Bloodspell (39 page)

Angie paced and glanced at her watch again; it was ten minutes past midnight. As she turned around to leave, she found herself face to face with a leather-clad, white-faced Christian Devereux. Angie stepped back, her eyes wide and her hands automatically at her throat, but Christian ignored the instinctive response and waited for her to make the first move.

"It's not safe here," she said, starting to walk down Madison Avenue.

"Where is she?"

"Gabriel," she said. Christian stiffened immediately. "He's holding her captive." Christian felt the rage in him boil just from hearing the name.

"Can't she get out? Use her magic?" he asked, earning a swift look from Angie.

"No," she said.

She stopped walking and pulled Christian into the shadow of a building. "Did Tori ever tell you anything about me?"

"No. Why?"

"I was the one who told Gabriel about her, about what she was," she said. "I'm not a witch like Tori or a warlock like Gabriel, but I can see what people are."

Christian grasped her arm roughly as he whirled her to face him. Angie winced as if the movement were painful. His face was harsh in the darkened shadows.

"Hang on a second. First of all, Gabriel is a
warlock
?" Angie nodded reluctantly. "And you can see what people are? What does that mean? Can you see what I am?"

"Yes," she said. Christian wanted to hear her to say it.

"What am I?"

"Undead."

In an uncanny silence, they stared at each other under the black sky. Christian's expression was unfathomable. His mind raced at the power this girl would hold in the supernatural world. In the wrong hands, her gifts could be catastrophic. Angie remained nervous, as if she expected Gabriel to come racing around the corner at any moment. She kept shifting, her movements restless and agitated.

"Does Gabriel know about me? What I am?"

"No!" she said. "You only came into the picture when he saw the two of you together. He was in such a terrible rage. It lasted for days and days. You d ... don't understand how he feels about her. He thinks she belongs to him. You took something from him that he thought was his. He asked me what you looked like and whether you were a threat to him."

"And what did you say?"

"I lied." For a minute her dark, mousy face looked almost proud that she had bested her warlock brother by successfully concealing her mind from him.

"Why?"

"It was my fault that she got into all of this. He saw her do an invisibility spell in the library, and he forced me to tell him what she was. He was attracted to her before that, but the fact that she was a witch made him ecstatic. Gabriel thought they were meant to be." She took a deep breath. "And then you came into the picture. He was so angry after that night at the bar that he went up to her aunt's place looking for her when she didn't show up to class." She trailed off, staring into her palms. Christian realized that she was crying. "That's how he got her to come to New York. He kidnapped her aunt."

"He
kidnapped
Holly? What does he want, Angie?" Christian knew the answer even before Angie gave it but he had to know.

"How much do you know about Tori? About her power?"

"I know enough." Angie raised tear-filled eyes to his.

"Gabriel knows who she is. He wants her. He wants her power for himself." Angie was sobbing now, the words running into each other. "I told him. I'm so sorry. I didn't have a choice. He was going to kill Leto and I knew he would. You don't know what he's capable of. He killed our parents. I think I knew it all along but when he said it to Tori, I knew I couldn't protect him or lie anymore."

"Did Tori know that you knew about me?" he asked.

"Yes, I told her. We were friends, sort of," Angie said softly. "She asked me to get you. She said 'find Christian,' and so I did." Angie was unprepared for the brilliance that illuminated Christian's eyes.

"Where are they?" he said, his voice choked.

"She's being held in a cell underground. I can take you to her," she said. "Don't worry, he won't hurt her. He wants what she has too badly. It blinds him to everything else." Angie noticed his indecision. "I'm not lying, please, you have to trust me."

Christian knew that he had no choice but to trust her. If she deceived him, there would be hell and more to pay. He brushed her mind quickly with his feather-light vampire senses, and apart from her anxiety at being discovered, he could detect no deception. He did see something else though. Without speaking, his eyes softened, and he pulled her toward him gently. She winced. Christian caught the scent before he saw the crimson streaks seeping through her light-colored sweater, and he stared at her, his question obvious.

