Page 16 of The Huntress (The Blood of Legends #1)

Chapter Sixteen

ABSOLUTION

C allie yanked the door open and entered the room. The urge to slam the door shuddered up her arm so she shut it on a whisper. Ignoring Mike, she circled the room, searching for that shimmer.

There! In the corner was the shape of a tall man. She rushed toward him and rested her shoulder against the wall beside him. “We need to talk about this, Gabe.”

He jerked and straightened.

She nodded and shifted away, pinning her focus on the supposed criminal.

“James Jones?” Mike read off the tablet. “Supposedly killed someone over drugs, wants to rat out his accomplices.”

“What did you do?” She narrowed her eyes, running an assessing gaze over Jones’s clothes screaming wealth. She shook her head at his pale skin, dark eyes and hair. Suckbloods were smug, expecting to avoid justice for any and all crimes. They had no respect for human law enforcement so one walking into a precinct and offering himself up? Improbable.

Which had to mean he was here for one thing.

She didn’t want to believe it—Gabe hadn’t lied about her future as a human. Then again, didn’t becoming a suckblood mean her blood changed?

She leaned in, almost setting her chin on Jones’s shoulder. He stilled, then drew in a deep inhale confirming her suspicions.

“Breathe me in, suckblood.” She kept her tone soft and friendly. “This is as close as you’ll get.”

Snapping the handcuffs, he lunged for her, his fingers wrapping around her throat. “Well spotted.”

She dangled a few feet off the floor, unable to reach for the daggers in her boots, and kicking the man went unnoticed by him. She knew better than to struggle against his hold, but she tore at his hands anyway. She was an idiot for taunting him like that.

Mike pulled his gun, screaming at Jones to drop her.

The suckblood laughed, tightening his grip until spots circled her vision.

Mike shot him, the bullets jerking Jones’s body but not weakening him.

“Do you need my help?” Gabe’s voice teased across her ear, sending shivers of delight across her skin even as her life faded.

She wasn’t equipped to handle suckbloods, not in hand-to-hand combat and not without her arsenal. Tears trickled as Jones scraped his teeth along her cheek. He didn’t smell bad, like a normal human man. It would’ve been fitting had he stank of rotting flesh or congealed blood.

He’d pinned Mike to the wall with an unseen force. Her partner and dearest friend’s mottled face contorted with fear and horror, as he screamed something she couldn’t hear.

She cast her blurred gaze at the shimmer, wishing she could see Gabe’s face one last time. Closing her eyes, she accepted the darkness and the lack of breathing scorching fire from her throat to her chest.

She collapsed to the floor and the sweetness of air filled her lungs. Coughs racked her body with breathing spiking painful shards.

Bodies wove around her, fading, merging with one flying across the room. She raised her gaze to where Gabe had Jones pinned to the wall, before snapping his neck as he’d done to Darius.

Mike’s roaring filled the room. He fell to his knees.

As Jones slumped to the floor, Gabe sprawled alongside Callie, wrapping her within his embrace. She wanted to snuggle into him and at the same time proclaim she hadn’t needed rescuing. But she had, yesterday and today, like a silly damsel in distress.

“What took you so long?” As admonishments went, this one could have been better if her voice hadn’t rasped.

He grinned and like the sun casting its golden rays, so did her heart warm.

“Now do you believe you’re in danger?”

Cold fingers gripped her spine and squeezed her chest so tight she curled into herself. “You set this up?”

He jerked back like she’d slapped him. His handsome features hardened, and pain flickered across his gray eyes. He pulled away, rising to his feet, and taking her with him. When cool air replaced his warm touch, so did guilt strike her, twisting her stomach into knots.

She swallowed past the nausea and raised her hand to stop him from leaving or to take back her unfair judgment.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. How…how many have tried?”

His shoulders relaxed, and he laced his fingers through hers to tug her against him. “Four while you slept.”

Mike dragged himself to his feet, wobbling the metal table. “Do you think the others asking for Callie are also suckbloods?”

Gabe nodded but didn’t look at Mike, keeping his gaze on her.

“So you agreed to give me space knowing you couldn’t?” She frowned then huffed. “I’m stubborn, I know, but—”

“What would you have done in my place?” Gabel lifted her fingertips to his lips and kissed them. “If Val was in danger and wouldn’t see it?”

She stilled, staring at his mouth, wondering why his lips burned her, sending tingles down her arm to her elbow. “The same, I guess.”

The door burst open. A few officers rushed in, gaping at Jones on the floor.

Gabe had faded, but his warm hand still held hers. She sighed, closing her eyes against the feeling of safety his presence brought her. Not that she would admit it.

After her explanation and they arrested Jones, her fellow officers lined the walls of the interview room. They stood united and ready should any of the other supposed criminals turn out to be suckbloods. A few confessors hid their species well, so Callie and Mike took their statements, arresting them for the two days it might take to verify their claims.

With each pale face she interviewed—male or female—the truth in Gabe’s warning settled like lead in her heart. Was this what lay ahead for her, constant fending off suckbloods wishing to feed on her?

By lunch time, exhaustion hounded her, and she was ready to discuss moving in with him. By five in the afternoon, she was eager for a conversion, anything to save her from the tedious day.

As she and Mike interviewed a suckblood, more arrived, some confessing to decade-old crimes and all asking for her. Flowers, chocolates, and jewelry swallowed her desk as suckbloods tried to buy her favor.

Metcalfe had Martinez clear the precinct, loading the gifts into an armored van. Callie had never been so excited to see the piles of paperwork on her desk, shadowed by one of Gabe’s vases.

She’d always wondered what it would feel like if she received flowers from a gentleman. With the bouquets from Gabe, that elation, excitement, and girly giddiness had sent tingles from her scalp to her toes. The other gifts couldn’t compare to that, not for her.

“Mike, I’m heading home.” She grabbed her corduroy jacket and the package holding her new uniforms. “Got a hot date with my man.” She winked at the shimmer.

“Want me to take you home?” Mike rose as well, curling his jacket off the back of his chair.

“I’ll take a taxi. I need you to distribute the stuff in the van, pretty please. Widows, orphans, lonely women in payroll.” She nudged him in the ribs.

He sighed. “Is he still here?” Mike scanned the open plan area looking for Gabe.

“See you in the morning.” She strolled out with a wave, loping down the steps to the curb to call a taxi. Gabe’s presence followed her, and she held the taxi’s door open just long enough for him to slide in. As soon as her backside touched the seat, he draped his arm across her shoulders, pulling her into the curve of his invisible body.

“Ready for dinner?” His breath across her cheek sent shivers down her neck.

“Let’s head to your place. I’m tired and don’t feel like dining out.” She raised her gaze to where his should be. “I have the one couch so my place isn’t ideal for entertaining.”

“Are you talking to me, lady?” The taxi driver peered at her in his rearview mirror.

She laughed. “Just muttering to myself.”