Cross the Line: A Gabriella Cross Paranormal Romance Book 2

by Lovestone, M. J.

  “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.

  “You have betrayed me for the last time,” said Lilith, pulling back the spear tip.

  Gabby used what strength she had left to reach out and grab ahold of Lilith’s head with both hands. She tried to nullify the vampire again, but she was spent, and only a small pulse emanated from her. Lilith growled with rage and pulled back the spear tip, meaning to stab Gabby in the heart, but before she could thrust it forward, something brown slammed into her. She released Gabby, whose legs gave out when she hit the ground. Gabby looked up from her prone position and found Michael in werewolf form grappling with Lilith, who was trying to impale him with the spear. Gabby tried to go for her gun but could hardly hold up her head.

  Michael had taken a form that Gabby had never seen before. He no longer stood on all fours, but rather stood like a man. He had arms like a man, though his hind legs were still that of a wolf. His head and face were a cross between the two species, with long canines that snapped at Lilith repeatedly as they struggled. Weakened as she was from Gabby’s nullification, Lilith stood no chance in the end. Michael disarmed her and took up the spear himself before wrestling her to the ground and stabbing her in the heart.

  Lilith cried out and instantly burst into flames that seemed not to touch Michael. In a few seconds it was over, and only ashes remained.

  Gabby smiled to herself and surrendered to sweet oblivion.

  Chapter 36

  Gabby woke up not knowing where she was. The sunlight through a window to her right cast such a brilliant glow that it temporarily blinded her. She tried to move and felt a shooting hot pain in her head. Her body ached everywhere, and her mouth was so dry that her tongue stuck to the top.

  Someone pulled the curtain closed, and Gabby strained to see who it was.

  “How you doing, girl?” said Quip.

  He moved toward her, further blocking out the glare through the curtains, and sat on the edge of the bed.

  “Water,” Gabby croaked.

  Quip helped her to sit up and brought a cup to her lips. She drank greedily and choked on the water, sending pain crashing through her body.

  “Steele Tower?” Gabby asked.

  “Yeah, we’re in Steele Tower,” said Quip. “You been out for three days.”

  “How is my father?”

  Quip smiled, and Gabby’s heart leapt. “The antidote worked. Though they’re still keeping him around for testing and to monitor his condition. He’s had a lot of complications from the poisoning.”

  Gabby laughed and cried. She laughed because he was finally safe, but cried because her actions had gotten him there in the first place.

  “I’m done,” said Gabby. “I’m never using my power again.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “I’ve only done harm with it. I nearly got my father killed and helped a vampire get her hands on the Spear of Destiny. I don’t deserve this power.”

  “Shush now, you’re talking gibberish,” said Quip, looking concerned.

  “I mean it, Quip. I’m done. Please just be my friend and don’t try to talk me out of it.”

  “Friends talk friends out of bad decisions,” said Quip, as unrelenting as ever.

  Gabby shook her head and sighed. She sat up with effort and waved off Quip’s help before coaxing one and then the other shaky leg over the side of the bed. Quip hurried to the closet and brought back an old hard-shell suitcase.

  “I went to your house and picked up some clothes and toiletries.”

  Gabby thanked him and let him help her out of her hospital gown and into her street clothes.

  “I want to see Dad.”

  “This way, babe,” said Quip. “Lean on me.”

  Her father’s room proved to be only a few doors down. Passing by the rooms, she recognized two of the men in hospital beds as the weres who had gone with them to the castle. Their pale faces reminded her that she had been the one to put them in harm’s way.

  Quip stopped before the general’s open door and extended his hand inside, ushering her in. Gabby collected herself, realizing how ashamed she was to go before her father. She wanted to turn and run down the hall, but she could not. Instead she walked through the threshold bravely, and was relieved to find her father’s smiling face.

  “Hello Gabs. It is good to see you safe,” said her father.

  Gabby’s throat constricted when she heard his weakened, raspy voice. She noticed the many machines hooked to him, as well as the runes carved into the steel bed.

  “The spells are helping you get better…I don’t want to nullify them.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” said her father, opening his arms wide. “Get over here.”

