Cross the Line: A Gabriella Cross Paranormal Romance Book 2 (14 page)

Gabby awoke beside Valentine and groaned. She didn’t remember going to bed, or what happened after they did. They were both naked, and there was a plethora of sex toys strewn about the bed, as well as a bottle of chocolate syrup and an empty bowl of whipped cream.

Her head pounded, and her dry mouth begged for water, but even in her misery, Gabby couldn’t help but giggle. Valentine stirred and glanced over sleepily at her.

“Good morning, lover.”

“My head is pounding,” said Gabby.

“I told you to take it slower with those tequila shots.”

“Well, thanks for trying,” said Gabby. She dragged herself out of bed and headed straight for the shower.

After a long hot soaking, she turned the dial to cold and braced herself as the freezing water washed over her body, taking her breath away. The frigid water cleared her head and shocked her awake. She took two Aleve and brushed her teeth before combing out her long red locks. Peeking into the adjoining bedroom, she found that Valentine had gotten out of bed as well. Gabby heard her voice coming from the kitchen. She sang “Hello” by Adele along to the radio with a voice as beautiful as her smile.

Gabby laughed to herself weakly.

She dressed in jeans and one of her sister’s favorite t-shirts, which was black but for the pink fist flying the middle finger. Gabby spent longer than was needed deciding what shoes to wear. The truth was that she was putting off calling Michael and telling him about Lilith. When her curiosity about her father’s condition finally got the better of her, she dialed Michael’s number.

“Hello, Gabby?”

“Yeah, it’s me. How’s Dad?”

“Did you get my texts?”

“I just got up. Haven’t checked my phone yet.”

“Is Valentine with you? Bob reported…Where did you go last night?”

“Who gives a shit?” said Gabby, flustered and on edge. “How’s my dad?”

There was a short pause, and Gabby waited with held breath. “Your father’s condition has…changed.”

Hope and dread battled for dominance in her mind. “What do you mean, changed? Is he worse? Jesus, Michael, tell me he’s getting better and I’ll kiss you.”

Again Michael was hesitant, and Gabby feared that he was trying to think of how to sugarcoat the words.

“He came down with strange welts and sores all over his body just a few minutes ago. Doctors say that it looks like small pox, but we aren’t sure yet.”

Gabby slowly slumped down on the end of the bed and let out a long sigh.

Just then her phone chimed—another call was coming in. She glanced at the number, and though she didn’t recognize it, she knew that Lilith was on the line.

“Michael, sorry, excuse me, but I’ve got an important call coming through. Gimme a sec?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Gabby switched over the call but said nothing.

For many slow seconds no one spoke, but Gabby could
feel
Lilith, could sense her patient awareness on the other end.

“Hello Lilith,” she finally said.

“Gabriella. You’ve been a bad, bad little girl.”

“What did you do to my father?”

“Why were you calling Michael?”

“You bugged my phone?”

“What happened to your father was a warning. I know that you intended on telling Michael all about our secret date, and I implore you to reconsider.”

“I was calling to check on my father.”

Silence.

Gabby waited, feeling as though Lilith could read her mind. She felt always one step behind the ancient vampire.

“How are we to go forward if we cannot trust one another?” said Lilith. There was disappointment in her voice, along with a hint of sorrow.

“Look,” Gabby began, but suddenly, Lilith hung up.

“Hello, hello!”

“Hello.” It was Michael.

Gabby paced the room, wondering if she should hang up and try to call Lilith back.

Someone spoke to Michael in the distance on the other line, and Gabby thought she heard her father’s name.

“I’ll be right there,” said Michael. “Gabby, you still there?”

“What’s happening?”

“I won’t know for sure until I get there.” It sounded like he was running.

A lump grew in Gabby’s throat.

“I should call you back.”

“No!” said Gabby. “I want to hear what’s going on.”

“Alright. Give me a minute.”

Gabby paced back and forth as she waited for Michael to come back on the line. She could hear the faint sounds of people in the background, but could not determine what was being said.

“Breakfast is ready,” said Valentine, who now stood in the door in an untied teddy.

Gabby put up a staying hand when Michael came back on the line.

“Gabby.”

“Yes?”

“Your father…he flatlined, twice. They’ve brought him back, and he’s stable now.”

“Oh my God.”

“I’m sorry, Gabby. I’ve got someone flying in today who I think can help.”

The phone chimed, and Gabby looked to see Lilith’s number again. Without warning Michael, she switched over the call.

“What did you just do?”

“You need to listen to me now, Gabriella. Can you do that?”

Gabby bit her lip and tried to control herself.  “Yes. I can do that.”

“Good. What you just experienced was what happens when you go against your word. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Now. I have kept my word. The
former
sex slaves are waiting for you in the warehouse that you and your friends attacked the other day. Should I have them taken back instead? Should I let your father’s ailment go uncured?”

