A Cross to Bear (19 page)

Gabby nodded slowly, not wanting to seem too eager.

“Tonight you will exact my verdict in a private . . . trial. Do you think you can do that?”

“Do I have to kill anyone?” Gabby asked apprehensively.

Victor studied her eyes. “No,” he said at length. “Not tonight.”

“All right,” said Gabby.

Victor offered her his wrist. She raised it to her mouth and closed her eyes. Immediately she felt the effects of Victor’s blood. Moonlight became like sunlight, and sounds exploded to life all around her.

Victor pulled his arm back gently, and she swallowed the last precious drop.

“Shall we?” he asked, extending a hand toward the door.

Gabby eagerly led the way, excited to run in the moonlight like a cheetah and leap through the forest like a doe. She sobered instantly when she came to the back of the castle and saw guards waiting for them. There were four in all, dressed in all black. Between two of them, a man with a black bag over his head was kneeling on the ground.

“Victor? What is this?” Gabby asked.

He walked past her and strode across the stone walkway to stand before the prisoner. “He is your next test.”

Gabby followed Victor and the guards out behind the castle, through the gardens, and to the cliff overlooking the coast. Her heart fluttered like hummingbird wings, and her muscles twitched with the desire to be used. She feared for the prisoner, and she feared what she might have to do.

The guards forced the prisoner onto his knees on the stone bluff. Victor stepped forward and ripped the bag off the prisoner’s head.

“Gabriella, meet Marcus. He has for a month been a resident in one of the cells below the castle.”

An Italian man in his early twenties glared up at Victor. “Master, I have offered a thousand apologies. I have learned from my mistakes. I will never take another.”

“Silence. Your words will not help you now,” said Victor.

“What did he do?” Gabby asked, feeling sorry for the vampire. His fangs parted his parched lips, and his eyes were sunken. She didn’t know much about vampires, but she didn’t have to know much to see that he was starving.

“He killed a family of four,” said Victor. “Ten miles north of here.”

“Is he one of yours?”

“Yes, he worked for me. I found him in New York City a year ago. He had killed three bums and was being chased by the police. I took him in, thinking that I saw something in him. But I was mistaken.”

Victor stared at Marcus as he spoke. His words weighed down the condemned vampire, and he cried tears of blood. “Please, Master . . . Victor—”

“Do not speak my name!” Victor screamed suddenly, causing Gabby to jump. He calmed instantly and regarded Gabby once more. “Marcus has not been able to give up his lust for murder and death. He has broken the rules of my house. Therefore, I would have you exact punishment on him. Take from him the essence that is the vampire.”

Marcus looked to Gabby as though he were seeing her for the first time. He was horrified.

“I . . .”

“You can do it, Gabriella. With my blood pumping through your veins, you can do it easily.”

“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head.

The guards holding Marcus eyed each other.

Victor took a purposeful step toward her. “He killed a family of four in their house in the dark of night. He started with the five-year-old. We found her tucked into bed with a stuffed animal on the pillow beside her. Her white blankets were soaked red. Next he killed the girl’s parents, forcing the husband to watch as his wife died. Finally . . . Marcus took the baby.”

Marcus was bent down with his head nearly touching the stone. The guards held his wrists firmly, twisting back his arms. The vampire was sobbing.

Gabby was crying. She blinked through her tears and took a step forward toward Marcus. Victor nodded at the two guards, and they let him go and backed up.

Marcus lifted his head and glared at Gabby.

She raised her hand.

“He is a liar!” Marcus screamed. “He is using you just like he uses everyone else. He is a predator, a tyrant.”

“He will say anything to be spared,” said Victor behind her. “Strike now!”

Anger, outrage, and disgust welled up in her as she thought of Marcus’s crimes. Gabby awakened the power within and focused her intent on the kneeling man.

He suddenly snarled and leaped forward, baring sharp teeth and wicked claws. Gabby did not back down. She did not hesitate. Striking like a snake, she grabbed ahold of his forehead and dug in her nails, unleashing the power of nullification.