"Gabriel," she said hollowly. "I tried to protect the cat." His jaw clenched into a hard line. It was all he could do not to break something right then and there. "It's okay. It's not the first time. I've endured worse from him over the years. Everything heals ... eventually." Her eyes were downcast. "And it's no more than I deserve."

"Angie, no one deserves to be treated as you've been. You give yourself too little credit for the courage you've shown tonight. I am indebted to you."

Color rose in her face at the unexpected praise. "It's this way," she murmured, flustered by his startling kindness.

Christian followed Angie down Madison Avenue keeping to the shadows. It was clear that she was terrified of Gabriel, given his anger and what he had done to her, repeatedly it seemed. His fury surging to dangerous levels, Christian kept himself under tight control. If Victoria had been hurt, he wouldn't be accountable for his actions.

They reached 47th Street and Christian saw the entrance to Grand Central, but it was dark and the doors appeared to be locked. He looked at Angie, eyebrows raised.

"Not here. The entrance is around the block," she said, walking past the doors. They walked across 47th Street toward the East Side and then Angie made a sharp right turn onto Lexington Avenue. Slatted between two buildings was a small, dark alleyway with greasy black steps disappearing down into the darkness. Angie glanced around and then climbed down the steps. Christian followed.

The air was rank with the smell of decay combined with the hot stench of the sewers and the subway trenches. Angie pulled out a small flashlight that cast a thin light down the gloomy tunnel, and Christian's vampire eyesight adjusted naturally to the darkness. About halfway down the tunnel, Angie, who'd been counting quietly under her breath, stopped and pushed against a nearly invisible metal door. It swung open, creaking loudly in the silence and she jumped nervously, looking over her shoulder at Christian's wary, white face.

"It's just down here," she said, her voice harsh in the quiet. "This is another entrance, not the one that Gabriel knows. I found it looking at the rats one day."

Christian stared down the hallway and noticed the glow of lights toward the end. He walked on silent feet toward it. "What is this place?"

"I think it used to be some kind of secret meeting room in the nineteen thirties. The floor in the main room is marble, and there are paintings on the ceilings," she whispered back.

Christian wasn't surprised. New York City was full of secret meeting rooms and buildings located in unlikely places, and he himself had been in several of them over the decades. This one, however, was new to him. He stepped past Angie and walked stealthily down the corridor, noticing that at the first light-bulb there was a large wooden door. Angie remained in the darkness, her part finished for now, and he could hear her moving slowly back the way they had come.

He pushed open the unlocked door. The room was dark and empty but was just as Angie had described with its murals and marble floors. He sensed no movement and peered into the gloom. He crept silently into the room, keeping his back to the edge of the wall and letting his vampire instincts take over to get the scent of her blood. He was rewarded with the barest hint of it toward the back of the room. Relief flooded him like a river, and Christian rapped gently on the door to the room where the scent was most potent.

"Tori," he said, louder than he'd intended. He heard sounds on the other side of the door but still couldn't detect her presence other than the faint smell.

"Christian?" she said in disbelief, as if expecting a trick of some sort. The wards were so powerful that he could barely hear her even with his heightened senses.

"It's me. Angie found me like you asked her to," he said. Christian couldn't hear anything on the other side and he wasn't sure if she had responded or not. "I'm going to try to open the door."

The minute Christian put his hand on the handle, the shock sent him flying ten feet across the room, his hand burned black from the lightning bolt hex on the door. He watched as it repaired itself almost immediately and bounded back unhurt to the door. "There's some kind of spell on it," he said, forgetting to whisper.

"Well, of course there's a spell on it,
Devereux
" said a mocking voice. "Isn't that sweet, coming to rescue your love?"

Christian whirled around, furious with himself that he had been caught off guard. He straightened his spine and shook it off. He had no qualms about fighting this warlock. He had fought worse battles over the years and some whip of a boy wasn't going to get the better of him, no matter how powerful he thought he was.

"Gabriel," he said.

Gabriel walked toward the middle of the room watching Christian as if he were trying to work out how he'd gotten in there. Christian stayed still but ready, a tactic honed by countless decades and numerous duels.

