by Tes Hilaire
“Have fun tonight?” Annie asked from where she sat with arms folded on the bed.
“No, actually. Your uncle is a royal pain in the neck.”
“Ah…” She leaned forward, cocking her head as she looked Gabby over. “He give you that nice hickey then?” She pointed to Gabby’s bloody neck.
“Ha-ha.”
Annie smiled, leaning back against the wall. “He get in the way?”
Gabby grunted a noncommittal answer as she unbuckled her belt and dropped it, the knife and her axe on the floor to be cleaned later. Despite the fact that Aaron had put a nix on her feeding plans, he’d also probably saved her ass. Six vamps to one might’ve been slightly heavy odds even for her, especially in her current depleted state.
“Huh. If I’d been there I bet we could have kicked some major ass.”
“Maybe.” Gabby glanced over her shoulder at Annie, wincing a little at the pull on her wound. “But we also ran into two Paladin. And they probably would have kicked ours, staked me, then dragged you back by your hair to their cave.”
Annie curled her lip back in disgust. “Doubt that. We could have run if need be, and then they wouldn’t have been able to find us.”
“You think so?” Gabby unzipped the hoodie, frowned as she pulled one of the disinfecting swabs from her pants, tore it open, and dabbed at the wound. And hell’s fire that hurt. Grimacing, she went on. “Then how is it that I can find you? How is it that I can always track you down, no matter where you are?”
“I don’t know,” Annie replied a bit uncertainly. “Do I have some sort of scent that you can smell because of…well…”
“My senses are good, but not that good. Smelling you only works if you’re nearby and there aren’t a lot of other masking scents.” She tossed down the bloody swab—three of those weren’t enough anyway—and turned to Annie. “But I know you’re there from almost a full mile away.”
“Fine.” Annie folded her arms, taking on a distinctive pout. “I don’t know then. You going to tell me how?”
Gabby tapped her head. “You’re not on my radar. And neither is anyone around you. All I have to do is look for the black hole and I know where you are. Do you think I’m the only one who might notice that?”
Annie frowned, her brow drawing into a vee above her nose. Gabby watched as the new worry and concern warred with her frustration of being contained, her mouth finally thinning into a stubborn line. “Fine. I just won’t pull at all.”
Gabby gnawed the inside of her lip. Not “pulling,” as Annie called it, was much easier said than done. A null, which is what Annie was, tended to naturally eliminate the magic energy around them no matter where they were or what they were doing. Even now, when she was obviously making a concentrated effort to choke it back, she couldn’t fully tamp the instinct. To completely stop took extreme willpower. And besides, to not use her gift meant that any baddy who happened to clue into her little oddity would be at their full power, leaving Annie to fight with wits and weapons alone unless she pulled, which again might draw more enemies. Definitely a catch-22. “That would probably be better, but maybe you should talk to Jacob. He might have another solution.”
Annie huffed, flopping across the cot. “Yeah, wrap me up in foam and assign people to stand behind me with catcher’s mitts just in case I fall.”
Despite herself, Gabby found her lips trying to creep up. Jacob was essentially doing that with his daughter. “Your dad cares about you, Annie. That’s not a bad thing.”
“If this is caring, I’d hate to see what happens when he doesn’t,” she said sullenly, waving her hand dramatically at the building around her.
Gabby’s lips thinned as memories assailed her. If Annie wanted to compare notes on the unfairness of her life, then Gabby was almost willing to do so. Only Gabby had never been very good at all the sharing crap.
“Annie, I genuinely hope you never have to find out.”
“Find out what?”
“What would happen if he didn’t care.”
Annie’s eyes dimmed, a distinctive frown pulling on her lips. Yeah, don’t like to think of that, do you? Gabby’s satisfaction was short-lived when Annie huffed again, visibly shrugging off Gabby’s words as she sat up, her feet plopping hard on the floor.
“Whatever.” Annie stood, brushing by Gabby. When she was halfway out the door, she paused, her face a storm cloud as she glared over her shoulder. “You know, you’re not as badass as you think,” she said, then marched out the door.
“I’m well aware,” Gabby mumbled, but the door was already closed.
She took a deep breath. A long calming one. She should probably say something to Jacob about his daughter’s frustrations. They were petty, sure, but if left unchecked they could lead to trouble. Of course everything with Annie recently seemed like it brought trouble, so he was probably already well aware. His strategy, however, of wrapping her up in bubble wrap and stuffing her in this box of a base was probably not the way to instill cooperation.
Not my problem. Nope, Gabby had other issues.
Pulling her bloodstained hoodie off the rest of the way, she inspected her mangled shoulder. It was already healing despite the inflicted torture of the disinfecting swab. Still, it had been close. Couple more inches to the left and she’d be missing her throat, which was much harder to heal, maybe not even possible post her Karissa-blood transfusion.
