This Side of the Grave (#5 Night Huntress)

“Don’t fret, Kitten,” Bones said quietly. “In addition to knowing how to keep most ghosts from flocking to you, we might have had another spot of
good luck. I checked my mobile, and Timmie texted me this morning. Thinks a large nest of Apollyon’s ghouls might be gathered in Memphis,
according to curious events his sources reported to him.”
That was good news. It just sucked that we needed to nab one of Apollyon’s minions now more than ever, but according to the headless ghoul
from the hotel, they’d vamoose at the first sight of me. Too bad I couldn’t clone myself and have Fake Cat be a decoy somewhere else, making the
ghouls feel safe, while the real me snuck up behind them. That would solve a lot of problems, but as cloning had only been accomplished
scientifically with sheep, to my knowledge, I was shit out of luck.
Still, a modification of the same thing wasn’t totally far-fetched. Maybe one of Don’s scientists could design a replica of my face and we’d slap it
on a woman of similar height and build. It worked in movies, after all . . .
“Of course!” I said, feeling a renewed surge of optimism as another idea struck me. “We’ll call Dave and tell him where Timmie’s got a nibble on
the ghouls, plus I have to tell him Fabian’s on his way back. We’ll send Ed and Scratch to Memphis, too. Between the three of them, someone has
to run into A-hole’s minions before too long. Then we need to test out this garlic and weed combination to make sure it’s enough to keep the
majority of ghosts at bay. Once we know that, we’re heading to Memphis, too.”
His brow arched. “You sound like you have a plan, luv.”
“Yes I do,” I said, the wheels continuing to spin in my mind. “Part one involves me drinking your blood again. I’ll need all the power I can get. As for
part two . . . well, I’ll need to make a couple phone calls.”
Chapter Twenty
Baron Charles DeMortimer, who went by Spade so he’d never forget that he was once referred to by the tool an overseer had assigned him, was
Bones’s best friend. They’d known each other over two centuries, ever since they were human prisoners at a New South Wales penal colony. Right
now, I was pretty sure their long history was the only reason Spade hadn’t gone for my throat at first sight of me. The look he threw me when Bones
glanced away said loud and clear that he was fantasizing about throttling me.
“I’m so glad you called!” Denise, my best friend, said as she hugged me. “I’m thrilled to finally be able to help you out for once.”
Over her shoulder, Spade glowered at me again when Bones turned away to see if they’d brought any more bags with them. I ignored that,
squeezing Denise in return while marveling at her new strength. It reinforced my opinion that this was our best course of action, even though it might
take Spade a few years to forgive me for suggesting it. He and Denise had just gotten married recently, and he was very protective of her.
So was I, and if Denise were still human, she wouldn’t be here now. But she wasn’t really human anymore. A demon made sure of that when he
branded Denise with his essence a few months back. Now that the demon was dead, what he’d done to her could never be undone, which made
Denise perhaps the most indestructible person on the planet. Hell, if I cut her head off right now, the only result would be a big mess on the floor until
another one grew back.
That wasn’t the only incredible thing Denise could do, which was why I’d asked them to come. I linked arms with her as we went into the living
room, letting out a short laugh as Denise said, “Not to be rude right off, Cat, but . . . why do you smell like you bathed in garlic?”
“Just be glad your nose isn’t strong enough to get a whiff of the weed, too,” I replied wryly. “It’s a, uh, homemade remedy to keep a certain
unwanted element away from me.”
“You’ll keep quite a lot of elements away from you with that particular aroma,” Spade said, wrinkling his nose with such refined distaste that it was
like getting a glimpse of him when he was an eighteenth-century nobleman.
“Yeah, well, good thing I’m not trying to pick up vampires anymore, what with my new stinky perfume,” I said, hiding a smile. Spade must be really
ticked at me. Normally his innate chivalrousness would have him replying with a gallant lie about how garlic was all the new rage for fragrances, or
that the cloud of weed wafting from me really brought out the shine in my hair.
Bones gave him a look that said Spade’s lack of warmth hadn’t gone unnoticed by him, either. He poured two whiskeys from the decanter on the
credenza, handing one to Spade with less graciousness than normal.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, mate, but I seem to remember my wife risking her life on your behalf twice just this year. So you can’t be sore over her
asking your wife for a favor that endangers her not at all, can you?”
“Of course it endangers her,” Spade replied at once. “If even a drop of Denise’s blood should spill in a place where other vampires might taste it
—”
“Dammit, Spade, we talked about this,” she interrupted him, her hazel eyes narrowing in way that warned of repercussions. “I’m going to live a
very, very long time, and I refuse to spend that life in fear like I did before. If this even works, which it might not, you’ll be with me the whole time,
right? And stopping this crazy ghoul leader before he gets too many people riled up means more safety for everyone, right? So quit with the
overprotectiveness. You wouldn’t want me to act that way with you.”
“This sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” I whispered to Bones, feeling like I was watching actors play the parts of me and him.