At Grave's End

There was only one floor at Chuck E. Cheese's, so that made it easier to keep Belinda in sight without resorting to looming over her. She was in the section to the left of the front door, playing Skee-Ball. She landed yet another perfect throw into the center of the circles. Lights went off while more tickets spat out of the side of the machine. Belinda had a pile of them near her feet, and more than a few admiring fathers as well as kids clustered around her.

But no other vampire was here, even though this Chuck E. Cheese had been linked to the disappearance of a family three weeks ago. Not that any of the patrons here knew that. It was only because a security camera had caught a pair of glowing green eyes in the parking lot that Don even suspected vampires were involved in the family's odd disappearance.

Undead killers liked to hit the same hunting grounds more than once. Which confounded the hell out of me. If vampires or ghouls never went back to the same crime scene, my uncle's special department of Homeland Security would be out of business. Some of them didn't have enough sense to be like lightning, never striking the same place twice.

My cell vibrated. I took it off my belt, glanced at it-and smiled. The number flashing was 911, which meant a vampire had just been seen in the parking lot. I kept my eye on Ethan as I sidled over to where Belinda was. She gave me an irritated glance when I laid a hand on her arm.

"Showtime," I murmured.

"Get your hand off me," she replied without losing her sweet smile.

I squeezed instead. "If you try anything, I'll kill you. And that's only if Bones doesn't beat me to it first."

Belinda's eyes flashed green for a second, but then she shrugged. "Ten more years, then I don't have to deal with you anymore."

I let her go. "That's right. So don't f**k up a better deal than you deserve."

"Don't you need to get away from me,Reaper?" she hissed, so low even I could barely hear her. "You don't want to scare the fish away, do you?"

I gave Belinda a cool, evaluating stare before I turned my back and walked away. I'd meant what I said. If Belinda pulled any tricks during this job and endangered one of the many kids here, I'd kill her. But, as the saying went, we were giving her enough rope to hang herself. Now we had to wait and see if she swung from it.

On my way over to Ethan, my cell vibrated again. I glanced at it and mentally groaned. Another 911. That meant there were two vampires. Not good.

I reached Ethan, wanting to keep a sharp eye on him as well as the door. It wasn't long before I saw two men walk in with the distinctive skin and purposeful movements that marked the difference between a regular person and a vampire.

I gave the interior of Chuck E. Cheese's another frustrated glance. With all the children here, this was the worst kind of place to have a showdown with the undead. If I were playing bait, I'd try to maneuver the vamps into the parking lot to minimize the danger to bystanders. But Belinda probably wouldn't care enough to do that. Well, I'd just have to try and help her out.

I grasped Ethan's hand. "It's time," I told him.

His blue-green eyes widened. "The bad people are here?" he whispered.

I doubted Don had explained to Ethan-or his parents, whoever those crazy folks were to let their son do this-what sort of "bad people" we were after. I wasn't about to elaborate, either.

"You don't leave my sight, remember?" I said, soft but stern. "It'll be okay."

He nodded, visibly mustering up his courage. "Okay."

What a good boy.

My cell phone vibrated again, with another series of numbers flashing across the screen.

911-911

"Oh, f-crap," I caught myself just in time.

Ethan blinked up at me. "What's wrong?"

I got a tighter grip on his hand. "Nothing."

That was a lie, of course. I looked up in time to see a third vampire walking in the door. Then a fourth. I saw Belinda pause in her next Skee-Ball toss, look at them, and smile. Widely.

This was going to be a hell of an afternoon.

Chapter Three

THE VAMPIRES DIDN'T TAKE LONG TO NOTICE Belinda. Maybe they even smelled her before they saw her, because they weren't inside the place for a minute before they sidled over to her. I kept a good grip on Ethan's hand as I heard Belinda exchange hellos, straining my hearing to make sure she wasn't saying anything else. Like,trap orReaper. So far, so good. Belinda was just being flirty-with a homicidal edge to it, inquiring if they were up for eating anyone here.

