With a smile on his face, Christos turned and stepped onto the escalator that brought him back to street level. To the blaring orchestra of car horns and screeching brakes, he spilled out onto the sidewalk and into the midst of anonymous humanity and car-corroded air. Ah, to breathe again. To feel the morning sun radiating down upon his face. It was the former he’d missed the most while his soul had been trapped in the burning fires of hell, possibly because it was freshest in his memories. But the latter…that was going to be what took him from the demigod status of his past life to godlike. He was reborn. And this new body held all of the perks and none of the hindrances of the last. The skill and speed of the vampire, the seductive powers of his mother, Lilith, and this time, no tells to give either away. He could go out in the sun, and because over half the souls Lucifer had used to resurrect his own were merker, he’d inherited their constitution too.
He couldn’t wait to meet Roland again. Let him try and kill him now. But first? It was time to rattle the status quo and oust the imposter who’d been sitting in his seat at his father’s right side. And after that? Well, he had a mind to see to his disobedient daughter before teaching any more impertinent Paladin their place. Family was the most important thing, after all, and like his mother before him, he wasn’t above lying, stealing, cheating, or killing to ensure his family’s deference to his will.
With a smile on his face and a spring in his step, he stepped out to the curb, whistling for the next available taxi.
Chapter 6
“Damn it, Valin. Do you have to follow me everywhere?” Gabby snapped, not caring that her voice was loud enough to turn heads. On top of everything else this morning, dealing with Valin was not what she wanted to do. But he’d been there hovering in the hall outside Jacob’s offices the moment she stepped out of the impromptu meeting. Which, to be truthful, was the source of her real frustration: Jacob was on the warpath. Annie was missing—again—and since Gabby seemed to have a knack for spotting the vacuum bubble of non-magic that always surrounded her, Gabby was going to have to find her, despite the fact that it was barely past ten a.m.
Why couldn’t Annie at least wait until after noon to slip her collar?
Valin smiled, not exactly friendly, more of a bite-me kind of smile, and said, “Get used to it, cookie. Consider me your shadow.”
Gabby growled, pushing past him and marching toward the front doors. She was not at all surprised when he fell into step less than a length behind her. His metaphor was apt. He was like her fucking shadow. She couldn’t turn around without him being there. Oh, he’d been smart enough to get his own room—one door down from hers in a barely big-enough janitor’s closet…that he left the door open to…and slept with his head in the opening so he’d immediately sense any movement in the hall—but he was making a pure nuisance of himself the rest of the time. He was worse than Aaron. Not only did Valin show up anywhere and everywhere she was or planned to be—including her damn dreams—but he wouldn’t let things rest, either. Aaron at least had brains enough to not ask her more questions after being given a blatant shutdown. But Valin’s current favorite topic of discussion was her feeding habits, which so wasn’t happening.
Gabby had managed to feed the other night before Valin found her, but the moment they’d run into each other he’d been all over her the whole way back to base. Demanding to know why she’d run, whether she’d fed, who she’d fed from, etc., etc., etc…He’d sounded like a damn jealous boyfriend. So she’d blatantly ignored him, slamming the door to her room in his face when he looked like he might follow her in. She’d thought for sure he’d either jimmy the lock or just plain ghost in, but he hadn’t.
And she hadn’t been at all disappointed over that fact. Nope, not at all.
“So, do you have any idea where Annie might have gone?” Valin asked, proving he’d been eavesdropping too. Why was she not surprised?
Gabby ignored him and pushed out the front doors, the sun greeting them with her warm rays. Gabby couldn’t stop herself from taking a huge breath. Until four months ago, she’d forgotten how much the sun could warm the air, even on these shortening fall days.
“You think she’d come out here?”
“Probably out for coffee,” she said and started down the steps, leaving a surprised Valin at the top.
“For coffee.” Valin double-timed it to catch up with her. “Are you kidding me?”
“That or a slushee or a milkshake or some chai tea.” She sighed. “As long as she gets her fix of oxygen, she doesn’t much care what the beverage is.”
“It’s a wonder her dad doesn’t cuff her down in the boiler room.” He frowned. “Is there a boiler in the school’s basement?”
Gabby shrugged. Didn’t know or care. Nope, the only thing she cared about was the familiar redhead strolling down the street arm in arm with…damn, was that Bennett?
“Looks like your mate found her.” She quoted the air with her fingers. It hadn’t escaped Gabby’s notice that Annie had been spending a lot of time loitering in whatever area of the base that the blond warrior happened to be in—using the excuse of studying his shields, of course. Not that the Paladin could teach Annie anything beyond what Gabby could—which was close to nothing unless Annie could learn to completely check her gift—but hey, the Paladin, with his golden good looks, was probably more enticing than Gabby’s own grumbly nature. The problem was Gabby didn’t think Annie’s interest had escaped Jacob’s notice either. The Paladin might not know it, but he was holding a grenade in his hand, without the pin. One wrong move and the thing would blow up in his face.
Valin glanced over at her, brow raised. “Bennett wouldn’t have helped Annie escape if that’s what you’re implying.”
“Maybe,” she conceded. “But they seem pretty chummy, don’t they?”
“And you care that they’re getting along because?”
Gabby gestured sharply at the cozy scene. “Because Jacob’s going to be pissed if he sees them like that, that’s why.”
“Ah…yes…because daughters, even grown ones, should never have any interest in a man. Especially one as ugly as that British bloke.”
Gabby blew out a breath that bellied her exasperation. “That’s not what I meant. And Jacob wouldn’t have anything against him being British.”
“Just a Paladin?”
Gabby didn’t answer. Not because she wanted to spare Valin’s—or Bennett’s—feelings, but because the truth was she didn’t know. She had to admit the impression she got from the gifteds at the base was that the Paladin had turned their back on them long ago, and thus they had no intention of going out of their way to make friends. But did they actually harbor resentment toward them? Gabby wasn’t sure.
Feeling moody, she stomped the rest of the way down the stairs, and then, with her arms folded across her breasts, carefully scanned the street while she waited for Jacob’s lost lamb to be shepherded home by Bennett. And that was what he was doing. Despite the fact that their arms were linked, there was a set scowl on his face that was punctuated with more than one worried glance over his shoulder. Valin noticed too that the knife, which Valin wore wherever the heck he went now, was loosened in its sheath, his knuckles tightening around the jewel-encrusted hilt.
Fucking Paladin blade. The thing was an early grave maker. “You better be careful if you have to draw that thing around me.”