Cross the Line: A Gabriella Cross Paranormal Romance Book 2 (8 page)

Gabby spent the next day preparing for the night’s mission. She suited up in the white room in one of her sister’s get-ups, which Quip had fitted for her. It consisted of a bulletproof leather jacket, Kevlar and leather pants, and steel-toe boots with short heels. The outfit looked surprisingly good on her, and she felt safe in it. There were small runes carved into the suit, which Gabby assumed had been used by Maggy as wards, but given Gabby’s abilities, such enchantments would be useless to her.

Knowing that they would be facing vampires, Gabby fitted a strap around her thigh that could hold up to six silver-tipped wooden stakes. She chose two Glocks with rounds chiefly designed for vampires. Lastly, she strapped her katana to her back and sheathed a silver dagger to her hip.

Gabby closed the weapons drawer and glanced at the one that she knew held the vampire blood.

Screw it,
she thought.
Just in case. It saved my ass the other night. Better to be a vamp juice addict than dead.

When she was finally prepared, she closed the white room and went upstairs to wait for the others. Her heart was thumping steadily, and her body shook with anticipation of the violence to come.

The others arrived at 6:30, just when the sun was beginning to set. Counter to modern folklore, vampires could tolerate the sun, though they were stronger during the nighttime. Gabby’s father had chosen to attack after dark because he knew that the vamps would have more mortals guarding the place during the day.

They arrived in a black armored truck that looked like it could have belonged to batman. Mick Gallagher sat in the driver seat and offered Gabby a smile and a nod as she approached.

“You ready to kick some vampire ass, girl?”

“You’re goddamned right.”

The back doors opened, and Gabby got in and sat down next to Quip on one of the two benches against the walls.

Quip wore a long leather jacket that hung all the way to his high-heel boots. He wore dark sunglasses, and his dreads had been pulled back into a bun, which stuck out from the back of his head like a horn. Gabby couldn’t see any weapons, but she guessed he at least carried a few pistols, and no doubt a few wands as well.

“You look like an extra for
The Matrix
,” said Gabby.

“Listen up, babe,” said Quip, ignoring the jest. “I’ve put enchantments on this ride and everyone in it. Keep your power under wraps, alright. Took me hours to prepare this stuff.”

“I’ve got a handle on it, don’t worry.” She gestured to his arm. “All better already?”

“Michael’s got some impressive healers. It went through the muscle anyway, no broken bones. Still sore, but nothing I can’t handle.”

Her father and Mickey were armored and armed like her and Quip. Even Valentine was armed with a gun and wore all black. However, Michael, Juliette, Bob, and the three other weres wore only long robes. Gabby knew that they were naked underneath, which would allow them to change form more easily. She found herself hoping that she would see Michael make the transformation.

During the drive into the city, Gabby’s father reminded them of the plan, and stressed to Gabby the importance of her role as lookout. Juliette handed out the mics and ear pieces, and the group did a quick check that they were working properly. The werewolves’ setups were a bit different from the others, with elastic straps to hold them in place when they changed form. The straps went around their necks like a collar, so they would be able to listen and communicate in wolf form.

They pulled into the harbor and slowly drove to the warehouse. Mickey killed the lights as they approached and stopped the truck before the warehouse came into view. The werewolves jumped out the back and shed their robes, and Gabby felt her face flush when she saw Michael naked for the second time.

“Go get ‘em, big boys,” said Quip, eyeing the men with an appreciative grin.

They changed form before running off into the night. After ten minutes of tense silence, Michael came on the radio.

“The outside is clear.”

“Ten-four,” said General Cross.

Mickey drove them around the corner and parked the truck in the shadows off to the side of the warehouse.

“Move out!” said the general.

“Good luck,” said Gabby as the others unloaded.

She moved to the front seat to watch the parking lot and front door of the warehouse, wishing that she was out there with them. The group moved in stealthily, with her father and Mickey leading the way. They disappeared inside, and Gabby waited.

“Clear,” came the voice of her father in her earpiece.

“Clear,” he said again.

“I’ve got movement,” said Michael.

