Ian threw a grin Bones’s way. “You can thank your old friend for helping me find you, Cat. I have a feeling you’ll remember him. Crispin, say hallo to your former protégée.”

  More murmurs broke out at “former protégée.” Then, hundreds of gazes landed on Bones, but he was only interested in one pair of eyes.

  “Hallo, luv,” Bones drawled. “Long time no taste.”

  Cat’s eyes widened when she saw him. She wasn’t the only one who’d changed her hair. He’d dyed his back to the platinum blond shade it had been when he first met her. He’d also cut it to its former short length, and he savored the smile that twitched her lips as she took that in plus his scarlet shirt-a nod to her “Red Reaper” moniker.

  Then, that twitch vanished and she scowled at him. “Bones, what an unexpected revulsion. I’d hoped you’d be dead by now. Still having that premature ejaculation problem?”

  Ian burst out laughing, as did many of the onlookers. Bones had told Cat to allude to their former sexual relationship to cement his claim on her, and she’d certainly done that.

  “Perhaps if your snoring hadn’t been so loud in the interims, I would have been able to concentrate properly,” he said with injured outrage.

  She only turned her back on him. “All right, Ian. Enough of this memory lane crap. I’m all decked out in my pretty dress, and it’s clearly a party, so what’s the occasion?”

  Ian stood, raising his voice for maximum effect. “Far and wide, I’ve told people that the avenging human called the Red Reaper is actually a vampire disguised behind a pounding heart and warm flesh. There isn’t another half-breed in the world, so put simply, I want you as one of my people, Cat. Since I don’t reckon you’ll be agreeable to that, I’ve taken four of your men hostage to ensure that you’re more…open-minded on the subject.”

  Cat crossed her arms, straining her barely-concealed breasts against the thin strips that covered them. “I’m guessing that being part of your people means I’d have to spend a lot of time with you, huh?”

  Ian’s gaze reluctantly dragged up from her breasts. “You would require supervising, after all.”

  “And if I refuse, you’ll kill my men?”

  Ian shrugged. “Not all of them. After one or two, I wager you’ll see that what I’m offering isn’t so repugnant.”

  Cat cocked her head. “You told people what I was, but I bet they had trouble believing you. Everyone does until they see it. Want me to give them a demonstration? I mean, you’ve got all these guests, but so far, they haven’t seen anything exciting.”

  Bones’s hands tightened into fists. No one around him noticed. They were too fixated on the spectacle below.

  When I told you to be prepared for anything, I didn’t mean to instigate it, Kitten!

  “What are you offering for a demonstration, my lovely Reaper?” Ian asked, clearly intrigued.

  “Bring out your strongest fighter,” Cat said. “I’ll beat ‘em with only what I’ve got on now.”

  She even spun in a circle, billowing the wisps of fabric around her thighs to reveal that the skimpy top of her dress was connected to the bottom like a risqué leotard.

  Ian’s grin was all too pleased as he watched. “And what do you want if you win?”

  Cat stopped spinning. “One of my men back unharmed, and I get to pick which one.”

  Ian’s gaze raked her. His sire wasn’t stupid, so he must realize that Cat had an advantage that wasn’t readily apparent. But Ian also knew that if he refused the challenge an unarmed, human-looking woman issued, he would appear weak.

  “Agreed,” Ian finally said.

  “Good, I’ll take Noah,” Cat said at once.

  Ian’s tone hardened. “You have to win first.”

  Bones stood. “Before this circus begins, I have an issue to settle with you, Ian. I would have skipped this event had you not commanded me to appear, and that is the rub. I wish to be under no one’s authority but my own, and it’s time. Release me.”

  Shock leaked through their tie as Ian’s shields slipped. Then, it was gone, and Ian’s expression turned to glass.

  “We’ll speak on this later, Crispin, when there aren’t so many distractions.”

  Bones waved at the crowd. “There’s no better time than now, with all present to observe tradition. I want nothing when I leave apart from what is mine by right-the vampires I’ve created, their possessions, and all my human property. I’ve waited long enough, Ian,” he added when his sire’s expression turned mutinous. “I’m not waiting any longer.”

