A Cross to Bear

by M. J. Lovestone

  “How do I look?” Gabby asked Ingrid, who was also suiting up in the armory.

  “You look . . . what is the word? Badass.”

  Gabby laughed. It was perhaps the first compliment Ingrid had ever given her.

  Master Mushito wore no armor and carried only his silver katana. Gabby guessed that now that the curse was broken, he was prepared to die on this mission. It saddened her to think that he wanted to die.

  When the SWAT team was ready, everyone loaded into a sleek-looking helicopter that waited for them on the roof. Gabby sat up front with Victor, surprised to see that he would be the one flying it. She buckled up, and he clicked on the engines.

  “This baby can do over four hundred miles per hour,” he said over the rumble. “We’ll be in Chicago in a little over five hours.”

  Gabby nodded, trying not to look as nervous as she felt.

  “Here,” he said, handing her two small vials. “My blood. One is a backup. Drink half of one a half hour before we reach the city. Use the other half as needed during the fight.”

  “Thanks,” said Gabby. She stashed them in a small pouch on her belt and breathed a little easier.

  Finally she would face her sister’s killer.

  Chapter 44

  The flight to Chicago was uneventful. They flew so high above the clouds that there was not much to see. But as they crossed the Midwest, the weather cleared up, and bright cities and towns began to sprout up below. Victor had decided to attack during the full moon. Though it would have been wiser to attack during the new moon when the werewolves were at their weakest, Victor said that werewolves were always on guard during such times, and that they would never suspect such a bold move during a full moon.

  “Besides,” he said, “we’ve got you.”

  Gabby drank half the vial a half hour before they arrived in the city, as Victor had instructed. The vampire blood hit her system like an orgasm. She clutched the handle and tried to steady herself.

  “Chicago ETA ten minutes,” said Victor through the headset. “How you doing, Gabriella?”

  “Ready as I’ll ever be,” she said in a voice shakier than she would have liked.

  Chicago grew out of the horizon like a glowing leviathan rising from the depths. The helicopter passed over suburbs and industrial areas long dead and forgotten. Steele Tower awaited them. Like its owner, it was tall, dark, and mysterious.

  “What if they fire on us?” Gabby asked, feeling quite exposed in the chopper above the big city.

  “The city of Chicago frowns on antiaircraft weapons on top of skyscrapers in the middle of the city. We will be quite safe . . . until we land.”

  If Victor was trying to be reassuring, he was failing miserably.

  Gabby took long, steady breaths and told herself to get her shit together. This was it. This was the big game.

  “You’re a lean, mean killing machine,” said Serge from the back of the chopper, offering her a thumbs-up.

  She laughed nervously.

  “I had to piss over Colorado,” said Ingrid. “Let’s get on with it.”

  “Prepare to exit,” said Victor as he banked toward the skyscrapers looming over the glowing city. To Gabby they seemed like monolithic gravestones of the gods.

  Teams one and two got into position by the doors, and Victor pulled up, rising higher and higher into the sky. Gabby’s heart raced the farther she got from the ground. She just wanted to touch down on something solid and release all of the pent-up energy.

  Victor steadied the craft and clicked a switch that opened the side door. “You’re clear.”

  “Go, go, go, go!” yelled Serge, slapping those in front of him on the back. They all leaped out, one after another. He followed them out of the helicopter with a “Yee-haw!”

  Gabby shifted in her seat to look down through the side window. A flick of a switch closed the door, and Victor and Gabby flew in a circle above the tower. The SWAT teams had almost instantly opened their black parachutes and now glided down toward the roof of Steele Tower. Gabby watched the roof closely, waiting with growing anticipation for someone to come out of one of the doors and open fire on the freely floating vampires.

  The roof consisted of two levels that ran at a diagonal. The upper level held the communications satellites and radio towers, while the other was a part of Michael’s vast garden. It was like a mini jungle on top of the skyscraper. Gabby had seen numerous pictures of the garden on the Internet. She had also learned that in the winter months, a dome could be lowered over the garden, sealing it from the cold winds and snow.

