Up From the Grave: A Night Huntress Novel by Jeaniene Frost Page B

boat launch. Even if I’d suddenly been struck blind, his mind broadcast his arrival. Tonight, he’d chosen to sing the chorus to U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” over and over to block me from his thoughts.
    And here I’d thought the prick had no sense of humor.
    Madigan parked, but then sat in his car instead of getting out. It was a little before midnight; was he going to wait until exactly 12:00 A.M. ? Or did he not see me at the end of the pier? Then I tensed when he began rooting around in the front seat, but all he pulled out was an umbrella.
    Candypants.
    He got out of the car, holding his umbrella over him with one hand and carrying a small but powerful flashlight in the other. His steps were sure as he walked onto the pier, and when he turned the corner toward the last section, his flashlight briefly blinded me as he shined it onto my face. Guess he knew where I’d been waiting all along.
    “Evening,” I said pleasantly.
    “Show me your hands,” he replied in a far less cordial manner.
    I pulled them out of my coat pockets, not bothering to hide the curl to my lips as I wagged my fingers at him.
    “You’re alone in the dark with a vampire and your first concern is whether I’m packing weapons?” Really? my tone implied.
    His mouth thinned, emphasizing wrinkles caused by frowns instead of smiles.
    “You should know if I don’t return from this meeting, I’ve left instructions to carry out a drone strike on your mother’s location.”
    My half smile never slipped. “If you knew where she was, I’d believe that.”
    His gaze swept over me, cold and calculating. “You’re careful. She isn’t. Can you believe she returned to your childhood home in Ohio, as if I haven’t had the place watched since you visited it last fall? Sentimentality can be such a curse, can’t it?”
    I didn’t know who I wanted to throttle more—Madigan for his threat or my mother for returning to a location she knew had been compromised. Wait, no contest. Madigan, but I couldn’t. Not yet.
    “Why tell me your fail-safe? If I was going to kill you, now I know to call my mother afterward and tell her to hightail it outta there.”
    His smile didn’t reach his eyes. It never did. “Cell service has been temporarily disabled in her area.”
    I let out a short laugh. “You’re clever, I’ll give you that, but I have no intention of killing you tonight.”
    Then my eyes blazed green, cutting through the darkness with more intensity than his flashlight. When I spoke again, my voice resonated with nosferatu power.
    “I do, however, have some questions.”
    Madigan stared right into my bright emerald gaze. And laughed.
    “Did you actually think it would be that easy?”
    Quick as flipping a switch, I turned the lights off in my eyes. As I’d suspected, he’d inoculated himself against mind control by drinking vampire blood.
    “No, I didn’t.” Then I gave him a lopsided smile. “Still, had to try, right?”
    He smiled back. “My thoughts exactly.”
    I didn’t get a chance to ask what he meant by that because power blasted through the air. I only had a split second to recognize its source when something large dropped out of the sky, landing behind Madigan with a thump that shook the pier.
    “Hallo, mate,” Bones said, yanking the older man against him.
    Madigan didn’t struggle. He didn’t even look surprised though you could’ve knocked me over with a feather at my husband’s sudden appearance.
    “You lied to me, Crawfield,” Madigan hissed.
    “Russell,” I corrected him automatically, still staring at Bones in disbelief.
    Then my head jerked up as noises crashed through the woods, the sky, and even the waters around the pier.
    Madigan managed a smile despite the tight grip Bones had him in.
    “That’s all right. I lied, too.”
    If he said anything else, I didn’t hear it. The sound of machine-gun fire was too loud.

Fourteen
    I vaulted into the air, wincing as bullets