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Despite the circumstances, the ten-year-old child inside me wanted to pepper Vlad with questionsWho's buried in the church by your castle? Did you really nail turbans onto the heads of the sultan's emissaries when they refused to take them off? When did you becolasses of blood on a battlefield as you dined a the men you'd impaled?

"A peasant of siht Yes After, and it was red wine I drank"

Motherfucker, I thought before sla my mind shutAnother one

"Iaze from me to Bones "I wonder where she learned to develop such exceptionalman?"

"Don't come into uest, so behave as one"

"Vlad" There was a touch of repri was that Vlad responded to it with a conciliatory flick of his fingers

"Yes, right I proood and that's why I'm here You know I don't like you, Bones, and you don't like ainst you without also crossing Mencheres, Iwith her now"

Bones shrugged "And if it weren't for Mencheres, you and I would have danced a long tih esteement that you're not the worthless sod I think you are"

I blinked Talk about an uneasy truce

Mencheres stood His courtly mannersIn a fight, I was betting he'd be terrifying

"Bones, I was shocked to hear Patra used ic, as you're aware But we do have an advantage Utilizing such a spell eaken Patra for days, which gives us time to strike back at her, if we can find her Vlad has inforht be"

Bones turned a cold gaze to Vlad, who just grinned at him

"Never thought you'd need so from me, did you?"

"You've alreadyto tell me or not, so either spit it out or rack off," Bones replied shortly

Vlad's eyes flicked to me, and then, oddly, to Tate

"I can smell his lust for Cat He doesn't even try to hide it Pisses you off a great deal to have so after your wife, doesn't it?"

"Hey, just a an, even as Bones raised a brow and snapped, "Your point?" to Vlad

That thin-lipped grin widened "I' to it"

Chapter Sixteen

SANTA LOOKS LIKE HE'S BEEN HITTING MORE than the eggnog, I thought as I strolled by the et a picture with ol' Saint Nick Right now, a nip or two of the hard stuff sounded good to me, too

Tate tightened his ar not to pull away, but I didn't I leaned into him and smiled instead Weren't we the perfect picture of a happy couple?

"You're so beautiful," Tate whispered, nuzzling my cheek His mouth slid until it covered my own

Withprocedure to kiss undead targets Hey, when playing a horny chick trying to get a guy alone, that was expected But Tate wasn't a target, or a stranger, or soht

Unless, of course, Bones lost his temper and killed him before this charade was over

Tate'swarmer by the contact with my heated flesh He wasn't a bad kisser, either, I couldn't help but notice, even though he'd kept things respectable by not slipping ue I tried not to dwell on the fact that I was kissing my friend Tried to treat this like any other job, but I was failing

I pulled away, a little too abruptly than my act as his date would have warranted

"UmI want some cotton candy," I blurted

Tate lowered his head to whisper one word near my ear

"Chicken"

He was right If this was just another job, I wouldn't have thought twice about faking a little passion, French-kissing the fangs off his appear more authentic But this wasTate, so the objectivity I norone Aside from my own lack of personal detach Bones to leap out of a corner and rip Tate's head off

Yeah, Vlad had a point No one wouldever think Bones would tolerateout with the man he hated

Above us, kids screaht as the Mad Hatter ride whirled them even faster The Tilt-A-Whirl off to our left had si from it Add that to the other rides, the countless conversations fro of the machines, and it made for a continuous chaos of sound around us

So to Vlad, was Anthony, one of Patra's henchh not to have the good sense to stay away froht it was soet nabbed, sold out, followed, or killed I was guilty of thatfor me at myno one would knohat carnival he chose to visit tonight?

Hell, maybe Anthony wouldn't show up, and this was just Vlad's idea of a funny trick to play on Bones To say Bones hadn't liked the idea of irlfriend was to put itof curses that raised eventhe lines of "Looks like Christreed it was the perfect ruse

Of course, Vlad's intentions tonight could be more sinister, too Mencheres didn't seem to think that Vlad would set us up Bones must not have, either, or I wouldn't be here, but there was so a vampire who openly didn't like Bones

"Keep your eye on the prize," I aze

A snort came from him "I am"

That made me pull up short on my way to the cotton candy vendor Tate and I were never alone anyoal, this was also the perfect tiht

"Look, Tate, you have got to get over thisthingyou have forour friendship, our work, and you take your life in your hands every ti it up in front of Bones"