  “And if I refuse?” Ian asked coldly. “Are you threatening to challenge me to win your freedom?”

  Bones didn’t blink. “Yes, but why the need? Our paths go back to our humanity, and we shouldn’t part with one of us dead out of mere stubbornness. Release me by your favor and not by a fight, for that is my wish.”

  With a pang, Bones realized it was still true despite all of tonight. Yes, he wanted to smash Ian’s face in for everything he was doing to Cat, but he didn’t want to kill him, and he should.

  Lucifer’s burning bollocks, had he actually come to love his smarmy sire? What rotten luck.

  The crowd was so silent Bones could hear every beat of Cat’s heart. Ian stared at him, his expression giving nothing away while his shields remained locked down. Bones stared back, not a muscle moving even when Ian withdrew a silver knife and came toward him.

  Was the duel about to begin?

  Ian went up to Bones, his turquoise gaze glinting green and his aura blasting out until Bones felt like sparks were beating against his skin. Ian’s knife was between them, blade out, its tip mere inches from Bones’s heart.

  “You disappoint me,” Ian hissed so low that Bones could barely hear him.

  Bones’s shoulders flexed; the closest he could come to a shrug with all his energy coiled and ready to strike. “Not everything is about you, Ian.”

  His sire let out a derisive grunt, but then the green left his gaze, and he flipped his knife inward.

  “Go, then, and be Master of your own line,” Ian said in a newly loud voice. “Subject to none but yourself and the laws that govern all of Cain’s children. I, Ian, release you.”

  Bones had to fight to keep his walls up so the vampires he’d made didn’t feel the relief gushing through him. Ian didn’t know it, but with these ancient, ceremonial words, he’d just released Cat, too.

  “You all bear witness,” Bones called out.

  Nods and calls of “we do” completed the ritual.

  Bones held out his hand.

  Ian shook it with a sardonic smile. “We’ve been together a long time, Crispin. It will feel odd not having you as one of my people. What are your plans now?”

  “The same as any new Master,” Bones replied. “Protecting those who belong to me at all costs.”

  Ian rolled his eyes. “So dramatic. Well, you’re under no further obligation to stay, so will you be leaving? Or will you wait to see if your former protégée wins her challenge?”

  Bones looked at Cat, who silently watched this exchange. When his eyes met hers, he couldn’t stop his smile, so he looked away before his scent betrayed him, too.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

  Bones hadn’t known that Cat would bargain for one of her men by offering a duel, but no matter. He’d been the strongest vampire in Ian’s line, so now, any challenger Ian picked would be weaker than Bones, and thus very, very beatable for Cat.

  “I wager she wins, too,” Bones went on. “Unless she’s forgotten everything I taught her.”

  “I rather doubt that,” Ian said, rubbing his chest as if in memory of Cat’s knife piercing it.

  “What are the rules for this fight?” Cat called out, switching everyone’s attention back to her. “Are you judging the winner by who’s first to be pinned and helpless?”

  Ian laughed as he left Bones and returned to his seat. “No, poppet. You’ll only win if you kill your opponent. Now, your opponent can’t kill you, but he can deliver you to me in any state he likes, and once he does that, you’re mine.”

  Cat only smiled, and released the emerald glow in her gaze.

  Hundreds of voices erupted at once. Many vampires leapt up in shock, too. Bones watched in sympathy. Yes, it truly was staggering to see a vampire’s eyes on a human. Bones had almost tripped over his own feet when he first saw Cat’s eyes glow.

  “Bring on your best, Ian,” Cat said above the melee.

  Ian smirked. “Don’t you want your lover to wish you luck first?” he asked, and pointed up.

  Cat’s gaze went to the peak of the domed tent…and stared.

  Noah stared back from his suspended cage. He didn’t speak, and he wasn’t afraid, per Bones’s earlier directives, but revulsion filled Noah’s face as he gazed at Cat’s inhuman eyes.

  Cat shuddered and looked away.

  Ian’s smirk widened. He thought her reaction was fear at seeing Noah captured, but Bones knew better. She’d dated Noah because he was everything her mum wanted her to be, which meant Noah was horrified by everything Cat was, now that he knew it.

