“We might have to take some beignets to go,” I began.
He squeezed my hands. “Don’t fret, I suspected the two of you wouldn’t get on. We’re packed. Liza’s waiting with the car.”
Traffic whizzed by in a blur of red and white lights as we approached the Quarter. This was a city that woke up instead of sleeping after midnight. Jacques stayed behind, apparently not interested in following us back to Bones’s house.
“What was the last thing Marie said to you?” Bones asked, before I could even question him about it.
“Go in peace.’ Does this have a hidden meaning?”
Bones stopped as we were midway in crossing a street. A horn blared at us. He gave the driver a fingered expression of his opinion, then tugged me to the other side.
“You’re sure she said that?”
“I’m not deaf.” Was it very bad?
His smile turned into a full-throated laugh.
“Exactly what did you say to her, luv? I’ve known Marie a hundred years, and all I got was a ‘Be guarded on your journey,’ which is a nice way of saying, ‘Watch your arse, mate!’ ‘Go in peace’ means she’s backing you. You were only down there thirty minutes. What on earth were you talking about?”
Relief washed over me. “Movies. Drinks. Headless chickens. You know, girl stuff.”
Up went his brows. “Indeed?”
We rounded the corner. Four more blocks until his house.
“Good thing for us, she’s a Matrix fan…”
My voice trailed off and I froze in midstride. Bones stopped as well, glancing at me in concern before he became absolutely rigid. He must have felt him, even though I’d barely glimpsed the man three blocks ahead. I wouldn’t know him if I hit him with my car…
But I did know Gregor. At a glance. And I wasn’t dreaming.
EIGHT
GREGOR’S EYES SEEMED TO BURN INTO MINE. Even though I couldn’t see their color from this far away, I knew they’d be grayish-green. His golden hair had darker strands in it, giving it an ash-blond color. It was as if Gregor had been too bright and someone had sprinkled him to tone him down.
“Hopscotch, Band-Aid. To me, at once.”
Bones didn’t raise his voice, so the two vampires must not have been far. They came out from the crowd, taking up position, one on either side of us. Bones jerked his head toward that immobile figure and muttered a low curse.
“He’s almost right outside my home, filthy sod. Did he think he’d bloody ring the door for you?”
His hand tightened on mine. I gave a small yelp. Bones loosened his grip, but not by much. Even with the distance, I saw Gregor’s eyes narrow, flash green, then he started walking toward us.
Bones let go of me. He rolled his head around on his shoulders and cracked his knuckles while advancing with deadly purpose. I would have followed, but Hopscotch and Band-Aid grabbed me.
“Bones!”
He ignored me and kept moving. So did Gregor. It was clear neither one had talking on his mind. I was seized with a sick fear even as I struggled with the two men holding me. They’d gotten a good grip when I wasn’t paying attention.
When Bones and Gregor were less than twenty feet from each other, Jacques stepped between them, holding out his arms.
“Both of you, go no farther.”
They ignored him. Jacques probably would have been shoved to the side, but then another voice cracked through the air.
“You shall not fight in my city!”
Bones stopped. Gregor slowed, pausing within touching distance of Jacques’s still-spread arms.
Marie didn’t walk up so much as glide. Bones gave her what could only be described as a frustrated look.
“For Christ’s sake, Majestic, if you didn’t want us to fight, then why did you tell him we were here?”
While they were focused on the drama, I managed to throw an elbow into Band-Aid’s eye before slipping under Hopscotch’s loosened hold.
“Don’t do that again,” I warned them as I dashed away.
“I didn’t tell him,” Marie replied. “Nor did any of my people.”
A flicker of arrogance passed over Gregor’s face. In person, he was even more imposing than in my dreams. There was something about him I found unnerving, even though he stared at me without hostility. If anything, there was a longing in his expression that made me stop where I was. Little pinpricks of pain began going off in my brain.
…I’m from a farm as well. In the south of France, but there were no cherries to be found there…
My hands flew to my temples. Gregor’s nostrils flared. He took in a long, provoking, audible breath.
“Catherine.”
“Take your eyes off my wife.”