"Why do you think we're here?" one of them said with a smirk. "It ain't for the big fake mouse."

The others laughed. My jaw clenched. Bastards.

"You here with anyone?" another asked, giving Belinda an up-and-down leer.

"Some chick I met and her son," Belinda said dismissively. "One of you can eat her, but I call dibs on the kid."

"Point them out," the dark-haired vampire said.

I glanced away right as Belinda's hand arced up, putting a false smile on my face as I looked at Ethan.Don't worry. Nothing's going to happen to you.

"The blonde wearing the black turtleneck sweater and jeans, holding the little boy's hand. That's them."

"Pretty," the brunette drawled, then added quickly, "but not as pretty as you, of course."

"Thanks." Belinda's voice said his backpedaling wasn't sufficient, but she'd let it go. "So, how do you all normally do this? Just snatch a kid and run?"

"See that guy over there?" The tall, scrawny vampire pointed to someone wearing an employee badge. "After a few flashes of my eyes, I'm going to steal his outfit from him."

"Why would you want to take some guy'sclothes?" Belinda asked in disbelief. I glanced back over to them casually. I'd just been wondering that myself.

"Not his clothes, the Chuck E. Cheese costume," the vampire replied with a grin. "It's easy to get kids to follow you outside without arousing suspicion when you're wearing that. Even if their parents notice, one of us just gives 'em the gaze and they go home thinking everything's fine. Takes them a day or so to even realize their kids are gone, and they don't remember where they lost 'em from."

"We take them out one at a time and store them in the trunk," another added. "It's cool enough this time of year, so they don't die and go stale, and with a flash of the eyes, they stay quiet while they're there."

My hand tightened on Ethan's until he let out a yelp. I loosened my grip, fighting to keep my eyes from glowing out of pure rage. I couldn't kill these guys soon enough.

Belinda smiled. "A vampire in a Chuck E. Cheese costume? That I have to see."

The vampire returned her grin. "Wait right here, honey. You'll love the show."

As if on cue, the robotic figures in the theater came to synthetic life. The kids squealed in delight. I watched as one of the vampires followed the employee they'd pointed out behind the stage. My intention to follow as well was cut short by what I heard next.

"...hungry now, I'm getting someone to eat," the russet-haired vampire said, sauntering away from Belinda and the others.

I let go of Ethan's hand. Belinda had pointed him out as hers; he was the safest kid in the place at the moment. I knelt down until I was eye-level with him.

"See that game?" I asked, pointing to the one closest to us. "You play that and you don't move from it until me or one of the other guys you met earlier comes to get you. Promise me."

Ethan nodded. "Promise."

"Good boy," I murmured. Ethan went over to the game and set all his tokens down by it. Cold fury seized me as I watched the other vampire hunt for his prey.

"All units, stand by," I whispered into my cell phone. This could get ugly real fast.

I discreetly kept him in sight as the vampire wandered through the room, his sharp eyes picking out which kids were being supervised and which weren't. There was a young boy by the change machine, gathering up his tokens. The vampire watched him, sidling up behind him as the boy started to browse the games. Then he waited until they were near a corner, and put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

The boy looked up-and that was all it took. The vampire's eyes flashed green for a moment and he murmured something, too low for me to catch. No one else noticed. The boy followed him into the next room without a pause, disappearing behind one of the partial walls.

I went after them, noticing the vampire had picked the least busy place, where all the out-of-order games were kept. He was kneeling, the little boy in front of him. I could see the green light of the vampire's gaze reflecting off the skin of the boy as he stood there, making no attempt to run or scream.

He's going to bite him right now. Right here, and he could have his body stuffed behind one of those broken machines in less than a minute. His parents will never even know he's in danger until he's already dead...

The russet-haired vampire leaned down, no fear of parents or God or anyone else stopping him. I pulled out a silver knife from my sleeve and crept forward.Say hello to my little friend, asshole!

"What the-?"

