Max laughed, delighted. Vaguely I was aware of throwing up.
"I think that's going to cost Justina a finger," he remarked. "What else will you make her lose?"
"Even if you kill me, Bones will find you," I panted. Sweat was pouring off me and my arm hurt in ways I didn't know were possible. "Believe me, you'll be sorry when he does."
Calibos and Max chuckled like I'd told a joke. "That vampire won't start a war over you." Max grinned. "Hell, the only reason Bones married you was to spite our sire."
That's why Max felt secure enough to risk pulling this? Because he thought he had enough protection from his new "friends" and Bones had only married me to piss off Ian?
"Oh, Boneswill find you. Count on it."
They glanced around, uneasy at the vehemence of my tone.
"Pathetic," Max said at last. "You're trying to scare me into letting you live, but it won't work. Still, Calibos, go outside and keep watch. Just in case her playboy decides to drop by early."
"But I haven't gotten to play with her yet," Calibos protested, with a look my way that made me recoil.
"You'll get your chance," Max snapped. "But I set this up, so I go first."
Calibos smirked at me as he headed out the door. "I'll see you soon, sweetie."
Max got up and sauntered over to my mother next. She was almost on her tiptoes to keep the drape around her neck slack enough to breathe. Underneath her, the chair wobbled ominously on its three legs. Her hands were tied together with another piece of drapery, and Max grinned as he contemplated her fingers.
"Which one will you lose, Justina? Let's see, this little finger went to market," he started to singsong, tapping one of them. "This little finger stayed home. This little finger had roast beef..."
I tried to mentally prepare myself for my chance. Now that one of them was outside, this was my best opportunity. It was hard for me to focus, however. I'd had years of experience getting knocked around, but with all of my injuries, I kept feeling myself wandering closer to unconsciousness.
My mother met my eyes...and then kicked the chair out from under her.
"Goddammit," Max snapped, holding her up with one hand. "Why'd you do that?"
In the second that he was distracted, I yanked against the knives on my wrists with all my strength, feeling my flesh shred. I'd gotten one of my hands free when Max turned around.
"What the hell?"
He let my mother go. She dangled by the neck, her feet well above the floor, while I wrenched my other arm free, ignoring the white-hot burst of pain that caused. I tried to grab one of the knives, but my wrists were too damaged for me to hold anything. I kicked them away and then lunged at Max instead, head-butting him hard enough to knock him over.All I need is a little of your blood, I thought, biting at him savagely,and I'll be healed enough to fight.
A burst of noise jerked my head toward the window. The last thing I saw was glass smashing-and then there was a burning in my neck and my vision went black. I thought I heard screams, but all at once, everything seemed farther away. I couldn't feel anything, either. It was a relief to be free from the pain.
Awareness came back with something wet being poured down my throat. I tried to cough it out but couldn't. The flow wouldn't stop, forcing me to swallow. Again. And again.
"...don't you let her die!" I thought I heard my mother scream, then there was Bones's voice, very close.
"...come on, luv, drink! No, you have to have more..."
I gagged, the liquid overflowing my mouth, when shapes around me formed into clarity. I had my mouth plastered to a blood-slicked neck, and I pushed away even as I coughed and swallowed once more.
"Stop it," I managed to say.
Hands set me back. It was Bones's throat I'd been pressed against. His neck wasn't the only thing smeared red, either. So was the entire front of him.
"Christ Almighty, Kitten," Bones breathed, stroking my throat.
"Catherine," my mother cried. I jerked my head around in time to see her slip in something as she staggered toward me. That drape was still tied around her neck, but the other end was no longer attached to the banister. In the far corner of the room, I heard Max's muttered cursing and a feminine English reply.
"Don't you move, you little shite."
"You've got him?" Bones asked in a truly chilling voice.
Annette sounded as fierce as I'd ever heard her. "I've got him, Crispin."
My mother reached me. She was hugging me and trying to pull me from Bones's arms even as she kept feeling my neck.
"Did he fix it? Are you all right, Catherine?"
That's when I noticed the rest of the blood. It wasn't only splattered on Bones, but all over me, around me, even on the nearby wall.
"What happened?" I asked, torn between dizziness, numbing gratitude that we were alive, and being aghast at all the blood surrounding us.
"Max ripped your throat out," Bones replied. There was the weirdest mixture of relief and rage in his blazing green gaze. "And he's going to dearly wish I'd kill him before I'm through with him."
Chapter Six
DON ARRIVED AT MY MOTHER'S WITH THE full team less than fifteen minutes after I called him. They must have broken every traffic law known to man, not that any local cops could give them speeding tickets.
Bones and Annette strapped Max into the capsule. Don was taking him-for now. Bones curtly said he'd send someone by later to collect Max, and the tone he used made me glad my uncle didn't argue. Of course, I didn't think Don wanted Max on his hands very long. The look the brothers had exchanged while Max was being strapped into that capsule was filled with so much history, Don glanced away even before Max started to curse him.
I had to be given several pints of blood to replace what I'd lost. Bones's blood had healed my multiple injuries, but my pulse had been dangerously weak.
"That was close," I said to Bones with a shaky smile after my final transfusion. I was sitting in his car. He'd used a towel to wipe off as much blood from me as possible. We were leaving soon. Bones didn't want to stay longer than necessary here, since we couldn't be sure who else Max and Calibos might have told about their ambush plans.
Bones met my eyes with an unfathomable look. "I'd have brought you back one way or another, Kitten. Either as a vampire or a ghoul, even if you hated me for it afterward."
"Not if Max had his way," I muttered. "He was going to cut me into pieces."
Bones let out a hiss that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Then he seemed to get himself under control.