"Your problem is you're too bloody honorable for your own good," Ian said. "Were I you, I'd change Denise over regardless of her objection."
Spade let out a cold laugh. "Mate, I know that better than anyone."
Ian shrugged. "Yes, you and Crispin would, wouldn't you?"
He stopped and gave a hard look at the vampire opposite him. Ian stared back, unapologetic, uncompromising. The same stare Ian had given him over two hundred and twenty years ago, when he'd been responsible for Spade being turned into a vampire. Ian might not have sired him, being too weakened after changing Crispin, but Spade was turned because Ian asked for a favor, ignoring that Spade hadn't wanted it.
For several long, merciless seconds, Spade considered that. He'd eventually forgiven Ian, after all. So had Crispin. True, Denise might hate him for a hundred years if he changed her despite her objections, but at least she'd be alive to hate him. Not feeding worms beneath the earth.
But could he truly do that to her? Pretend to accept her humanity, and then snatch it away from her as soon as those brands were off? If he did, how could she ever trust him again? He and Crispin forgave Ian, yes, but the nature of their relationship had been very different as betrayed friends versus a betrayed lover.
Or what if Denise didn't realize it was a betrayal? She'd proved susceptible to the power of his gaze before. He could plant the idea in her mind to welcome changing over. She'd never even remember that it hadn't come from her...
With a violent curse, Spade shook his head and began walking again. "No. I'll have something real with Denise, or nothing at all."
"Fool," Ian called after him.
He clenched his jaw again. That might be true, but it was his decision all the same.
The knock on the bedroom door made Denise's heart leap. "Come in," she called out at once.
That brief hope was extinguished when Bones entered instead of Spade. "Even if I couldn't read your thoughts, your scent of disappointment is overpowering," Bones noted.
Denise flopped back in the bed. She'd been trying with no success to sleep in the hours since Spade stormed out. Had he left for good? He might have. Bones and Cat could more than handle giving Nathanial over to Raum.
"Of course Charles didn't leave for good," Bones said, taking the chair near the bed. "He's brassed off quite a bit, but he'll be back by dawn at the latest."
"You know, I never realized how intrusive your mind-reading skills were," Denise said dryly. "Can't you switch to another channel or something?"
"Don't you realize how much Charles cares for you?"
Denise scoffed. "You can't care for what you don't respect, and Spade has no respect for humans."
"That's not true. Charles does respect humans. He's just avoided caring for any human again because humans always die," Bones said softly.
"Vampires die all the time, too," Denise countered. "There's no such thing as immortality, no matter the species."
"Vampires can't die from the passage of time, diseases, or accidents. No one can protect himself against every form of death, but death is so much closer to humans than vampires or ghouls. What happened with Web obviously inflated Charles's fear of your mortality to the level that had him storming out when you rejected the notion of ever turning into a vampire."
"But I don't want to be a vampire," Denise said, frustrated. "Why is that such an unreasonable thing for Spade to understand?"
"Because it means he'll bury you one day," Bones replied. "One day soon, to a vampire's way of thinking. It's not the same as a normal relationship, where there's a chance that your life spans will be similar. With a human, an early death is guaranteed. If the situation were reversed, would you be content to let Charles die, if you could prevent it? Don't you remember what you said when you found Randy's body? You screamed at me to fix him. It was too late, but if it wasn't, you would have demanded that I do whatever was necessary to ensure that you and Randy could still be together."
Memory sliced ruthlessly across her mind. Vampires everywhere, blood and dirt spattering them. She slipped, landing in something dark and sticky. The stain coated the floor, widening as it led to the kitchen. Green light from a passing vampire's gaze shone on the large, misshapen lumps in front of her. What were those?
Her stunned gaze diagnosed the shapes and she gagged. Pieces of a person were all around her. The glow of another vampire's gaze reflected off something shiny on the small clump next to her leg. It was a hand, with a familiar gold and silver wedding band on it...
"You're right," Denise acknowledged, her voice husky with remembered grief. "I would have done anything to keep us together."
Bones raised a brow. "So now you must ask yourself, do you feel the same way about Charles?"
Spade strode through the front doors of the mansion the same way he'd entered them yesterday - speaking to no one and heading straight to one place. This time, it wasn't upstairs to the bedroom. It was downstairs, past the basement that was the living quarters of the half-dozen humans who were permanent residents here, to the guarded entrance of the cellar. The vampire standing at attention opened the door without a word, letting Spade into the narrow concrete reinforced hallway that had only two doors on opposite ends. The walls were so thick around those two rooms, Spade couldn't hear a heartbeat to know which one Nathanial was in.
He was in the first one Spade checked, asleep on the narrow cot. The room was bare of most amenities, as it was a holding cell for brand-new vampires. A vampire took anywhere from a few days to a week to master the overwhelming hunger that would cause him or her to kill any human around. That was why these rooms were perfect to hold the shape-shifter. No matter what form Nathanial might take, he wouldn't be able to breach the walls that had been built to withstand even a rampaging new vampire.
But Nathanial hadn't changed from his normal form. Just in case, though, Spade closed the door behind him. It sealed with automatic locks. He'd need the intercom to inform the guard when to let him out.
"Wake up," he said, giving the man a shake.
Nathanial lunged in a flurry of movement that had Spade pinning him against the wall with his fangs out, fury coursing through him at the attempted sneak attack. But once Nathanial's eyes fully focused on Spade, the strength left his limbs.
"Oh, it's you," Nathanial said, slumping. "You startled me."
Spade shoved Nathanial back on the cot. "Am I to believe that was an accident?" he asked with heavy sarcasm.