I whirled, feeling the inhuman power at my back even as I heard the voice. The vampire wearing the Chuck E. Cheese costume stood behind me, his big fake mouse head tilted questioningly to the side. The other vampire dropped his hands from the little boy, and his gaze narrowed on my knife.

"Silver," he muttered.

The gig was up. "Deploy!" I screamed, knowing Bones would hear me, and flung the knife.

It buried into his chest to the hilt. I leapt on him in almost the same movement, knocking him over to give a few rough twists of the blade. At the same time, something heavy landed on me. And cushy. It was the vampire in the Chuck E. Cheese getup.

I rolled over, crunching my legs up and then kicking the vampire off me. He hit a video game hard enough to make it crash through the window. I heard Tate shout, "Homeland Security, nobody move!" as I palmed more knives and then flung them with perfect accuracy into vamp Chuck E.'s chest. He staggered back, but didn't go down. Damn costume must be too thick.

I grabbed more knives from under my clothes and tackled him. He fought as hard as he could-while being encased in a large mouse suit. Our struggles had us rolling, me attempting to stab deep enough to penetrate that costume, and him trying to beat me while seriously hampered in his movements.

"Leave Chuckyalone!" I heard a child wail. Several more screamed.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, talk about emotionally scarring these kids, watching what must appear to be a crazy woman trying to stab their beloved icon to death. They'd have nightmares for years unless Bones wiped their memories.

I didn't focus on that, however. I kept hammering away with my knives, hearing another fight break out. The other vampires. I finally got a deep enough slant on the knife under me to have the vampire go limp, and I gave the blade a final twist.

I got up to the horrified gaze of children and parents alike, but there was no time to explain that Chucky wasn't Chucky, but his evil twin instead. The blond vampire came roaring across the room to me, almost kicking people big and small out of his way. I reached for another knife, found I had only a few left, and went toward him as well. I couldn't risk throwing my knives at him-if he ducked, whoever was behind him would get hit. No, this would have to be a brawl. My eyes blazed green.Come on, Blondie, let's see what you've got.

Seeing my eyes glow made him falter, but only for a moment. In my peripheral vision, I could see Belinda wrestling with the dark-haired vampire. We hadn't given her any weapons, for obvious reasons, but it was a relief to see her fighting for us instead of against us.

Behind the blond vampire, the last one appeared. He snarled and started toward me, too. Then his gaze flickered to the door.

"Oh shit," I heard him say right before he turned and ran behind the stage.

I didn't have to turn to know what had scared him; I could feel Bones enter the place. But the other vampire hit me at the same time, so I couldn't enjoy the view of that one tucking tail and running.

"You take him, I've got Blondie," I called out, avoiding a set of fangs aimed for my throat.

"I'll get the sod," Bones growled, disappearing behind the large, fuzzy, robotic figures that still sang and joked among themselves on the stage.

"Let's move it outside, people!" I ordered in between receiving and giving brutal blows. Fast, before any parents or kids became hostages.

A quick glance showed Belinda roughly handling the dark-haired vampire, moving him outside by almost bear-hugging him. She seemed to be speaking to him, too, but with all this racket, damned if I knew what she was saying.

A hard swipe brought my attention back to the blond vampire in front of me.Just a little farther, I chanted in my mind.I don't want to kill you, too, in front of dozens of children. They'll have nightmares as it is.

When he was in front of the hole in the window left by the video game, I charged him, ducking low to avoid his mouth. We spilled out the window into the parking lot, pounding each other on the asphalt. I only had a couple knives left on me, not expecting losing so many of them to Chucky's thick hide. I had to make sure I chose my moment.

"Mommy, make themstop," a child wailed, and I cursed inwardly. This was theworst setting for a vampire takedown. From the sounds of it, the guys were having a hard enough time keeping the parents and kids from fleeing to the parking lot in a panic, which would compound the problem even more. Dave barked out orders to have the dark-haired vampire Belinda had wrestled out secured in the capsule. Smart. He'd be no threat there, and we could cart him off and stake him at our leisure later.