"Don't you know by now that she's out of your league, Devereux?" Gabriel said, his tone deliberately insolent. Christian didn't answer. "Cat got your tongue?"

Christian remained unfazed, watching him carefully. Realizing that his strategy wasn't working, Gabriel tried something else. "Tori, your boyfriend's here," he shouted.

With a wave of his hand, the solid door became transparent, and Christian could see Victoria's worried face as she stood in the doorway, her hands up against the now invisible door. Their eyes connected for a split second just as Gabriel started laughing horribly, drawing their stares. He wiped mock tears from his eyes.

"You're no Romeo, Devereux," he said. "And she's definitely not your Juliet. Not by the time I've finished with her anyway." Despite his control, a muscle began to tick in Christian's jaw. "Enjoy the show, Tori. I'm certainly going to," Gabriel said to Victoria, just as he did the hot knife trick in her belly. She leaned against the door gasping. Her eyes were glued to Christian's, and Gabriel's rage erupted at their shared look. He twisted his hand again viciously and she fell, clutching her stomach but still not making a sound, defiant to the end. Christian restrained his fury.

"Do you know what I am, Devereux?" Gabriel said, making conversation as they slowly circled each other. "Do you have any idea what you're up against? No, of course you don't. You can't win, you know. She belongs to me now. So I ask you, is she worth it? Is she worth losing everything? Is she worth your
life
?"

Christian ignored his taunts and his unruffled silence irritated Gabriel more than anything. Gabriel's face contorted.

"Malus cremo!" A ball of black fire flew from Gabriel's outstretched hand. Christian who had been expecting it, dodged with unexpected speed to the right as it exploded into the side of the wall. Gabriel raised an eyebrow, his face registering surprise at Christian's lucky guess.

"Know what that is, Devereux? That's magic. Like I said, you can't win. She's a witch too, did you know? Or did she lie to you just like she lies to everyone else?"

Christian forced himself not to look at Victoria. He'd wanted to tear Gabriel apart with his bare hands when he saw what he had so viciously done to her. He did not want to show any weakness for her because he knew that Gabriel would use that against him without hesitation.

She, for her part, had not even made a sound watching them circle each other like two lions as if she'd come to the same realization. Christian spared her a glance. Her eyes widened, alerting him to the danger just as Gabriel teleported, appearing behind him and lunging for him with a long curving knife. Christian swung out of the way just before the blade sliced through where his chest had been. Gabriel teleported again, and once more, Christian eluded his attack.

Gabriel was breathing heavily. "You're either born under a lucky star, Devereux, or tonight's just your night." Christian stayed silent. "So much for this physical stuff!" Gabriel cried and parried with a stunning spell that blasted a hole in the wall as Christian leapt out of the way. Gabriel screamed in thwarted fury.

"Corpus discidium!" he shouted. But like its counterparts before, the death spell missed its intended target as Christian vaulted out of the way, moving so quickly that he was a blur. Christian watched as the powerful spell pulverized an armchair, and his gaze moved to Gabriel, who was panting heavily.

Christian smiled with provoking mockery as if to say "bad luck mate," and Gabriel gnashed his teeth in frustration. For the first time, Gabriel looked confused and furious as if he couldn't fathom how his opponent kept getting the best of him. In aggravated rage, his gaze locked on Victoria and something ugly kindled in his eyes.

He teleported again, but this time it was into Victoria's cell. He grasped her by her hair and kissed her wetly on the mouth. She fought him, clumps of hair coming loose in his hand and scratching at his face with her nails. His mouth curled. He backhanded her across the face, and she stumbled back, her head colliding with the wall. Victoria slid to the floor, barely conscious. Gabriel regarded Christian through the transparent door and smirked before teleporting back into the main room.

Game on.

Christian was livid. The fury drove through his muscles but despite its intensity, he knew that he had to be careful. Gabriel was a
warlock,
a powerful warlock if his offensive magic was any indication. Christian waited, his fury simmering.