Prince of Shadows (19 page)

“It's obviously a trap,” Bennett said, clipping Gabby's heels as he followed her into her room.

“I'm aware.” She swiped up a set of throwing knifes from the table, shifting things around on her utility belt to make room to clip them on.

“I would not advise playing into it.”

“And I appreciate your advice.” She opened the drawer, grabbed the gun, checked the ammo, and stuffed it into the back of her pants.

“You have a plan?”

“Yeah, I do.” A stake, slim and reinforced with a core of metal slipped into her boot.

His brow rose.

“Give them exactly what they want.”

He grabbed her arm, yanking her to a stop. “Are you daft? You go out there alone and walk into a trap, it's going to be a bloodbath.”

She smiled, flashing fang. “That's the idea.”

“I meant the blood would be yours.” He shook her, rattling her teeth. “Vengeance alone will not fuel you in this fight. You think going out there and killing everything in sight until they kill you is the answer? You think Valin could stand for that?”

She jerked her arm away, hissing at him. He had no right to bring up Valin, no right to judge her. Her methods may be bloody, their actions rooted in evil, but it was
her
life. Her vengeance. Her choice. Her sacrifice.

Some
sacrifice. Think Lucifer will be happy with it? One scrawny vampire in exchange for an army of men and women's souls.

“You have a better idea?” she asked, grabbing up another stake. There would be no time to indulge. Get in quick, hit them hard. If she were lucky, real lucky, she could have Annie out by sunset.

And then the real hunt would begin.

“Aye, I do. Let me contact the council. They can authorize my brothers' aid.”

“Why? So they can help rescue Annie, then turn around and lock her up themselves? Annie would be just head over heels grateful to you for coming up with a plan like that.”

“I don't give a bloody damn about what her opinion might be if it means she's alive to have it!”

Her eyes widened as she staggered back from the emotions pouring off of him. Holy crap, misinterpreted indeed. The Paladin was scared to death right now, and she didn't think it was because of some sort of deep-seated sense of guilt for taking advantage of Jacob's daughter. He cared about her. A lot. And was about going out of his mind worrying for Annie right now.

“I'll get her back, Bennett,” she vowed.

“You and what army?”

She glared at him, drawing on all her mommy-born and stepdaughter-taught skills to make him back off and let her do her thing, but all he did was raise his brow.

She huffed out a breath, her gaze locking on her thigh holster and knife. “Wonder if that's a trait He instilled or if that's the human in the mix,” she muttered as she snatched them up.

“What are you talking about?”

She jerked the laces, securing the holster, and slid the knife home. She was talking about Valin in all his lovable stubborn-ass male glory. God, she missed him already.

He'll be better off. They all will.

She shook her head, moving to the door. “Valin's knife is on the shelf over my bed. Tell him…” She paused, her sweaty palm slick around the door handle. Of all the times to be scared. “Tell him I'm sorry. For everything,” she said and walked out the door, Bennett's curses echoing down the hall behind her.

Frankly, she didn't care if he went and tattled to his brothers or not. From what she'd heard and seen of the councils' responses, it would take a bit to convince them to lift a finger for anyone who wasn't part of their little club. And by then she would have done what she needed to do.

Jacob was still ranting as she passed by his war room. Gathering soldiers, planning their attack—as if throwing enough lives away would save the one he wanted.

The front door guard, wrapped up in a frayed trench coat as part of his disguise, glanced up when she pushed open the metal door, his mouth gaping in his dirt-smudged face when he saw the rather conspicuous arsenal of weaponry she wore.

Hmmm. Good point.

“Give me the coat.” She made a hurry-up motion with her hand.

He blinked, but set down the rifle he'd stuffed in the trench coat's folds and scrambled to his feet, shrugging out of the material to reveal his faded fatigues and long-sleeve undershirt he'd been wearing beneath. He handed her the coat, then stood there, his gaze drifting uncertainly to the rifle by his feet.

