Ganriel

by D. B. Reynolds

  They’d worked out signals in advance for any issues that might arise—if she saw someone she knew, or someone suspicious, for example. But included in that was Hana’s signal that the storefront of her grandfather’s associate was safe, as far as she could tell. She’d changed her appearance again, donning clothing that concealed her hair and figure, and carrying a typical cloth bag that she’d stuffed full of rags making it appear as if she were running errands. The train station was only two blocks from the store, but she took it slowly, stopping at shop windows, dropping in to a florist and adding some pretty blooms to her bag.

  Her contact’s business front was a wine store that featured mostly Japanese wines, and a select few imports as well. She strolled right by it on the first pass, glancing in the window without slowing. The man she wanted was there behind the counter, which was unusual. He was the same age as her grandfather and had turned most of the store work over to his son and grandson several years ago, with the two old men maintaining the close friendship which had eventually made them business allies. She noted as she walked by that the old man was dressed formally, in a suit and tie. It was a sign of respect, she knew, for her grandfather. The sight brought tears to her eyes, so she kept her head down and crossed the street, walking farther than she’d planned, before cutting back and giving Gabriel the sign. She still couldn’t see him, but she knew he was there. If someone had taken him out, it would have been a knock-down drag-out fight worthy of the fiercest MMA cage fight, something she’d watched frequently since being introduced to it by her freshman roommate at Princeton. There was no way Gabriel would let their enemies take him out without making damn sure she knew about it.

  Stepping quickly into the shop, she lifted her head and met her contact’s surprised gaze. He gave a business-like nod and immediately called for his grandson to take over the counter, then shuffled her into the back room.

  “Himura-san,” he said with a bow. “I heard the news of my dear friend’s death with deep regret. I am relieved to see you are safe,” he said, speaking rapid Japanese.

  She bowed deeply in return, showing respect for an elder and one who was cherished by her grandfather. “Nakano-san, thank you,” she said in the same language.

  “You were there?” he asked.

  “I was. My grandfather died as he lived, as a warrior.”

  Emotion tightened his face as he bowed again. “I am honored to be trusted in this.”

  “We would have trusted no other.”

  He bowed low, then hustled over to a wall safe with, she was amused to see, a biometric lock. Japan had its traditions, but it also embraced technology. Pulling a thick packet from the safe, he turned and placed it on a counter-height table for her inspection. “Everything requested is there, Himura-san. You will have no difficulty using these documents.” He hesitated then, as if there was something he wanted to say, but wasn’t sure how it would be received.

  “Please, Nakano-san. Your knowledge of such things far exceeds my own. I would welcome your counsel.”

  He looked up and met her eyes, his own weary with age and loss. “This man,” he said, gesturing at the documents. “This foreigner. You are certain he can be trusted?”

  “Have no fear in that regard, Nakano-san. He is a great warrior, devoted to my grandfather, and loved in return. He will die to defend me.” And, I, him, she wanted to add, but didn’t. Nakano would never understand that.

  “I am relieved. I will not ask your plans. What I don’t know, I cannot speak of. But if there is any way I can serve you further, do not hesitate to ask.”

  She nodded and tucked the envelope with its stash of forged doc­uments into her bag, then they both bowed, and she left the shop without a backward glance.

  Exiting to the street, she walked back the way she’d come, making her slow way to the train station, when all she wanted was to find Gabriel, hail a damn taxi, and get back to the house as quickly as pos­sible. She didn’t dare so much as glance at the docs until they were behind closed doors, though she was confident they were every bit as good as Nakano had told her.

  Thankfully, it was past the lunch hour by the time she reached the train, so it wasn’t as crowded as it could have been. She thought she caught a glimpse of Gabriel two cars down, but when the man she’d spotted exited the train a station too early, she saw he was very much Japanese, and while big, he wasn’t Gabriel big. It wasn’t until she was making her way across the back yard, keys in hand, that Gabriel slipped through the gate without a sound. She wouldn’t have noticed him then, either, but he scuffed a foot—intentionally she thought, trying not to startle her, since he moved like a ghost most of the time. She should have been grateful, but it just irritated her that he thought she needed the warning. Almost as much as it did that she did seem to need it.

  “How do you do that?” she muttered under her breath.

  He came up beside her, holding the screen while she unlocked the door. “Ancient secret.”

  She hmphed noisily. “A secret you’re going to share.”

  “I don’t know. It’s not for every—” He grunted as her elbow hit his rock-hard gut, but then he seemed almost to sway with effort, his fingers clenched on the door. She reached for him, but he slipped his hand out of her reach. “I’ll teach you, when we have time,” he said, sounding almost out of breath. “It’s not something you learn in a day.”

  Hana busied herself with the lock, and then the alarm, managing to conceal her worried expression. She knew without asking that he wouldn’t welcome her concern.

  “All that wandering around served a purpose,” she said, dumping her bag on the counter. She began pulling out her purchases and putting them away, naming them off as she worked, mostly to keep talking. “Fresh meat, some fish for variety—which I need, even if you don’t. American-sized potatoes—hard to find over here, but I became ad­dicted when I was at Princeton. I swear, sometimes that’s all we had for dinner—giant, loaded potatoes. Oh, and these.” She lifted the flowers and turned with a smile, but he wasn’t there.