  “Grendel!” Ian sang out.

  Bones stiffened. He knew that name, and it did not belong to a vampire in Ian’s line.

  “How would you like to deliver the half-breed to me?” Ian continued in that same merry tone.

  A laugh boomed out from the far side of the stadium before a giant ghoul came into view.

  Bones’s jaw tightened. This wouldn’t do.

  44

  Cat’s mouth dropped as her gaze swept over the ghoul, which took several moments because Grendel was nearly seven feet tall and about half that size in width. He only wore trousers, and he’d oiled his massive upper body until his olive-toned skin gleamed under the lights. When Grendel jumped into the arena, Cat muttered “Aw, shit,” at the ghoul’s lithe grace, which was very at odds with his lumbering size.

  Ian barely stifled his laugh. “This is Grendel, the ghoul nation’s most famous mercenary. He’s almost six hundred years old and a former stradioti of the Venetian armies. Grendel used to be paid according to the number of heads he lopped off in battle, and that, my dear poppet, was just when he was human.”

  All true, and that didn’t include the far more gruesome reputation Grendel had earned after he’d become a ghoul.

  Cat glanced down at her shoes with a rueful shake of her head that only Bones understood. They looked like normal stilettos, but the long, thin heels were actually silver coated in black paint. Cat hadn’t arrived weaponless after all, but her silver heels were now useless. Only decapitation killed ghouls.

  Bones raised a brow when Cat glanced his way next. She didn’t have to do this. He was now head of his own line, free to take his people and his “property” with him. Cat knew that. All she had to do was say the word, and this charade ended.

  Cat looked away to give Grendel another calculating glance. Then, she looked up at Noah.

  We have Ian’s men to bargain with him for, Bones silently argued. You can get Noah back that way!

  “Don’t bash her about too badly, Grendel,” Ian said with taunting satisfaction. “I have plans for her.”

  Grendel’s laugh boomed out again, darker this time. “She’ll be alive. Anything else is up to you to heal.”

  Fuck this.

  Bones started to stand.

  Cat’s gaze landed on him like a physical weight. Don’t, it said as she cracked her knuckles. I’ve got this.

  Unarmed against a ghoul nearly twice her height and five times her weight? How? She couldn’t berate Grendel’s head off!

  As if to echo his thoughts, Grendel said, “To show that I have no fear of you, I will let you strike the first blow without defending myself.”

  “I’m not giving you the same courtesy,” Cat replied instantly.

  Grendel’s smile was chilling. “I would hope not. Then my fun would end too soon.”

  Cat smiled back-and flung herself feet-first at Grendel. Her silver heels speared the ghoul’s throat and she scissored her legs outward with blurring speed.

  Yes! By God, that might take his head off-

  Bones’s jubilation died as Grendel’s head stayed above his shoulders. Much of his neck didn’t, though, and thick globs of flesh hit the floor the same time that Cat and Grendel did. She landed box-first onto Grendel’s face before leaping off as if scalded.

  Ian’s laughter filled the shocked silence. “You didn’t use that battle tactic against me when we fought, Cat. I daresay I feel cheated.”

  Cat busied herself with kicking the gore from her heels while Grendel rose with ominous slowness.

  “You will pay with pain for that,” he rasped through the large, healing tears in his throat.

  “It wasn’t good for me, either,” Cat muttered.

  Grendel’s reply was a lightning-fast punch that catapulted Cat into the stands behind her. Bones’s knuckles whitened on his chair as the vampires she landed on immediately threw her back into the arena. Cat rolled to avoid Grendel’s kick, which meant she wasn’t seriously injured, but the miss angered the ghoul. He tried to squash her with his huge body next, but she leapt out of the way, cursing under her newly jagged breath.

  Cat attempted to regroup, but Grendel’s fist shot out with more breathtaking speed. Bones winced as her collarbone caved. Another blurring punch to the midsection lifted her off her feet, and blood spurted from her mouth. Bones was nearly out of his seat when she managed to dart away from another rib-breaking blow, but then Cat caught a punch to her back that took her legs out from under her. She landed face-first and tried to roll away, only to have Grendel yank her back and blast her ribs with another brutal blow. More blood bubbled past her lips as she clutched her torso and fought to breathe.