Gabby waited, glued to the headset.

Silence filled the line, but then it erupted with sudden gunfire. Her father cried out, and the chatter of his machine gun drowned out his words. More gunshots and a small explosion sounded, and suddenly Gabby’s earpiece went dead.

She tapped at it, watching as the few windows of the warehouse lit up like the Fourth of July.

“Hello…hello…fuck.” Gabby took off her earpiece and looked it over, though she didn’t know what she was looking for to fix it.

Something caught her eye, and she ducked down when she saw a pickup pull up and park a few yards away from the door. Three armed men got out and made their way quickly to the door.

“You’ve got men coming in behind you,” said Gabby into the mic. “Hello…hello?”

Shit.

Gabby sat there for a terrified moment, wondering what she should do. She had orders to stay in the truck, but if those goons came up behind the group, they might kill them all.

“Fuck it.”

Gabby threw open the door and hurried into the warehouse.

Gabby drew her pistol and raced through the door. She expected to be riddled by bullets, but none came. The warehouse door led to a hallway with doors leading off to the left and right. She hurried down the hall, gun held up before her and eyes scanning the shadows frantically. The door to the right was open. She peeked inside—nothing. The next door was on the left, and she checked that room as well, wanting to hurry to the end of the hall. She suspected that the goons had gone on into the warehouse quickly and didn’t want them to get to the group before she could warn them.

The left room proved empty as well. It was full of packaging material with a layer of dust that indicated it was hardly, if ever, used.

“Does anyone read me? You’ve got some armed men coming up behind you,” Gabby whispered into the mic.

No one answered.

Gunfire erupted once again somewhere in the large warehouse.

Gabby abandoned her search of the rooms and hurried down the hall. It opened to a large room full of boxes and more packaging material. Two men were heading for the door on the other side of the room.

“Drop your weapons!” Gabby yelled.

The two men darted for cover with inhuman speed as Gabby raised her gun to fire. Before she could get off a shot, a man suddenly appeared from behind the door. He slapped the weapon out of her hands and punched her in the face. Gabby staggered back as her assailant stalked after her. She pulled her other gun swiftly, but it was immediately slapped out of her hands as well. Her assailant grabbed her by the throat and lifted her high as he spun and slammed her up against the wall. Though her brain had been rattled and she was slowly being choked out by the incredibly strong grip, she managed to reach her dagger and jam it into the vampire’s heart. The iron blade sizzled in the wound, and the vampire screamed in her face as his skin bubbled and bulged before finally combusting with a great whooshing sound that reduced him to a lump of ash.

She was remotely aware of the gunfire still rattling elsewhere in the warehouse. Stars danced in her vision as she instinctively unsheathed her katana. The two vampires who had been headed for the opposite door were changing into their hideous winged forms and stalking toward her.

Gabby lurched into the hall and frantically ran to the nearest room and ducked inside. Her head still spun, and she fought to focus. They would be coming through the door any moment, and now she had cornered herself. Worse still, she had lost both of her pistols.

The vamp blood!

Gabby didn’t give it a second thought. She reached in her pocket, popped the cork on a vial, and guzzled it down.

The fire erupted in her stomach and her pain disappeared. The shadows fled in her enhanced vision and her hearing tripled. Footsteps approached, and she drew back her katana slowly.

She focused on her inner strength, building up a great blast of nullifying power that would leave them mortal and vulnerable. The vampire blood made her feel electric, and the power gathering at her core was exhilarating. She backed to the center of the room and focused on the door, right hand raised and ready.

The men didn’t creep into the room cautiously with guns drawn; they flew in on wings as black as night. Gabby unleashed her power in a wide arc, engulfing the vampires and the surrounding room as well. With blood-curdling shrieks, the flying vampires changed to human form in the blink of an eye and came crashing down before her.

