Prince of Shadows

by Tes Hilaire

  “Bennett’s pretty good at speaking for himself if you ask him.”

  Jacob twisted his head. Bennett lifted and dropped a shoulder. “Don’t know anything about this Gabby my mate here’s talking about. But I’m here to discuss what happened last week at Haven and to hopefully come up with a solution to the problem the null presents.”

  “The problem?” Jacob asked dangerously.

  “Aye, namely the fact that she would be positively lethal to us if she were to be captured by Ganelon and subsequently used against us.”

  Jacob didn’t even blink at the mention of Lucifer’s right-hand man but met Bennett with a straight face as he said, “Annie would never allow herself to be used.”

  Valin felt his brow quirking and his lip turning up. Annie? As in little orphan Annie? Or perhaps she was named for Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun. That image fit a bit better with the Amazonian null who’d been hustled out of the room.

  Bennett shook his head. “She wouldn’t have to allow it. If Ganelon got a hold of her, he’d find a way to force her compliance. Ganelon has…mastered the art of persuasion.”

  It was hard to miss the way Jacob’s face paled, or how it took him a moment to regain his composure. Either he took his troops’ welfare very seriously or there was something personal here. Was he Amazon’s older brother maybe? There was a bit of a resemblance, in height alone if nothing else. In fact, Trigger Happy looked a lot like him too. Way to keep it all in the family.

  “Annie your sister?” Valin asked.

  Jacob rounded back on Valin, his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Annie is off the table of discussion.”

  “Fine, but she needs training. And Bennett here is the best man we have for the job. Unless you have someone who’s even better at shielding. Like, say, a certain vampire and succubus that you all seem to be acquainted with.”

  Bennett stiffened at the same time that Jacob choked out, “Succubus?” His gaze skirted briefly to Trigger Happy. Something in Valin’s gut hardened, his blood pumping double-time. Why the fuck had Jacob looked at trigger-boy just then? As if Gabby being a succubus explained something. It better as hell not.

  Trigger Happy’s mouth thinned. “Get the hell out. We don’t need you and your friend in here trying to scare us shitless by spouting lies.”

  “I’m not going anywhere without talking to Gabby.”

  “I don’t know about that. Hell is a place, after all,” Trigger Happy said, twisting his gun in true gangsta fashion. Was this guy for real?

  Maybe yes, maybe no, but that gun is. So if you want to see her, you might want to play nicer.

  “I’ll talk with him,” a voice cut through the tense silence.

  And there she was, standing just inside the doors at the far end of the cafeteria. Even from here the sight of her was like a brick to the jaw. The urge to plow through all obstacles or, hell, give up the clothes and knife he’d made such a big deal about and ghost over to her was intense. He wanted to touch her, push back the hefty hunk of hair that obscured half her face just to be sure it was her. Yes, he’d seen her twice now since the mines where he thought she’d died, but the first time he hadn’t recognized her and the second he wasn’t one hundred percent convinced. He was now though.

  “Gabriella, you don’t have to do anything for this asshole.” Trigger Happy all but growled, his gun shaking in his hand.

  “It’s okay, Aaron. Valin just wants to talk.” The corner of her full lips tipped up slightly on one side, not an amused smile, more a look of self-recrimination. “My fault, probably. Our good-byes were a bit rushed last time.”

  “Try nonexistent,” Valin muttered. And he still wanted to throttle her for it. Not the lack of good-bye so much, but the fact that she’d taken off in the first place and put herself in danger. Whenever he thought of it he remembered the soul-clenching sense of panic that had consumed him as he’d searched those mines. It wasn’t until he’d finally given up, returning to the surface, and gotten the shocker of his life when he’d seen both Karissa and Roland standing, unharmed, in the sun that he’d begun to believe it possible Gabby still lived. Gabby had been given Karissa’s blood, and it seemed Karissa’s blood was the cure-all for the whole vampire-to-ashes thing.

  “You coming?” Gabby said over her shoulder by the main doors of the cafeteria, pulling him from the chest-tightening memories.

