One Grave at a Time (Night Huntress 6)

Sometimes, continuing on in honor of the lost was all a person had.

"Sioux City, Iowa." Bones drew the words out. "We'll go there tomorrow."

I shook myself out of the sorrows of the past. To stop Kramer, I needed to be focused on the present. That was probably what had kept Elisabeth sane and on track all these years.

"Let's get back to Kramer's pattern. If he's so concerned about covering his tracks, do you know why he picks his victims from the same city?"

Maybe his motive would be something we could use against him. Sticking to the same area was common enough if we were talking human, vampire, or ghoul serial killers, but as a ghost, Kramer could circle the entire globe in hours if he kept hopping on enough ley lines.

"Why would he limit himself that way?" I continued to wonder. "He knows you've been after him, Elisabeth, but he's making himself easier to find by sticking to one area when he hunts for his victims."

Bleakness tightened her features. "Perhaps it's because I've proven to be no real threat to him over the years."

"That's not why," Bones stated. "Kramer can flit in and out of cities in a blink, but his accomplice is flesh and blood. Much more limiting, so if the intended victims are all located within a small geographic area, they're easier for the accomplice to collect when the time comes."

Right, Kramer couldn't kidnap those women himself unless he waited until he was solid, and that only happened for one night. Must not be enough time for the bastard to do every horrible thing on his wish list before he burned them alive. But while the accomplice was Kramer's most valuable asset, he was also the Inquisitor's Achilles' heel. If we found the accomplice in time, Kramer would spend Halloween evening all fleshed up but with no one to torture or burn. The thought filled me with savage satisfaction.

"We need to kill the accomplice as soon as we find out who he is," I stated.

"No."

All heads swung toward Bones, mine included. He tapped his chin, his dark gaze measured and cold.

"If we find out who the accomplice is, we grab him. Mesmerize him into telling us exactly where Kramer intends to hold his nasty bonfire. Then on All Hallows' Eve, we go there, saving the women while capturing both sods instead of only one. Kramer will be solid then, and he can't escape as easily when he's solid, can he?"

I stared at my husband's profile, noting how his sculpted cheekbones, curving dark brows, and exquisite crystal skin only highlighted the ruthlessness of his expression.

"So we go to Sioux City and find the accomplice," I said softly.

His mouth curved into a smile that was half predator, half dream lover.

"Indeed."

Chapter Nineteen

I picked up the chocolate cake on my way to the bedroom, but that was more because I didn't want to leave it on the steps than a continued craving for it. My thoughts were more focused on justifiable homicide than cake eating, kinky or otherwise. I wasn't the only one in a more somber mood. My mother muttered that she was going for a drive and left the house without any further comment. It could be nothing more than her leaving to find someone to drink from, but I didn't think hunger was her sole motivator. I probably never wanted to know how much of Elisabeth's treatment she herself had endured during the time she'd been kidnapped, murdered, and forcibly changed into a vampire, all because another vampire was trying to get back at me. Fabian and Elisabeth also left right after her, not needing a car to get away, of course.

Contemplating all the sickening things that Kramer and others like him had done made me feel like I was covered in an invisible layer of filth, causing me to go straight into the shower after entering the bedroom. I couldn't wash away Kramer's evil from the world-yet-but I could wash myself off before bed, at least.

When I came out of the bathroom twenty minutes later, Bones was seated on the edge of the bed, absently petting my cat. His shoes were off, his shirt in a pile on the floor next to them, but he hadn't undressed further than that. I paused in the middle of toweling my hair. Normally, Bones didn't do anything halfway, but he just sat there, as if he'd run out of energy to take off his pants.

"Everything okay?" I asked, coming closer.

He smiled slightly, abandoning his attention to my cat in favor of reaching out to rest his hands on my waist. "I was just remembering when I said if I were any more relaxed about our circumstances, I'd need a smoke. Spoke too soon, as it turned out."

I took another step until the thick fabric of my robe almost brushed his face. "Yeah, well. Fate has a dark sense of humor sometimes, right?"

"We need to discuss something, Kitten."

He sounded so serious that nervousness wormed its way into my gut. "What?"

"Limits," he said steadily. "I want to stop Kramer. His sort is the reason why I fell into contract killing in the first place, as I told you a long time ago. But, much as I admire her courage, I don't want to see you turn into Elisabeth."

I leaned back to look at him, brushing a dark curl behind his ear. "What do you mean by that?"

"She'll never stop hunting him. She's accepted it as her purpose in life, but there is a very real possibility that we won't be able to trap him. We'll bloody well try, but"-Bones flicked his fingers, blowing out a breath at the same time-"he's air all but one night a year, so we're literally chasing the wind. I'm not saying we'll give up if we can't catch him this Halloween, but I am saying that one day, even if Elisabeth doesn't stop, we may have to."

"But he can't just keep getting away with this," I argued at once. "How can we think about quitting? You heard what he does! And he'll keep on doing it unless he's stopped."

Bones caught my hands, his dark gaze intense. "This is exactly what I meant about your turning into Elisabeth. She's given every moment of the past five hundred years over to Kramer, in one way or another, and there's been a price for that, hasn't there? She shares her life with only her plans for vengeance, and she's more than earned that vengeance, but I don't want to see you go down the same path. Sometimes, people who deserve vengeance don't get it, and people who are due punishment escape their comeuppance."

He sighed and dropped my hands, a muscle ticking in his jaw before he spoke again.

"I'm not saying we try this Halloween and then stop if we fail. I'm willing to commit years to this because I want this sod locked in a box so he can forever know the helplessness and terror he's inflicted on others, but I can accept that it might not happen. You need to accept that, too, because know this-I won't let you sacrifice yourself in a never-ending quest to defeat someone who might not be able to be caught."