“Gabriel gave her every opportunity to change her ways. But she never would agree to abide by the rules. She was a killer in a world where killing is no longer permitted.”
Iris nodded dully and looked at her arm. There was only a faint pattern of scars to show where Vivian had bitten her; even the cuts from the creature’s claws were gone. She looked questioningly at Gabriel and he gave her a reassuring smile. “The scars will fade away in a few weeks’ time.”
She touched the place where the wound had been. “You healed it?”
“Yes, Iris. It is one of the things I can do.”
Even though she didn’t really want to hear the answer she had to ask, because she’d seen enough movies about werewolves to know how a person became one. “Is that going to happen to me? Will I turn like she did and become a killer?”
She noticed the look the pair exchanged and felt a gut-numbing chill fill her turning her blood to ice. A little sob broke from her and more tears spilled free.
“So you’ll kill me too, right?”
Gabriel shook his head, and she felt Adrian’s arms tighten around her, his cheek pressing to hers as he murmured a “Shhh, Iris, it’s okay,” in her ear.
“You misunderstand us,” Gabriel explained as he wiped her tears away with his fingers. Even as distraught as she was, his touch did something to her, something more than mere reassurance. There was a rightness to him, a feeling that he would keep her safe always. She felt that same soothing type of presence from Adrian.
She glanced at him. “What?”
“You aren’t going to be what Vivian was.”
She blinked, stared. “Then what?”
“Some people are contaminated by power. It changes them into different things. Some become vampires, others ghouls, or become shifters or shape-changers. They are what the Native Americans called skinwalkers.”
“Is that what Vivian was, a shifter?” she asked.
“Yes,” Gabriel agreed. “Others, like Adrian, are granted power by those who have it to share. Before he became mine, the power he’d been given was something else, a quasi-immortal only, but I changed him and gave him part of my life-force so he would be truly immortal as I am.”
“And that’s why he didn’t die, because you’ve done that for him.”
“That’s right, in part. Even without my power I’m not sure Vivian was strong enough to truly kill him.”
Adrian frowned. “She might have been this time. She wasn’t the same, that’s why we didn’t know who she was when we felt her off in the woods. And look how long it took us to sense her even when she crossed into the warded area around the campground. Even Carrie doesn’t seem to be aware of what went on. I’d say Vivian found a way to conceal herself.”
“True,” Gabriel admitted in a sigh.
“I wonder where she was and what she did these last twenty years that made her so different,” Adrian began. “I mean, we haven’t heard anything about her until she showed up here. What was she doing?”
“I wish I knew,” Gabriel remarked. “She was changed a great deal.”
“Do you think she took someone else’s life that we don’t know about?” Adrian asked, his expression conveying concern.
“Possibly,” Gabriel admitted, none too pleased by that thought if the dark look on his face was any indication.
Iris didn’t know the men terribly well yet, but she was starting to be able to read them, see the subtle nuances of thoughts and emotions as they formed in their eyes and on their faces. Neither of them were very happy right now.
Neither was she, when it came down to it. “I thought you two tracked down killers. If she’d done that, wouldn’t you have gone after her? I mean, you would have known, right?”
“Only if someone knew about it and told us.”
“Or if someone was reported missing,” Gabriel added.
“You wouldn’t just know she’d done it?” she asked.
“No, Iris, we’re Immortal, not omniscient. Unless we find out someone is breaking the rules, we don’t know about it. At least not until they’ve accumulated a great deal of power,” Adrian explained.
“But didn’t she have a lot?”
Gabriel shook his head, “Not really. More than a normal shifter, yes, but not enough that she would become a—” he paused, and she could tell he was trying to find some way to make her understand. “Well, a beacon. A normal person, a human doesn’t even register as a more than a lit match for the most part. Carrie’s a sorceress, she’s like a lit candle. A normal shifter would be a bigger candle. Vivian was one of the three-wick deals the last time we saw her. Brighter, but still a candle. This time she was more on the order of one of the really big five-wick things. But still a candle.”
