Tes Hilaire - Prince of Shadows

“Find out what?”

“What would happen if he didn’t care.”

Annie’s eyes dimmed, a distinctive frown pulling on her lips. Yeah, don’t like to think of that, do you? Gabby’s satisfaction was short-lived when Annie huffed again, visibly shrugging off Gabby’s words as she sat up, her feet plopping hard on the floor.

“Whatever.” Annie stood, brushing by Gabby. When she was halfway out the door, she paused, her face a storm cloud as she glared over her shoulder. “You know, you’re not as badass as you think,” she said, then marched out the door.

“I’m well aware,” Gabby mumbled, but the door was already closed.

She took a deep breath. A long calming one. She should probably say something to Jacob about his daughter’s frustrations. They were petty, sure, but if left unchecked they could lead to trouble. Of course everything with Annie recently seemed like it brought trouble, so he was probably already well aware. His strategy, however, of wrapping her up in bubble wrap and stuffing her in this box of a base was probably not the way to instill cooperation.

Not my problem. Nope, Gabby had other issues.

Pulling her bloodstained hoodie off the rest of the way, she inspected her mangled shoulder. It was already healing despite the inflicted torture of the disinfecting swab. Still, it had been close. Couple more inches to the left and she’d be missing her throat, which was much harder to heal, maybe not even possible post her Karissa-blood transfusion.

A lot had changed after Roland’s mate’s blood had been forced on her. Karissa’s Paladin blood seemed to have negated a good number of Gabby’s vampire characteristics. Being able to withstand the light was definitely a bonus and was something she’d been extremely grateful of when she hadn’t fried to a crisp in that cave four months ago, but much to her continued frustration, she still couldn’t handle real food. Her strength had also waned a bit, though it was better now that she was consistently training. All that training made her realize how much she’d relied on her vampire abilities before. Not that they were gone, just…dimmed.

Sighing, Gabby pulled off her blond wig and tossed it aside. Her red hair tumbled down in a curtain of lackluster waves. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, hoping to ease the stabbing headache that had gotten worse during the round with Annie.

When had she gotten so old? Four months ago that would have been her pouting and stomping around, but now all she ever felt was tired. Tired of the constant war. Tired of looking over her shoulder for enemies, some made by her own choices, but many made because of what she was as much as who. She was so damn tired. Tired of…everything.

She leaned in closer to the faded mirror that she’d hung on the wall, her hand jittering as she raised it to poke at the faint wrinkles that appeared when she squinted her eyes. Crow’s-feet. She had goddamn crow’s-feet now.

Too long since my last feeding. Not that it would help all that much. She could bathe in blood and it wouldn’t erase the aging of her body. But it would, at least, give her more energy and keep her from biting the people she’d promised to help—even if some of them were annoying and deserved it.

“Hell’s fire!” She spun around, hands on hips as she paced the small room. She was going to have to slip out while Aaron wasn’t watching and go hunting again. Not that she dared go tonight, not with the Paladin sniffing around. And not just any Paladin. Him .

God, Valin.

She stopped, head tipped back as she took a long, deep breath. The uncovered bulb burned against her closed lids, but that wasn’t what she saw. What she saw was Valin’s face. That cocky devil-may-care grin, the dancing eyes that did nothing to conceal the wealth of pain he so obviously tried to hide. She’d never forget their first meeting and the moment when the disgust and disdain for what she was vanished from his bourbon gaze, his mask sloughing off as he peered further, the brief flare of surprise when he saw her for who she could be if not for her vampire heritage. That moment hadn’t lasted nearly long enough. It had taken him less than a moment to start closing off the barriers. Slamming up the walls.

Not that their meeting mattered. There hadn’t even been a flicker of recognition tonight. And it had nothing to do with the fact that she’d been wearing a wig.

Crow’s-feet. Dead eyes. I’m the epitome of the walking dead. Only I’m not dead. Not since that night.

She turned back to the mirror, laying her hand upon the reflective surface, watched the steam that indicated the transfer of her own body heat to the cold glass. Still a surprise to her after all these months.

Fire pulsed through her veins.

A fire that was eating her from the inside out.

She leaned forward, tipping her head against the cool glass. “Nope, definitely not grave material yet, Gabby. But don’t worry, you’ll be there real soon.”

Their security sucked.

Valin looked around the dingy cafeteria turned mess hall of the old school he’d infiltrated, his lip curled back in disgust at the grime-covered flooring under his bare feet. Lax security and no maid service either.

A click of a gun brought his attention back to the crowd of wannabe warriors that had surrounded him the moment he’d fallen out of the shade. Okay, almost no security. That assortment of guns and knives would do a fine job at turning him to Swiss cheese if he wasn’t careful. Thankfully the redheaded Amazon who first nulled his powers had been whisked out of the room within moments of his appearance and he could ghost again if needed. Not that he planned to, but if there were no other options he’d do so.

“It’s okay. I’m not here to cause trouble. I only want to talk to Gabriella.”

By the number of narrowed eyes he got and the way the tall, lean, brown-haired man’s finger tensed over the trigger, Valin guessed mentioning Gabby’s name hadn’t been the right thing to say. Obviously they weren’t about to buy into the whole I-come-in-peace, take-me-to-your-leader crap. Smart. He wouldn’t have either. Though it wasn’t like he had anything dangerous on him—couldn’t exactly hide anything.

Pure dumb fucking luck. That’s how he’d found them. They’d been working in a radial search from their encounter in Williamsburg the other night when an overheard projective thought had allowed him to take a bead on the mind of one of their less experienced soldiers. He’d had to resort to ghosting to trail the two men coming off their patrol, but being without clothes or a weapon was a small price to pay for following them back to their base. Even if it did put him in kind of an awkward position now…being held naked at gunpoint and all.

Rather than digging himself into a bigger hole, he took his twiddle-his-thumbs time while waiting for something to happen—hopefully besides a firing squad—to tag Bennett. Not the easiest of tasks given the heavy shields on the place, but he managed, probably because he was inside reaching out rather than the other way around.

<> he told Bennett once the connection was established.

<> Bennett’s projected thought sounded distant and hollow, testament that the Paladin—who was almost as good as Logan and Calhoun Senior at projective thought—was having his own troubles circumventing their shields. Tough shields indeed.

<>