One Foot in the Grave

SEVEN

THE BULLETS SLOWED LAZARUS, SILVER BEING kryptonite for vampires. Lazarus had used his power to heal himself, but because he hadn’t fed yet, he wasn’t running on all cylinders. Most of Dave’s blood had spilled onto the ground, not in his mouth, and he’d hightailed it into the woods without stopping for another snack. I exceeded my previous maximum speeds and made up lost ground, his scent pointing the way like invisible road signs. Furthermore, I knew these woods. This was where Bones had trained me. Roots and potholes Lazarus stumbled on, I vaulted over with ease while the memories came so hard and fast, I could almost hear his voice behind me, that English accent mocking.

Is this the best you can do, Kitten? That all you’ve got? You move that slowly and you’ll be nothing more than a flush in some bloke’s cheeks…come on, Kitten! This is a death match, not a bloody tea party!

God, how I’d hated him those first few weeks, and oh! how I’d do anything to turn back the clock and be there again. Recollection spurred me on faster. I smelled Lazarus about five miles ahead. He couldn’t scent me yet, being upwind, but soon he would hear me. I hoped he was afraid. If he wasn’t, he would be.

Lazarus broke through the trees to cross over a road, dodging traffic going both ways. Moments later I followed. Brakes screeched as drivers stopped in confusion with the blurs slicing in front of them. Across backyards and over railroad tracks I chased him, closing the distance between us. I could see him now, barely a mile away and heading for a lake. There was no way I could let him get to it. He’d lose me in the water with my dependency on oxygen. I reached down for something more to inspire me, and once again came up with a pair of dark brown eyes.

Don’t fret, luv. I’ll be back before you know it.

The last words Bones said to me. The last time I heard his voice. That was all the motivation I needed. Maybe if I ran fast enough, I could take it all back and feel his arms around me one more time…

I tackled Lazarus from behind less than twenty yards from the water. The silver knife molded around my hand drove with all my anguish into his heart, but I didn’t twist it. Not yet. We had some talking to do first.

“How’s that feel, Lazarus? Hurts, doesn’t it? You know what really hurts? If it moves the slightest bit…”

I gave the blade a tiny shift. He got the picture and froze, his silvery eyes bleeding to green.

“Release me at once,” he commanded in a resonating voice.

I laughed maliciously at him. “Nice try but no cigar. Vampire mind control doesn’t work on me, pal. Know why?”

For the first time, I let him see the flare in my gaze. With all the bullets I’d shot into his face, he’d missed it before.

Lazarus stared at my glowing eyes uncomprehendingly. “It can’t be. You breathe, your heart beats…it’s impossible.”

“Yeah, isn’t it? Life’s a bitch and then one stabs you.”

A car screeched to a halt, then running footsteps. I didn’t need to look away to know it was Tate, Juan, and Cooper.

“Well, amigos, look what the cat dragged in,” Juan drawled venomously. Their guns were drawn and pointed. Lazarus tried the mind control once more.

“Shoot her. You want to shoot her. Kill her,” he ordered, glaring at them.

“We don’t want to shoot her,” Tate corrected, firing a single round into Lazarus’s leg. “We want to shoot you.”

Lazarus screamed once and then twice when Cooper squeezed a shot off as well, striking him in the thigh.

“Hold your fire…for now. I have some questions for him. And I’m hoping he’ll be stupid and give me an excuse to carve him up like he did that couple last night.”

Lazarus was dumbfounded at his helplessness. “What are you? How are your men not under my control?”

“Because they just drank the juice out of your buddies back there and they have undead blood running in their veins. Like a remote control with low batteries, your signals aren’t getting through. Now, enough of this shit. I’m going to ask questions, and my friends here are going to cut something off you every time you don’t answer me. Gather ’round, boys. Plenty of flesh for everyone.”

They crouched over Lazarus, and every hand gripped a knife. I smiled as I flipped Lazarus over, cradling him on my lap with the silver still imbedded in his back.

“Now tell me, how did you meet Danny Milton…”

The helicopter carried away Dave’s body, and the three of us watched it disappear into the sky. Our chopper with the rest of the team waited nearby. We were the only ones who hadn’t boarded.

“Is this what you feel like every day, Cat? Stronger, faster…superior? That’s what I feel like with this crap in my body. Superior. It scares the hell out of me.”

