"I went back to chase the last vampire, as you are aware," he started. "He dashed onto the roof of a train that was passing by. I followed, and as we jumped from car to car, I sensed the others. Patra was there, with an entire car filled with Masters. The clever bitch knew we couldn't feel her until after the train arrived. They swarmed the roof and came for me. It was a brilliant ambush. Trying to fight hand-to-hand on a moving train while dodging silver knives is tricky."
The nonchalant way Bones described such a deadly scenario made me gape at him.
"Why didn't you jump off and run for it?"
"Arrogance," he answered crisply. "Patra was so close. All I had to do was cut down her guard and this war would have ended right then. So I kept after them, and when there were only six Masters left, it happened. One of them threw a blade that went straight into my heart. The pain dropped me to my knees. The bloke went straightaway back inside the car, telling Patra that he'd killed me. I thought he had, too, yet he'd neglected to twist the knife."
I was stricken at this image, and not until something wet touched my fingers did I realize I'd been digging my nails into his hand so hard, I'd drawn blood.
"Sorry," I whispered.
"I remember thinking I was finished, and being very brassed off about it. I managed to pull the blade out, but I was in no condition to defend myself. Then I felt the strangest kind of power even as my vision blackened and I couldn't hear. The last thing I remember, we were over a bridge, and I rolled myself off the train into the water. Then there was nothing. Until the blood."
Bones gave a soft grunt of remorse.
"I must have been carried downstream. An indigent found me, probably to check if I had anything useful in my pockets, and I woke up with his body in my arms. I'd chewed his throat open and drank him to the last drop, poor fellow. He had a mate nearby as well, and I drank him before my reason returned enough to stop. When I saw my hands...I was horrified."
Bones paused to stretch out his hand and examine it. I didn't see anything unusual. His lips twisted.
"My bones were visible. It was as if I were a partial skeleton. I couldn't concentrate on anything, could barely see, hear or smell, and was weak as a lamb. When the sun broke, I lost consciousness again."
"What in blazes happened to you?" Ian demanded. "I've never heard of such a thing."
"I have," Mencheres said quietly. "Let him finish."
"I awoke past sunset, and my unknown companion awakened around the same time. He tried to run but I grabbed onto his ankle. I could talk, not quite intelligibly, but enough. I told him to drag me to a phone and then I'd let him go. Chap was petrified, of course. Here a murdering half-rotted skeleton wouldn't let loose of his leg; I'm astounded he didn't fall over from a heart attack. We waited until well after midnight, so it was less unsightly for a homeless man to be seen kicking a corpse on his way to a pay phone."
The image struck me very inappropriately and I started to laugh. This had to be the weirdest thing I'd ever heard.
"We arrived at a pay phone, but the bloke didn't have any quid for the call. My mind still wasn't functioning properly-that hadn't occurred to me. All I knew was I needed to get somewhere safe. I had him ring numbers collect, but he told me all the bloody numbers were disconnected or didn't answer. I only remembered a few of them: yours, Mencheres's, Charles's...but all of you were in emergency mode and couldn't be reached. There was one last number I recalled, and it worked. I reached Don."
My uncle? That made me blink in surprise.
Bones gave a rueful snort. "Yes, he was taken aback as well. Don said it didn't sound like me, well, that was true. I reminded him that the day we met, I told him I wanted to peel his skin like an orange-somehowthat I recalled-and I'd do it if he kept arguing over who I was. Don had the chap give him our location and said he'd come. So I wasn't on display in the street, I had the man throw me in a Dumpster.
"Round two hours later, Don opened the lid. When I saw him, I said, 'Took your bloody time, old chap,' and he finally believed it was me-though he did inform me that a dehydrated piece of beef such as myself should be more respectful. Don pulled me into a van and gave me bags of blood. I went through all of them, but I still wasn't back to myself. Don flew me back to the compound with him and continued to give me blood. It took me over twelve hours to fully regenerate."
"Why didn't he f**king call me!"
It burst from my mouth amid my overflowing grati tude toward my uncle. Don didn't like Bones, never had, and yet he'd saved his life. There was nothing I could do to ever repay him for that.
"For starters, he didn't know the numbers of who to call, Kitten. Not like he knew their e-mail addresses, and you hadn't been checking yours, because he did try that. Also, since I didn't heal right away, he wasn't sure if I'd recover at all. So Don didn't want to give you false hope. Round an hour after I regenerated, Tate called Don asking for a prescription for you. Don gave me the location of the pharmacy. Once I got there, I followed Tate's scent from the pharmacy back here."
There was something in Bones's voice that made me belatedly aware there was one person missing in this room. Even my mother lingered by the doorway, pretending not to care about the story as it unfolded.
"Where's Tate? And why didn't Don call him when he knew you were better? My uncleknew he was with me."
Bones met my eyes. There was pity in his gaze-and resolve.
"Don didn't ring Tate because I told him not to. After all, I didn't want the person who tried to kill me discovering I was still alive."
Chapter Twenty-Five
BONES'S WORDS SANK IN, MADE EVEN MORE ominous by the way Spade began to squirm in his chair. When I first saw Bones, he'd murmured something to Spade I didn't catch. Then I'd been so overcome by Bones being alive, I wouldn't have noticed a stampede of elephants, let alone the noise of a struggle...
"Where is Tate?"
Amazing how I could be overwhelmed with joy and yet also mad at the same time.
"He's not dead," Bones answered. "He's locked up until he admits to his treachery, and then I shall kill him for it."
"You think the train station was a setup?" It made sense. That oncoming train with its host of Master vampires and one very mean Egyptian queen was too convenient.
"Only those of us in this room knew of that plot, except of course Dave and Cooper, and it doesn't add up that it would be one of them. Dave was mostly barricaded in a box with Juan, and Cooper has no cause to see me dead. Tate's the only one who would risk everything to see me killed in such a manner that you weren't injured as well. His love for you has driven him to this betrayal, and I want you to hear his admittance from his own lips. Then I'll kill him quickly, for your sake."