“Probably better keep that out of sight,” she offered helpfully as she pulled the itchy coat around her shoulders. It dragged a bit on the ground, but at least it was cleaner than it appeared—i.e., it didn't smell.

“Uh…” He eyed the coat she'd just commandeered, then looked at the door behind them.

“Keep your eyes sharp.” Confident he'd figure something out, she started down the stairs. Besides, she didn't really expect trouble until nightfall, but that didn't mean they shouldn't be prepared. Contents of the note aside, she couldn't dismiss the merker attack the other night. Yes, it could be a coincidence, but maybe not. Just because Christos's methods had generally been to go in alone didn't mean that the current vampire king wouldn't be willing to work with Lucifer's general. In fact, it was rather likely.

Stephan might have been known for his sadistic viciousness, but when push came to shove he was actually weak-spined. If Ganelon had somehow caught wind about a budding army of part-bloods, he'd be interested, and not at all averse to using Stephan and his coven to flush Jacob's army out. And that was the real purpose for kidnapping Annie. Taunts and ransom notes aside, she knew that Stephan didn't really want her, and she doubted Ganelon cared much either. It was just that Gabby had been the most visible with her personal eradication of her former comrades. They probably thought that she was the leader here and just didn't realize that she wasn't actually in charge of things.

Well, they were in for a surprise. They were likely counting on it taking a while for her to organize her troops. If she was fast enough, struck quickly enough, maybe she could pull this off.

She paused at the entrance to the subway, her gaze inadvertently drawn back to the building three blocks behind her. It might be the last time she laid eyes on it. Chances were this was a one-way trip. Even if she didn't bite the big one in this fight, she knew she couldn't come back here.

When had that run-down building become home? Her residency had never been meant to be more than a temporary layover. But sometime between training Jacob's inept newbies, butting heads with Annie, and fencing with Valin, she'd forgotten that. Despite her end-of-game plans, there were enough people she'd been…invested in that she'd wanted to make sure things turned out all right. She'd never meant to stay. Never meant to get attached.

Never meant to fall in love.

She swallowed, choking down the bitter tears that threatened as she descended into the dim subway interior. She'd already shed too many of the damn things. Now was the time for action, not regrets. She'd get Annie back, kill the fuckers who'd hurt Aaron, and ensure Valin never had to look in the face of his shame again.

The trip on the subway passed in a blur as she worked to purge her mind of distractions. Annie, Jacob, Aaron, Valin…they didn't need the woman right now, they needed the monster.

Her stop came, the last on the 1 line. Only her and a handful of others exited here, and each one took off briskly heading to their own destinations with not so much as a glance to their fellow travelers. She made her way through the gothic Victorian station down to the street, using her gift to scan and dismiss the various minds in the area.

No one was paying her any mind; even so, she pulled about her a don't-look-at-me shield and made her way to the center of the vampire's NYC powerbase. Tucked between the affluent neighborhood of Fielding and Manhattan College, the coven's primary estate was a one-acre slice of easy-to-disappear-in heaven for a vamp. Large trees, overgrown gardens, and a shroud of evil even the least sensitive human would have run away from marked the edges of the grounds. It even had the prerequisite fog thing going on today.

She knew she was taking a bit of a gamble by coming here rather than to any of the other vampire safe houses sprinkled around the city. There were certainly more appropriate ones to hold captive and definitely ones better suited for an attention-drawing battle if Gabby or the others managed to see past the tease of a meeting place the note had laid out and gone searching, but this is where Gabby knew Stephan to be, and if he was anything like she remembered, he'd want to keep his newest prize close at hand to play with at his leisure.

Over
my
dead
body.

She took a deep breath, releasing some of the anger. It would serve to motivate her when needed, but too much could blind her as well. What would also blind her? Keeping her shields clamped down tight as she'd been doing.

Carefully she lessened them, just enough to get an imprint of any thoughts or minds in the vicinity. There should have been nothing, what with the vamps in residence snug as a bug in their thick-walled mansion, but something poked her back, a sick, twisted mind that could only mean one thing: demon.