Marcus went rigid, and his eyes rolled back in his head. His fangs grew back to normal length, and his claws receded back into fingernails.

The guards took another few steps back, eyeing each other with apprehension.

Gabby continued after she had nullified his power, taking from him what it was that made him a vampire.

She released him and staggered back.

Marcus had fallen to the ground. He stared at his hands, crying. He touched his face and looked at his fingers in horror—his tears were clear. Trembling hands felt his teeth.

“You have broken not only the law of my house, but the law of the land. You will be given over to the authorities and tried, as a human, for your crimes.”

“You have no right!” Marcus screamed.

“Take him away,” said Victor.

The guards made a wide circle around Gabby and took the whimpering man back to the castle.

“Gabby, are you with me? Gabby!”

She snapped alert. “What?”

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yeah, yes, I’m all right. I’m glad I did it. He deserved what he got.”

“Could you do that again . . . to Michael Steele?”

“In a heartbeat,” she said with grim determination.

“Good. I think that you are almost ready.”

They spent the night running and climbing along the cliffs and swimming in the ocean. Victor’s blood lent her incredible strength as well as agility and speed. When she cut her foot on a sharp piece of coral, she watched, mystified as it quickly healed before her eyes. Victor had warned her not to get too cocky, but it was hard. The blood pumping through her veins turned her into a superhuman. Never had Gabby felt so much power and such control.

She and Victor made love on the beach against the crashing of the waves well into the morning. Soaking wet and laughing like young lovers, they climbed up to the castle as the eastern sky began to glow faintly orange.

The next day began for them at sundown. Victor told Gabby that it was better for her to sleep through the day, as most of the creatures she would be up against were nocturnal predators. At the mention of the monsters she would face, Gabby realized that to fight them would be much different than fighting a shifter or vampire.

“What will my power do to something that was born a monster, something that doesn’t use magic?” she asked over breakfast.

“That is a good question,” said Victor. “There are indeed many such creatures. Take for instance Ingrid. She was born a troll, so there is no magic to thwart. You will be able to affect such creatures; you see, you have a natural repelling power that comes with your gift. Still, it can be overcome by the older and stronger of the supernatural creatures. These will be your biggest obstacles. That is why it would be wise for you to never work alone. You will need others to deal with those that you cannot.”

“Does Michael know these things about my power?” Gabby asked.

Victor grinned again. He was proud of her quick wit. “I imagine that he does. His interest in you lies in his knowledge of your power. He would have researched it heavily.”

“Have there been many other nullifiers?”

“There have been others, but they are extremely rare. The spell that your mother made was immensely difficult. I doubt that any witch alive today could do it. I believe you are the only living nullifier. I have spent many years searching for literature or legend that would shed light on your gift. With this knowledge, I have taught you thus far.”

“Can I see the books? It is my power after all.”

“Of course you can see them. You can have them. But they will be of little use to you; they are written in the language of vampires.”

Gabby was taken aback. She scowled. “Vampires have their own language?”

“Of course we do,” said Victor. “It is as old as our race. Older than most of today’s languages. It sounds to the ears much like Russian.”

“I would love to hear it,” said Gabby.

Victor’s eyebrows leaned in toward one another as he thought. “
Velkin kra, un rae e’vrigget zuen,”
said Victor in a deep, rolled-tongue language as dark and mysterious as his kind.

“What does it mean?”

“I said, ‘You are like a night full of shimmering stars.’”

Gabby let out a shy laugh. “You’re a player.”

Victor grinned and stood from his chair. He buttoned his suit and strode over to her, taking up her chin with his curved finger. “I have scoured the globe for one such as you, Gabriella Cross. And I do not speak of your gift.” His electric-blue eyes swallowed her up and took prisoner her heart.

Tears flooded to her eyes, hell-bent on ruining the moment for her. She held them back as best she could, wanting to kiss him over and over, to hold him and never let go.

“I’m sorry,” she said with a sniffle.

He raised her chin and wiped her eyes. Then he kissed them softly, one after the other. His lips became wet with tears as he trailed them to the corner of her mouth where the salty drops had cooled.

