This Side of the Grave (#5 Night Huntress)
This Side of the Grave (#5 Night Huntress)
This Side of the Grave (#5 Night Huntress)
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settled more comfortably into <strong>the</strong> seat. I’d wait an hour or so before I called Bones. It was eleven o’clock at night; he was probably just arriving at<br />
whatever was <strong>the</strong> latest Ohio hotspot with Denise and Spade.<br />
We were a few miles away from <strong>the</strong> airport when a blast <strong>of</strong> energy hit <strong>the</strong> car like an invisible bomb. I instinctively reached for my sleeves,<br />
forgetting I didn’t have knives strapped to my arms, when I realized it was just Mencheres dropping his shields.<br />
“Next time, how about a heads-up before you do that?” I said, exasperated. “Thought we were being attacked.”<br />
“My apologies,” he replied at once, folding his aura back in until it no longer felt like an explosive. “I didn’t mean to alarm you.”<br />
You’ve alarmed me ever since we first met, oh ancient spooky one was my sardonic thought, but I didn’t say it out loud and he couldn’t read it<br />
from my mind anymore. Just one <strong>of</strong> many reasons why I was glad I made <strong>the</strong> switch from half human to mostly dead.<br />
Then, just as abruptly as his power had struck me moments ago, guilt slapped me. Mencheres’s extraordinary power, age, and visions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
future had always creeped me out, but he couldn’t help being <strong>the</strong> way he was. Just like I couldn’t help being a half-breed before, or feeding from<br />
vampires and absorbing <strong>the</strong>ir powers now. On <strong>the</strong> weird scale, I probably outranked Mencheres, yet I was still letting my discomfort about his<br />
unusualness affect <strong>the</strong> way I thought <strong>of</strong> him.<br />
If Bones lived a few more thousand years—and God knew I hoped he did—he might end up with many <strong>of</strong> Mencheres’s unusual abilities, too.<br />
Mencheres shared his power legacy with Bones, giving him mind reading and a strength upgrade overnight, and we didn’t know how many more<br />
things might crop up over time. How would I like it if people treated Bones suspiciously because his powers made him different from most o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
vampires? Even <strong>the</strong> thought made anger burn in me. Yeah, I knew how I’d like it; I’d want to kick <strong>the</strong>ir asses all over <strong>the</strong> place.<br />
“I’m <strong>the</strong> one who owes you an apology,” I said, staring at Mencheres’s drastically altered pr<strong>of</strong>ile. “Even before I was mad at you for not telling me<br />
that you’d wiped out a month <strong>of</strong> my life when I was sixteen, you always made me uneasy, and it was mostly because I was being a hypocrite.”<br />
He glanced over at me with <strong>the</strong> strangest expression on his face. “I’m afraid I don’t understand, Cat.”<br />
“Apollyon’s minions aren’t <strong>the</strong> only ones who’re guilty <strong>of</strong> being afraid <strong>of</strong> someone just because <strong>the</strong>y’re different,” I replied s<strong>of</strong>tly. “You’d think with<br />
how I grew up, I would’ve known better, but I still ended up doing <strong>the</strong> same thing with you. I’m sorry, Mencheres. You deserved better than that.”<br />
The car decelerated as he pulled over to <strong>the</strong> side <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> road, waiting until we were stopped before meeting my gaze fully.<br />
“You owe me no apology.” Each word was enunciated as though it were its own sentence. “By nei<strong>the</strong>r word nor deed have you ever exploited me<br />
for your own gain, and I cannot say <strong>the</strong> same about my actions with you.”<br />
Eight months ago, I might have snapped, “That’s right, buddy!” but a lot <strong>of</strong> things had changed since <strong>the</strong>n.<br />
“I don’t know what it’s like to hold a huge supernatural line toge<strong>the</strong>r for over four millennia. The most I did at my old job was lead a team <strong>of</strong> sixty<br />
soldiers for about five years. Even though <strong>the</strong>re’s no comparison between <strong>the</strong> two, I still had to make some ‘greater good’ decisions that were really<br />
tough, so while I was pissed at you over what you did, some part <strong>of</strong> me still understood. Besides”—I smiled wryly—“since your manipulating brought<br />
Bones and me toge<strong>the</strong>r, it’s kind <strong>of</strong> hard for me to justify still holding a grudge.”<br />
Mencheres took my hand and brushed it against his forehead in an oddly formal gesture. “You honor me with your forgiveness.”<br />
“And you can honor me by accepting my apology, because no matter what you did, I was still wrong, too,” I countered.<br />
He let go <strong>of</strong> my hand, an expression <strong>of</strong> amusement flitting over his features before <strong>the</strong>y became impenetrable again.<br />
“You are a very stubborn woman. Apology accepted.”<br />
“Thank you.” Then I cracked a small, self-conscious smile. “Okay, enough with <strong>the</strong> intimate confessions, right? Let’s go find some bigoted ghouls<br />
and pummel <strong>the</strong>m into taking us to <strong>the</strong>ir leader.”<br />
Mencheres’s faux azure gaze glinted with a hint <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> frighteningly lethal ass kicker he was beneath his s<strong>of</strong>t-spoken, proper demeanor.<br />
“Yes,” he said, drawing out <strong>the</strong> word. “Let’s. Ed and Scratch have already arrived in <strong>the</strong> city. Vlad will meet us tonight at <strong>the</strong> town house I’m<br />
renting. Once we are all here, we will begin <strong>the</strong> hunt.”<br />
Of our group, Dave was <strong>the</strong> first to strike pay dirt in Memphis. A week after we arrived, he reported through Fabian that he’d made contact with<br />
some ghouls who had a definite bias against vampires. We weren’t sure if <strong>the</strong>y were directly affiliated with Apollyon, or just some knock<strong>of</strong>f bigots,<br />
but according to Dave, he’d spent a fun-filled evening listening to <strong>the</strong>m rant about how ghouls and vampires should live separate, unmixed lives.<br />
That inter-dating/marrying was a contamination <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> species, and only through separatism could real “strength and purity” be attained.<br />
Sounded like <strong>the</strong> sort <strong>of</strong> bullshit Apollyon’s minions would preach, considering he was like an undead version <strong>of</strong> a KKK Grand Dragon. Dave had<br />
a tentative meeting with <strong>the</strong> same group tomorrow night, and I wasn’t going to interfere. No need to tip our hand by being impatient and grabbing<br />
<strong>the</strong> pawns if waiting meant we could get our hands on <strong>the</strong> king instead. I hoped after a couple more meetings, Dave would be trusted enough to be<br />
let deeper into <strong>the</strong> ghouls’ twisted group.<br />
As for Vlad, Mencheres, and me, we were batting zero. Timmie’s sources pointed to some odd activity at bars, plus I’d run <strong>the</strong> information past<br />
Tate and he’d verified that <strong>the</strong> crime rate had ticked up in Memphis recently, also adding credence that this was <strong>the</strong> area Apollyon was most likely<br />
centered in. But even though we’d hit local bars looking for suspects in <strong>the</strong> past seven days, we’d come up with nothing but an appreciation for <strong>the</strong>