Book 5 - Bloody Bones

[Yoko]

A lot of the faces were male; the eyes slid over me, saw Larry, and most went back to their drinks. A few stayed hopeful, but I ignored them. It was too early in the night for anyone to be drunk enough to give me grief. Besides, we were armed.

(Bloody Bones, page 61, paragraph 2)

Reference
A bar and grill place located in Branson, Missouri
* owned by Magnus and Dorcas Bouvier (unseelie court faerie)

[Yoko]

1 It was St. Patrick's Day and Anita was looking at photographs of a mass grave that had been disturbed. Craig was gone for the night and Mary hadn't come in yet. Bert wanted to know if she could raise them. Anita wasn't sure. So Bert admited that Animator's Inc would up their bid, since the other companies would certainly not be able to do it. Bert also had Anita go to meet with the law firm handling the case, Beadle, Beadle, Stirling, and Lowenstein.
2 Anita makes a special trip to say bye to Richard and break off their date for that weekend as she goes to deal with the zombie client.
3 Anita is in a helicopter with Lionel Bayard as they head to the gravesite. Larry is also there and teases Anita a little because she is scared of flying. Beyond Beau and Ms. Harrison, they meet Raymond Stirling who needs to know if Dorcas and Magnus Bouvier own the land he wants to develop, ergo, raising the dead as zombies to ask. Since it is daytime, Anita cannot do anything, but Stirling wants to see her alone at the top of the mountain.
4 At the top, Stirling tries to bribe Anita into saying that the the zombies are not Bouvier ancestors even if they are. She refuses. She is then beeped by the police, so they must go back down.
5 At the bottom, Anita gets a cellphone and calls Dolph. There are three dead bodies in Branson, which is within driving distance. The one in charge, Sergeant Freemont, doesn't think it's a vampire, but Dolph wants Anita to investigate anyway. He also asks for help about the murder of Fredrick Michael Summers in St Louis. Dead by vampires, but Anita says to check bites: one=vampire lover, more than one=vampire junkie. Dolph mentions the newest law about vamp executioners being given the status of federal marshalls, but Anita dismisses it. She informs Stirling that she must leave for the police investigation, but promises to return.
6 Bayard gets Anita and Larry a black Jeep. They head to the crime scene, where Larry admits it is his first murder scene and Anita tries to prepare him for it.
7 A blonde man and two dark haired boys were killed and sliced apart, as if with a sword. Freemont gives Anita grief when she doesn't give information immediately, and when she finds out Larry is a trainee. Anita informs her that the perp is a supernatural creature with a sword, faster than a vampire, which makes Freemont take interest. In addition, the wounds and missing parts are probably hiding the bitemarks. Apparently, the creature has killed before. Anita tries to warn Freemont, but the policewoman takes it lightly.
8 Anita and Larry leave the crime scene. Anita is naturally suspicious of Stirling and why he wants the Bouvier mountain. She suggests they go someplace to eat.
9 They drive up the driveway to Bloody Bones, and Anita notices the trees along the road. They've been cut, as if with a sword. Anita and Larry then proceed to the bar and grill. Magnus is at the bar, using glamour to make the customers think each other stunningly beautiful. Anita points out to him it is illegal. He comes over to their table to chat. Anita tries to figure out why Stirling wants his land, but he is just as "confused."
10 Dorcas brings their food. While they eat, Dolph beeps Anita. She calls him and finds out there is another vampire victim where they are. Of course, Freemont didn't tell Dolph about the first victim. The current one is in Monkey's Eyebrow, Missouri.
11 Anita and Larry drive to the Quinlan residence. They are met by Deputy Zack Coltrain who lets them in. In the house, Beth St. John brings them to her husband, Sheriff David St. John. He is in Ellie Quinlan's room. Ellie was killed by Andy, but she had allowed him to bite her other times, thus assuring her rising from the dead. St. John wanted it to be rape and murder, but it was consentual. Her parents want her staked, but Anita requires him to get a court order and to confirm her death. St John assures that Doc Campbell will hurry the process.
12 Anita talked with the family while they waitied for the court order to come in. She speaks with Jeffrey and Sally, but the father is very opinionated. Jeff, the younger son, is easier to talk with. He gives her some information and Anita arranges to speak with him.
13 Jeff brings Anita and Larry around the house to his room. They talk about Ellie and Andy. Anita then leaves with Larry to team up with the officers on the vampire hunt.
14 Wallace and Granger join their group. A side comment and laughter causes Wallace to snap angrily, but Anita gets to the heart of the matter, discovering he was a vampire victim.
15 They head for the woods where they encounter a group of vampires. In the melee, Anita kills two vamps, Coltrain is killed, Granger and Wallace are wounded. However, when the master vampire takes control of Granger, Anita has to kill him before he kills Larry. A scream from the house causes them to run back and they find Beth St. John dead, Jeff Quinlan kidnapped, and the Quinlans cowering behind their crosses.

