by Tes Hilaire
Not likely. The only thing in the air was the standard mix of human sweat, desperation, and the vices they used to drown the latter out with…oh, that and death. Death was definitely in the air tonight.
“Lawrence? You know one of them?” Aaron whispered, reminding her that she wasn’t alone on this hunt. She flicked a glance at him, annoyance spiking again before she tamped it back down. Eats garlic, computer whiz…and she had other prey in mind.
“Yeah, but I think it’s past time to end the relationship.” She stood. “Either get ready or get lost. Just don’t get in my way.” And with that she whistled, raising her hand for a gleeful wave at the scowling group of vamps.
Chapter 2
“Pay dirt. Looks like we aren’t the only ones hunting tonight,” Valin said, nodding to the skirmish going on near the back edge of the playground. It was one hell of a fight, an opinion validated by a staggering couple who exited a nearby club, took one glance at the violent encounter, then sobered up enough to scurry down the street in the opposite direction.
“Should we help out or wait until they’re done and follow?” Bennett asked, stopping beside Valin.
Valin considered the fight. Six against two. It would have been staggering odds but for the fact that the two fighting were obviously not your average humans. The air around the man wearing the camouflage pants practically sizzled with power, overshadowing any power signature that the petite blonde might have. Not that she seemed to need to resort to any sort of magic given how she wielded her knife and axe like a vengeful Valkyrie. Not a big axe, granted, just one that could be clipped on to a tool belt, but the thing must have been seriously sharp for how she cut through the vamps as if they were butter. And just watching her seductively lethal dance had him buzzing with adrenaline.
“I don’t see why they should have all the fun,” he finally said.
Bennett nodded, then reached under the back of his jacket. There was a snap, and he pulled out his curved blade.
Valin blinked, rocking back on his heels. “Hey, where’d you get that?”
Last he knew all the Paladin weapons were being kept in a shielded trunk down in one of Senior Calhoun’s off-limits storage rooms. His paranoia about the blades falling into the wrong hands (or being exposed to the general public or other such blah blah blah) was beginning to eclipse logic.
“Think I’m going to go hunting without my knife?” Bennett shook his head, disgust plainly written on his face. “Not bloody likely.”
“And you didn’t bring me mine?”
Bennett shrugged. “I figured you wouldn’t want to lose it if you had to ghost.”
There was that point. He lost his clothes and anything on him any time he entered the shade, but still…“You wouldn’t have offered to carry it for me?”
“What am I? Your valet?” Bennett called as he dashed across the street.
Valin swore and jogged after him, still in shock that easygoing, it’s-all-good, sure-thing boss Bennett had gone against council edict and stolen back his knife.
“And where are your cojones?” Valin muttered to himself as he scanned for something to use other than his bare hands.
There were a few ways to kill a vamp—sunlight, stabbing it in the heart, lopping off its head, snapping the neck, and severing the spinal cord—but using a Paladin blade was certainly the easiest. One good plunge with that sucker, heart or not, and there was a better than good chance that the vampire would be dust.
A mangled pallet sat half under a pile of broken bricks nearby, left over from an attempt at re-facing the building it sat beside. Valin jogged over, grabbed a prime piece of the splintered wood, and yanked it free. A couple nails came with it, but he pounded those in quickly with a brick. And look at that, a stake.
He cursed the time it took him to run down the street, climb over the chain-link, and join the fray, but he didn’t want to ghost—not when he’d lose his perfectly good weapon, and not when he hoped to talk a little business after. Birthday suits were fine and dandy for the right occasion, but not when trying to make friends and influence people.
By the time he arrived, Bennett had already taken care of one vamp and was helping the tall, camo-clad guy take on three more. That left one for the axe-wielding Valkyrie and one for himself.
He whistled, drawing the attention of the vampire currently circling the woman and her dancing partner. The vampire—a big motherfucker—glared, then chuckled at Valin, who probably didn’t look all that imposing to the behemoth, even with the splintered piece of wood.
Valin smiled back.
The vampire hissed and charged. Easy enough to dodge, and Valin even got in a good kick to the vampire’s kidneys. The vampire roared and charged again, this time coming away with a busted knee and a nice gash across its ribs from Valin’s rough-edged stake.
His opponent hesitated, his eyes gleaming a wary crimson.
“It’s all in how you use it, big guy,” Valin jibed. The vamp made a low, back-of-the-throat growl and came at Valin again. They danced, Valin settling into a dodge and attack pace that was guaranteed to wear his partner down, eventually allowing for a final strike with the makeshift stake into his opponent’s chest cavity.
Through the cloud of ash, Valin saw the blonde go down, her boots losing purchase in the thick puddle of blood she’d made with that handy axe of hers. Her partner yelled from the other side of the playground, power pulsing and the lights in the street flickering as he threw his knife at the vampire standing over her. At the same time she rolled, slicing at the vamp’s ankle. The vampire screamed, crumbling as the knife sailed harmlessly over it where it dinged into the nearby building. Unfortunately for her, the vampire fell on her, its anger overcoming the pain. A hand snaked out, grabbing her axe arm and twisting it into an unnatural position. A quick flash and its other hand had latched on to her side, dragging her further under him.
