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“Did…the vampire…get away?” Dave rasped.
Tate and Juan exchanged a shocked look, but understanding dawned on Cat’s face.
“He thinks he’s back at the cave.”
Of course he did. That was the last place Dave remembered. Bones would have warned her about that, if he wasn’t so exhausted that even sitting felt like too much activity.
“What happened?” Dave’s voice was no longer a rasp. His color was better, too. He was nearly finished healing. “Am I in the hospital?” he asked with a glance at the bright lights and white tented walls around him.
Then, he reared back when he saw Bones. “There’s another vampire here!”
Tate’s laugh was harsh from tears. “We know. It’s okay.”
“Okay?” Dave tried to get up.
Cat held him down. “Don’t! Your chest is barely finished knitting back together!”
“What…” Dave’s voice trailed off as he finally looked down and saw blood coating him as if he’d bathed in it. Then, Dave’s eyes really widened when he saw the coffin beside him, and just past that, the rectangular hole in the ground and the marker above it that bore his name and the date of his death.
“What?” he said again, with anguish this time.
Cat moved so close that he could see nothing except her.
“Dave, listen to me. Don’t worry about the vampire. He won’t hurt you. Neither will the ghoul next to him. You…you weren’t hurt in that cave.” She paused, her voice breaking. “You were killed. Yes, that’s your grave, and that’s your coffin. It’s been three months since you died, but we…brought you back.”
Dave stared at her for a long moment. Then, he smiled. “You’re trying to scare me because I broke formation. I knew you’d be mad, but I didn’t think you’d go this far-”
“She’s not trying to scare you,” Tate interrupted. Fresh tears slid down his cheeks. “You died, Dave. We all saw it.”
Dave’s gaze flew to Juan.
Juan swallowed hard before pushing by Cat to hug Dave from behind. “Mi amigo, lo siento. It’s true. You were dead.”
Dave looked around again, seeking anyone who would deny it. When no one did, he sagged against Juan.
“But what…how…?”
Cat got up and came over to Bones, touching him while she also laid a hand on Rodney’s shoulder.
“We had a choice, Dave.” Her voice was thick from suppressed tears. “Now, you have to make one, too. These two brought you back, but your humanity is gone, and nothing can change that. You’re only with us now because…you’re a ghoul.”
Horror and denial filled Dave’s features.
“I’m so sorry!” Cat burst out. “Sosorry for not warning you in time when that vampire ran out of the cave. He killed you, Dave, but you can continue on this way…undead.”
Dave looked around more wildly this time. “Thiscan’tbe true!”
Denial was a powerful emotion, but seeing was believing.
“Look, mate, feel your neck,” Bones said. “You don’t have a pulse anymore. Or, take that knife and slice it across your hand. See what happens.”
Dave felt his neck, waiting. When he felt nothing, he gasped, and then grabbed the knife and cut his arm. The red seam healed moments later, and Dave wailed a single word.“No!”
Old memories knifed Bones. He’d screamed that, too, waking up over two centuries ago as an unwilling new vampire. No words could describe the shock, especially since Bones had awoken with a murdered man in his arms. He hadn’t even remembered killing him. The bloodlust had been so strong it erased everything else.
Perhaps he’d made the wrong decision. Perhaps Cat and her mates hadn’t known what Dave truly wanted. He looked at the sword just past the open grave. It might be needed.
Cat saw where he looked and ran over to grab Dave’s hands.