A lot had changed after Roland’s mate’s blood had been forced on her. Karissa’s Paladin blood seemed to have negated a good number of Gabby’s vampire characteristics. Being able to withstand the light was definitely a bonus and was something she’d been extremely grateful of when she hadn’t fried to a crisp in that cave four months ago, but much to her continued frustration, she still couldn’t handle real food. Her strength had also waned a bit, though it was better now that she was consistently training. All that training made her realize how much she’d relied on her vampire abilities before. Not that they were gone, just…dimmed.
Sighing, Gabby pulled off her blond wig and tossed it aside. Her red hair tumbled down in a curtain of lackluster waves. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, hoping to ease the stabbing headache that had gotten worse during the round with Annie.
When had she gotten so old? Four months ago that would have been her pouting and stomping around, but now all she ever felt was tired. Tired of the constant war. Tired of looking over her shoulder for enemies, some made by her own choices, but many made because of what she was as much as who. She was so damn tired. Tired of…everything.
She leaned in closer to the faded mirror that she’d hung on the wall, her hand jittering as she raised it to poke at the faint wrinkles that appeared when she squinted her eyes. Crow’s-feet. She had goddamn crow’s-feet now.
Too long since my last feeding. Not that it would help all that much. She could bathe in blood and it wouldn’t erase the aging of her body. But it would, at least, give her more energy and keep her from biting the people she’d promised to help—even if some of them were annoying and deserved it.
“Hell’s fire!” She spun around, hands on hips as she paced the small room. She was going to have to slip out while Aaron wasn’t watching and go hunting again. Not that she dared go tonight, not with the Paladin sniffing around. And not just any Paladin. Him.
God, Valin.
She stopped, head tipped back as she took a long, deep breath. The uncovered bulb burned against her closed lids, but that wasn’t what she saw. What she saw was Valin’s face. That cocky devil-may-care grin, the dancing eyes that did nothing to conceal the wealth of pain he so obviously tried to hide. She’d never forget their first meeting and the moment when the disgust and disdain for what she was vanished from his bourbon gaze, his mask sloughing off as he peered further, the brief flare of surprise when he saw her for who she could be if not for her vampire heritage. That moment hadn’t lasted nearly long enough. It had taken him less than a moment to start closing off the barriers. Slamming up the walls.
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br /> Not that their meeting mattered. There hadn’t even been a flicker of recognition tonight. And it had nothing to do with the fact that she’d been wearing a wig.
Crow’s-feet. Dead eyes. I’m the epitome of the walking dead. Only I’m not dead. Not since that night.
She turned back to the mirror, laying her hand upon the reflective surface, watched the steam that indicated the transfer of her own body heat to the cold glass. Still a surprise to her after all these months.
Fire pulsed through her veins.
A fire that was eating her from the inside out.
She leaned forward, tipping her head against the cool glass. “Nope, definitely not grave material yet, Gabby. But don’t worry, you’ll be there real soon.”
Chapter 3
Their security sucked.
Valin looked around the dingy cafeteria turned mess hall of the old school he’d infiltrated, his lip curled back in disgust at the grime-covered flooring under his bare feet. Lax security and no maid service either.
A click of a gun brought his attention back to the crowd of wannabe warriors that had surrounded him the moment he’d fallen out of the shade. Okay, almost no security. That assortment of guns and knives would do a fine job at turning him to Swiss cheese if he wasn’t careful. Thankfully the redheaded Amazon who first nulled his powers had been whisked out of the room within moments of his appearance and he could ghost again if needed. Not that he planned to, but if there were no other options he’d do so.
“It’s okay. I’m not here to cause trouble. I only want to talk to Gabriella.”
By the number of narrowed eyes he got and the way the tall, lean, brown-haired man’s finger tensed over the trigger, Valin guessed mentioning Gabby’s name hadn’t been the right thing to say. Obviously they weren’t about to buy into the whole I-come-in-peace, take-me-to-your-leader crap. Smart. He wouldn’t have either. Though it wasn’t like he had anything dangerous on him—couldn’t exactly hide anything.
Pure dumb fucking luck. That’s how he’d found them. They’d been working in a radial search from their encounter in Williamsburg the other night when an overheard projective thought had allowed him to take a bead on the mind of one of their less experienced soldiers. He’d had to resort to ghosting to trail the two men coming off their patrol, but being without clothes or a weapon was a small price to pay for following them back to their base. Even if it did put him in kind of an awkward position now…being held naked at gunpoint and all.
Rather than digging himself into a bigger hole, he took his twiddle-his-thumbs time while waiting for something to happen—hopefully besides a firing squad—to tag Bennett. Not the easiest of tasks given the heavy shields on the place, but he managed, probably because he was inside reaching out rather than the other way around.
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“My friend’s coming over to say hi too,” he told his band of gun-toting groupies. “Tall, blond, British accent. Don’t shoot him when he shows up, ’kay? He has my clothes.”
“What a shame,” someone said from the back of the group. Valin was pretty sure it wasn’t sarcasm, and similarly sure the husky voice was a woman’s. Well, that was one out of a dozen or so who probably wouldn’t go postal on him at least.
