Bone Crossed

“What? I had my hair done, paid a few bills—that’s it. Are you all right?”

She wasn’t lying. She didn’t know she’d been a snack for a vampire. Today.

I looked at the daylight streaming through the windows and knew I desperately needed to talk to Stefan.

7

I WAITED UNTIL DARK, THEN QUIETLY SNUCK OUT THE back door and into the yard.

“Stefan?” I called, keeping it quiet so no one in the house would hear me.

It wasn’t as stupid as all that to call for him. He’d come here to keep an eye on me. It made sense that he’d be nearby, somewhere. Watching.

I waited for a half an hour, though, and no Stefan. Finally, I went inside and found Amber watching TV.

“I’m going to bed,” I told her.

Her neck, I noticed, was bared to the world without blemish—but there are other places a vampire can feed. My own neck sported a scarf, one of several I’d picked up that afternoon on a Goodwill shopping spree that Chad and I had taken. The only thing I’d found resembling a lamb had been a barrette with a cartoon sheep on it. Not something to invoke the protection of the Son of God.

“You look tired,” she said with a yawn. “I know I’m exhausted.” She muted the TV and faced me. “Corban told me about last night. Even if you can’t do anything else, it means a lot to me that you’ve convinced him that Chad isn’t just making things up and acting out.”

I rubbed the vampire bite, safely hidden under bright red silk. Amber had a lot bigger problem than a ghost, but I had no idea how to help her with that one either.

“Good,” I said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Once I was in my room, I couldn’t force myself to go to sleep. I wondered if Corban knew what his client was and knew that the vampire was feeding from his wife, or if he was a dupe like Amber. I wondered at the oddity of Corban, who didn’t believe in ghosts, suggesting Amber ask me to come and help them with theirs. But if the vampire had decided to bring me here ... I had no idea why. Unless it was some secret conspiracy, a way for Marsilia to get rid of me, punish me for my sins without worrying about the wolves. But I didn’t see Marsilia being anxious to owe a favor to any vampire—and a vampire who was so territorial that he allowed no other vampires at all was a poor candidate for cooperative problem solving.

Speaking of Blackwood ... he’d called Amber to him in the day. I’d never heard of a vampire who was alive during the day, though admittedly my experience with vampires was limited. I wondered where Stefan was.

“Stefan?” I said, keeping my voice down. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Maybe he couldn’t get in because he hadn’t been invited. “Stefan? Come in.” But he still didn’t answer.

My phone rang, and I couldn’t help the silly butterflies in my stomach when I answered.

“Hey, Adam,” I said.

“I thought you’d want to know that Warren and Darryl made it out of the vampire den alive.”

I sucked in my breath. “You didn’t actually agree to their meeting on Marsilia’s grounds?”

He laughed. “No, it just sounded better than saying they made it out of Denny’s alive. It might not be romantic, but it’s open all night and set in the middle of a brightly lit parking lot with no dark places for skulking parties to ambush from.”

“Did they accomplish anything?”

“Not exactly.” He didn’t sound worried. “Negotiations take time. This round was all posturing and threats. But Warren says he thinks Marsilia might be after something more than just your pretty little hide—a couple of hints Wulfe let drop. Marsilia knows I won’t budge on you, but she might be willing to negotiate on something else. How are you doing?”

“The walking stick followed me here,” I told him, because I knew it would make him laugh again.

He did. And the rough caress of his mirth made my bones melt. “Just don’t buy any sheep while you’re out, and you’ll be safe.”

The stick that followed me home and, in this case, to Spokane had originally had the power of making every sheep belonging to its caretaker bear twins. Like most fairy gifts, sooner or later it back-fired on its human owner. I didn’t know if it still worked that way, and I didn’t know why it was following me around either, but I was getting sort of used to it.

“Any luck with your ghost?”

Now that we were safely out of the attic, I could tell him about it without him speeding all the way over to rescue me. If Blackwood had ignored me—mostly, anyway—he certainly wouldn’t ignore the Alpha of the Columbia Basin Pack.

When I was finished, he asked, “Why’d it trap you in the attic?”

I shrugged and wriggled on the bed to get more comfortable. “I don’t know. Probably the opportunity just presented itself. There are fae who cause mischief like this—hobs and brownies and the like. But this was a ghost. I saw it myself. What I haven’t seen is any sign of Stefan. I’m a little worried about him.”

“He’s there to make sure Marsilia doesn’t send anyone after you,” said Adam.