"No demon is without worth. You should understand that, being one yourself."
Gabriel gritted his teeth as a fist plowed into his face, breaking his nose again. He felt the blood spurt out then settle to a slow flow down his lip.
"Such...restraint. Why haven't you changed, broken free of the manacles?" He came within Gabriel's eyesight, looked him over. "You could have."
Gabriel struggled not to respond. The voice flowed over his body like a thousand feathers whispering, caressing him beneath his clothes. He forced himself to keep his focus on Rose. "I haven't exactly been thinking straight. Getting cold-cocked tends to have that effect on me." Gabriel stuck to the truth. This guy spooked him. He could usually feel out vampires, but this big bad? Nothing. Not even a ping on the vampdar.
"Why are you here? What were you hoping to do here?" The big blond moved to kneel down at Rose's side. He lifted her face with an immaculately manicured hand and studied her. "And why did you bring her? She's not much."
Nausea threatened Gabriel as the vampire's hands trailed over Rose. "Don't touch her."
"Oh, does this bother you? Sorry. Tell me, what is your tie to Satine?" He turned to Gabriel, one hand smoothing down the front of Rose's body. She shuddered in reaction, but didn't wake up.
Gabriel stiffened in outrage but kept the anger out of his voice with effort. "She came to me years ago, several times. We had sex. She took my blood. Offered to make me one of you. I said no, thanks anyway, and un-invited her." He shrugged. "Pissed her off some, I guess. That's pretty much it. Where is she?"
"Out. Did you think she would rescue you?"
"I expected her to be here, gloating. Besides, if she's your lover, why would she rescue me?" he countered.
"Good question." The big blond studied Gabriel, looked from him to Rose. "Are you soul-bound to this one?"
Shock had him jerking against his restraints. "Hell, no. I just met her a few hours ago."
"And yet here you are," he mused. "Both of you. Surprising." He moved to Gabriel and put a cold hand against his cheek. "What I don't understand is your refusal to turn demon and save the both of you. Why haven't you? She's in a dark place, and you can't help her unless you change."
"I can be there for her, in her mind. It doesn't hurt her to see me there."
"Ah. You think you might hurt her. Kill her, perhaps?"
Gabriel kept silent.
The vampire chuckled, a sound that held no humor. He moved in closer on silent feet, licked the blood off Gabriel's chin. "Mmmm. Tasty. Simply magnificent." His cold hand stroked down Gabriel's chest. "You just need incentive. Maybe this will help you change your mind. You will be kept here until one of my wolves needs a snack. Then I'll toss her in with the two of you. Which do you think will be safer for your pitiful human? A hungry werewolf, or an angry demon?"
Gabriel could feel the vampire study him, his blond head to one side. He didn't move a muscle.
The blond heaved a dramatic sigh. "Ah well. I guess only time will tell. I should leave. The scent of your blood is…almost irresistible. If I weren't trying to give up men, I might even keep you for myself."
Gabriel shut his eyes. "It's always the same with your kind, isn't it? Sex and blood. Is that why you started the club? Playing with your food before you eat it?"
"And demons are the epitome of restraint," scoffed the vampire, quite close to his left ear, and Gabriel jerked in surprise.
"I guess the answer is boredom,” he replied. "After a couple hundred years, there's not much new to keep my interest. Humans, though, continue to be stubborn, stupid, endlessly fascinating in their quest for the ultimate fulfillment." He shrugged. "It'll do for a distraction. For now, anyway."
"If you ever touch Rose again, I'll rip you into a thousand pieces and burn each one, slowly."
"Like I said. Stubborn and stupid. Bored."
Gabriel didn't answer, and the silence that held heaviness slowly became empty. Minutes passed. Hours. Gabriel thought the vamp had left. Hoped so, anyway. He reached for the thread that connected him to Satine, but it was like wading through a river of mud and never getting to the other side. He slumped against the wall and focused, sweat trickling down his neck, and kept the picture of Satine in his head.
The door to their cell crashed open. "All right, all right. What the hell is the matter with you?" Satine, irritated, stood just inside the door. She wore a trench coat and spike heels and brought the scent of lilies and the night with her. "Oh, my. You have gotten yourself in trouble, haven't you?" She shut the door behind her. “You’re here early,” she scolded, sauntering to where he stood manacled. “What did Vlad do to you?" She reached for his face, to lick off the rest of the congealed blood, but he turned away in disgust.
"Is that his name? Figures.” He shrugged. “There was a…disagreement," he said. “Open these cuffs.”
Satine looked at him with amusement. “You can’t honestly think I’ll free you when I’ve got you where I want you?”
Anger surged through Gabriel. “You don’t want to piss me off,” he warned. His demon prowled close to the surface and he shook with the effort of keeping it controlled.
“Don’t I?”
A low moan came from Rose. Glee brightened Satine’s face as she crossed to the girl. “You brought me a present! How thoughtful.”
“Stay away from her.”
“Oh, I don’t think so. I really don’t think I can do that.” Satine knelt and broke open the manacles and lifted Rose. “Such a pretty plaything.”
Rose stirred in Satine's arms. "Mama?"
Satine looked down and bared her teeth. "Your mama never loved you, brat. She never knew your daddy. Your side of the family has always been white trash, and you always will be."