She swore, kicking and punching as the vampire snapped at her throat.
Yeah, not going to let that happen. No dinner for tall, dark, and deadly. Valin ran to the struggling pair on the cement. A quick plunge of his stake and right-o, disappear-o. Ignoring the lingering cloud of dust, he reached down to offer a hand, but the blonde was already up, her axe ready as she eyed him warily.
Whoa…and that was a whole lot of blood pouring out of a gash at the crux of her neck. “Are you okay?”
“Never better,” she ground out from between clenched teeth, even as she tossed her hair. Ignoring the bloody mess on her shoulder, she struck a stubborn hand-on-hip pose.
Valin sucked in a breath. Holy friggen fuck. Gabby. Never would he forget that pose—or the bite of attitude that came with it. And those eyes…well, he might as well lie down, roll over, and play dead because all she had to do was look at him with those emerald greens and he was her slave.
Even as his heart pounded against the confines of his rib cage, Valin forced himself not to show any reaction. Not with Bennett here. And not when Gabby had obviously gone out of her way to disguise herself. It wasn’t just the wig or the stage makeup she must have used to add a good decade or more to her physical age, but holy crap, were those socks in that bra or had she invested in some enhancements?
Why was she in disguise? Her shields were what were important for flying low under the radar around any supernatural being, and if she were worried about being recognized, then she shouldn’t be going after vampires in the first place. That left, what? Hiding from the Paladin? Maybe, but none of them, other than Logan, Roland, and himself, knew who and what she was. Roland wouldn’t hurt her, and Logan, who probably wouldn’t either, wasn’t exactly up to doing much of anything these days anyway. That left…crap. Him. That left him.
The protein bar he ate earlier curdled in his stomach before he realized he was overreacting. She probably just wanted her new friends to treat her with respect. Must be hard being over a half-century old and stuck looking so young.
“Fuck me,” he muttered, dragging his gaze from her newf
ound assets and back to the struggle that had drawn dangerously close once more.
“What?”
He jerked his chin. “Behind you.”
She started to pivot, but he grabbed her quicker, shoving her aside as he stepped in to engage the vamp. This one must have grabbed camo’s thrown weapon, and as cool as Valin’s stake was, it didn’t hold up against the jagged knife. The wood splintered further. Rather than keeping a useless weapon, Valin let it go, twirling under the attack and…
“Since you boys seem to have this covered…” Gabby called, slipping away from the edge of the fight.
“Shit…” He ducked the next attack that had come because of his distraction. “G— Wait!”
He barely managed to grab the vampire’s knife arm as it plunged down toward his chest. A struggle ensued, mainly Valin trying to keep hold of the lethal knife arm as he simultaneously tried to avoid his throat being ripped out. A blast of pain erupted in his side from the vampire’s balled fist. Valin pushed away, distancing himself from the knife as he struck out with a quick kick to the vampire’s knee. The vampire swore, taking a stumbling step to the side. Enough time for Valin to scoot out of the immediate strike zone and make a quick scan of the street. Empty.
<
<
<
<
Satisfied that Bennett would keep them in his sights until Valin could catch up, Valin settled into the fight. A seemingly endless three minutes later, using the same strategy of dodge and attack, he finally managed to rile the vampire into making his last mistake. Compensating for a leg that couldn’t heal fast enough from Valin’s continued kicks, the vampire lunged too fast and too far. Valin easily dodged, following through with a reverse roundhouse kick, taking the vamp down. Valin was on him before he could get his hands under himself to push up. One hand on the jaw, back of the head, twist, and…snap!
“Goddamn it!” he choked on the ash, trying to fan it out of his face. <
<
<
<
Valin sagged down onto the pavement, the adrenaline crash hitting him like a freight train. Gabby had been here. Less than five feet from him. And he’d lost her, again.
<
Valin stared at the puddle of sticky blood, thinking of how not all of it was the vamps. Some of that had been Gabby’s too. A lot of it, actually.
She’s okay. Okay enough to run away, at least.
<
He rubbed his hands over his face, forcing his legs back under him as he stood. Looked like his plans for a reunion had been put on hold. <
<
<
***
Gabby’s heart hammered, her skin itching under the thin coating of sweat as she stared at the fifteen cement steps that might as well be Mount Everest for the Herculean effort it was going to take to climb them on her shaking legs. She couldn’t decide if she was edgy or exhausted. Probably both.
Nothing had gone as planned. She hadn’t been able to get away from Aaron to feed. Nor had she obtained a new recruit to spy on the coven with. On top of those failures had come the last straw: the run-in with the damn Paladin…or rather the Paladins. Not that she was going to think about him, no, them, right now. Not yet. Not until she was alone and could deal privately with her urge to scream. Or break something. Or damn it, curl up and cry.
First she had to climb those stairs.
She did it, though, as Aaron hovered beside her, his face pinched in concern, hand outstretched and ready to catch if need be. Good thing he didn’t actually touch her. She might not have been able to control herself.