Iris nodded, getting the idea. “And Adrian?”
“A nice warm campfire.”
She smiled slightly at that and actually snuggled into the dark-haired man’s embrace. “He’s nice and warm,” she agreed. Raising an eyebrow, she studied Gabriel. “And you?”
“A forest fire,” Adrian replied. “I could find Gabe blindfolded. Any Immortal could.”
“What about me?”
“Right now, you’re one of those big candles with too many wicks.”
“Oh.”
“It’s why it took us so long to find you.”
“You were looking for me?”
“For a few months,” Adrian admitted.
“Why did it take so long?”
“Well, even a brighter candle gets lost in a sea of matches. You live in a pretty big city, Iris. You weren’t easy to see.”
“Makes sense, I suppose.” She frowned. “So if I’m like you, how did I get that way? I mean, was I infected or something?”
Both men grinned. “You were born with it.”
“Oh.”
She looked at Adrian. “I’ve seen what Gabriel looks like. What about you?”
Before her eyes Adrian changed, his body losing its tan, canine teeth lengthening, eyes going from sable to honey gold. Quasi-immortal, a magically created being flawed by weaknesses and drives that neither human nor true Immortal shared, he’d been a creature of fierce passions and relentless needs until Gabriel had redeemed him.
Instead of the livid red mist such a being would normally give off, the emanation of power that swirled around him was grey and silver with tints of gold. He’d been forever altered by the power of the Gryphon to whom he belonged, and it showed clearly to anyone able to see it.
“What is he exactly?” Iris asked, watching in curiosity.
“He was a vampire, but he has redeemed himself and is no longer a killer.”
Adrian laughed softly. “Don’t lie to her, Gabriel. You know we’re both killers.”
Gabriel frowned. “Yes, I guess we are. But we don’t kill humans or other trueborn unless they’ve succumbed to the lure of evil like Vivian.”
“There are others like us? Like her?” Iris asked.
“Yes to both questions, though few of the greater forms, like us, ever fall prey to the evil side of our powers. It does happen sometimes, and then all the trueborn band together to protect humanity from the renegade Immortal.”
Adrian saw the puzzlement on her face and understood what she was thinking. “Only an Immortal of the same type can kill any Immortal. A Dragon can kill a Dragon, a Fenyx can end the existence of anther of its kind. It gets downright inconvenient when one of our kind goes rogue and there is no other Immortal of that kind to battle it.”
“Then what happens?”
“We call one of the Guardians through a Gate.”
“You mean like on TV with a big technological thingy and you have to dial the right address sort of deal?”
He smiled, knowing what she was talking about. “No. It’s magic, Iris. It takes a few people like Carrie to set it up, and then a couple of Immortals have to power it.”
“I’ve only done it once and it was very draining. That was a long time ago, though,” Gabriel added i
n explanation.
“I see.” She looked thoughtful. “And vampires? Aren’t they immortal too?”
Adrian moved closer to them, laying a hand on Iris’ arm before kissing her gently. She didn’t resist, and Adrian was reassured that nothing in their blossoming relationship had been irreparably damaged.
I think she still likes us, Adrian thought.
You may be right, but let’s still go easy, was Gabriel’s reply.
“Any true Immortal can kill me, Iris. But because I belong to Gabriel and he has helped to redeem me, they leave me alone.”
“Redeemed you?”
“Vampires are killers.” He lowered his head, unable to meet her gaze as he admitted, “I used to kill humans because I needed their blood. There’s no other option, you have to feed almost nightly. Contrary to what fiction authors would have you think, once you start to drink, you can’t stop until the victim dies.” He leaned his head against Gabriel’s shoulder. “It’s not just blood, it’s the thrill you get from feeling someone die, the power it gives you is...” He shuddered, shook his head and went silent.
“And if Gabriel hadn’t redeemed you, what would have happened?”