  Valin realized that a pathway had opened up before him. Well, almost; he still had to step around the gun-loving Aaron. Ignoring the itch in his shoulders that came with turning his back on potential danger, he did.

  Gabby had already left by the time he made it to the other side of the cafeteria, the heavy doors swinging back and practically hitting him in the face.

  Little chit. If he wasn’t so happy to see her he’d want to wring her neck.

  Despite the fact he’d been pretty convinced it was her the other day, he still couldn’t believe he was here with her now. In a weird sort of surreal daze, he followed her as she turned off the main hall down a smaller side one, then stood drinking her in as she paused to open a door at the end. What he didn’t like is what he saw. Those were no socks filling out that bra. These were the curves her younger body had promised. And though she was still petite, the lean muscles over the rest of her had similarly matured, firming at some point into textured hardness.

  Gabby was aging. That was no makeup job the other night and not the harsh lighting that had chiseled the youth from her face. And those were actual lines—though faint—that fanned the corner of her eyes as she shut the door, flipped on the light, and turned her full-fledged glare on him.

  “What the hell has happened to you?” he demanded, noticing how limp and flat her normally lustrous red hair looked in the light.

  “And hello to you too. I’d say you look well, but it might further inflate your ego and spin you off into the atmosphere.”

  And tired. Pale and tired. And were those dark circles under her eyes? God, what had she been doing? Or maybe the better question was what hadn’t she been doing?

  “Are you feeding enough?” he demanded.

  She flashed her fangs, letting her eyes drift to his throat. “Every chance I get.”

  “Really?” He grabbed his shirt, stretching the neckline and exposing his throat. “Then go ahead, cookie.”

  She hissed, fear skittering in her eyes as she clamped her jaw tight and turned her head away, though not before Valin saw the flare of red in her black pupils.

  Fuck, yeah, she was hungry. Hell, the air was so heavy with the pheromones she was putting off, he could practically taste her need. And what do you know, that was his second brain rising to attention. He tried telling it that it was simply a vampire’s nature to equate feeding with sex, but the damn thing didn’t give a shit. All it knew was that they’d been reunited with their mate, and that, holy hallelujah, their mate no longer lived in a body that could be considered jailbait. Far from it.

  “Gabby…” He reached for her, wanting to soothe her obvious agitation, but she skirted away, dodging behind the metal desk butted against the wall in front of the cot, clenching the edge of it as if it were a lifeline…or like she might grab it up and toss it at him.

  “I don’t feed from humans…or Paladin,” she quickly tagged on as if she expected him to toss out that argument.

  “Where are you getting your blood from then?”

  “None of your business.”

  “Gabby, everything with you is my business,” he told her, rather proud of how he managed to keep the agitation out of his voice. Didn’t she feel it too? Or, fuck, was he the only one suffering here with the need to claim his mate?

  She looked at him straight on, her dark pupils that couldn’t decide between black or crimson narrowed. “In your dreams.”

  “Exactly.” He smiled, taking a step toward the desk.

  She eyed him warily, but he couldn’t miss how her pulse skittered at the base of her throat or how her breathing had sped up.

 
; Not so indifferent to me, are you, cookie?

  She cleared her throat. “What was so vital that you had to track me down here, anyway? Is Roland okay?”

  “He’s fine.”

  “Karissa?”

  “She’s fine too. They’re all fine.” Well, except perhaps Logan, but that was half the point of why he’d put so much effort into finding her now rather than waiting for another chance encounter. Logan’s tragedy had been a real wake-up call for Valin. Not that he should’ve needed it. Not when he’d experienced for himself firsthand how fleeting life, love, and happiness could be.

  “Then why are you here?” she asked, suspicion lacing her voice.

  “To see you, of course.” And to claim her. But that came later. Much later. First he was going to find out what the heck she’d been doing to make herself look so ill and then fix it. And he’d start with her most current need: blood.

  “Did you ever think that maybe that desire wasn’t reciprocated?” she asked snidely.

