Cross the Line: A Gabriella Cross Paranormal Romance Book 2 (17 page)

“The same reason you didn’t tell Michael about Lilith. But I wouldn’t have gotten a warning. They would have been killed instantly.”

“So the club, acting like my friend, that was all a ploy.”

“No, well, at first it was. But then I got to know you. I…I fell in love.”

“Succubus please,” said Quip, lazily waving her off.

Gabby shook her head, not knowing how to feel. On the one hand she understood why Valentine had done what she did. Gabby would have done the same in her position. But she still felt the sting of deception. She had grown to love Valentine, not as a partner, necessarily, but as a cherished friend. Once again she had fallen for someone who was lying to her. Someone who was using her and toying with her emotions for personal gain.

She didn’t know if she was angrier with Valentine or herself.

She turned from Valentine and went over to the wall to check on Riggs.

“I’m telling you the truth,” said Valentine, sounding miserable.

“Riggs, are you alright?” Gabby asked, gently shaking him.

He blinked groggily and grimaced when he tried to move too quickly. “Uhg, I need a shot of that whiskey of yours.”

“It’s a date. For now, let’s get the hell out of here.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Quip, who was standing over Veegor. “This motherfucker’s head is growing back.”

“He’s some sort of genetically modified super soldier that Lilith has been breeding,” said Valentine. “That is why your nullifying power didn’t work on him.”

Quip hurried over and helped Gabby get Riggs to his feet. As they headed for the door, Gabby noticed Egglefinkin lying in a heap where he had fallen.

“Hold on,” she said, and leaned Riggs toward Quip. She moved over to the leprechaun and gave him a little kick.

He groaned.

“Egg, are you alright?”

He rolled over and pulled apart his vest, gasping for air. The remnants of a magical spell fizzled and sputtered out across his chest. To Gabby’s amazement, there was no blood. She offered her hand and Egg took it, allowing her to help him to his feet.

“Let’s go,” she told the group and headed down the hall, leaving Valentine hurrying to catch up.

Gabby helped Riggs to the end of the hall and peeked around the corner. The three guards were still handcuffed together against the wall and remained as quiet as three little church mice.

The vampire blood was still in effect, and with it Gabby extended her hearing to take in the sounds of the chamber. She heard footfalls in the main room and sniffed at the air.

“Shit.”

“What is it?” Quip asked, ready with a wand in hand.

“Michael.”

“Shit.”

The footsteps echoed louder as the werewolves approached, and Gabby’s mind raced to think of what to do.

Behind them, heavy footfalls suddenly echoed down the hall. Gabby turned with the others to find Veegor barreling toward them, head fully intact. Riggs was the only one to bother telling him to stop; the others simply opened fire, riddling the big brute with multiple rounds. The bullets didn’t faze him in the least, though they all tore holes in his clothing and hit home. He continued on as they all scrambled to get out of the way.

“Watch out!” Gabby yelled to Michael and the other werewolves coming their way.

Veegor blew past them and rushed around the corner toward the weres. Gunfire erupted in the chamber, and the sounds of angry, growling wolves followed in its wake.

“What the hell is that sound?” Riggs asked.

“Werewolves,” said Gabby, ignoring his look of utter bewilderment. She moved to the end of the hall once more and peeked around the corner. Two armed guards raised their guns as they approached.

“Freeze!” yelled one.

“Don’t shoot!” said Gabby, tossing her weapon onto the floor and coming around the corner with her hands up. “Drop your weapons,” she told the others.

They did as she asked, even Riggs, who still looked to have a million questions. Quip and Egg followed the detective out into the open. Last came Valentine.

Michael approached from the main chamber and looked taken aback to find Gabby in his vault.

“Gabby?” he said, stopping before them. “What’s going on here?”

“I’m sorry, Michael. I’m so sorry. Lilith escaped with the Spear of Destiny.”

A dark shadow crossed his face, and he scowled at the group. His look was a mix of anger and disappointment.

“Let me guess, she blackmailed you with a promise of your father’s cure.”

“Yes,” said Gabby, stepping forward with the vial.

The guards leveled their guns on her, and Michael raised a staying hand to them.

“This is it. This is the cure,” she said.

Michael didn’t look at it, but glared at Gabby. “I told you not to seek her out on your own.”

“I’m sorry. I had no choice,” she said, realizing how much she sounded like Valentine.

“I will see to it that the cure reaches your father immediately,” said Michael, reaching out his hand.

“Thank you,” she said, handing it over.

“See that this gets to the infirmary. Tell them to administer it immediately to General Cross,” Michael told one of the guards.

“Yes, sir,” said the man before turning and hurrying away.

Michael glanced over the group, eyes settling on Valentine. “How did I know you would be mixed up in this?”

