This Side of the Grave (Night Huntress, #5)(67)

“I’ll see you guys soon” was what I said to Dave and Fabian, hoping I sounded confident and not like it was a prayer. Fabian might be able to slip away unscathed to warn us if Dave’s spying was discovered, but even at our fastest, we might not be able to rescue Dave in time, and he knew it.

“Say hi to Tate and the rest of the guys,” Dave said.

“Will do.”

I kept my smile until they left, and then it dropped from my face like a fallen bridge. Vlad turned away, saying something about checking in with his people.

He wasn’t the only one who had to make a phone call. I sighed, then picked up my cell to call Tate and give them the location of the latest place to put under surveillance—and hope he had no awful news to relay about my mother or uncle.





Chapter Twenty--seven

I stared out the window, lost in my thoughts, barely noticing the blur of buildings that we drove past. Most of Memphis had recovered from the terrible flooding last year, but here and there, you could still see signs of the water’s ravages. The people had bounced back, though, reopening businesses and rebuilding homes. Ghosts might have proved to be a surprisingly tough bunch, as Fabian pointed out, but my species—or former species, I guess—was pretty resilient, too.

I frowned when Vlad turned the corner and went down a long street that didn’t look like it was anywhere close to the bar we were supposed to go to.

“You’re not lost, are you?”

He glanced at me, one side of his mouth ticked up in a sly smile. “Field trip,” he said, taking the next right.

I took one look at the wrought-iron arch at the end of the road and shook my head.

“A cemetery? We agreed that Mencheres was doing recon on Apollyon, not us!”

“We’re not here looking for Apollyon or any other ghouls,” Vlad replied evenly. He parked at the farthest spot from the entrance before turning to fully face me. “We’re here because you’re going to try that new trick you picked up from Marie.”

For several seconds, I was speechless, torn between wondering if I should lie and say I didn’t know what he was talking about, or demand to know who told him. I couldn’t imagine that Bones would have said anything to Tepesh. They certainly weren’t close.

“What do you think you know about that?” I settled on at last, giving him a hard look. No way would I start babbling out a confession, even if he was drilling me with the ol’ Dracula knowing stare.

“I know you didn’t start wearing garlic and weed just to make a bold fashion statement, and that your sudden popularity with ghosts didn’t start until after you saw Marie,” Vlad said, his mouth twisting. “Hadn’t quite worked it all out until this morning, when I heard you mention being able to stand the ‘freaky ghost juju’ from Marie during that unutterably sappy conversation you had with Bones. Then I realized what was going on. Very impressive, being able to absorb powers from ghouls, too.”

“Are you crazy?” I hissed, looking around. “What if this cemetery is crawling with you-know-who’s people and they overheard you?”

He snorted. “It’s not. I’d feel it if there were ghouls here. I’m a lot older than you, so my range is stronger. The only dead things around for a mile in any direction are you, me, and everyone buried under the dirt.”

That mollified me, but I still remembered the warning Bones had relayed from Marie about what would happen if we told anyone that I’d drunk her blood. “It’s not just the dead or undead we need to worry about overhearing,” I said, jerking my head toward the window.

“If you see a ghost, just order it not to say anything,” Vlad replied inexorably. “Don’t think that’s escaped my attention, either, Reaper.”

Aw, f*ck. Well, what did I expect? Despite the garlic and ganja armor, some of them still made their way to me and I’d had to send them off with a firm instruction not to come back. With staying under the same roof as Vlad for the past week, he had to have overheard, even if I’d tried to make my orders really soft.

“This can’t become common knowledge,” I said finally.

Vlad let out a single laugh. “To use a phrase from your generation, no shit.”

“I think that expression’s older than my generation,” I muttered, but let that drop. Vlad knew and that’s all there was to it. At least he wasn’t the gossiping type, so I still had a decent chance at this not getting around. But what he wanted me to do was out of the question.

“You don’t understand what you’re asking for. It’s not as simple as holding a séance. It’s too dangerous.”

Those coppery green eyes bored into mine. “I know very well what Marie can summon, and if you can now also call forth such creatures, that would give vampires a critical edge if we are unable to kill Apollyon and prevent war from breaking out.”

“Calling them forth isn’t what scares me,” I said, a shiver of remembrance running through me. “Controlling them once they’re here, or sending them back, that’s the problem.”

“This is far too important for you to refuse simply out of fear,” Vlad retorted.

“You just don’t get it.” I swiped a hand toward the cemetery for emphasis. “Those things—Remnants, Marie called them—are like ghostly land mines, and you’re asking me to stomp on them to see if I can direct the blast radius! It’s not fear for me that I’m saying no. They didn’t hurt me last time and probably wouldn’t again. It’s fear for you if I do it and fail.”