Tate spoke quietly, no need to shout even with the rotating blades churning up around us. My reply was low as well. For the next few hours, he’d hear the softest whispers from a block away.

“Believe me, Tate, seeing Dave without his throat makes me feel anything but superior. Why didn’t you listen to me and deploy that missile? He’d be alive now if you had.”

Juan touched my shoulder. “Dave wouldn’t do it, querida. He said no way was he going to detonate. Said we’d get to drag your ass out for once. Then we went to the cave…”

“It’s not your fault.” My tone was brittle. “It’s mine. I told you not to fire. I should have warned you about the vampire first. First, before I said anything else.” Abruptly I turned away and walked to the helicopter. I was almost to the door when Cooper spoke. He hadn’t said a word to me since the cave.

“Commander.”

I stopped and waited. My spine was straight.

“Yes, Cooper?” Any accusation I deserved. I was in charge and a man had died. The buck stopped with me.

“When I first heard what you were, I thought you were a freak.” His voice was matter-of-fact. “Or an accident of nature, a mistake-I don’t know. But I know this. You lead, and I’ll follow. Just like Dave did. He didn’t make a mistake by doing that.”

Cooper passed by me and climbed into the chopper. Tate and Juan each took my hand, and together we went inside.

Don tapped his pen on the report in front of him, one of several. We were both depressed. Dave’s funeral had been earlier today. Before joining us, Dave had been a fireman, so it seemed everyone from his old precinct was there. Seeing Dave’s sister crumple as she closed the lid on his coffin would haunt me forever. Two days had passed since we returned from Ohio, and Don was reading the final descriptions of what happened.

“Four years ago, after you rescued your mother when she’d been kidnapped by vampires, stories spread about a redheaded human with incredible abilities. After your years with us, those rumors increased. Lazarus was then subsequently hired to track down and kill this mysterious ‘Red Reaper.’” Don sighed. “Which still doesn’t explain how he tied Catherine Crawfield to you. You weren’t able to make him tell you that?”

“No.” My voice was flat. “He struggled as we were questioning him and my knife shredded his heart. How he found out the Red Reaper is really the supposedly dead Catherine Crawfield, I don’t know. Maybe it was just a lucky guess, like how he found the cave by reading old police reports that had me pegged in that area of the woods. Danny he found because the jerk apparently liked to brag about how he slept with the infamous governor murderer.”

“And the ‘here, kitty kitty’?”

“Years ago Hennessey, the vampire who’d been running the old governor’s operations, knew me as Cat. He must have repeated it to people.”

Don rubbed his forehead, a sign he was tired. We were all tired, but I couldn’t sleep, only seeing Dave’s throat when I closed my eyes.

“I suppose all that matters is that Lazarus didn’t know your current identity. On to the next concern. You were clocked at speeds of up to eighty miles an hour when you chased down Lazarus, and some of the team said that after the three of you left the cave, you came out with blood on your faces. Anything you want to tell me about?”

Don was no fool. He knew my previous best was sixty miles an hour. Add that to the elevated levels of antibody in my bloodstream, and he had every cause to be suspicious. The three men categorically denied any unusual activity, citing Brams as the reason for their pathology results. Who was I to make it easy for him?

“No.”

Don sighed and pushed his chair back to stare at the wall for a minute. When he turned around, he’d given up on that line of questioning.

“You shot Danny Milton. Is that a new hostage negotiation tactic I’m not aware of?”

He sounded faintly approving. Danny didn’t have many fans, especially after nearly blowing my cover and Dave’s subsequent death.

“I wanted to distract the vampires. It worked.”

“Yes it did. We have him in witness protection. I don’t think he’ll be stupid enough to brag about you anymore. Not that there’s anything he could tell now. The cleaners have been busy with him.”

Cleaners. A nice term for the brainwashers. I wished I’d shot him in the head instead of the side. Then I could have staked Lazarus, and Dave would have been alive. Now I owed Danny for three things-my virginity, ratting me to the police years ago, and Dave.

“Cat.” Don stood and I followed suit. “I know you blame yourself. Everyone liked Dave. After reading the reports, it’s been determined that it was his own error which led to his death. He should have remained at attention instead of lowering his gun. It was a mistake that cost him his life. I’m giving you the next two weeks off. No training, no recruiting, no checking in. Clear your mind and shake off the guilt. There’s something to be said for living instead of just existing.”

I gave a humorless laugh. “Living? What a neat idea. I’ll try that.”