, you’d just try to stake me.”

“Aren’t you the smart one?” Frankly, I didn’t believe he’d let me go. This had to be a trick.

“You see,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken, “we’re in the same boat, luv. You hunt vampires.
I
hunt vampires. Both of us have our reasons, and we both have our problems. Another vampire can sense me whenever I’m close, so that makes it bleedin’ difficult to stake ’em without them expecting the try and running.
You
, on the other hand, put them completely at ease with that juicy artery of yours, but you aren’t strong enough to bring down the really big fish. Oh, you may have beaten some green ones, probably no older than twenty years, tops. Barely out of their nappies, as it were. But a Master vampire…like me…” His voice dropped to a scathing whisper. “You couldn’t bring me down with both stakes blazing. I’d be picking you out of my teeth in minutes. Therefore, I pro
pose a deal. You can continue to do what you love the most—killing vampires. Yet you will only hunt the ones I’m looking for. No exceptions. You’re the bait. I’m the hook. It’s a capital idea.”

This was a dream. A very bad, bad dream, brought on by liver poisoning from too many gin and tonics. Here it was, a deal with the devil. At what price my soul? He watched me expectantly and threateningly all at the same time. If I said no, I knew what would happen. Save the glass, waitress, I’m drinking from the bottle! Happy hour, with my neck on tap. If I said yes, I’d be agreeing to a partnership with pure evil.

His foot tapped. “Don’t have all night. The longer you wait, the hungrier I get. Might change my mind in a few minutes.”

“I’ll do it.” The words flew out without thought. If I gave them thought, they’d never be spoken. “But I have a condition of my own.”

“Do you?” That made him laugh again. My, what a jolly guy. “You’re hardly in a position to demand conditions.”

My chin stuck out. Pride or peril, take your pick. “Just challenging you to put
your
money where your mouth is. You said I wouldn’t last minutes against you, even with both weapons. I disagree. Unchain me, give me my stuff, and let’s go. Winner takes all.”

There was a definite spark of interest in his eyes now, and that sly smile was back on his lips. “And what do you want if you win?”

“Your death,” I said bluntly. “If I can beat you, I don’t need you. As you put it, if I just let you walk, you’d come after me. You win, and I play by your rules.”

“You know, pet,” he drawled, “with you chained there, I could just have a nice long drink out of your neck and go about my business as usual. You’re pushing your luck quite a bit saying this to me.”

“You don’t seem the type that likes a boring drink out of a chained artery,” I boldly countered. “You seem like the type who likes danger. Why else would a vampire hunt vampires? Well? Are you in, or am I out?” My breath sucked in. This was the moment of truth.

Slowly he walked over, letting his eyes slide all over me. With a raised brow, he pulled out a metal key and dangled it in front of me. Then he inserted it firmly into the center of my manacles and twisted. They fell open with a clink.

“Let’s see what you’ve got,” he said finally. For the second time that night.

W
E FACED EACH OTHER IN THE CENTER OF A
large cavern. The ground underneath was uneven, just rocks upon rocks and dirt. I was dressed again, sans gloves, the stake and my special cross dagger in my hands. He had laughed again when I demanded my clothes back, saying the jeans didn’t have give and they would cost me fluidity. Tartly I responded that, fluidity or no, I wasn’t battling him in my underwear.

There were more lights strung up around the area. How he had electricity in this cave was beyond me, but that was the least of my concerns. Underground as we were, I had no idea what time it was. It could already be dawn, or still be deep in the night. Briefly I wondered if I’d ever see the sun again.

He wore the same clothes as before, fluidity apparently not a concern for him. His eyes snapped with eagerness as he cracked his knuckles and rolled his head around his shoulders. My palms were sweaty with trepidation. Maybe the gloves would have been a good idea after all.

“All right, Kitten. Because I’m a gentleman, I’ll let you have the first try. Come on. Let’s do this.”

Without further encouragement I charged him, moving as fast as I could with both weapons pointed murderously. He whirled in a semicircle that left me sailing past him, chuckling infuriatingly as he did so.

“Going jogging, pet?”

Catching myself, I glared at him over my shoulder. God in heaven, but he was fast. His movements were almost a blur to me. Gathering my courage, I feinted a broad overhead right swing. When he raised an arm to block, I swiped low with my left hand and slashed him before getting a devastating kick to the midsection in return. Doubled over, I saw him examine his garment with a slight frown.

“I liked this shirt. Now you’ve gone and ripped it.”

I circled again, breathing slowly to combat the pain in my stomach. Before I could blink, he came at me and punched the side of my head, hard enough for me to see stars. In mindless defense I kicked, punched, and stabbed at whatever was near me. The returning blows came heavily and rapidly. My breathing was ragged and my vision swam as I lashed out with all of my strength. The room suddenly spun as I was thrown backward, rocks cutting into my skin.

He stood about ten feet from where I was sprawled. Clearly, in hand-to-hand combat, I was outclassed. I felt like I’d been dropped off a cliff, and there were hardly any marks on him. With a sudden flash of inspiration, I flung my cross. It flew with incredible speed and sank into his chest but too high, too high.

