This Side of the Grave (#5 Night Huntress)

“You two are back early,” a dry voice stated.
I glanced up to see Mencheres framed in the doorway of the town house. Vlad got out, shut his door a little harder than was necessary, and threw
the Egyptian vampire a jaded look.
“Car trouble,” he said, in a voice that dared Mencheres to inquire further.
“You’re back a bit early yourself. Did you find anything interesting?” I asked, trying to divert his attention from the obvious fact that I was splattered
in blood while the car looked and sounded fine.
“Nothing Dave had not already confirmed,” Mencheres replied, with a slight shrug.
I didn’t sigh, but I felt like it. Guess it was too much to hope that Apollyon’s address would be spray painted graffiti-style on one of the walls as an
appeasement gesture from Fate after the night we had—and it was still early, by vampire standards.
“Don’t be disappointed, Cat. I didn’t expect to find anything. That’s not why I went,” Mencheres said, opening the front door for us.
My brows rose, but I went inside, figuring this conversation was best held somewhere other than on the small lawn. Vlad glanced at Mencheres
with equal curiosity but also followed me inside. Once the door was shut, I gave a longing glance at the couch but stayed standing.
“Are you going to tell us why you went, then?” I asked.
“Because even if I didn’t expect to find anything new, it would be foolish not to make certain,” Mencheres said. He leaned against the door frame,
the picture of nonchalance. “Besides, if I hadn’t left, then you wouldn’t have attempted to exercise your new powers, would you?” he added.
“You knew?” I blurted, not sure which stunned me more; the fact that Mencheres was obviously aware that I had the ability, or that he’d let me try
using it without telling Bones on me. “Did you, um, know because you saw it?” It would be great if his visions were back up to full strength again . . .
The look Mencheres gave me—and Vlad, too, I noticed—was pointed. “No. But I, too, heard you this morning, so I didn’t need a vision to predict
what Vlad would do if the two of you were left alone long enough. People’s natures can be far more telling than even visions at times.”
Vlad let out a chuckle. “You sly dog, you set me up! Here I thought I was pulling one over on you, but in reality, you were playing me like a chess
piece.”
Mencheres flashed him a grin that was full of mischief. I stared, never having seen the normally reserved mega-Master vampire with such a
wicked, teasing expression.
“You forget, Vlad, I’m the one who trained you in deviousness. Maybe in a few more centuries, you’ll be able to outwit me, but not yet.”
Then he focused his attention on me and his expression returned to its normal seriousness. “You were obviously injured trying, but did it work?”
I glanced at Vlad before speaking, noting the curl of his lip that said he’d rather not dwell on how well it had worked.
“Oh yeah. Blood is the key. I should have known, right? It’s always blood with the undead. Vampires need it to feed, and it’s instrumental with
ghouls, because a transplanted ghoul heart might be step two in making them, but it’s vampire blood before and after death that’s step one and
three.”
And blood was how Marie had gotten her powers in the first place, as a Mambo whose powers became permanent when she was turned into a
ghoul. Looking back, it seems obvious that blood should have been the first thing I tried.
Then again, my logic pointed out, Vlad hadn’t thought of it, either, and he has quite a lot more experience with blood than you. Maybe I should quit
giving myself a hard time and just accept that only hindsight was twenty-twenty, not foresight.
“We now know I can do it, but I feel like hell,” I went on. “I’m so cold my teeth would chatter if they still could. And I’m hungry enough that both of
you are starting to look really, really good.”
Vlad’s lips curled. “Is this the part where I’m supposed to remind you that this is just the leftover power talking and you don’t really want to cheat
on Bones?”
“Not that kind of hungry!” I gasped, eyes bulging that Vlad thought I’d just casually thrown out that I wanted him and Mencheres to double-team
me. “I meant hungry like drinking you guys’ blood. Not hungry for . . . you know.”
Without thought, my gaze flew to the areas in question before skipping away once I realized what I was doing. Then my cheeks actually tingled
with mortification as Vlad let out a long, hearty laugh. Mencheres, more courteous, pretended to suddenly find something fascinating in the door
frame, but I saw his lips twitch.
“My dear Reaper,” Vlad said, still laughing. “Did you just check out our—”
“No!” I interrupted at once, almost lunging toward the staircase. “I’m tired and still dazed from the Remnants and . . . fuck it, I’m taking a shower. I
mean, not a cold shower, because I don’t need that”—oh Jesus, I was only making this worse—“because I am cold already, and I need to get hot. I
mean, warmer. Oh, just shut up!”