“He would be dead,” Gabriel replied. “But he’s not. He’s mine, and he always will be.”
“And he loves you,” Adrian stated softly as pressed a tender kiss to Gabriel’s mouth. The Gryphon felt the pressure of the fangs and let them graze his lip, drawing a few beads of blood that Adrian lapped away, the tiny cuts healing instantly. He smiled as the vampire shuddered able to feel the surge of power go through Adrian’s body. An Immortal’s blood was addictive, and Gabriel had known that. So had Adrian. After so long together, the blood from a human would no longer serve his lover, nor would the blood of any other Immortal suffice.
It kept Adrian safe and sane to feed from him, and the small quantity of blood was hardly something he would miss as it seldom took more than a few drops, just a bare taste, to satisfy his lover.
Iris had watched them, a slight furrowing of her brow showing how deep her thoughts were. “Why did you save him?” she asked.
Gabriel smiled. “Because he didn’t fight me. He would have simply accepted that it was his time to die, unlike most vampires.” He ran his hand through Adrian’s dark hair, brushing his thumb across the well-known line of his lover’s cheek. “Most vampires are ugly and twisted by the corruption that burns in them. He was the only beautiful vampire I’d ever seen, and that made him special somehow.”
“Beautiful murderer,” Adrian whispered as he leaned in closer to the other man, lips kissing along his jaw. “And what it made you was hard.”
Gabriel watched Iris. Her gaze was on Adrian, her eyes following the trail of kisses the man was placing on his face, down his throat.
His cock twitched, going hard, wanting. Adrian had that effect on him and had from the start. He sighed and trailed his hand down the man’s neck and shoulder, felt Adrian shudder.
He knew what his lover was up to, why he was doing this now without asking.
“Yes, that too,” Gabriel freely admitted, sliding a tender caress along the other man’s arm. “But that is in your past now, isn’t it?”
A warm tongue swept around the inner curve of his ear and Adrian murmured, “Ummhumm.”
“Do you get the impression he wants something?” he asked Iris.
“It’s possible,” she agreed, managing a wan smile. “He seems to want another taste of you.”
“What about you, Iris? What do you want?”
Gabriel was waiting for her response, waiting to see if the mess with Vivian had ruined their chances with her. He could tell from how still Adrian had gone that the other man was awaiting her answer with as much unease as he felt.
The woman was quiet, which only heightened Gabriel’s anxiety. He could even feel the spike of tension that went through Adrian’s mind, even though they weren’t actively in mental contact. He wanted her to stay with them more than he’d ever wanted anything in recent memory. Having gotten a taste of something precious beyond comprehension, he didn’t want to surrender it. Didn’t want to lose her when she could mean so very much to him, and to Adrian. “You said it was your duty to kill the renegades like Vivian.”
“Yes. I’m the oldest of the Immortals. That means I’m the most powerful. Plus I have Adrian to help me,” he told her truthfully.
“And I’m an Immortal too?”
“Yes. Your inner self has begun to awaken.”
Her expression was terribly serious, almost grim. “Why did it take so long?’
“You’re only what, thirty-four? I was almost forty when my Gryphon asserted itself.”
Rich violet, bright as the flowers for which she was named, her gaze met his. “You don’t look forty.”
He caressed her cheek, “Of course not,” he began gently, “I’m close to six thousand years old now.”
She stared in mute shock for a few moments. “Six...thousand?”
Gabriel nodded. “Yes.”
“What was your original name? It can’t have been Gabriel.”
“No, it probably wasn’t, but I can’t remember it anymore. I’ve been Gabriel Marlon, or some form of that, since the sixteenth century.”
“Why Marlon?”
“It was the name for a type of hawk. Gryphons are part hawk.” He shrugged. “It made sense to me at the time. Now it’s just habit.”
“Oh.” Her gaze shifted to Adrian, studying the vampire’s face, and Gabriel knew what she was going to ask, as did Adrian, from the look in his expressive eyes.
