Page 9 (1/1)

Bones and I were the only ones to enter the resort The rest of our group stayed in the parking lot, keeping watch to o from bad to worse with an aht, which I was grateful for No intrusive chatter barraging my mind thanks to hts Just the softer hue background noise

Once I followed Bones inside the Appalachian suite Annette had rented, however, the tranquil atmosphere shattered Crimson streaked the walls, wood floors, and, in heavier quantities, the mattress From the scent, it was Annette&039;s blood, not sons of a fierce struggle, but not a stick of furniture seemed out of place

Ian stood in the far corner of the roo countenance drawn into harsh lines of anger

"In there," he said, jerking his head at the closed bathroo strides, but I hesitated Ian hadn&039;t told us if Annette was alive, just said to get here immediately If Annette&039;s body waited on the other side of that door, ive Bones a minute alone She was the first vampire he&039;d ever made; her death would hit him hard But even as I bracedvoice

"Really, Crispin, you shouldn&039;t have co your own party"

My brows shot up Aside fro Bones by his human name, which only a handful of people did, those upper-crust British tones identified the speaker as Annette Sodead Hell, she didn&039;t even sound fazed, as if her blood wasn&039;t decorating the rooh quantities to hterhouse

"I&039; my own party? Have you lost your wits?" Bones asked her, echoing hts

The door opened and Annette appeared She wore only a robe, her strawberry-blond hair wet frouessed was a recent shower This was one of the rare occasions I&039;d seen her without her face perfectly made up or her hair styled to the nines, and it made her look more vulnerable Less like the undead bombshell who&039;d tried to scare me off e first e of tears despite her unfaltering s out an erasped her shoulders and forced her to look at him "Who hurt you?"

Her hands fluttered on his arms, as if she wanted to push him away but didn&039;t dare "I don&039;t know I&039;ve never seen hi up nuances that even aze had missed Two hundred years as an undead hitdetails Annette remained silent, the faint lines on her face deeper fro," Bones finally said "No forced entry on the doors, no signs of jile when he cut you, didn&039;t wake the other guests with cries for help, and didn&039;t call erprints are on your mobile Ian, did you see who it was?"

"No, but I think I scared the sod off," Ian replied "The as open, and I heard so away fro chase"

That surprised s more than a nasty brawl Annette must be one of the few people he cared about, for hi for backup instead of indulging in aabilities meant there wasn&039;t a scratch on her now, sometime after the others left to come to my house, at least one vampire had shown up and tortured the hell out of Annette What made no sense hy she wouldn&039;t tell us who it was, if Bones was right and she knew Aside froent combination of chemicals that searedto determine her attacker by scent

Annette reainst a ainstyou as your friend I&039; you as your sire to tell me who did this"

With those last three words, Bones unleashed his aura, and the weight of his power filled the roo caress of sensations I&039;d felt fro pressure and crackling currents, like being in the center of an ice storm Anyone undead within a hundred-yard radius would feel the force of Bones&039;s aura, but h blood, as Annette and I were She flinched as though he&039;d struck her, her cha between Bones and the floor

"Crispin, II can&039;t," she said at last, bowing her head "I told you, I don&039;t know"

Anger pulsed in palpable waves fro that he didn&039;t believe her I was torn Aside from one incident with me e firstShe was still in love with him, too, and probably alould be So ould she defy him over someone who&039;d tortured her? That was beyondBones by her actions? I&039;d thrown myself in front of a few ht and Annette did know her attacker, ht whoever sliced and diced her was too powerful for Bones to take on in retaliation

"Let&039;s get her back to the house," I said, placing y "We can figure out our next ave Annette a look that promised he wasn&039;t done with this discussion, but he swept his hand toward the door

"All right, Kitten After you"