[Yoko]

16 Detective Freemont and Anita argue, especially when Freemont says she wants to charge Magnus with the murders. As they talk, Anita explains how to be immune to Faerie magic. Two federal agents come in. Bradford and Elwood. They get a short version of the events and Anita eventually goes off to call Jean-Claude. She wants to see the Master of Branson, and Jean-Claude has to arrange it. He eventually agrees if he can come. Anita agrees.
17 Anita and Larry head back to the graveyard after 2:00 a.m. in order to meet up with Stirling and crew. Then Larry and Anita walk the graveyard. Anita tells him about Jean-Claude's thought that their monster is a vampire pedophile. When Anita uses her powers to feel for the dead, Larry senses it. When she grabs his hand to prevent him from reaching out to touch a ghost, their combined power quadruples her circle. The ends up drawing Magnus out. Stirling tries to get Beau to draw on him, but Anita prevents it. Magnus tries to convince Anita not to raise any of the dead on the mound, but doesn't tell her why. And then he escapes.
18 Anita and Larry go to the hotel and find Jean-Claude in her bedroom. Anita finds out the name of the pedophile, Xavier. Jean-Claude did make the appointment with the Master of Branson, but they go til tomorrow. Stirling comes back to apologize and Anita rails into him because the bodies are much older than a century. But she agrees to try. Jason shows up and informs Jean-Claude that their luggage hasn't been delivered yet. So the vampire is "forced" to stay in Anita's bed. Jason and Larry leave to see if they can find them.
19 When Jean-Claude takes a bath, Anita calls for extra blankets and towels. Then the boys come back with food and suitcases, but no coffin. Jason has a show of dominance with Anita and loses. It's a mindgame to show Anita what Richard is like. Jason ends up sleeping with Jean-Claude and Anita has the couch while Larry goes to the other room.
20 Anita calls Agent Bradford to inform him that the name of the vampire is Xavier.
21 The next morning, Dorcas barges into the hotel room and accuses Anita of sleeping with Magnus, only to discover that Jean-Claude and Jason are in her bedroom. Dorcas then explains to Anita the reason for needing to keep the land - Rawhead and Bloody Bones.
22 Jean-Claude wakes up and gives Anita the name of the master of Branson - Seraphina. Because he has fed from Jason, he is ready to go. He requests that Anita and Larry were something more appropriate and they changes their shirts to more fancy blouses/shirts.
23 They go to an apparently abandoned cottage in the middle of nowhere where they are greeted by Ivy.
24 Going inside, they meet up with Bruce. They proceed to the basement. Ivy tries to go one up on Jean-Claude and Anita in turn, but fails both times., They reach the bottom and find themselves in a dungeon-type atmosphere, complete with torture devices. There, they encounter Janos.
25 Jean-Claude knows Janos from before. When Ivy and Bruce return, they are bringing a blonde girl with them, Lisa, and following are two more vampires, Bettina and Pallas, dragging her brown-haired unnamed friend. A sixth vampire joins them, Kissa. Anita and crew agree to be tortured if the girls can go free. Bettina and Pallas take Jason and begin to have sex with him before they rot over him. Jason panics. Jean-Claude challenges Janos and Anita challenges Ivy. The fight ensues when Ivy throws Anita against a wall.
26 When Anita awakened, the rotting vampires were trying to drink her blood. With Jason's help, she got them off. But Jean-Claude was already dead. Anita brought him back to life by slitting her wrist and giving him her blood. When he was revived, Magnus came back with a white flag to apologize for Ivy's attack and to direct them to Seraphina.
27 Magnus stays behind and the girls are set free. The others go outside to the back of the house. Seraphina is there with ghosts swirling about her. When they return inside, Magnus is at the foot of her throne. Seraphina has Janos show Jean-Claude the remains of his coffin. When she is confronted about Xavier, she grows angry and shows off her power, seducing Anita with it. Eventually she agrees to police his actions.
28 Back at the hotel, Jason needs to take a shower and Larry makes him take it in his room. He and Anita talk about how she saved Jean-Claude's life. While she admits she sees the vampire as a monster, she also regards herself as one too. She then goes to take a shower, making Jean-Claude promise not to barge in.
29 Anita dresses in a black t-shirt and a robe the color of wine-dark peonies from Victoria's Secret. Ronnie helped her pick it out. While she was showering, Larry and Jason went out to get something to eat. Jean-Claude takes a bath and after Anita calls housekeeping to get towels for him, is willing to answer questions about their encounter with Seraphina and her crew.
30 Anita leaves the bathroom and tries to ignore the vampire, but Jean-Claude is not easy to ignore. The two embrace but Jean-Claude nicks her tongue with his fangs and she pulls away, the "lust" broken. But she has finally admited her lust aloud with her actions. He asks Anita to talk to him while the sun rises, so she comes into the bedroom. He tells her that he loves her and then fears the sunrise. When he "dies" Anita watches, not sure how she feels. The boys return.