“Bloody hell, woman, that hurts!” he snarled in surprise, snatching it from his chest.

Blood flowed from the wound before stopping abruptly, as if a faucet had been turned off. Contrary to popular be
lief, vampires did bleed red. I was dismayed, being down to only one weapon and not even having slowed him. Bracing myself, I sprang to my feet, moving with heavy steps.

“Had enough?” He faced me and sniffed the air, once. I blinked in confusion, never having seen a vampire breathe before. I was panting furiously. Sweat was dripping off my brow.

“Not yet.”

There was another blur of motion, and then he was on me. I blocked blow after blow and tried to score some of my own, but he was too quick. Fists landed on me with brutal force. Desperately I jabbed the stake into whatever was nearest, but it always missed his heart. After ten minutes or so that seemed like eternity, I fell to the ground for the last time. Unable to move, I gazed at him through swollen eyelids.
I don’t have to worry about his terms
, I thought dully. I was dying from my injuries.

He loomed over me. Everything was colored red and fading.

“Enough now?”

I couldn’t speak, couldn’t nod, couldn’t think. As my answer, I passed out. It was the only action I was capable of.

There was something soft underneath me. Floating, I was floating on a cloud and covering myself with its fleece. I burrowed farther inside when it spoke to me in irritated tones.

“If you’re going to take all the covers, you can bloody well sleep on the floor!”

Huh? Since when was a cloud both annoyed and
English
?

When I opened my eyes, I saw with horror that I was in a bed with the vampire. And yes, apparently I had the entire blanket wrapped around me.

Shooting upward as though burned, I immediately banged my head on the low ceiling.

“Owww…” Rubbing the sore spot, I glanced around in revolted fear. How did I end up here? Why wasn’t I in a coma from the beating? In fact, I felt…fine. Aside from the mild concussion I had surely just given myself.

I backed as far into a corner as I could manage. There didn’t seem to be any visible exit to this small limestone chamber. “Why am I not in a hospital?”

“I healed you,” he replied blandly, as if we were discussing tea.

Numb with fear, I checked my pulse. God, he hadn’t turned me, had he? No, my heart pounded strongly.

“How?”

“Blood, of course. How else?”

He leaned back on his elbows, eyeing me with impatience and weariness. He had changed into a new shirt, from what I could see. I didn’t even want to know what was under the sheet.

“Tell me what you did to me!”

With a roll of his eyes at my hysteria, he fluffed his pillow and then hugged it to him. It was such a human gesture, it was uncanny. Who knew vampires cared if their pillows were fluffed?

“Gave you a few drops of my blood. Figured you wouldn’t need much, what with your being a half-breed. You probably heal fast naturally, but then you were banged up a bit. Your own fault, of course, having suggested that stupid match. Now, if you don’t mind, it’s daylight and I’m knackered. Didn’t even get a meal out of all this.”

“Vampire blood
heals
?”

He shut his eyes as he answered me. “You mean you didn’t know? Blimey, but you’re ignorant about your own kind.”

“Your kind is not my kind.”

He didn’t even flinch. “Whatever you say, Kitten.”

“Would too much blood turn me? How much is too much?”

That got an eye opened balefully at me. “Look, school’s out now, luv. I’m going to sleep. You’re going to shut up. Later, when I’m awake, we’ll go over all of these niceties while I prepare you for our arrangement. Until then, let a fellow get some rest.”

“Show me the way out and you can sleep all you want.” Again I looked around for an exit, finding nothing.

He snorted in derision. “Sure thing. Hows about I fetch your weapons for you as well, then I’ll just close my eyes while you plug holes into my heart? Not bloody likely. You’re in until I let you out. Don’t bother trying to escape, you’d never make it. Now I suggest you get some rest, because if you keep me awake much longer, I’m going to want breakfast. Understand?” He closed his eyes again with finality.

“I’m not sleeping with you.” Indignation filled my tone.

There was a brief tussling on the bed, and then a sheet hit me in the face.

“Sleep on the floor, then. You’re a cover hog anyhow.”

Left with no other alternative, I lay down on the cold stone ground. The sheet didn’t do much to keep out the chill, let alone provide any padding. I maneuvered around, hopelessly trying to find a softer spot before giving up and cradling my head on my arms. At least this was better than being in bed with that thing. I’d sooner sleep on nails. The silence of the room was somehow soothing. One thing was for certain, vampires didn’t snore. After a while, I drifted off.

It could have been hours, it seemed like minutes. A hand none too gently shook my shoulders and that dreaded voice sounded in my ears.

“Rise and shine. We have work to do.”

My bones gave an audible creak of misery when I stood and stretched. He grinned at the sound.

“Serves you right for trying to kill me. Last bloke who did that ended up with much more than a stiff neck. You’re right lucky you’re useful, or you’d be nothing more than a flush in my cheeks by now.”

“Yeah, that’s me. Lucky.” I felt bitter instead, trapped in a cave with a homicidal vampire.

He wagged a finger at me. “Don’t be glum. You’re about to get a first-class education in nosferatu. Believe me, not many humans get to learn this stuff. But then again, you’re not really human.”