  The SWAT teams began to land, some on the upper section and others in the dense garden. Victor steered the chopper up higher.

  “What are you doing? We’ve got to land,” said Gabby.

  “Focus,” said Victor. “What is the next step?”

  The next step? Gabby couldn’t think straight. She was having what Victor called a blood rush. Her teeth chattered, and her muscles knotted and tensed from inactivity.

  “Focus!” he yelled in the headset, distorting it and snapping Gabby back to reality.

  “Ah, the next step is the EMP.”

  “Exactly. That’s why we are ascending. We don’t want to be anywhere near the radius.”

  He tilted the helicopter so that they could see the roof far below. Like ants, the SWAT teams spread across the rooftop. A flash emanated somewhere on the upper level, and the teams took cover.

  Gunfire.

  “Come on, Serge, set it off,” said Gabby impatiently.

  Finally it happened. Without fanfare or flashes of light, the EMP went off, and each floor of the skyscraper began to blink out.

  “That’s our cue,” said Victor as he banked a hard left.

  Gabby used her enhanced sight to zoom in on a door that had just swung open on the roof. “Um . . . Victor?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You see that man on the roof with a rocket launcher?”

  “Yeah,” said Victor, pulling up. “About that. It seems that I was wrong about them not blasting us out of the sky.”

  “What?!”

  “Get out.”

  Gabby stared, dumbfounded as Victor began to undo his belt. He looked to her and clicked hers open. “I said get out. Now!”

  Gabby saw a flash in the curved windshield of the chopper and whipped her head down and to the side. A missile was coming for them. Her seat belt came free and the door beside her opened before she knew what was happening.

  Victor pushed her out the door.

  Gabby screamed and flailed her arms as she fell through the sky. The wind buffeted her face, making it nearly impossible to breathe. She turned in her fall due to the initial momentum and found herself looking up at the now faraway helicopter. The missile blew past, missing her by a few dozen feet. It hit the chopper in the engine and exploded like a firework finale.

  Suddenly a shadow swooped down and grabbed her like a newlywed bride being carried over the threshold. Gabby clung to Victor as he soared to the roof and landed on Steele Tower.

  Gunfire had been replaced by hand-to-hand combat or, in the case of the vamps and weres, tooth to claw.

  Gabby crouched down next to Victor’s shining black-winged form.

  A werewolf sprang out of the shadows and landed on Victor’s back. All around her, vampires battled snarling werewolves who stood like men but fought like dogs.

  Ingrid and Mushito stood back-to-back, the troll with her incredible size and strength, and Mushito with his silver katana. They danced around the werewolves and cut them to shreds.

  “Gabby!”

  She turned to find Victor halfway between forms; blood stained his mouth, and a long slash was healing on his bare chest.

  “Do what you were born to do.”

  The words echoed in her mind. They had been the words of the ayahuasca goddess.

  You were born to protect the innocent from darkness.

  Gabby rose to her feet.

  A werewolf tore the throat o
ut of a vampire’s neck and threw him over the side of the building. It turned its beady eyes on Gabby and charged.

  Gabby stood her ground and raised a hand before her. She gathered her power at her core as the snarling, gnashing werewolf barreled down on her. With a cry, she released her power, which rippled through the air and washed over the werewolf. He flew through the air and shifted into a human. Gabby had her gun ready and pumped four bullets into the naked man’s chest.

  The werewolf landed in front of her and moved no more.

  Gabby found the next werewolf, focused on him, and unleashed her power. The vampire who had been battling him found a much less powerful foe. With Victor to protect her, Gabby was free to move across the upper level, nullifying every werewolf she saw. Soon they were leaping down into the garden.

  Two wolves came at her and Victor. He caught one by the throat and throttled it, leaving the other for Gabby to deal with. She nullified the beast quickly but was surprised when the woman that it became knocked her gun away. Gabby dodged to the side as the frantic and screaming woman came at her with wild swipes. Remembering her training, Gabby got in behind a strike and elbowed the woman in the face. She quickly landed a punch to the woman’s ribs and swiped her feet. When the woman hit the floor, Gabby stabbed her in the chest with the silver dagger.