  Gabby walked quickly to her father and wrapped her arms around him. She tried to hold it in, tried to be strong like her sister had been, but Gabby lost it in his arms and let the tears stream down her face.

  “I’m so sorry, Dad. This was all my fault.”

  She felt her father laugh, and both anger and confusion filled her mind. “Why are you laughing? This isn’t funny,” she said, pulling back from him.

  “You sound a lot like your mother. She always felt guilty about everything. Thought everything was her fault.”

  “But what happened to you was my fault. Didn’t they tell you?”

  “I know that you followed and fought three vamps who came in behind us. You nullified them to save our lives. That is all I need to know. I don’t blame you for what happened in the warehouse. The poison bullet points to the whole thing being a setup anyway. But I must say, Gabby, that you going after the vampire Lilith by yourself and then agreeing to help her break into Michael’s vault…that was reckless. Please don’t ever do something like that on my behalf ever again.”

  “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t just let you die.”

  “Your displaced sense of guilt led you to make grave mistakes, Gabby. You wanted to be a part of this world, and now you must accept the reality of the Otherworld. Your ability will always draw enemies who will use those you love to get to you, to get you to do things that you know are wrong.”

  Her father was right, and the idea terrified her. She had been such a baby lately, bitching about not being allowed on bigger missions, finding any excuse to drink the blood of vampires and werewolves. It was a miracle that she was still alive.

  “That won’t be a problem anymore,” said Gabby. “I’m done. You and Mom were right to try to hide the Otherworld from me. I can’t handle it. I’m too weak, nothing like Maggy. It should have been me who d—”

  “Don’t you talk like that, Gabriella Amber Cross. Don’t you ever think or say those words again,” said her father, squeezing the hand that he held with two of his.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just…” Gabby noticed that the runes embedded in the headboard were beginning to dim. Her power was leaking. “I’ve got to go,” she said, getting up.

  Her father had noticed the change as well, but smiled on her kindly. “I’ll be out of here soon. We’ll talk.”

  “I’d like that,” said Gabby, trying to swallow the growing lump in her throat. “I love you, Dad.”

  “I love you too, Gabriella.”

  She kissed him on the cheek and enjoyed one last hug before leaving.

  Chapter 37

  The bright lights of the infirmary gave way to soft earthy tones and the dim hall beyond the swinging doors. Gabby walked to the elevator as if through a dream landscape. The tears steadily flowing from her eyes blurred the hallway and sharp edges, giving the illusion that she was walking through a sparkling cone leading into darkness. Through the swinging
doors she went, and came face to face with Quip.

  “Jesus, Gabs. You alright?” he asked, stopping before her and taking her by the hands.

  Gabby wiped at her eyes and got herself under control. She swallowed down the lump of sorrow and looked her dearest friend in the eyes. “I’m fine. Just happy to see my father in health. But I’ve got to go. I’m affecting the spells around here.”

  “I’ll come with you then. You look like you could use a drink.”

  “Not tonight,” said Gabby, trying not to give away what she was planning. But Quip was no fool. His witch senses had caught on before she had even opened her mouth, and she knew it.

  He began to speak, likely to tell her that she had friends that she could lean on here, that she didn’t have to go away for their sake. Gabby knew that if she heard the words, she would change her mind.

  “Please,” said Gabby, before he could speak. “Please don’t try to talk me out of it. I’ve got to do this, ok? I’ve just got to.”

  Quip’s face became desperate, and sorrow washed over it. Tears welled in his eyes, pooling and shimmering above his sparkling mascara. Rather than speak, he hugged her tight and kissed her cheek.

  “You come back to me some day. Damn you, Gabby. You come back.”

  Chapter 38

  Gabby walked out of Steele Tower and hailed the first cab she found. Cold October rain had begun to fall on Chicago. She stared at the windshield wipers and lost herself to her new plan, one that she was beginning to accept as truly the only way to protect the ones she loved from her enemies, and not only that, but to protect the world from herself.

  She didn’t deserve her power, and she never thought that she would. The Spear of Destiny had fallen into the wrong hands because of her. What untold horror might Lilith have unleashed due to Gabby’s foolishness? Another holocaust? This one led by an ancient vampire? Gabby shivered despite the cranking heater in the front.