[Yoko]

31 Anita dreams of her mother, but it's Seraphina invading her dream. The smell of Hypnotique fills the air, which was her mother's scent. Larry smells it as well, indicating he is a budding necromancer for detecting the vampire's presence on Anita. She then tells him she is going to kill Seraphina. They then get ready to meet up with Dorrie Bouvier.
32 Dorrie brings Anita and Larry to the mound that contains Bloody Bones. As they walked, the trees and bushes moved aside for her, and since both had faerie ointment on, they saw them move. When they arrived, a celtic cross marked the spot and the ground was filled with English bluebells. Magnus was drinking the blood of Bloody Bones, who disappeared when he stood up. This is why Seraphina is able to call him. He is able to drink because he gave Bloody Bones some of his blood, giving him mortality in exchange for power. Anita does agree to raise only a handful of the dead in order to prove the Bouvier claim to the land.
33 That night, Anita and Larry attempt to raise the dead for Stirling by acting in concert. They used a goat and their own blood to make the ritual circle, but before Anita could close it, Ivy shows up. It's then that Anita senses Bloody Bones and realizes it wanted the ritual all along to break free. So she stops the ritual and Ivy attacks.
34 Anita manages to kill Ivy with the machette, and the vampire's blood closese the circle, freeing Bloody Bones. Anita uses the power to raise all of the dead, and the excess power to breathe life into the zombies so that they all looked alive - twenty dead and all over two hundred years old. The confirm they are mostly Bouviers and that's when Stirling, Bayard and Harrison pull guns on Anita and Larry. Bloody Bones had come to Stirling and promised him the land for freedom, so he knew this would happen. Anita uses the zombies to protect her and Larry, telling them to attack and kill Stirling and Harrison. In the melee, Stirling shoots Bayard. Eventually Anita and Larry gain the upper hand. Unfortunately Janos shows up.
35 Kissa shows up with Jeff and both Anita and Larry give up their crosses and guns for his sake. Seraphina has found the spell Magnus' ancestor used to control Bloody Bones, so she controls him now, thus giving her additional power.
36 Anita and Larry discover that Bettina and Pallas are still alive. Also, Xavier has been working for Seraphina all along. While he and Ellie feed on Ms. Harrison, Bettina and Pallas feed on and kill Stirling.
37 Jean-Claude arrives with Jason and Anita and Larry go to him. The other vampires make sure they will come to Seraphina and then all of them leave by flying away. Jean-Claude brings them a change of clothes and after they put them on, they leave for Seraphina's via car.

38
They arrive and Jean-Claude demands the release of Jeff. Seraphina scares Anita by calling her Niña, her mother's nickname for her. Jean-Claude tries to help her by challenging Seraphina. Anita notices that her ghosts are no longer around, and that's because she is expending energy controlling Rawhead and Bloody Bones. When it arrives, Seraphina drinks from it and becomes all powerful. But she breaks her promise and Bloody Bones exacts his revenge by stabbing first her, then Magnus with his sword. Anita and Xavier manage to kill it. Seraphina takes control of the situation, forcing Anita to give herself up for the others. She agrees, against Jean-Claude's pleads not to.
39 Anita wakes up in Serahpina's coffin and breaks free. She is in the Bloody Bones Bar and Grill, along with the other vampires. Magnus is awake and guarding them. Anita runs out, but he catches her and brings her back. She gets a knife and stabs him, but he survives and takes it, cutting her with his hand. They are near Ellie and when Anita's blood drips on the new vampire, Anita senses she can control her. She pretends to seduce Magnus and spreads his bloody over his body, and then manages to spread it on Ellie's mouth, activating the vampire. She orders Ellie to hold Magnus and runs out again. When Magnus follows, Ellie is set on fire by the sun and burns the lower half of Magnus body to ashes. Anita runs, hearing Seraphina's voice in her mind.
40 Anita is taken to Agent Bradford and is told they have warrants for all the vampires. She suggests burning the Bar and Grill to the ground. She calls Larry and finds out everyone survived. He brings her a change of clothes. At the establishment, when the fire begins, Seraphina awake and tries to control Anita. Anita makes the agents disarm her and lock her in a patrol car, lest she attack them. She even tries to convince them to stop because Jeff is "still alive" but then changes her mind when she realizes that Jeff was made into a vampire last night. She manages to break out of the car and tries to rescue Serahpina, but many men tackle her and put her under with drugs to prevent it from happening.
41 Anita wakes up in the hospital, alive. Jason has healed, as has Jean-Claude. Stirling's company rebought the land from Dorcas so she could leave the land, now that Bloody Bones was gone. The Quinlans are sueing Anita and Animators, Inc. for the loss of their two children. While Richard's arms are the closest she has gotten to her mother, it's not enough and she no longer considers Jean-Claude a monster, which scares her the most.