  Surprised eyes glared at her. The dying woman tried to speak, but only a gurgle found her lips.

  Gabby felt sick, but she pulled herself up and surveyed her surroundings. Victor had dispatched the werewolf that had attacked him. The unfortunate man lay behind Victor in a pool of blood, his head ten feet away.

  Serge came running over to them. He had a bad gash on his arm and blood covered his face, but he seemed not to notice. “They have retreated inside. The roof is ours.”

  “Excellent,” said Victor. He changed into his winged form and bit his wrist, offering it to Gabby.

  She drank from him greedily, feeling her power increase with every gulp.

  “Focus all your power below you, into the building.”

  Gabby let out a cry of ecstasy as the blood set her core on fire. The power of nullification welled in her, screaming for release. She fell to her knees and placed her hand on the rooftop and let it go.

  In her state of increased awareness, she saw as the power flew from her and rippled down through the building, destroying the many enchantments set about it.

  There was a loud explosion, and Gabby jerked her head up to see the smoking doorway the werewolves had retreated through.

  The vampires charged through the doorway and were riddled with bullets. They continued on as Gabby and Victor walked to the glass wall that separated Michael’s chambers from the garden. The wall was no doubt made of highly durable bulletproof glass.

  On the other side stood Michael Steele. He was staring at Gabby. She met his eyes with a cold glare. To her surprise, he looked sad rather than evil, defeated rather than wild and deranged.

  A flash of brilliant light erupted in the doorway. Gabby jerked her head in that direction and found charred vampires staggering and clawing their way out of the building.

  “Ingrid!” Victor yelled.

  “I’m on it!” yelled the troll as she charged the smoking door.

  Gabby looked back through the window, but Michael was gone.

  Chapter 45

  The vampires charged in after the fearless Ingrid, and Victor bade Gabby to follow.

  She ran at his heel, hell-bent on catching up to Michael. But then she stopped suddenly. Master Mushito lay in a pool of blood. His chest had been slashed, and he bled from a dozen other places. Yet he looked serene, happy even.

  Gabby dropped to her knees beside him and took his shaking hand. “Master Mushito, hold on. Victor’s blood can save you.”

  He shook his head even as Gabby fished through her pouch for the vial.

  “No, little sparrow, this is the end.”

  “Don’t say that,” said Gabby.

  “We must go,” said Victor behind her.

  She ignored him. “Please, Master Mushito, take this.”

  “I do not want the devil’s blood.”

  “Gabby,” said Victor, resting a hand on her shoulder.

  “Soon,” said Mushito. “Soon I will be with my beloved.”

  His eyes went blank, and a smile crept across his dying face.

  “Master Mushito!”

  “Gabby! Come. There is nothing we can do here.”

  Gabby cried over Mushito’s body. The vampire blood not only enhanced her body and mind but also her emotions. Grief washed through her in waves.

  Victor gripped her shoulder. “Through that door awaits the man who killed your mother . . . your sister.”

  Gabby straightened.

  She looked toward the smoldering door. Distant sounds of battle echoed forth.

  The next thing she knew, she was walking toward the door. Victor went in before her, guiding her through the smoke. With her vampire vision, she saw through the smoke, through the walls, to the heat of life pulsing just a few dozen feet away.

  Michael.

  Victor led Gabby through the threshold, over the dead bodies of vampires and werewolves, and to the penthouse’s large receiving hall. On the other side of the room stood Michael. Beside the front door lay Ingrid. Green blood pooled beneath her still form.

  Michael wore a suit, which suggested that he hadn’t shifted before Gabby’s nullification attack. In his right hand was a smoking machine gun. He raised it and leveled the weapon on Victor at the same time Gabby pointed her pistol at Michael.