“No, please, no. I won’t do anything like that again.”

“I would like to trust you again, Gabriella.”

“You can. I’m sorry. What I did was stupid. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Are you thinking now?”

“Yes.”

“And do we still have a deal?”

“Yes, yes we do.”

“Very well. But please understand, Miss Cross. There will be no more warnings.”

“I under—”

Before Gabby could finish, Lilith hung up.

“What did she say?” Valentine asked, looking concerned.

The phone rang, it was Michael.

“Hey, sorry about that,” said Gabby.

“What’s going on? I just told you that your father flatlined twice, and you had to take another call?”

“I…I just…I don’t know. You said he was all right now, right? Who’s this guy you’ve got coming in? Do you really think he can help?”

Michael took a moment to speak, and Gabby knew that he wasn’t done with his own questions. “He is an African shaman. And yes, I believe that he can help.”

“Good, good. That’s great. If anything happens to my father…”

“We’re doing the best we can. He’s a fighter. If anyone could pull through this, it would be General Nicholas Cross.”

“Thanks for everything you’re doing, Michael.”

“Gabby…”

“Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll check up on Dad in a bit.”

“Gabs.”

Gabby hung up and let out a heavy sigh.

“You alright, babe?” Valentine asked, walking over to her.

Gabby tried to speak, but then the realization that her father had died twice set in. Her shoulders shook and she bent forward, trying to hold it in.

Valentine said nothing, only wrapped her arms around Gabby and hugged her tight.

Gabby pulled herself together and focused on the problems at hand. The most pressing being the sex slaves who had supposedly been dropped off at the docks.

“It could be a trap, you know,” Valentine told her. She stood at the sink washing dishes, still wearing nothing but the teddy and apron.

“Why would Lilith bother with that? She needs me for bigger and better things.”

“Your first mistake is thinking that she needs you as much as you think she does. Do not be seduced by your own power.”

Gabby laughed. “That’s rich, coming from someone whose power is to deceive.”

Valentine stopped and regarded her, looking hurt. “Why would you say that? I’ve never deceived you.”

“I…I’m sorry. I just assumed.”

“What did you assume? What do you know of my kind?”

“I’ve read books, vampire books. There is lore about succubae in them.”

“And what do your vampire books say? That we are demons? That we sneak into bedrooms at night and steal men’s sperm? That we impregnate sleeping women with demon children who are born deformed? Do your books say anything about what good we can do?”

“I’m sorry, Valentine. I know you’re nothing like that.”

“No, you don’t know that,” said Valentine. She wiped her hands on the apron and walked to stand in front of Gabby at the island. Her hand moved up and stroked Gabby’s cheek lovingly. Then, suddenly she slapped her across the face.

“Ow, what the fuck!”

“You need to stop being so goddamned naïve! Don’t believe everything you read, and don’t believe everything you hear. Lilith is thousands of years old. Do you understand what that means? She is a hundred lifetimes wiser than you, and twice as deceptive. Don’t ever assume that you know what she will do. Nullifiers might come along every hundred years or so. And so what? That is like a year to her.”

“Yeah, alright. I get it,” said Gabby, pissed and nursing her throbbing cheek.

“Sorry I had to slap some sense into you.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll be sure to return the favor when you need it.”

Valentine offered a curt nod and returned to her work. “Why not just call it in?”

“Call what in, the girls?” Gabby asked.

“Yeah, why not. The cops and the city can deal with them better than we can. Hell, Gabby, if Lilith really disbanded the entire vampire sex slave ring, there are likely to be hundreds of girls. Many of them will have been recently kidnapped. Let the authorities deal with them.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I am, sweetie.”

Just then, Gabby was overcome with nostalgia. It washed over her like the noonday sun in July. She saw Maggy standing there at the sink, doing the dishes and humming an indistinguishable tune. The smell of her perfume brought tears to Gabby’s eyes, and she covered her mouth before she burst. The vision was so vivid that Gabby began to think that somehow, some way, it was real. Maggy turned from the sink and smiled upon her sister. Gabby reached out. Maggy walked forward, but stopped just before Gabby’s hand could reach her.

“Don’t trust her,” she said and vanished.

The summer brightness of the vision was replaced by fall’s many shades of gray. Valentine stood before Gabby, lightly shaking her.

“What?” said Gabby, pulling away.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. What…what was that?”

Valentine shook her head. “You just kind of drifted off and stared.”

Gabby rubbed her face and paced from the kitchen to the living room.

“What is it, Gabby?”

“I don’t know. It’s not important right now.”

“Of course it’s important. Did you see something?”

“Why do you ask?” said Gabby, becoming suspicious.

Had Maggy meant not to trust Valentine, or Lilith?

“You said that Lilith appeared to you in your dreams, and you look like you just saw a ghost. Gabby, is she influencing you mentally or something?”