The closest man stared down at his human hands and looked to her with utter shock and horror—she took his head from his shoulders with one swift slice. The other one seemed to get over the shock much more quickly, for he turned and ran out the door, screaming as he barreled down the hallway naked as a newborn. Gabby cursed under her breath as she gave chase and stopped just outside the door. She unsheathed her dagger and, judging the distance, flipped the dagger to hold it by the blade. She let it fly and grinned to herself when it spun through the air and found its mark, hitting the ex-vamp in the back of the leg and laming him. He hit the floor and began to claw his way slowly toward the doorway at the end of the hall. Gabby rushed to him and leapt, landing beside him and stabbing the katana between his shoulder blades.

She gave a twist for good measure

Her heart pounded with adrenaline and vamp blood as she stood over the ashes of her attacker. The warehouse was bright to her enhanced eyes. Her muscles twitched and tensed, ready to spring into action at the slightest command.

Gunfire and screams shook her from her reverie and she snapped alert. Her ears caught a scream that chilled her blood.

“Dad!”

Gabby sprinted down the hall and continued through the room where she had been ambushed. The door at the other end led to the main storage and loading area. Gabby skidded to a stop just inside the threshold and got her bearings. To her right, Quip and the others had taken cover behind large piles of stacked pallets. The vampires had them surrounded on three sides and were laying heavy fire over the area. To her surprise, she found that some of the gunmen were nude.

I nullified them from the other room,
Gabby realized.

Bodies littered the floor, and Gabby scanned them for a frantic moment, dreading what she might find. She recognized two of them as Michael’s weres, the others, she realized, had all been vampires.

She counted ten gunmen, some clothed, others not. Knowing the streakers to be vampires, she charged and unloaded on them first. One, two, three, slugs found three foreheads before the others even knew she was there. She shot on the run, hitting the closest man in the neck and taking out the one beside him even as the others brought their guns around. She must have looked to them like a blur of motion.

Four men remained, and they all brought their guns to bear on her at the same time, which gave her friends the chance they needed. Gabby leapt to the side behind a big packaging machine as Quip and the others riddled the vamps and their goons with bullets.

When the smoke settled, Gabby scanned the room for movement. When she saw and heard nothing, she sprang from her spot and ran over to the stacked pallets.

“Is everyone alright?”

Gabby came around the corner and stopped dead. Juliette was kneeling over her father and holding a cloth to his chest.

“He’s dying. We’ve got to move!”

“Gabby…Gabby? Hey!” Quip was shaking her.

She tore her eyes away from her bleeding father and looked to Quip, who sighed and eyed her knowingly.

“Get your shit together,” said Juliette.

Gabby noticed for the first time that Juliette was naked. She glanced at Michael, who was as well. So too were the other two weres.

“Follow my lead and watch our backs,” said Mickey, who, like Quip and Valentine, was still fully clothed.

I nullified the entire warehouse
, Gabby realized.
The vamps, the weres, Valentine, and Quip’s enchantments.

“Keep your eyes peeled,” said Quip, grabbing her arm and turning her around.

The group hurried to the hallway with Mick leading the way. Juliette and Michael went next, followed by Quip, Valentine, Bob, and another were, who carried her father. His feet dragged on the floor as they pulled him along, each with an arm hooked under a shoulder. Gabby wiped at her eyes angrily and tried to clear her blurred vision as she followed.

Mick led them to the door and pressed his back up against the wall before taking a quick peek outside.

“Clear,” he said, and hurried out into the parking lot.

They ran to the truck and quickly loaded inside. The weres put Nicholas on the bench, and Gabby knelt down beside her father, who appeared to be unconscious.

“Hold this against his chest,” said one of the men, handing Gabby a wad of gauze from a med kit.

Mick peeled out and headed west away from the harbor. Michael had put on a robe and now stood beside Gabby, looking down on her with pity in his eyes. He called Steele Tower and told them to have a medical team ready for their arrival.

“He will live,” he said when he was off the phone.

Gabby held the gauze firm and caressed her father’s forehead. “This is all my fault,” she said, her voice shuddering with emotion.

Valentine rubbed her back soothingly. “None of that now, you should—”

Gunfire erupted outside, riddling the back of the truck like hail on a tin roof.

“Hold on!” Mick called from the front seat.