  “I admit I’ve had my doubts. Especially when you keep treating me to the view of your lovely backside.” He angled his head, leaning a bit to see around the desk and check out her luscious ass. When he looked back at her face he swore she was blushing. Hard to tell for sure with how pale she was. “Why is that, by the way? It’s certainly not any way to treat a guy who went through so much trouble to see you safe.”

  “You…see me safe. How is that? Seems to me that you’re putting me in danger by coming here. Putting us all in danger, if Logan’s daddy finds out about this place.”

  “You don’t remember the mines?” he asked, eating up another couple feet of distance between them.

  “Of course I remember the mines.”

  “You left awfully quick after we rescued Karissa.” And another step.

  “Hello? Logan? Getting ready to let loose his little heavenly light bomb? Remember that too?”

  “Exactly.” He leaned forward over the desk and tipped his head close enough so that his breath caressed the side of her face as he spoke into her ear. “I searched for you. Practically tore those caves apart trying to find some sign of you. Four months I’ve wondered, hoped that you were out there. Prayed that you were safe.”

  She swallowed, shifting back from the desk closer to the cot. “You’ve come. You’ve seen that I’m all right. I want you to leave now.”

  “Leave? Like hell.” There was no way he’d be leaving now that he’d found her. Nor was he going to let her escape again either. He made to step around the desk, determined to close up the distance once more. She leapt on the bed, hands splayed against the wall behind her. Her eyes had gone full crimson now, the green iris thinning to less than a sliver of a line. Her fangs had also elongated, the sharp tips slicing into her bottom lip as she strained to keep her mouth closed.

  He took another step toward her, determined to ease her pain, when her voice in his mind brought him up short.

  <>

  The plea, powerful and filled with so much pain and desperation it made his knees threaten to buckle, had him fisting his hands so hard his knuckles ached. He couldn’t leave her like this. It hurt his stomach just to look at her and see what she’d allowed to happen to herself. What must her own stomach feel like?

  He pulled out his blade. She immediately recoiled, hissing as she dove for the set of knives neatly stashed on a shelf above her cot.

  “What the fuck, Gabby. Do you really think I would use this on you?”

  The look she gave him killed him. Yes, she did. It was a toss-up between what he felt more keenly—the anger that made his blood run hot or the hurt that put a vise around his heart.

  He lifted the knife, balancing it at the point between hilt and blade so she could get a good look at it. Her eyes widened when she realized what it was, not just any knife but one of His knives. For a brief moment the fires banked enough that her pupils looked more like hot coals than fire, her mouth opening slightly in awe.

  “This blade will never be used to harm you, only to defend you. Even if I have to defend you from yourself.” With a sharp movement he snapped his hand back around the hilt and drew the knife across the inside of his forearm, laying a shallow slice in the skin above his wrist.

  She followed the movement, her tongue dipping out to lick her lips as his blood welled up to bead along his cut flesh. He held his breath, waiting for her hunger to outweigh her reservations. It took less time than he thought it might, but more than he hoped. Nearly a full minute of his blood slowly welling, seeping down his arm, and then dripping to the floor. He was afraid that with his accelerated healing, he might have to slice his arm again to reopen the cut, when she finally stepped off the cot, her gaze locked on his slight wound.

  He knew he took a chance. She was a vampire. And he knew nothing of what might have formed the dark taint on her soul after their meeting in the mine. It was more than possible that she’d killed. That she’d starved herself to the point of desperation and then lost control. He could see it happening. The girl vamp who had felt such shame over being force-fed blood through an IV might be lost to darkness if she ever took and killed a human.

  But he wasn’t human. And he could stop her if she tried to take too much. He would stop her, and then he’d do whatever it took to purify the darkness that had sunk its slick teeth into her.

  She took his arm, her hands gentle, tentative even as she started to lift it to her mouth. Her touch was like a punch to the gut. His dick, which still hadn’t gotten the message that it wasn’t part of this reunion, kicked against the front of his pants, liquid weeping from the tip.