“Lilith kidnapped my children. Like Gabby, I didn’t have a choice.”

“Gemma and Jewels?”

Valentine nodded.

“That giant that ran past, I assume he was with Lilith. Who else was working for her?”

Everyone looked to Egglefinkin, who stood smoking his cigar and looking bored. “The bitch forced me into service as well. She had me bound to a contract.”

“Do you still serve her?”

Egg shook his head. “She broke the contract when she had that big lug shoot me in the chest.”

“Then you will bring me to her,” said Michael. “I know that you can track down the Holy Lance, for it is the treasure that I wish to possess.”

“I’ve had enough fun for one night. Lilith will be heading to the island. She’s got a portal there that leads to one of her lairs. Hurry and you might catch her.”

“What island?” Michael asked.

“Ask the ginger,” said Egglefinkin. “Middle of Lake Michigan. Big castle on a hill. Can’t miss it.” With that he began back to the tunnel, ignoring the guards who still aimed their guns at him as they looked to Michael for guidance.

Michael waved them off and looked to Gabby once more before turning to his guards. “See them out. All of them.”

“Wait,” said Gabby. “I know where the island is. You need me.”

“How can I trust you?” he said, turning to face her angrily.

The accusation stung her chest like a dagger.

“I did what I did to save my father. You would have done the same.”

“No,” said Michael flatly, but there was a feral growl to his voice. “I wouldn’t have. I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation. Do you know who one of the lance’s most recent owners was?”

Gabby shook her head.

“Hitler,” said Michael. “Adolf fucking Hitler. And with it he killed millions. What do you think a vampire will do with it?”

Gabby was shocked and horrified. “Please. Let me make this right. Let me go with you.”

“Wait a minute,” said Riggs. “Hitler?”

Michael ignored them both and began toward the main chamber once more. Gabby hurried to catch up.

“Wait a goddamned minute,” she said, grabbing his arm and turning him around. “I didn’t know what she was after. If I had known that it was the Holy Lance, I never would have gone along with it. You can be pissed at me all you want, later. But right now you need me and you know it.”

“I need a nullifier who isn’t high on vampire blood,” said Michael.

“I can close that portal. We can trap her on the island. But we don’t have time to waste.”

Michael studied her for a moment then sighed. “Fine. Let’s go.”

“I’m coming with you,” said Quip.

“Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on?” said Riggs, with all the authority of a law enforcement officer.

“We’re going after the vampire who stole the Spear of Destiny, babe,” said Quip. “You best go home and forgot you were ever here.”

“He’s right,” said Gabby. “Go home.”

“A crime has been committed here, and I’ve got a job to do.”

“Your questions will be addressed at a later time,” said Michael. “For now I would like you to leave my property.”

“I’ll call you when this is all over,” said Gabby, and along with Quip, she followed Michael up the stairs in the main chamber leading to Steele Tower.

Michael said not a word as he led Gabby and Quip, along with five of his weres, up to the roof and the waiting helicopter. He wore a look of determination that went well with his black robe—a wardrobe choice that said that he intended on going toe to toe with Lilith in wolf form. He carried no weapons, unlike his armed and armored underlings, and Gabby knew that this was personal to him.

She wished that he would say something, anything. But he remained stoic and clench-jawed.

To Gabby’s surprise, Juliette was in the pilot seat of the chopper, offering her a look of disappointment.

“You’ve been juicing again, haven’t you?” she said loudly, intending to shame her.

Gabby was tense from the fight in the vault and worried that she had unleashed something terrible into the world, not to mention stressed about her father’s condition, of which she had heard nothing.

She wasn’t in the mood.

“Not now,” said Gabby, as she would have told her sister Maggy when she was being particularly naggy.

“Not now? Not ever with you. You just keep on going ahead and doing whatever the fuck you want, don’t you?”

“Enough!” said Michael, slamming the helicopter door behind him closed with enough force to shake the entire machine. “Right now we are a team. We’ve got a mission. And that mission will not be accomplished unless we work in harmony.”

Juliette offered Gabby one last slow shake of her head and went about quickly flicking switches and lifting off.

“Where is this island?” Michael asked, putting on his headset.

“About fifty miles northeast of the harbor. It took me an hour in a little speedboat. But the waters were choppy and it was foggy that night.”

“We should arrive in ten to fifteen minutes. With any luck we will beat Lilith to it.”

“Why don’t we just shoot the bitch out of the sky?” said Quip.

Michael shook his head. “It is a lot harder than you think to do that. No, we need to take out her escape route, then we attack.”

Gabby had no idea what kind of helicopter she was in, but she knew that it was going a hell of a lot faster than any she had seen. Given Michael’s wealth, the aircraft could have cost millions of dollars without denting his bankroll.