  The big doors suddenly opened, and six armed guards rushed into the room and fanned out, pointing their guns at Victor.

  “Hold your fire! She is not to be harmed,” said Michael. “Get away from him, Gabriella.”

  Gabby eyed the guards, wondering if she could get off a shot before they filled her with lead.

  “You killed Maggy,” said Gabby, suddenly consumed with anger.

  “No, Gabby, I did not. Victor has been feeding you lies,” said Michael.

  “Desperate words of a dead man,” said Victor with a sneer.

  Gabby took a step closer, holding the gun steadily aimed at his chest. “You killed Maggy, and you killed my mother.”

  Michael lowered his gun when Gabby got in front of Victor. “Lower your weapons!” he told his men.

  “Sir?” one of the guards asked, unsure of what to do.

  “Do as I say.”

  They lowered their weapons, tentatively watching Victor, who stood behind Gabby in winged form.

  Gabby opened fire as soon as the guns pointed at the floor. Michael jerked back and hit the wall as three slugs slammed into him.

  Victor sprang into action as soon as Gabby fired. He bolted to the right in a blur of motion, slashing the throat of the closest guard. Gabby dropped to a knee as the guards on her left began to raise their weapons once more. Victor’s blood lent her speed that these men did not possess. To them, everything would happen in a flash of confusion, but to her, time seemed to slow. She fired three shots, hitting each of the three guards in the head. In those few seconds, Victor killed the remaining guards.

  To Gabby’s surprise, Michael suddenly shifted into a werewolf, tearing through his clothes and the Kevlar armor that had stopped the bullets. He slammed into Victor, and the two rolled across the floor in a blur of thrashing fur and feathered wings.

  Gabby trained the gun on them but was unable to get off a clear shot.

  The vampire and werewolf tore at each other like two rabid animals. Blood, fur, and feathers flew as they thrashed about wildly, crashing into a table and crushing it beneath them.

  Gabby moved in cautiously, waiting anxiously for a clear line of fire.

  “Nullify him!” Victor screamed in an inhuman voice full of wrath.

  Gabby lowered the gun and shot out her left hand, sending a blast of nullification energy toward them both.

  Nothing happened.

  Gabb
y tried again. Still nothing.

  Michael took advantage of Victor’s surprise and impaled him through the upper chest with a splintered table leg.

  “No!” Gabby cried, and unloaded her gun into Michael.

  The silver bullets ripped into him, sending him flying back and crashing to the floor. He shifted back to human form and lay there, naked and bleeding. His breath came laboriously as he held a shaking hand out before him.

  “Please, Gabriella. You must understand . . .”

  Victor had changed to human form as well and lay on his side clutching the wooden shaft protruding from his chest. He looked up at Gabby weakly.

  “Finish it!” he growled.

  Gabby unsheathed her silver katana and walked cautiously over to Michael. He stared up at her weakly as blood pooled beneath him.

  She pointed the blade at his neck.

  “I did not kill your mother, Gabriella. I loved her. Your power did not work on me because your mother made it so. I was there, during the ritual. She added my blood to the spell . . .” He coughed up blood and panted, trying to catch his breath.

  “What is he saying?” she asked Victor. Gabby tried to think straight. The rush of adrenaline paired with the vampire blood caused her mind to race.

  “He will say anything he can to confuse you,” said Victor.

  Gabby held the blade inches from Michael’s neck. She wanted to strike, but something kept her from dealing the killing blow.

  “He’s been lying to you all along,” said Michael. “Your power does not work on me because I am your guardian, tasked with keeping you safe from the likes of him. And I have failed. Just as I failed to protect Maggy.”

  Behind her, Victor groaned with pain and slowly pulled the stake from his chest. It looked to have just missed his heart. He stood shakily and glared at Michael.

  “Kill him and be done with it.”

  Gabby hesitated, looking from Victor to Michael. She wanted to believe Victor, but the look on Michael’s face caused her pause. His eyes were pleading, sorrowful. They were not the eyes of a killer.