“Romanus,” he murmured, touching her cheek. “A Roman. I served the Emperor Hadrian as a boy. My father named me after him, you see.”
She shook her head, trying to rationalize what they were saying. Attempting to come to grips with so much jarring information in so short a time was very hard, almost impossible. Iris decided to just accept it for the moment; there would be time to work it out in her mind later.
“You’ve been together how long now?”
“Since the eleven hundreds,” Adrian replied without hesitation.
“Dear God,” she murmured, shocked by how incredibly old they both were. “What keeps you from going crazy?” she asked. “I mean—Oh, hell, I’m not sure what I mean.”
Both men smiled at her, Adrian’s laughter smoothing over her raw nerves, as thick and sweet as chocolate melting in her mouth.
“There are all sorts of things to keep us amused,” Adrian told her, one dark eyebrow climbing toward his hair, his lips curling in a smile that sent a spark of heat straight to her cunt.
Even after the insanity, her body couldn’t help reacting to what her mind—rattled and shaken off its normal foundation—told her was the sexiest man she’d ever met. Of course, he’d gotten in a lot of practice over the centuries.
She almost giggled but stifled the urge, knowing how it would sound: a little too hysterical and unhinged.
“We have each other, for one thing,” Gabriel explained. “Contrary to what some authors would have you think, being Immortal isn’t a curse or anything like that.” He frowned, as if considering something for the first time. “I suppose it’s not all joys and fun. But it really isn’t bad.”
Adrian nuzzled her hair. “Not for us, anyway,” he interjected quietly. “I can’t say what it’s like for the others, and you do hear stories.”
“Stories?”
“Not everyone’s had it as good as we have, just as not all humans have a pleasant life.”
“Oh, I see,” she replied, thinking about Vivian. It was true, some people had it harder than others. Her life certainly hadn’t always been a bowl of cherries served to her in a bed of roses. She’d cried her share of tears over the years and had a lot of good times to balance them out. Today was a really good example of what life was, happy and fucking two great guys one minute, in fear for her life the next, discovering that those ‘great guys’ weren’t even human in the real sense of the work.
Human or Immortal, life had to be the same in some ways, though. Sorrow and heartache balanced by laughter and accomplishments, happiness wasn’t without a price along the way.
“What happened to Vivian? Why did she become a killer?”
Adrian’s sigh tickled the back of her neck, his nose buried in her hair. It felt good, another wonderful distraction from the horror she’d just undergone. “Vivian was never satisfied with what she was. She wanted to be something Gabriel would admire, respect—”
“Love,” Gabriel told her. “She wanted my love, but,” he shook his head, “until you, I was never really attracted to women.”
“She started killing because...” she looked at Gabriel, dismayed. “But why would she think killing would gain your respect?”
“That is something we never understood,” he told her, a sadness etching his face, making him look so very old and tired that she felt a pang of sadness for him.
She reached out and gently touched his cheek.
“Sometimes just the act of becoming one of the quasi-Immortal drives a human over the edge of sanity,” Adrian explained. “I was so very close to the edge, ready to plummet over into the madness of killing when Gabriel found me. I’d been alone too long, cut off from human emotions. I did kill, but I tried only to take those who were deserving.”
“Deserving?”
“Other killers,” he explained. “Never an innocent.”
“That was why I decided to save him. He was a beautiful monster, a deadly beast that killed only those who bore the mark of a killer themselves.”
Iris laid her head back on Adrian’s shoulder. Vampire and killer, but with her he was gentle as any man could be. Just leaning against him made her feel safe, an odd thing since Vivian had nearly torn him apart.
Well he had saved her from the shifter, which served to reinforce the idea that he could and would keep her save, even in the topsy-turvy nightmare world she found herself enmeshed in now. “This is all so hard to grasp.”
“It does take getting used to,” Adrian agreed.
Six thousand years, though. Her mind tried to wrap around the number, knowing it was in years, failed miserably.
All Hellos Page 8