  Her head jerked up, nostrils flaring as she scented his arousal, and damn if he couldn’t taste the air thickening with her own.

  “Yes, Gabby. Take my blood.” And then take me. Let me be what you need. I need you to need me as I do you.

  He didn’t project the thought, but somehow she must have heard. Either that or his spoken words had simply snapped her out of her bloodlust. She immediately dropped his hand, her fangs biting through her own lip as she took a step back, shaking her head.

  “Shit. I’m screwing this up, aren’t I?”

  Her gaze darted to the door, and his own followed. No way, no way in hell was she running again.

  “Fuck, Gabby, don’t you dare…” But it was too late; fast as he was she was faster as she dodged around him to beat him to the door.

  Chapter 4

  Well, this mission’s botched up, Bennett thought, warily eyeing the guards surrounding him. The orders from the council regarding the band of part-blood humans who’d broken into Haven last week had been crystal clear. Use any means necessary to track down the gifted humans to their base: check. Determine if there is enough untapped power in their group beyond the null that could make them a potential liability to the secrecy and safety of the Paladin mission: uh…potentially, yes. If so, determine the likelihood of the peaceful relocation of the group into Haven’s protective walls: un-bloody-likely.

  Contact may’ve been made, but the pathways of communication had been shut tight before they could even get started. Jacob hadn’t wanted to discuss anything to do with the null named Annie or her training. And the discussion hadn’t even made it as far as relocating her or the dozens of other gifted here in need of training. The cafeteria was practically brimming with power. He could tell because he was getting a bleeding headache trying to keep his shields strong and steady, and even then emotions were slipping in right and left. Unease, distrust, curiosity, anger, and fear—it was all there. The one person who wasn’t there was their leader, Jacob. Six minutes ago, and maybe, what, three after Valin’s own disappearance, another soldier had shown up, whispered something in the scarred man’s ear that had his face turning purple, and sent him bolting out of the room. Bennett just hoped it didn’t have anything to do with Valin.

  Bloody prat. He was part of the reason this mission was going down the shite-twirler. Valin obviously had other
plans than making contact. Or rather, he’d only planned to make contact with one person. The question was why?

  Only one way to find out.

  Bennett eased up on his shields, trying to pinpoint the exact emotions of the handful of guards who’d been left to monitor him. Most of them, along with their mix of curiosity and annoyance, were actually edging on bored after almost ten minutes of tense inaction. And Aaron, the bloke Jacob had left in charge, was distinctly distracted—had been since Valin left with the mysterious Gabriella, actually. Gabriella the vampire, who, oh, was part-succubus too. WTF?

  “Mind if we take a gander? Find my mate?” Bennett asked.

  Aaron drew his gaze away from the door, blinking at him. “What?”

  “Valin, my mate. I’d like to try and find him if it’s not too much trouble.” You know, so I can wring the bastard’s neck. He didn’t add that. United we stand, divided we fall, and all that bloody crap.

  Aaron hesitated, then meeting the gaze of an African American soldier, he jerked his head toward the door. “Keon, come with us. The rest of you, why don’t you go help my brother track down Annie?”

  The other soldiers immediately took off, leaving Bennett reeling at the ease of getting rid of most of his guards. Aaron didn’t look old enough to elicit such obedience—early twenties maybe?—nor did he have the same calm confidence his older brother did. So either sharing DNA held a lot of weight here or this Aaron was simply off his stride today.

  Probably the whole Gabriella bit. He definitely didn’t shine to the fact that she went off with Valin…alone.

  At least Bennett knew why Jacob had gone running now. Bennett would pity the null, Annie, but he suspected the hard-ass warrior had a soft spot for family. And if he was any good judge of genetic expression, both Jacob and Aaron here were blood relations to the null. Tall as giants, whiskey-brown eyes, high cheekbones, stubborn jawlines and all.

  Aaron turned to Keon. “Shoot him if he so much as twitches wrong.”