Just as Michael had predicted, they arrived at the island twelve minutes after leaving Steele Tower. Halfway there, Juliette had pointed out a blip on the screen that could have been Lilith flying across the waters in her winged form, but no one saw her with their own eyes. Gabby saw multiple magical auras coming from the island, small balls of light among the trees, on the shores, and in the castle. The largest of the auras came from the castle itself.

“I think I see the portal,” she said as they made a pass. “And there are dozens of magical creatures or magic users on the island as well. We are badly outnumbered.”

“Bring us down,” said Michael.

“Did you hear me? There are dozens. There are only nine of us.”

“You’re going to nullify the entire island,” said Michael matter-of-factly.

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Of course you can. And you will. But you can’t nullify an island full of vampires while on vampire blood. She got you to drink it so that you would be weaker against her. You’re going to need mine.”

Juliette gave him a sidelong scowl.

Gabby tried not to show her excitement at the prospect, realizing once again what a magic blood junky she was becoming. But at the moment she didn’t care. At the moment all that she needed was a good excuse, and saving the world from a vampire Hitler was good enough for her.

As they slowly came in for a landing, Michael bit his forearm and offered it to Gabby. She glanced around at Quip and the others, feeling every part the crackhead.

“Go on girl,” said Quip. “Do what you gotta do and fry those mothersuckers.”

Gabby took hold of Michael’s wrist, gently at first. She put her lips to his skin and closed her eyes. The taste of his blood electrified as it rolled over her tongue, and she pulled him harder. She swallowed and her eyes went wide. Gabby drank…and drank. Wave after wave of primal energy, rage, fear, and instinct flooded through her. She squeezed the arm and sucked greedily when he pulled back. Night became day, and the heavy beat of the propellers was like an avalanche in her brain.

Then the contact was broken.

Michael’s blood burned pleasantly in her veins, extinguishing the fading vampire blood completely and leaving Gabby with a whole new set of enhancements. Gone was the clarity and focus of mind, but what replaced it was a profound understanding of the world around her. She knew everyone’s mood around her just by the scent of the pheromones in the small cockpit. Their eyes and the thoughts behind them spoke to her like their words never could.

Gabby found that she couldn’t speak. She was overwhelmed with energy and the urgent need to unleash it. The cabin became suffocating; those around her were overloading her with information. She couldn’t breathe, and she clawed at the collar of her shirt.

“What the hell is happening to her?” Quip asked, trying to steady her by the shoulders.

Gabby clawed at the door handle, wanting nothing more than to fall into the water and swim forever.

Michael grabbed her by both sides of the head and forced himself into her field of vision. He glowed with such inner light and power that Gabby heard her own voice quiver with reverie.

“Gabriella Cross, hear my voice. Come to the light in the glen, far from the commotion of the world. Hear only my voice.”

Gabby stared into his eyes, effectively blocking out everything else. His voice carried such a beautifully deep timbre that it would have been hard to ignore.

“Do not be led by your inner animal. You are the master. You give the orders. It obeys.”

Gabby nodded and tried to speak, but all that came out was a growl.

“She drank too much,” said Quip, sounding worried. “She’s overdosing or some shit.”

“We cannot risk being anywhere near her when she goes off,” said Juliette from the cockpit.

“Focus on me,” said Michael. “Now say your name.”

Again, all that came out was a growl.

Gabby wanted him, needed him. His blood churned inside her stomach. Her muscles ached with cramping pain. She needed a release. It was all too much to handle. She grabbed his face and leapt on him, riding him to the floor between the cockpit and the passenger seats. Michael fought to control her as she covered his mouth with frantic kisses. Her tongue glided across his lips and he finally gave in, returning the kiss with a passion that rivaled Gabby’s in her addled state.

They rolled around the floor of the chopper, caught in the throes of passion as the weres, Quip, and Valentine looked on.

Then Michael seemed to get ahold of himself and attempted to rein in Gabby as well. He overpowered and straddled her, holding her head between his strong hands.

“Your father is Nicholas, right now he’s fighting for his life. You need to fight as well. Fight your inner beast. Speak your name and leash the beast.”

Gabby suppressed the growing growl in her throat and clenched her teeth, trying to form a G.

“G…Gabby Cross,” she finally uttered.

“Very good. Now listen. Juliette is right. We can’t be around when you let this out. We’re hovering fifteen feet above the ground. Do you think you can make that jump without injury?”

“Y-y-y-yes.” Gabby’s teeth chattered, but she was gaining more and more control by the second.

“Good. Nullify the island, and we will join you.”

With that, Michael pulled open the door, letting in the buffeting wind. He helped Gabby up, and she deftly maneuvered out of the chopper and onto the tubular landing skids, eager to get on land and feel the earth beneath her feet. She leapt down without hesitation, able to see clear as day, and stuck the landing like a gymnast.

