“Aw, you found me,” he said in a mock-pouty voice.
“I will kill you,” I responded.
He sneered and made a motion with his hand. “Come and get me.”
I lifted my foot to place it on the step when Ian grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “Goldie, hold on a second.”
“What?”
“You cannot just go storming up there. We do not know what he has waiting for us.”
“Come on, don’t listen to him, Goldie,” Gabriel teased.
Ignoring him, I turned to Ian. Ian was much older and more experienced than me. He had the unsettling ability to stay calm in high-stress situations. I don’t think I’d ever achieve that talent, but I knew enough to listen to him… most times.
“What then?”
“We wait,” he said as he pulled me away from the escalator altogether.
“For what? He could get away!” But a quick glance told me he was still there, grinning like a fool.
“I prefer he gets away than risk losing you this night. We wait for our clan.”
Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long. Leo, Flip and Slash arrived and informed us they had done some recon of the place, and they had found another group of well-armed Angels waiting for us on the second floor.
“Okay, now we know. Let’s go,” I said to Ian.
“We go, but we go slow and steady.”
“Understood.”
We went to the second escalator further in the store. Not only did this one not have Gabriel standing guard, but according to Leo there was a smaller group of Angels here. We’d run into more Angels, but this way we could start small and work our way through to the others. Then we could finish Gabriel.
I took the escalator running, taking two stairs at a time. Something that sounds easier than it is for someone of my short stature, but I bounded up them and slid to a stop in front of Rufus.
“What the hell?” I sputtered as I came to a halt in front of him, grimacing at the sly grin he wore. “Why are you—” I gasped in pain as his hand closed around my arm with a bone-crushing grip.
“You will keep that mouth of yours shut,” he growled in my ear low enough that I was the only one to hear him. “Lower your head to tell me you understand.”
I glanced up into his eyes to see what I could read there, but there was nothing. I may as well have been looking into the eyes of a corpse for all the emotion in them. He squeezed my arm again, and this time I felt the bone crack. It healed just as quickly, but it still hurt like hell.
I looked to Ian, he nodded imperceptibly. I didn’t understand what was going on or why, but I trusted Ian with my life, so I looked down as Rufus had ordered. The lascivious smile and wink Rufus aimed at me only confused me even more. He looked over to Ian.
“Well, brother, it’s about time you figured out where we were. We’ve been waiting for you. We were going to come to you, but you so conveniently delivered the mutt to us. Thanks for that.”
I glanced at Ian and again he subtly moved his head to tell me to stay quiet, though his eyes never left Rufus. A snake-like tendril of fear began to coil in my gut. Was this it? Was Rufus handing me over to Gabriel? I looked up into Rufus’s eyes trying once again to read something, anything, in them. This time he lowered his eyes for a split second before looking over to Ian again.
Rufus had glanced at my belt. He hadn’t taken my knives, and he held me by my left arm, leaving my dominant side free to reach them. I glanced up at him.
Much like Ian, Rufus moved his head in a tiny nod answering my unspoken question. I relaxed and waited for the right time to make my move.
“Follow me, if you will,” Rufus said as he began to half drag me to where I last saw Gabriel. I pulled away from him to test his hold. He loosened his grip silently telling me he’d let me go when I needed to fight.
We turned the corner and there stood Gabriel in all his glory, his minions behind him. He stood tall and proud; hip cocked.
When he saw me, his eyes lit up and his smile broadened. It was unnerving. I longed to wipe that smug smile off his face in a most permanent way.
Rufus’ hand twitched on my arm, a silent warning to behave. I looked around to see Ian and the rest of our clan behind us.
“Qadira, Qadira, Qadira, we were meant to be together,” Gabriel said. It took everything I had to hold my tongue. That and another bruising squeeze from Rufus. “Rufus, my friend, you’ve done well. I will reward you.”
“Thank you, dominus.”
Dominus? What the hell? I looked up at Rufus. He ignored me, his eyes on Gabriel, but he loosened his hold on my arm.
What the fuck was happening? One second he’s calling Gabriel master, the next he’s rubbing my aching arm. I groaned in frustration, earning a caress from Rufus.
When he moved his thumb in small circles, it hit me: he was signaling me that he was prepared for me to break free from his grip.
Not a second later Gabriel made a move in our direction. I spun out of Rufus’ grip and braced for action.
“Hiya, Gabe,” I said.
“You betrayed me!”
Rufus chuckled and looked way more relaxed than he should have.
“I once told you I serve only myself. You were the fool who believed me to be loyal, so really, if you think about it, you betrayed yourself.”
Gabriel screamed in rage and lunged for me. I was ready, knives in hand. He didn’t get within a foot of me before Ian tackled him to the ground, knife at Gabriel’s throat.
“NO! She’s mine! You can’t keep her from me. I have plans for us. Incredible plans.” He was sniffling at this point. His pathetic display disgusted me.
A noise drew my attention from Gabriel. I looked around to see a handful of his gang moving toward me.
I turned to face them. Some of them turned and ran. One of the more enthusiastic ones came charging at me. He ran himself right on to the end of one of my knives. Really, he’d done the work for me.
I shook him off and looked up to the next contestant in our lethal game. She ran at me with a scream. She was smarter and evaded my knives long enough to swipe at me with her own. I ducked and spun on one foot knocking her to the ground. Once she was down, I hit my mark and moved on to the next.
Gabriel screamed in rage as he watched his henchmen fall. He didn’t put up a fight when Ian pulled him to his feet and dragged him over to where Rufus stood. This may seem like he was giving up, but we knew better. Gabriel was pathetic and deranged, but he was old, and in the banshee-world, old equates to powerful.
He used that power to flip himself into the air, freeing himself from Ian’s hold. Before Ian could react, Gabriel used the knife of one of his fallen comrades to stab Ian in the abdomen. Even as Ian fell to the ground, Gabriel began to run away… like the coward we knew him to be.
When I saw Ian lying on the floor covered in blood, I forgot about Gabriel.
“Ian?” No response. “Did he get his heart?”
“Close,” Ian said.
“Can you feed from me?”
“No. I will be okay in a minute.”
“You better be.”
Once he healed enough, we stood to find our team hovering close by.
“What are you doing here? Did no one follow Gabriel?” The frustration I felt was strong in my voice. Every time we got close to capturing and ending the slimy bastard, he slipped away.