A black Volvo approached, driving along an area where vehicles usually weren't allowed. Elise felt the encroaching power from inside the SUV.
"Here they are," she told Blake, waking him.
The SUV stopped next to them, interrupting whatever Blake had been about to say. Two people got out, the man radiating a crackling power that announced him as a Master vampire, and a redheaded woman who seemed human.
"Bones," Elise said, bowing her head in the deference he deserved as co-sire of Mencheres's line. Elise might have been out of touch with vampire society, but every undead person knew about Mencheres's merging lines with Bones several months ago.
"Elise," Bones replied, with a nod. "This is my wife, Cat." Cat smiled and stuck out her hand. Elise shook it, thinking the famous half-breed didn't appear as she'd pictured her. With Cat's reputation and nickname of the Red Reaper, Elise had expected a more imposing presence, but Cat looked no more threatening than a Hollywood actress.
Blake looked at the two newcomers warily. "Are they both vampires?" he asked Elise.
"He is," Elise replied, glancing at the redheaded half vampire again. "She's more...complicated." Cat laughed. "That's one way to put it." She extended her hand to Blake, but before he could even twitch, Bones batted it away.
"Don't touch him, Kitten."
The cold menace in Bones's voice had Cat blinking in surprise even as Elise felt her anger flare.
"The demon doesn't have him now," Elise said. "There's no need to act as if he's foul."
"It's all right," Blake said, looking down at himself with sadness and disgust. "I am foul. If I were he, I wouldn't want my wife touching me, either."
"It's not your filthiness that concerns me, but she's half-human," Bones said, his hand still on Cat's arm. "Demons can't possess vampires, but so little is known about half-breeds that I'm not risking the possibility."
"Aren't you being a tad paranoid, Bones?" Cat asked. "You told me on the way over that the host had to die before a demon could jump. Well, he looks alive to me."
"Heart attack, aneurism, blood clot, stroke." Bones ticked the items off his fingers. "He's human, so he could drop dead in seconds just while he's standing there. This is why I didn't want you coming with me, Kitten."
Cat rolled her eyes, giving Elise a look that clearly conveyed her exasperation. "Paranoid," she repeated. Then she turned her attention to Blake. "Sorry to meet under these circumstances, but we're going to take you to Mencheres and hopefully he - "
"No!" Blake screamed, his hands flying to his head.
Elise knew what that meant by now. She flung herself onto Blake even as a blast of sulfur filled the air.
Bones also launched forward, wrapping one arm around Blake's throat and the other across the heaving man's chest. The fiery red lights were in Blake's gaze again, his skin turning sallower with each instant.
"Let me go, " the demon hissed in a voice that sounded nothing like Blake's. It was hoarse and sharp, like glass being ground together.
"Kitten, start the car," Bones directed, not taking his attention off the demon.
Cat turned and walked to the car. The demon's eyes followed her, then it let out a laugh.
"Catherine. "
The redhead froze at the suddenly older, feminine voice coming from Blake's mouth. She turned around, eyes wide.
"Catherineeeeeee..." the demon drew out in that same voice, but now with a pleading undertone.
"Please don't leave. Help us. There were creatures at the door asking about you, Catherine. They're hurting us. Make them stop. No, don't, let my husband go! No, don't touch him, don't...NO! Joe, oh God, JOE!"
"Grandma," Cat whispered, tears in her eyes.
"Bloody sod," Bones snarled, clapping his hand across the demon's - Blake's mouth. "Don't listen to it, Kitten."
She still seemed shell-shocked. "That was my grandmother's voice, Bones!"
"It's a trick," he said firmly. "That's why the best thing to do is take this poor bastard out to the salt flats and kill him."
"No one's killing him," Elise said at once.
Bones leveled her with a glare sizzling with green. His power expanded until it felt like it was burning her.
"Don't be a fool." Each word was scalding. "The only reason I'm not snapping this bloke's neck now is because there are too many living creatures around the demon could jump to. But his life will end on the salt flats. The only way to get rid of a demon is to kill the host." Elise was frail compared to the power emanating off Bones, and as her sire Mencheres's coruler, Bones was also in a position of authority over her. But that didn't mean she was giving up on Blake.
"Mencheres told me I could bring Blake to him," she replied, her voice hard. "So that's where we're going, not to any salt flats."
Bones's mouth curled. "You were always stubborn."
Elise just stared at him. Y ou don't know me, she thought . And you might technically be my Master now, but you're not going to win this one.
"Shouldn't we be going?" Elise asked.
The demon's eyes locked onto hers. Evil. Knowing. Anticipating.
You're not going to win, either, Elise silently vowed. Determination welled up in her, stronger than any emotion she'd felt in decades. I won't let you.