The chopper quickly accelerated skyward and headed for the clouds.

Gabby took in her surroundings. She was standing on the western beach, surrounded by pine trees. Through them she could make out the glow of the castle and all its power. So too did she see the dozens of vampires charging her. The closest was more than three hundred yards off, which gave Gabby the time that she needed to do what she had to do.

She summoned everything she had, unleashing the pent-up beast inside of her in the process, and slammed a fist down into the ground, shattering shale and sinking into softness below. The surge of energy left her, exploding from her fist and rippling out across the land and into the ocean behind her. She watched, awestruck, as the ripple continued through the forest like a world-killing wall of fire, and hit the first of the vampires. Even from the great distance, she heard the cry of sheer terror as the very essence of the vampire was extinguished inside the hapless thug. The ripple hit another and another, and Gabby ran after it, reveling in the punishment she was dishing out.

The chopper flew overhead in the direction of the castle, and Gabby rushed to catch up. She encountered the first of the vampires in the pine forest. He was standing and staring at his hands with a shocked expression on his face. Hearing Gabby coming, he drew a gun and whirled around, looking for her.

She put a slug in his forehead before he saw her coming.

In the distance, the chopper was landing. Gunfire erupted from that location, and Gabby redoubled her efforts. The werewolf blood gave her impeccable balance and stamina, increasing her strength and agility as well. She charged through the forest at breakneck speeds, leaping over fallen trees and vaulting from stones to fly dozens of feet through the air.

The castle was situated at the top of a rocky hill, but Gabby traversed it with ease and leapt over the ten-foot wall separating the castle grounds from the rest of the island. Michael, Quip, Juliette, and the other weres had spread out around the chopper and were laying fire into the forest. Gabby rushed over to Michael and covered his back.

“Did you nullify the portal?” he yelled over the barking of his machine gun.

Gabby looked to the castle and realized with disappointment that her attack had not taken it out.

“No. It is still active.”

“Get in there and take care of it. We’ll cover you.”

Gabby wasted no time and rushed to the castle wall. The power of the portal emanated from the tower near the eastern wall of the castle, and rather than try to find the passage inside, she leapt up and began to scale the wall instead. Thirty feet up, she reached a narrow window. Gabby smashed it and maneuvered through, landing in a crouch on the stone floor. The room was lit with no lights, but Gabby’s enhanced vision allowed her to see perfectly, and she found that the room was empty but for the seven-foot-tall and four-foot-wide elliptical portal buzzing and crackling at its center.

The gunfire outside had subsided, but now cries of warning rang out, and the chatter of automatic fire echoed through the night once more.

Something landed on the roof.

Gabby noticed the stairwell spiraling up to a trap door that led to the roof just as it flew from its hinges and was yanked up into darkness.

Lilith!
Gabby’s mind screamed a warning.

She turned to the portal and unleashed her nullifying power just as Lilith flew into the room in a whirlwind of leathery wings. Rather than go for Gabby, the vampire flew toward the portal instead. Gabby released her pent-up energy and directed it at the portal. To her eyes, the nullifying blast appeared as a beam of bright white light. It flew past Lilith and disappeared into the portal, which suddenly erupted in a shower of sparks even as Lilith tried to go through it. Instead she flew through the space where it had been and crashed into the far wall.

Gabby fell to one knee, suddenly overcome with vertigo and lightheaded from the incredible show of power. She was so exhilarated by the destruction of the portal that she forgot the danger she was now in.

Slowly, Lilith raised herself up from the floor and faced Gabby, hatred burning in her blood-red eyes. Gabby collected her power in her palms and waited for Lilith to make her move. She was tired, and had burned off much of the werewolf blood nullifying the vampires and the portal.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” said Lilith.

Gabby expected her to attack, but when Lilith suddenly flew up toward the trapdoor to the roof, Gabby frantically sent a beam of nullifying power at her. It hit Lilith right between the wings as she flew out of the hole, and Gabby rushed to the stairs in pursuit.

When she reached the top of the stairs and hurried through the trapdoor onto the landing, she found Lilith lying on the stone. She appeared to be halfway through her vampiric transition, with one wing flailing uselessly and half her body human. In her right hand was the Spear of Destiny. She looked dead, but Gabby didn’t want to take any chances. She summoned what strength she had left and unleashed a final beam of nullifying power. Lilith cried out when the beam hit her, and her body became fully human.

Gabby leaned against the wall for support, vision blurry and head swimming.

Lilith pulled herself up from the stone and turned to face her. Blood-red eyes regarded Gabby with a murderous glare, and two long canine teeth could still be seen beyond her crimson lips. She stalked toward Gabby, who was fading quickly. She tried to summon her inner strength and once again hit the vampire with a blast, but she could hardly raise her arms. Lilith grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air with one arm.