“Stop saying that. I’m more human than I am…thing.”

“Yes, well, we’ll find out just how much shortly. Move away from the wall.”

I complied, not having much choice in this small room and not wanting to be close to him. He stood in front of the stone wall where I’d been sleeping and grasped either side of the rock. With ease, he lifted the slab completely off the ground and set it to the side, exposing a crevice big enough to walk through. So that was how we entered this tomb.

“Come along,” he threw over his shoulder, stepping through it. “Don’t dawdle.”

As I squeezed through the narrow opening, a sudden twist of my bladder reminded me that I was still very much dependent on my organs.

“Um…er, I don’t suppose…” To hell with the niceties. “Is there a bathroom in here? One of us still has functioning kidneys.”

He stopped short, arching an eyebrow at me. There were thin streams of light coming from the limestone ceiling, making crisscrossed patterns of illumination throughout the cave. Daytime, then.

“Do you think this is a bloomin’ hotel? What, next you’ll be wanting a bidet?”

With infuriated embarrassment, I ground out, “Unless you like it messy, I suggest you show me an alternative, and fast.”

A noise that sounded very much like a sigh came from him. “Follow me. Don’t trip or twist anything, damned if I’ll carry you. Let’s see what we can come up with. Sodding woman.”

As I clambered after him, I comforted myself with mental images of him writhing helplessly under my stake. The visual was so clear, I almost smiled as he led me toward the sounds of water.

“There.” He pointed to a cluster of rocks that appeared to hang over a small inner stream. “That water runs downstream. You can climb on those rocks and do your business.”

I hurried over, and he called out with an edge to his tone, “By the way, if you’re thinking you’ll just jump off and swim out of here, it’s a bad idea. That water’s about forty degrees and snakes over two miles before it exits these caves. You’d be suffering from hypothermia long before then. Not a nice way to be, shivering and lost in the dark, delusions setting in. Besides, you’d have broken our agreement. I’d find you. And I would be really, really displeased.”

The grim note in his voice made the words sound more lethal than the cocking of a gun. Despair pricked me. I
had
been thinking of doing that.

“See you in a bit.” He turned around and walked a short ways away, his back to me. Sighing, I climbed up the rocks and balanced while answering nature’s untimely call.

“I suppose toilet paper’s out of the question?” I called out flippantly.

There was a bark of laughter in reply. “I’ll put it on my shopping list, Kitten.”

“Stop calling me Kitten. My name is Cat.” Finished, I
lowered myself down until I again stood on somewhat solid ground. “What’s yours, by the way? You never told me. If we’re going to be…working together, at least I should know what to call you. Unless you simply prefer answering to profanity, of course.”

There was that sly curl to his lips again when he faced me. His feet were planted apart and his hips tilted slightly forward. Pale hair hugged his head in tight waves. Under the pinholes of light around him, his skin positively glowed.

“My name is Bones.”

“First things first, luv. If you’re going to be truly good at killing vampires, you need to know more about them.”

We sat on boulders facing each other. The dim light in the cave from the shafts of sun had a vague strobe effect. It had to be by far the strangest moment of my life, sitting across from a vampire calmly discussing the best ways to kill one.

“Sunlight doesn’t do anything but give us a bad sunburn. Our skin won’t explode in flames like it does in the movies, and we won’t turn into bits of crispy chicken. However, we do like to sleep in the day because we are most powerful at night. That’s an important point to remember. During the day we are slower, weaker, and less alert.
Especially
at dawn. By dawn, you’ll find most vampires tucked into whatever they call a bed, which as you could tell from last night doesn’t necessarily mean a coffin. Oh, some of the old-fashioned ones will only sleep in coffins, but most of us sleep in whatever’s most comfortable. In fact, some vamps will have coffins staged in their lair so some Van Helsing wannabe goes there first while the vampire sneaks up on them. Done that trick a time or two myself. So if you think throwing up the blinds and letting the sun stream in will do the trick, forget it.

“Crosses. Unless they’re rigged up like yours, crosses don’t do much more than make us laugh before we eat you. You seem to know that one yourself, so we’ll move on. Wood, as you are also aware, might give us splinters and piss us off, but won’t stop us from ripping your throat out. Holy water…well, let’s just say I’ve had more damage done to me by someone throwing dirt in my face. The whole religious thing is bunk when it comes to hurting our kind, got it? Your only advantage is that when a vampire sees that special stake of yours, they won’t be put off.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll use this information against you?” I interrupted. “I mean, why should you trust me?”

In all seriousness he leaned forward. I leaned back, not wanting to be any closer to him.

“Look, pet. You and I are going to have to trust one another to accomplish our objectives. And I’ll make this very, very simple: If you so much as look cross-eyed at me and I even
wonder
if you’re thinking about betraying me, I’ll kill you. Now, that might not scare you, being the big brave girl you are, but remember this: I followed you home the other night. Got anyone you care about in that barn of a house? Because if you do, then I suggest you make nice with me and do as you’re told. If you cross me, you’ll live long enough to see that house burned to the ground with everyone still inside. So if you ever make a go for me, you’d better be sure you finish me, understand?”