Blood seeped from the base of her throat, the sticky warmth forking over her breast to drip down her cleavage and run down the underside of her arm, coating her T-shirt in the process. The coppery stench filled her nostrils, turning her stomach even as it woke the beast within.
Eats garlic. And his trick with the flickering lights had come at just the right moment during their fight to distract the vampire.
“Hold on.” Aaron raced ahead. Gabby dragged herself up the last couple steps as he punched in the code, then yanked the rusted metal door open for her. The moment she was through he was back by her side, hovering again. Garlic, garlic, garlic…
“You should check in with Jacob,” she told him, and when he opened his mouth to argue she said, “I think I can make it from here.” She smiled, careful to make sure her elongated fangs stayed covered. It must’ve looked more like a grimace if the dubious look on his young face was any indication.
His jaw tightened. “I think I’ll see you to Shae first.”
Gabby started to shake her head, but thought better of it. Their resident doctor tended to hold to a very old-school form of medicine. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning if you’re still alive. Gabby figured she could be in and out in under thirty seconds if she played her cards right. And given that Aaron would probably hound her until she had, it was better to just get it over with…so she could get on with her private temper tantrum. Damn, but the cocky bastard had looked good fighting. But conceited. Still so fucking conceited.
Don’t think of him, Gabby. Not yet.
They started down the hall. With each step, Gabby forced herself to walk just a little bit straighter, even though it cost her even more of her reserves.
She didn’t need a doctor, she needed a donor.
Trying not to think about the meals-on-legs beside her—or the man she really wanted to take a chunk out of—she concentrated on her surroundings, which, okay, were not all that inspiring. Built sometime in the mid-1900s, the old private school had either gone bankrupt or moved on to newer, better pastures. Grimy vinyl flooring, falling tile ceilings, rusted-out stairwells; either scenario was likely, but Gabby had never asked which had led to the building’s abandonment. Didn’t care. Only thing she cared about was after the mortgage, water, and electric bills were paid, Jacob always had enough funds left over to spring for her rather long list of equipment suggestions. Like cots—one of which was in her own private little room—that right now seemed entirely too far away.
It didn’t take them long to reach Shae’s domain; the old nurse’s office was just a short jog off the main hall. Aaron pushed the door open, chivalrously holding it for her. She stepped in and frowned. No Shae. Just the sparse room with its neatly organized counters and cabinets.
“Huh…maybe on the training floor,” he said, even as he scanned the room again, like Shae might be hiding in a cabinet or something and jump out at any moment. “Why don’t you settle in and I’ll go find her, okay?”
“Sounds good.” Gabby plunked her butt down in the pint-sized chair that hadn’t been replaced yet. “I’ll just sit right here.”
He gave her a narrow-eyed look, but when all she did was blink up at him innocently, he nodded and left the room.
She gave it a full ten seconds before she hefted herself out of the low seat and made her way to the cabinet. Wipes, gauze, tape. Check, check, check. At the door she took a moment to listen in case he’d been waiting to see if she stayed. No sounds nearby, no smells—well, other than the general combination of dust, dirt, mildew, and fresh, hard-earned sweat that permeated the air of the school.
Feeling like a convict making an escape, she slipped through the door and started back for the main hall. Her own slice of home was one of the old conference rooms back behind the main office. Most of
the others who crashed here had taken the larger rooms: the old classrooms, the principal, vice principal, and guidance office, the teachers’ lounge. The small conference room had been overlooked due to its distinct lack of windows. Gabby was okay with not having a window. In fact, she was more comfortable that way. Though she’d come to love the sun, there was something about waking with its rays beating down on her that still sent a wave of terror through her blood.
She made it to her room with only one other run-in, and that wasn’t really a run-in, more a quick head nod as one of the women soldiers zipped by, obviously not at all inclined to stop and chat. There were still some people here who weren’t comfortable around a vampire—even if that vampire fought on the “good guys’” side and could walk in the light now due to Karissa’s blood running through her veins. However, when Gabby pushed open the door to her room, she found the one woman here who was most definitely not afraid of her, to Gabby’s never-ending frustration: Annie. The tall redhead might not hover like Aaron did, but she was just as annoying. At least as of recently, though Gabby supposed she would’ve been too had she been in the same situation.
If Gabby played an escaped convict, then Annie was an actual inmate. A week before, after overhearing a conversation between Gabby and Jacob about the vampires’ latest plans, Annie had enlisted some of the younger recruits to take their own countermeasures. Together they made their way into Haven’s sacred halls in an attempt to deliver the intel. Somehow Annie had taken an offhand comment from Gabby to Jacob of “if you see Logan tell him…” to “find Logan by breaking into the Paladin sanctuary and tell him…” Needless to say, Annie hadn’t exactly gotten a warm reception at Haven. The Paladin leader, Logan Calhoun’s father, had pretty much tried to take them prisoner.
Jacob, upon hearing about the near kidnapping, had decided the Paladin leader actually had a damn good idea and forbade his headstrong daughter from ever leaving the base again without permission. Which, if Gabby had to guess, would be when Annie was fifty maybe?