She slammed her shields back up, cringing at the sharp throbbing of her bruised brain. Crap and hell. So much for sneaking in while everyone was sleeping. Where there was one demon, there was bound to be more.

She'd really been hoping Ganelon wasn't involved in this.

Think
of
it
as
having
all
seven
courses
of
the
meal
at
once.
Too bad she wasn't all that hungry.

“How did I know you'd be alone?” a low baritone voice rolled over her from behind.

She spun, automatically plucking a throwing knife from her belt as she zeroed in on the source of the voice, but saw nothing other than the twisted growth of the overgrown grounds. Lots of places to hide.

“Who says I'm alone?” she stalled, her eyes keen for any bit of movement.

“Oh, come now, Gabriella, don't lie.”

She spun again, following the shift of sound that had moved by her and deeper into the overgrown garden.

“My question is,” the voice rumbled again, to her left this time, “do you really think you have a chance of killing me?”

“I don't have to kill you; I just have to send you back to hell.” Which, admittedly, wasn't an easy thing. She'd been practicing banishing spells but had yet to have the opportunity to test them. There was always the old standard though: inflict enough pain on the demon's earthly body so it decided hell's fires were the better option.

The man chuckled, the sound eerie in the shadowed garden. “Ah…still the same old Gabby. You always did have trouble with displaying respect.”

A shiver ran down her spine, unease at the use of her nickname off the vile creature's tongue.

“But you will for me.”

“Will what?” she spun again, sure the voice had been closer that time.

“Kneel, Gabby.” The command crashed into her shields, ripping and shredding the solid weave of power as if her barriers were nothing but newspaper. Stumbling back, she poured more energy into an ever-flowing river of power that the demon's attack would ripple off of. Only it didn't.

She screamed, her knees buckling beneath the force of the creature's will. The moment her knees hit the ground the oppressive pressure lifted, leaving her entire body aching and her lungs gulping for breath.

What the hell? Only one person had ever been able to invade her mind like that.

Panting, she held her head, trying to fight back the tunneling vision.

Sitting
duck. Vulnerable.

She lurched to her feet, her hand shaking as she pulled her gun. If she could wing the thing, she could possibly distract him enough to break his concentration.

“Come out and show yourself, you chicken-shit bastard!” she yelled, cursing her still-fuzzy vision. For all she knew he was standing right in front of her.

“As you wish, Gabriella.” Movement to her right had her spinning around, gun raised. The outline of a man stepped out of the shadows, sending her heart racing. She'd been wrong. The creature was not a demon, unless he'd stolen a body—albeit an impressive one. Not that it mattered. Whatever or whoever this was, he was pure evil.

But she'd faced evil before. And she'd face it this time too.

She lifted the gun, her eyes narrowing on her target. Then gasped as pain spliced into her mind. Her vision blurred as she watched her fingers fall from the gun's grip. It landed with a thud upon the ground.

“How?” She staggered back, her hands shaking as she lifted them before her eyes.

“Sorry, it just seemed rather tacky accessory for our reunion.”

Reunion? She'd never met him before, was sure of it.

He smiled, his lips curling up in a manner that made every muscle in her body scream at her to run. “What? You don't recognize me, Gabby?”

Her gut sunk, a hole opening up beneath her feet.
Not
possible.
Not. Possible.

“Ah, how I've missed you, Gabriella.” He held out his hand, the king's ring glinting in a stray ray from the overcast sun. “Come now, let me bring you home, daughter…”

***

Valin shifted, wincing at the scrape of the bark against his skin. What a loser he was, sitting up here in the branches of some tree in Central Park getting pine sap on his ass. The park had been one of Angeline's favorite places to go. She'd love to come and people watch, especially when they set the ice rink up in the winter and the families came out to laugh and play. Frankly, all that bubbling happiness made Valin squirm. Give him a dark, dank alley any day. Throw in a merker to kill and he was more than content.