Rose moaned.
With difficulty, Gabriel held in the rage bursting to be set free. Seeing Rose in Satine's arms beat out killing Marianne Farlane as his worst nightmare. "You like talking trash to an unconscious woman?"
Satine moved so Rose's back was against her front, her arms wrapped around Rose's torso. "I like doing a lot of things to unconscious women," she crowed, and licked the spot where Rose's vein throbbed in her throat. "Mmmm. She's so sweet." Satine sent a sly grin toward Gabriel. "You had her yet? Word has it, everyone in the San Fernando Valley has." She sniffed the air, frowned. "But you haven't touched her, not really. Have you?"
Anger and fear snapped his control and his demon surged against the restraints, snapping all four of them at once. Gabriel lunged for Satine as she dodged. He roared in anger. “Give her to me.”
“You can’t have her.” Satine’s eyes grew wild with cunning. “Unless – give me the rest of your soul, and I’ll give her to you.”
A part of Gabriel stilled–Satine didn’t know Rose held the rest of his soul. If she knew…he shuddered and lunged again.
Satine zipped past him and hovered by the door. “I like my life the way it is. I like bleeding humans and fucking were animals." She licked Rose's throat again as if in comfort. Her voice brightened as she looked at him again. "But I’ll be much more powerful with all of your soul. Give it to me, and then, after we kill Vlad, maybe we can be friends. You're right, you know. I don't need to bring you over in order for you to be helpful." She stroked Rose's breasts. "And we can share her. Keep her as a slave, or have sex with her until her heart stops. What do you say?"
"My soul first."
Her eyes glittered. "Never."
He roared again, a large, guttural cry that sounded as if it were ripped from the very earth. The walls trembled. Satine bit down on Rose's neck and he lunged, grabbing the vampire.
* * *
Rose's eyes popped open at the searing heat in her neck and on her belly. She cried out in confusion and pain, caught in arms of marble crushing her chest. A breath later, huge hands had torn her away. Air rushed into her lungs and fire speared the juncture of her neck and shoulder as she was slammed hard against the concrete wall.
She got a glimpse of a huge creature the color of oak as she struggled to steady herself. She saw the manacles, knew suddenly where the sting around her wrists came from. She turned and watched as Satine dodged his blows.
Gabriel was massive in the small room. His clothes hung in tatters, his back had ridges along the spine, and his hands ended in claws. Fighting Satine, he kept Rose between his back and the wall.
Emotions welled up in her. He cared, at least. If he hadn’t cared, she’d be dead.
Gabriel?
Busy here,
he answered, swatting Satine out of the air like a bat hitting a baseball. She flew against the back wall with a sickening crack. Gabriel lifted Rose over his shoulder.
Let’s get out of here.
She hung on tight.
The door burst open and vampires poured into the tiny room, one of them with a sword. The vamp slashed, advancing, and Gabriel howled as the sword caught him in the side as he turned to protect Rose. He swung a whip and two vampires were suddenly headless, their corpses falling where they stood. Rose wished desperately for a gun, a spear, even a knife. Any weapon to use against these creatures would be better than no weapon.
As Gabriel fought his way to the door, Rose hung on and kicked out at the faces around her, connecting with more than one snarling mouth until both her shoes were covered in blood. Gabriel’s roars, and the whip he wielded, kept the others at bay long enough for them to reach the stairwell. Then they really began to move.
The world sped by nauseatingly fast once they gained the street. Rose shut her eyes tightly and took deep breaths of the fresh, untainted air.
Though he carried her, Rose had never felt so strong. She’d fought back. For the first time in her entire life, when it counted she’d fought back. Exhilaration poured through her. Maybe this second chance at life had a lot of good things in store.
Gabriel slowed down and changed back to his human shape in front of the house. He hustled her inside, keeping her in front of him. “I’ll just go get some pants.”
Rose turned in time to see his well-muscled backside disappearing down the hallway. Grinning to herself, she went to the powder room and stared. Blood had caked down her neck. She swallowed hard, reached for a washcloth, and stared at the blood around her wrists.
Rose met the curious gaze of her reflection. She could do this. Carefully cleaning her wrists, Rose thought back to the nightmare. To the spot after lights-out and before Sara–Satine–bit her. She relived every minute of it, watching as though it were a movie.
She finally noticed Gabriel had been there, trying to protect her even in her nightmares.
When he appeared in the doorway, she’d dealt with her wrists and most of the blood on her neck and shoulder, leaving a wad of toilet paper layered against the slow ooze.
“You okay?”
“Yes.” She fluffed her hair over the wound on her neck and turned to look at him. He’d found a pair of his brother’s blue jeans and a white tee shirt. “Looking good. Thank you for getting me out of there.”
Color washed across his face. “I never should have taken you there.”
“It’s not like I gave you much choice. Did you clean the cuts you got during the fight?”
“Yeah. I’m good.”
Rose led the way back to the living room. The couches were the color of chocolate, deep and plush, piled with jewel-toned pillows. She sank down onto one with a sigh of relief. "Vampires are fucking
monsters
. Her bite hurt, Gabriel. It didn’t feel good. Why do the books say it feels good? Tortured souls, my ass,” she mocked.