"Unbound" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Kim, Frost Jeaniene, Pettersson Vicki, Drake Jocelynn, Marr Melissa)

9

Bones walked up the street to Becca’s salon. He’d tried her cell earlier, but she didn’t answer. She was probably annoyed with him for what she’d think was his disappearing last night. Or she was busy with customers and hadn’t been able to get to her phone. Either way, he thought a gesture was in order, so he’d picked up a dozen roses on his way.

And just in case Ralmiel was on a roof sighting down a crossbow on him, Bones was wearing a Kevlar vest underneath his shirt and coat. Let Ralmiel try to shoot an arrow through that. The next time that scurvy bugger pulled a Houdini and popped up, Bones intended to separate his head from his shoulders. If he could kill Delphine and Louis at the same time, he’d consider it a capital evening.

Bones was a few shops down from the salon when he smelled it. He inhaled just to make sure, then quickened his pace, running the short distance to the salon and flinging open the door.

The girl behind the counter looked up in surprise. Bones ignored her, stalking through the salon and yanking open every closed door, much to the consternation of a customer getting a massage in the back room.

“Becca’s not here,” the girl called out.

Bones stalked over, letting the roses drop to the floor as he grabbed her.

“When did she leave? Was she alone?”

“Hey, not so rough,” she protested.

Bones let her go and asked very precisely, “Where is Becca?”

“She called in sick. Or she had her new roommate come in earlier to say that Becca wasn’t working today, but when you showed up, to tell you to come over for dinner. So I guess Becca can’t be that sick.”

Even though he already knew, he had to confirm it. “This girl, what did she look like?”

Shrug. “Black curly hair, thin, about my age. Had an accent, I think it was French…”

Bones walked to the door. The girl continued to call after him.

“Tell Becca she’s in trouble with our manager. It’s Mardi Gras, we can’t afford for her to just decide to take a day off.”

Delphine hadn’t just run off last night. No, she’d doubled back and found Becca first.

Once outside, Bones inhaled again, deeply. Even with the scent of countless people trampling through the air, he could still smell Delphine. It was if she’d deliberately rubbed against the side of the shop to make sure he smelled her. Bones walked across the street to stare up at the LaLauries’ old mansion. Then he went to the gate and took in another long breath.

She’d been here, too. Again, the trail was so strong, it had to be deliberate. Delphine’s scent hadn’t been on it before, the many other times Bones had walked past this house. And now he could hear a heartbeat inside the normally empty mansion.

Becca. Come over for dinner, Delphine had said, and she was making sure Bones knew where dinner would be held.

A bitter smile twisted his mouth. No, Delphine. I’m not making it that easy for you. Ghouls are stronger during the day, while vampires are weaker. I’ll wait till after nightfall to accept your invitation. It’s not as if you have any intention of letting Becca go free once I arrive anyway, you murdering bitch.

Bones turned on heel and walked away, wondering if Delphine or Louis was watching him.

It was past nine when Bones came back. His coat was lined with several knives, both steel and silver. No telling whether Delphine and Louis might have vampiric help with them, so best to have all bases covered. He was still wearing the Kevlar vest underneath his shirt, even though it would slightly hinder his movements. Still, its benefit outweighed its liability.

Bones stared at the LaLauries’ old house. Even with all the noise around him from partiers enjoying the last few days of Mardi Gras, if he concentrated, Bones could still faintly make out the heartbeat inside the house. True, that heartbeat might not be Becca’s, but she might yet be alive.

Now for the last addition to his ensemble.

Bones turned and walked into the reveling crowd, pulling out the first few people his hands laid on, dragging them from the thick of the merrymakers and hitting them with his gaze. The alcohol they’d consumed helped with that, since none of them could claim exceptional mental willpower at the moment. Bones didn’t care if anyone looking on bothered to wonder why his eyes were glowing green. Let them think it was a special effect from the Phantom of the Opera mask he had on, if they bothered to ponder it at all.

After giving the three bespelled people their instructions, Bones went back into the crowd and pulled out another three, repeating the process. And then another three, then another, until he had more than a dozen obedient bystanders. Finally, Bones walked back down the street to stand on the corner in front of the house.

The shadows around it were darker now, throbbing with the memory of suppressed rage from centuries ago. It was almost as if those shadows knew their former tormenters had returned. Bones took off his mask, then rolled his head around on his shoulders.

“Now,” he told the waiting men and women at his back, and vaulted up into the air.

Below him, they began walking to the front of the house and hurling things at it. Beer bottles, their shoes, their masks; whatever they could get into their hands, they flung it. Windows broke on the first and second floors, the sound drowned out by the yells and hollers from the people. They didn’t go within a dozen feet of the house, though. No, they stayed just far enough away so that anyone who wanted to stop them would have to come out and get them.

Drawing out Delphine or Louis wasn’t the point. The racket they made while they smashed up the house was. Hidden behind the chimney on a nearby roof, Bones waited for his chance. When two windows smashed simultaneously, Bones sprang forward, streamlining his body and diving through the second floor windows.

Bones rolled as soon as he hit the floor, staying low and searching the room, careful not to let any green shine from his eyes. He wasn’t going to make it easier for them to find him, if they’d determined the noise they’d just heard was him instead of more objects being hurled through the windows.

The room was empty of all but furniture. Bones inhaled, trying to track Becca by scent, and then swore. The room stank of embalming fluid, a noxious scent that masked damn near everything else. Clever bastards, he thought. That was all right; he could still pick up the heartbeat as a beacon, though now that he was inside, it sounded like there were two heartbeats. Both in opposite directions from each other.

He chose the one that sounded stronger. Since Becca was their most recent victim, it made sense that the other, fainter heartbeat belonged to someone the LaLauries had acquired before her. While Bones felt pity for that unknown person, Becca was his primary concern.

He crept forward in a low crouch. The lights were off, not that ghouls needed illumination to see. There was no sound inside except for those heartbeats, his own stealthy movements, and the occasional smash from whatever item was still being flung at the windows.

Yet Bones could feel the energy in the house. Delphine and Louis were here. Waiting. Whatever trap they’d set had been sprung as soon as Bones entered the house. Now all he could do was see it through to the end. Everyone’s got to die one day, Bones mused with grim determination. Come on, you sods. Let’s see if you’ve got what it takes to make today my day.