“No, of course not. I’m immune to all that hocus pocus shit.”

But was she? It was possible that if Lilith could reach her in her dreams, then she could reach her in her daydreams. But why would Lilith create an illusion of Maggy warning her not to trust Valentine? Perhaps Lilith didn’t want Valentine along for some reason. Gabby had no way of knowing.

“Then what was it?”

“I told you it wasn’t important right now.”

A knock came at the door, and Gabby’s phone buzzed. She silently thanked God for the interruption and opened the door for Quip.

“Heyyy,” he said musically. He gave Gabby a hug that she desperately needed. She wanted to tell Quip all about the hallucination, but not with Valentine in the room.

“Thanks so much for coming.”

“I heard about your father. How you holding up?” Quip asked as he walked in. When he saw Valentine, he gave her a once-over and an arched brow. “I guess you holdin’ up good then. Shit Gabs, I didn’t know you joined the team.”

“Very funny, Quip. You want coffee?”

“Mmm hmm, you know how I like it.”

“Hello again, Quip,” said Valentine.

“Enough pleasantries, what the hell you ladies get yourselves into?”

Gabby glanced over her shoulder at Quip, and she must have looked guilty, because he shook his head and gave her his best big-eyes. “Oh hell no. No you didn’t go see that crazy vampire queen bitch yourself.”

“I did, and here I am. No worse for wear.”

“So what, you smoke her ass or something?”

Gabby brought Quip his coffee and sipped her own. “Not quite. I kind of took a job.”

“Come again?”

“Lilith said that she would give me the cure for my father if I helped her break into a magically protected vault.”

“Tell me you said no.”

“I said yes.”

Quip let out a sigh. “You fucking Crosses just can’t stay out of trouble, can you? Where’s the vault, what’s she after?”

“I don’t know what she’s after.”

“Gabby, where’s the vault?”

She bit her lip and guiltily glanced at the floor before answering. “Steele Tower.”

“Jesus jumped up Christ. Are you out your damned mind?”

“Hey Quip, that shit’s getting old,” said Gabby in her best impression of him.

“I don’t give a damn if I sound like a broken record. You’re not going this alone!”

“I hadn’t planned on it. Lilith agreed that we would each bring two people.”

Quip gave Valentine a once-over. “And your new girlfriend is the other?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” said Gabby.

Valentine gave a weak little smile when Gabby looked at her, clearly not feeling the same way.

Gabby felt bad, but this wasn’t the place.

“So are you in?” she asked Quip.

He cocked his head at her. “Tell me you’ve got a plan to get the cure and stop Lilith from taking whatever she’s after, and I might say yes. Have you told Michael about this yet?”

“That’s the messed up part,” said Gabby. “I called him to let him in on it, and he was interrupted by someone saying that my father had flat lined suddenly.”

“That happened because you called to let Michael in on the plan?”

Gabby nodded.

“How the hell she know what your plans were?”

“I don’t know. She’s come to me in my dreams.”

“I thought you were immune to that shit.”

“So did I.”

“So, what, she read your mind? I don’t buy it,” said Quip, giving Valentine the stink-eye. “She know about your plans?”

“I’m standing right here,” said Valentine.

“Yeah, you is. And I bet you was here all night. You playing my girl here?”

“I’m not playing anybody. I’m the one who urged her to call Michael.”

“Mmm hmm. Funny how you show up, and a few days later, Lilith shows up as well.”

“She’s not working for Lilith,” said Gabby.

“No offense, darling, but you’re not the best judge of character,” said Quip.

Gabby didn’t know how to feel about that. “What’s that say about my being friends with you?” she said in her defense.

“I was attacked by Lilith’s men outside Michael’s club. Gabby saved my life,” said Valentine. “And I take personal attacks very seriously.”

“Enough of this,” said Gabby. “You didn’t let me finish. As a token of her good faith or some shit, Lilith has agreed to disband the entire Chicago vampire sex-slave ring. All the girls have been delivered to that warehouse. Valentine thinks that I should just call it in. What do you think?”

“You managed to get her to do that?” said Quip, astonished.

Gabby nodded happily. “I wanted something good to come out of all this if, you know, if something happens to me.”

“Damn, I’m impressed. Nobody’s ever been able to break that shit up. But, you know that Michael is going to hear about it fast, if he hasn’t already.”

“That is why I should call it in, don’t you think?”

Quip agreed, and Gabby pulled out her phone to make the call.

“Not with your own damned phone,” said Quip. “Use one of those untraceable throwaway jobs Maggy kept around.”

Gabby hung up. “Good idea,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

Gabby hurried to the white room and grabbed a phone. Once upstairs, she called the police department to report that she had seen a boatload of young girls hauled into a warehouse in the Chicago Harbor.

When they asked her for her name, she hung up.