  Blinking in surprise, she listened as she stepped around the table. The bathroom door was open—no sign of him there. Frowning, she hurried toward the bedroom, worry a sudden knot in her belly. “Gabriel?” she called, as she stepped into the doorway and froze. He was on the bed, lying on his back, eyes closed, and not moving. “Gabriel?” She was frantic with worry. Was he even breathing? She rushed over and shook him. “Gabriel!” She got up on her knees and leaned over, prepared to perform CPR, struggling to remember the class she’d taken years ago, mostly to flirt with a guy she’d wanted to meet. A guy who couldn’t hold a candle to the man now lying far too still on her bed. She snatched her hands back when his chest rose abruptly, and he drew in a long, even breath. “Gabriel?” she whispered and counted the seconds until his next breath.

  What to do? He was breathing slowly but steadily. She rested her head on his chest and heard the steady thump of his heartbeat. Again, she was no expert, but though the interval between thumps was longer than she might have expected, the heartbeat itself seemed strong. Maybe he was just tired. Maybe all that invisible skulking around used more energy, more physical strength than he had to spare right now. After all, until a few days ago, he’d been trapped in stone. And he couldn’t be getting much sleep on the damn floor. Plus, there was the vampire angle. Did he need more blood?

  She brushed a lock of hair off his face in a gesture that was more affection than need, wishing she knew for sure how he felt about her. About her, not her grandfather. She wanted more from him than duty, wanted to be more than a responsibility he owed the family who’d rescued him from some volcanic cave. She sighed. “Sleep,” she mur­mured. “I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

  HANA DECIDED GABRIEL needed rest more than food, at least in the short term. She managed, with a bit of work, to store everything in the small refrigerator, then w
ent around the house, making sure the doors were secure and the window shades drawn before sitting at the table to examine their new IDs.

  Nakano had delivered, but then, she’d never doubted he would. The fake documents were flawless to her eye, which was far from untrained. Grandfather had taught her years ago what to look for, mostly as a way of ensuring she didn’t get caught with bad forgeries. Given his business interests, it had been necessary for her to travel with less than official papers on occasion. Not because she was directly involved in his business, but because she was an obvious target for anyone who thought to use her against him. She barely glanced at the photo Nakano had used for her docs, though Gabriel’s was unexpected. She’d been ready to disguise Gabriel to look as much like whatever photo they’d used, and let bribes do the rest. But this image , while doctored to reflect his shorter hair, appeared to have been grabbed at some point during their initial escape from the garden. In retrospect, she shouldn’t have been surprised. Obviously, her grandfather would have had security cameras in place along the secret route, since it could just as easily have been used to invade as escape. And since thinking two steps ahead of his enemies had kept him alive more than once, his people would have monitored the route on a regular basis. From there, it would have been a simple process for survivors of the battle to grab a suitable image from the system—or its off-site backup, since every computer system on the estate would have been wiped once her grandfather had been killed and they’d made the decision to retreat.

  Tears flooded her eyes. She and Gabriel had spent so much time running in the last few days that she hadn’t yet had a chance to grieve properly. By now, her father would have been informed, and had probably already arrived in Japan from his home in L.A. Her mother would be with him, of course, and the twins, too, if only because her father would have insisted. Would he even wonder why she wasn’t around? After all, she’d been closer to Grandfather than anyone else. Given the manner of his death, would her father worry about her? She shook her head, knowing the answer.

  She drew a long breath, knowing one thing for sure. Grandfather would never have wanted her to risk her life or Gabriel’s to attend his services. He’d honored the traditions of his ancestors but had always placed more value on the living than the dead.

  Brushing the tears from her eyes, she wiped her hands on her shirt, then gathered the documents and slipped them back into the envelope. Feeling lonely, she walked into the bedroom and gazed down at Gabriel’s sleeping form. She found herself counting the slow up-and- down motions of his chest and suddenly didn’t want to be alone. As odd as it seemed, Gabriel had known her grandfather from the time he was a small boy, when his father, her great-grandfather, had introduced him to the warrior’s statue in the secret garden. Of all the people she knew, Gabriel might be the only person who’d loved Grandfather the way she did.

  Kicking off her shoes, she climbed onto the bed and stretched out next to him, pulling a light blanket over them both. Putting her head on his shoulder and her arm over his chest, she closed her eyes and slept.

  GABRIEL WOKE TO the warm, welcome weight of a woman against his chest. His arm tightened around her, but in the next moment, he frowned. That wasn’t right. He lowered his chin and stared down at Hana, her lashes dark smudges of silk below her closed eyes. His gaze traveled around the unlit bedroom, taking in the dark windows behind lowered shades, the dim glow from the kitchen beyond the short hallway. He glanced down at Hana’s sleeping form and was dismayed at how well he could see her, despite the poor lighting. It had been thousands of years, but he remembered what it was like to be a vampire.