An awkward five minutes ensued. Valin figured it was a toss-up to see who got there first—Bennett, Gabby, or the person in charge of this shindig. Turned out it was the last, though he was followed almost immediately by a tightly packed group of men surrounding a familiar blond head. And yeah, Valin couldn’t be sure this guy was the leader of this hodgepodge base of operations, but he was fairly certain. Tall, muscled, and bearing scars on every available bit of exposed skin, the older man oozed calm confidence. Of course, the fact that everyone’s gaze at one point in time during his walk across the cafeteria met up with, checked in, then resumed their task of playing guard dog or dashed off to do something else if given a mere nod of his head was a real clue in too.
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Oh yeah, Senior was not going to be happy with the amount of power these less-than-pure-bloods had.
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“As my men told you at the front doors, your weapon will be returned when you leave,” the man in front of the group said over his shoulder to Bennett. What went unsaid was if you leave. Wise, since saying things like that tended to not invoke cooperation.
The man turned his hard stare on Valin. Valin suspected most men flinched under that brown gaze, so he wasn’t sure it was to his advantage or disadvantage that he didn’t. Another half-minute game of who will blink first ensued before the man conceded a tie and spoke.
“I’m Jacob. My men said you wanted to speak with someone?”
“Mind if I get dressed first?” Valin nodded at the bundle of clothing Bennett was holding. Definitely some major holes in security if they’d allowed Bennett to keep them. Unless of course they’d already searched them and found what was inside—Bennett wasn’t the only one capable of pilfering his own blade from Senior’s lockbox.
Jacob considered a moment, then nodded. The bundle was passed from Bennett through one of his guards to Valin.
“Thanks.” He took the clothes and started pulling them on. When he got to the knife that had been wrapped in the center, he noted the immediate rise in tension, including how the soldier who’d passed it to him shuffled uncomfortably under Jacob’s glaring look and also how Valin’s favorite fan shifted his grip on his gun ever so slightly, as if he might either take the shot…or maybe just forego the weapon and reach for Valin’s knife.
“Bennett’s better natured than I. You try to take my blade and I’ll have to kill you,” Valin said, injecting what assurance he could with his calm tone.
Trigger Happy opened his mouth, but Jacob laid a hand on his shoulder, though his attention was all on Valin as he gave him a look that said he didn’t appreciate being fucked with.
“Sorry. Just saying how it is.” Valin quickly pulled on his T-shirt. And resisted smiling when the same soldier in the back—definitely a woman, a pretty little blonde, actually—sighed in disappointment.
Jacob flicked her a quelling glance before replying, “And I’m sorry, but you seemed to be under a misimpression when you came here.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
“That we welcome visitors,” Jacob said, his hand closing over the hilt of the K-bar on his belt. And though he was further away than at least three of those surrounding him, Valin thought it most likely that Jacob would be the first to connect if Valin did something threatening.
Valin flashed a grin instead. “Oh, I don’t know. This kind of animosity makes me feel right at home. Right, Bennett?”
“You are a right bastard,” Bennett replied, eliciting a brief glance from Jacob. “Valin’s the black sheep,” he explained.
“And he’s the one you sent to say hello to your neighbors?” Jacob asked.
Bennett shrugged. “He’s good at what he does.”
“Ah. A spy then?”
“Hard to spy when you know I’m here, but yes, I do that too.” Valin didn’t expand. Scout, spy…assassin
. Yup, he did it all. Not this time though. This time he was simply searching for lost treasure, and this old schoolhouse had a big ole X painted right on it. The mental shield, the one he hadn’t even sensed from outside the building, had the distinctive taste of Gabby all over it. Not the Gabby he’d touched minds with back in the mines though, but the one he remembered from the street a couple weeks ago when he’d briefly skimmed along a succubus’s shields. She’d run from him that night too, before he’d recognized her for who she was. And though he knew now that she hadn’t been part of a trap, but rather leading them to one where a human, Logan’s mate to be precise, had been in danger, it still didn’t negate the fact that there had been a darkness to her that set off every instinct of wrongness he had.
Something had happened to Gabby between now and four months ago. Something that could account for the taint of evil he sensed stamped upon her. A taint that hadn’t been there before, despite her maker’s best efforts. Valin would be damned if he would go another day without finding out what had caused it. And it would be a cold day in hell before he let her leave again before he could fix it.
“I’m afraid you also have another misimpression,” Jacob said.
Valin tipped his head questioningly.
“We don’t know who this Gabriella is that you’re talking about.”
Behind him, Bennett raised his brow. Didn’t need projective thought to get that question across: Who and what the hell is he talking about?
Yeah, yeah. He’d explain it all later. “Bullshit. Amazon and her little group of buddies that broke into Haven already gave away that you do.”
“Haven?”
Valin sighed. “Are we really going to do this dance? You know exactly what I’m talking about and who I’m talking about, both the red-haired Amazon woman and Gabriella. I’ll even guarantee you that I’m not here to bust your ass about sending troops into our sanctuary if you’ll cut the crap and tell me where Gabby is.”
“What about him?” Jacob jerked his head over his shoulder at Bennett. “You speaking for him too?”