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Author’s Note
As I did with THE OTHER HALF OF THE GRAVE, I updated the technology to today’s time because I didn’t want to confuse readers by not mentioning technology that is commonplace now. Also, once again, there are slight changes in both context and dialog since couples can have two different versions of the same incident. Thus, this is Bones’s version of what was said and done, and he’ll swear that it’s the right one.
--Jeaniene Frost
* * *
“Ihope this won’t be engraved on my headstone,” said the man sitting next to Bones. “But you haven’t breathed this whole time. Care to tell me how you do that?”
Bones had been ignoring the bloke, as he’d ignored everyone else in this hole-in-the-wall bar, but at that, his gaze lasered onto him. Caucasian, late twenties, amber-colored hair, glasses, and a steadfast gaze despite his newly accelerated heartbeat.
Brave, Bones added to his list.Perceptive, too.
Bones rarely pretended to breathe in public, and most people never noticed, especially at a bar. Still, Bones wasn’t about to admit to being a vampire, so he gave a derisive grunt.
“You’ve had too much to drink, mate.”
“Oh, you’re English?” the man continued in that same conversational tone. “So is my blind date, if she ever shows up. She’s an hour late, so I’ve probably been stood up, but just in case, I’ve only been drinking club soda.”
The man hefted his glass in punctuation. Annoyance filled Bones. Figures he’d sit next to the only sober, observant person in a bar filled with the drunk and the oblivious. At least this was a problem he could easily fix. Bones leaned forward and crooked his finger, inviting the man to come closer.
After a moment’s hesitation, he did.
Bones released the power in his gaze. Two thin, emerald beams hit the man right in his widening eyes. With their heads so close together, no one else noticed.
“You’ve seen nothing,” Bones said in a newly resonant voice. “Now, mind your business.”
The man blinked, and Bones shuttered his gaze and leaned back. Now, he could resume waiting for his client to show up-
“Was that supposed to do something?” the man asked with another blink. “Aside from looking scary and cool, I mean.”
Bones’s gaze swung back to him in disbelief. He was one of the few humans with natural immunity to vampire mind control?
“Yes, it’s supposed to do something,” Bones snapped. Then, his gaze narrowed. Maybe this was more than a case of bad luck.
Bones pulled out his mobile and started a program without taking his eyes off the stranger’s face. Then, he placed his mobile on the bar near the stranger’s phone.
“Who are you?” Bones asked in a coldly pleasant tone.
“Randy MacGregor,” the stranger said, edging away. “And I’m starting to regret saying anything to you—”
“Too late for that,” Bones interrupted with flash of fang in his smile.
Randy blanched and tried to get off his bar stool.
Bones’s hand landed on Randy’s knee, and a warning squeeze made Randy yelp. Randy’s own body blocked the other people at the bar from seeing, and Bones had chosen his seat because it put the wall at his back. That, combined with the bar’s wide countertop and low lighting, caused Randy to look around with the belated realization that he wasn’t safe despite the establishment’s many patrons.
“I could scream,” Randy said when he turned back to Bones.
“You could,” Bones agreed. “Wouldn’t help, though. You might be immune to the power in my gaze, but I’d bet your life that everyone else here isn’t, so all you’d do is piss me off.”
Fear soured Randy’s scent, yet when he spoke, his voice was steady. “All right. Then how about I willingly forget everything I’ve learned, and we both go our separate ways?”
“Depends,” Bones said. “Did someone send you to find me?”
Shock widened Randy’s eyes. “What? No! I didn’t even know people like you existed until now!”