They turned a hard right, and Gabby nearly fell on top of her father.

“Motherfuckers!” said Quip. He pulled a machine gun from the wall and climbed the small ladder set beside the weapons. A similar ladder was on the other side of the cargo hold, and one of the weres climbed up this one as well. Hatches opened in the roof, and the two popped out and opened fire on their pursuers.

The truck suddenly braked hard and skidded left before quickly catching the pavement and rocketing toward the heart of the city. Soon the sound of sirens blended with the chorus of gunfire.

Quip screamed obscenities as he unloaded the big gun. Something hit the roof, and the werewolf who was half in and half out of the other hatch suddenly disappeared through the opening. Quip dropped to the floor screaming, “Vampire!”

Gabby looked up and saw the black-skinned, winged beast glaring down at her.

She shot her hand toward the roof and unleashed her nullifying power. The vampire cried out and disappeared from sight. A thud issued from the roof, and Gabby turned to the back window in time to see the naked man fall from the back of the truck and get run over by a pursuing Hummer.

“They’re gaining!” Valentine yelled, looking through the tinted back window.

“This baby’s got more than one trick up its sleeve,” said Mick.

Gabby saw him flick some buttons on the elaborate dashboard, and three seconds later, an explosion lit up behind them.

“Almost there. Get him ready to move,” said Mick.

Michael touched Gabby’s shoulder lightly and moved her to the side. The truck went over a big bump and came to an abrupt stop. Mick was out and opening the back door in no time, and together with Quip, they carried Nicholas away.

Gabby rushed to follow, but Juliette grabbed her arm and held her firm.

“Let me go!” Gabby protested.

“No, you cannot go with them. Your powers will hamper treatment,” said Juliette.

Michael gently removed his sister’s hand from Gabby’s arm. “She is right. You cannot be near the operating room right now.”

Gabby paced and shook out her hands. “This is all my fault, I—”

“Yes, it is,” said Juliette, none too nicely.

“Go easy on her. We’ve all screwed up before,” said Michael.

“Look at her eyes,” said Juliette, eyeing her brother angrily. “She’s on vamp blood.”

“Leave her alone. She’s been through enough,” said Valentine, moving between them.

Gabby turned to Michael. “I’m so sorry. Did I…did I nullify your power permanently?”

He glanced at Juliette. “No, you just forced us to shift.”

“In the middle of a fight,” said Juliette with disgust. “Not to mention, your little fuck-up allowed the vamps to get the sex slaves out of there while we were ducking for cover. Twenty teenage girls…lost to those fucking psychos.”

“Julie, go check on the general, please,” said Michael.

“Three of our brothers died tonight,” said Juliette, getting in her brother’s face. “Or do you even care?”

Michael didn’t answer.

Juliette laid a heavy scowl on her brother and Gabby before turning on her heel and moving to the elevator.

“I’m sorry, Gabby. But you should not be here while your father is undergoing surgery.”

“I understand,” said Gabby. She felt a burning egg forming in her throat and struggled not to burst into tears. Vamp blood made her faster, stronger, and enhanced her senses, but it also wreaked havoc on her emotions.

“Come on, babe. Valentine’s got you.”

“My men will be watching your back on the way home,” said Michael. “I’ll let you know how your father’s surgery goes.”

“Gabby, you need a ride home?” Quip asked, eyeing Valentine.

“No, but can you stay with Dad, since I can’t? I will feel a lot better knowing that you’re around.”

“Sure, babe,” he said, hugging her. “You go on get some rest.”

Valentine’s car was waiting in the garage, and if Gabby hadn’t been so pissed and down on herself, she would have laughed out loud.

“A pink Cadillac?”

“Cute, isn’t it? I just had it reupholstered.”

The inside was just as shiny and perfect as the outside, and Gabby realized the caddy was a perfect match for the succubus.

“So, where to?” said Valentine as she pulled out of the garage.

“My place. I need a drink.”

Gabby didn’t miss the little smirk in the corner of Valentine’s pretty lips. She ignored it, having better things to worry about, like whether or not her father was going to die tonight.