  The signs were all there—the hunger that no amount of food could ease, his growing weakness, especially in daylight, and more than any other, the damn bloodthirst that was like a living thing inside his body, a need that would not be quenched. Even now, the sound of Hana’s blood rushing through her veins, the thunder of her pulse as she lay next to him so warm and willing, had him ravenous. His gums were swollen and aching, his fangs desperately trying to split through his flesh and feast.

  She offered, an insidious voice inside him whispered. What could it hurt to take what was offered? Just one small, delicious taste. A reminder of who he was, who he’d been before Nico had saved him. Saved? the voice repeated. Had Gabriel needed saving? And if so, did he need it now? The modern world was a different place, according to Hana. Vampires lived in the open, owned property, went to dazzling parties with beautiful women.

  He glanced down again at her sleeping form. “No,” he whispered, his arm tightening around her protectively.

  “Gabriel?” Her voice was a sleepy murmur, her hand stroking his chest. “Are you hungry?”

  Gabriel clenched his jaw, fighting the press of his fangs. She hadn’t meant that kind of hunger. The warm weight of her shifted as she pushed up onto one elbow.

  “Gabriel?” She rolled away just enough to snap on the low light of the bedside lamp and then back again. Her soft fingers touched his forehead, his cheek. “Are you cold?” His eyes lifted, and hers widened. “Oh!”

  He’d expected her to jump off the bed, to back away in horror. Maybe even to scream. She did none of those things. Instead, she leaned closer, studying him. “Your eyes are sort of coppery colored, did you know that? Not all over, just like a circle around the brown iris.” Her gaze switched to his mouth. “No fangs.” She sounded almost disappointed. “Can you, I don’t know, deploy them at will?”

  “Hana,” he growled, intending to warn her, but she cut him off.

  “Oh! I think I saw—”

  “Hana, this is not a game.”

  She jerked back, blinking in surprise. “Of course, not. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “I’m not offended, it’s . . .”

  She waited for him to finish. When he didn’t, she sat up and leaned over him, the gleaming fall of her hair brushing his bare arm. “I told you, Gabriel,” she said patiently. “Things are different now. Being a vampire is no big deal.” She tipped her head from side to side. “Okay, well, that’s not right. It’s still a big deal, but it’s not illegal or hidden away. There are entire clubs dedicated to vampires. Places where people line up to offer their veins.”

  “You’ve been to such places?” he asked, feeling inexplicably jealous. Hana was his. He’d kill any vampire, male or female, who dared touch her, much less drink from her vein.

  “No,” she admitted. “My roommate’s sister was a regular at this big club in Manhattan, though. New York,” she added.

  He hadn’t needed the clarification. He hadn’t been anywhere, but Hana and her grandfather had seen to it he was as educated as they could make him inside his prison.

  “You don’t need to go anyplace like that,” she said briskly and shoved her hair over one shoulder, baring the elegant length of her neck, her golden skin seeming lit from within in the pale light. “I told you, if you need blood, I’ll—”

  “No!” He sat up abruptly, catching her when she would have fallen off the bed, careful of his strength where he held her arms. “You have no idea what you’re offering.”

  “It’s just blood, Gabriel. I’ve probably lost more to nose bleeds in kickboxing matches.”

  “It’s not just blood,” he hissed, but stopped himself from saying anything more. Whatever her roommate’s sister had shared about the club in New York, it clearly hadn’t included the sexual aspect of sharing blood with a vampire. “And I don’t need it, anyway. I told you about Nico’s spell. As far as I know, it’s still holding.”

  She studied him. “And the blood you took from the enemy fighter?”

  “Heat of the battle,” he lied, then eased it with the truth. “I was always a berserker on the field. It was much prized in my day.”

  “Mmmhmm.”

  She didn’t sound convinced, but there was no way in hell he was going to ta
ke her vein. She wasn’t ready for that, assuming she ever would be. His feelings for her were unambiguous. He loved her not as a duty owed to an old and respected friend, but as a beautiful woman who was also smart, compassionate, and honorable. But she was so very young compared to him. They were separated not only by the millennia he’d been imprisoned, but by his life before that. He’d been a warrior at thirteen, had bedded his first woman a year later. He’d been barely twenty-five and already a seasoned warrior by the time that fucking vampire had come along and changed his life forever. He didn’t know how many years he’d spent with Nico and his brothers. Time had passed differently in Nico’s realm. But though his physical age might be only a few years more than Hana’s twenty-seven, he felt much older than that. She was an innocent compared to him, and she deserved better.

  Hana was studying him skeptically, clearly suspecting there was more going on in his thoughts than what he was sharing with her.

  “All right, tough guy,” she said, getting up off the bed. “Since you don’t need blood”—she rolled her eyes making clear her opinion on that—“you need to eat some dinner. And we need to discuss where we go from here. The new IDs are excellent. I hate leaving the country without hitting a bank first, but I don’t think we can trust it. I have enough money and credit cards stashed here in the house to get us out of the country, and once we land someplace, I can handle it with wire transfers instead. But we can discuss all of that over dinner.”

  “Do you need my help, or do I have time to shower?” he asked. They hadn’t had showers in his time, and he was finding them thoroughly enjoyable. Or it might be that after millennia trapped in stone, he simply liked being clean.