  Bloody hell, he couldn’t sit back and watch this!

  Bones was about fly into the arena to stop Grendel when the ghoul backed away from Cat of his own accord.

  “This was the feared Red Reaper?” Grendel roared before breaking into a contemptuous laugh. “This?”

  The crowd applauded. Cat stared at Grendel through a veil of blood and hair, and somehow pushed herself into a crouch.

  “Pussy,” she ground out.

  Bones had seen that look in her eye before. She was incandescent with rage, and rage had always given her strength.

  Grendel’s laughter instantly ceased. He turned back to her, raising his meaty fist.

  Cat rushed forward, still in a crouch. Her open mouth landed squarely in the ghoul’s groin. From Grendel’s instant, high-pitched shriek, she’d bitten down for all she was worth.

  Grendel hunched and tried to knock her away from his groin, but Cat moved with a speed Bones hadn’t believed her capable of in her condition. She was on Grendel’s back and shoving her fingers deep into both his eyes in the next instant.

  Grendel screamed, windmilling his arms trying to grab her. Cat leapt off and kicked the ghoul’s legs out from under him. When he hit his knees, she rocketed toward him and grabbed his head, yanking it to the left with all her momentum.

  The ghoul’s neck snapped with a sound that shushed every voice in the stadium.

  Cat gripped Grendel’s head tighter and sprang off the floor as if it were a trampoline. For a second, all Bones could see was her legs as she fell backward after she landed…but then Grendel’s body pitched forward, and Cat sat up with the ghoul’s detached head still gripped to her torso.

  “You forgot…to kick me…when I was down,” she gasped out.

  Relief flooded him. She hadn’t needed to do any of that, but by God, she’d done it, and no one here would forget it. Certainly not Ian, whose face reflected sheer disbelief.

  “Lower…the cage,” Cat got out next.

  Ian gave a curt nod to one of his flunkies. Noah’s cage began rattling as it was lowered. By the time it reached the ground, Cat was on her feet. One of Ian’s vampires let Noah out, and he looked at Grendel’s head and screamed.

  Bones sighed. He’d told Noah not to talk, but he’d neglected to tell him not to do that.

  “Someone shut him up,” Ian snapped.

  Charles jumped into the arena. One flash of his gaze later, and Noah was silent. Charles then took Noah’s arm and led him out of the stadium.

  Ian stood and began to applaud. “Well done, Red Reaper. No one will scoff at that name for you now. You’ve proven to be resourceful, strong, and ruthless. Congratulations, you’ve won one of your men back. However, I still have three more. How much are their lives worth to you? Swear your loyalty and join my line, and I’ll let them go. Come now,” he added as Cat’s expression hardened. “It will hardly be unpleasant. In fact, there any many perks, as you’ll soon discover.”

  Before Cat could suggest another duel, Bones stood. “I’ve seen enough, Ian. I’m leaving.”

  “But this is the best part,” Ian said with a wink at Cat.

  She held up her middle finger.

  Ian only laughed. “Now you’re reading my mind, poppet.”

  Bones descended the aisle. As soon as he did, his people began to leave, too. Cat stared at the scores of vampires, her eyes widening. Wait until she found out that this was hardly his entire line. These were only the first-generation vampires that could make it here on such short notice.

  “I bid you good night, Ian,” Bones said, and then paused once he reached the level just above the arena. “Though I think I’ll pay my respects to your guest of honor before I leave.”

  Ian laughed. “Be careful, Crispin. You might end up headless next to Grendel.”

  Bones flashed a grin at Ian as he jumped down into the arena. “I always did like to live dangerously.”

  Cat straightened as much as her broken ribs allowed. Her breathing was better, though, which meant the blood he’d given her last night was accelerating her healing. It hadn’t finished the job, though. She’d need more for that.

  “Congratulations on a magnificent display of unsportsmanlike conduct,” Bones said while a smile tugged at his lips. “What a dirty fighter you are. Someone really skilled must have trained you.”