“I love you, Gabriella Cross.”

Gabby thought that she might melt into a puddle at his feet. Her heart exploded with such joy, fear, anticipation, and excitement that she thought she might burst.

“I love you, Victor.”

Victor gave Gabby a little more of his blood each night, and each night she grew stronger, faster, sharper, and more powerful. She continued to train with bladed weapons and firearms, but she also spent a large majority of time practicing her nullification.

She healed the cursed children who had been kept in the underground prison. They flew off on Victor’s helicopter back to their parents, and Gabby watched with tear-filled eyes and the biggest smile she had ever worn. Victor told her that she deserved the money that he was paid for successfully lifting the curses. He created numerous accounts with his offshore banks in her name, totaling a sum of $10 million.

Gabby was on top of the world.

Days blurred into weeks, and faster than Gabby thought possible, three months had gone by since she had last seen Chicago.

Gabby had lost thirty pounds and was now a solid, tight, hard-bodied one thirty. She could bench two hundred cold and was now up to running twenty miles without the aid of Victor’s blood. With his blood, she was a beast, able to sprint a marathon rather than jog, and easily bench-pressing four hundred pounds. If the strenuous activity injured her at all, the blood would heal her, leaving her as good as new by the time it wore off.

The breakthrough finally came after Gabby took what Victor called ayahuasca tea. He had a shaman flown in straight from Peru to perform the ritual.

They had gathered by the ocean on the sandiest stretch of beach that Victor owned. Lilly and Orchid, who it turned out were good-old vanilla humans, did it with her so that she would not feel alone. Gabby had purged herself for a week, drinking none of Victor’s blood and eating no meat. She had been disturbed to see how much it had affected her, and it was all she could do to keep her shit together for the seven days and not let Victor see how she was really struggling with the detox.

The ayahuasca had opened up her mind and expanded her understanding of herself. During the ritual, she had seen her childhood self and spoken to her at length. The little girl had shown her things that Gabby had long forgotten. One memory in particular still haunted her. It was the root of her fear and constant feeling of helplessness, the catalyst that had molded Gabby into the woman she had been, until recently.

Gabby remembered being sexually molested at the age of four.

She had not understood what was happening at the time and innocently went along. Gabby remembered the man now; he had been one of Maggy’s boyfriends for a short stretch. His name was Charley.

Gabby held the little girl of her memory, telling her that it was all right, that she hadn’t done anything wrong. The little girl cried, and Gabby told her to let go of the pain.

There was a constant, reassuring voice that told Gabby that her purpose in life was to help others and to keep them safe from monsters like Charley.

She came out of the ritual a changed woman. The months of strenuous exercise had made her body hard and strong. Now her mind mirrored that strength.

After the ritual, she was able to project her nullifying power more easily and direct it at targets without touching them.

Finally, Gabby was ready.

Victor sat at the head of the large table in his study. Also seated were Master Mushito, Serge, Ingrid, and ten vampire goons. Gabby found it hard to take her eyes off Ingrid. The troll sat in a chair that barely contained her large, hairy body. The vamps, it turned out, were a well-trained SWAT team, handpicked by Victor. There were six men and four women—all wearing identical black ops gear and sunglasses.

“Getting to a werewolf like Michael Steele is never an easy task,” Victor told them all. He pointed to the blueprints of Steele Tower. “The penthouse is here on the top floor. It is of course heavily guarded, and getting in through the roof would be suicide. Not only is the tower protected by a high-tech surveillance grid, there are many wards and enchantments about the place as well.” He turned to Gabby. “You’re going to have to get rid of those enchantments for us.”

“No problem,” she said.

“Good. Now the power grid is going to be a little more difficult. Since the building is covered in solar panels and every floor has its own grid, shutting it down from the outside is impossible. That is where Serge comes in. He is going to take out the entire building’s power grid with an EMP once the roof is secure. When the power goes out, we blast the hell out of the roof, drop in, and kill the son of a bitch once and for all.”