Bonedust

search, put feelers out. I can get in touch with my hunter’s guild, see if they have any leads.” Urban watched him, then smiled. His hand reached up and his fingers gently caressed Gabriel’s cheek, making the man’s heart skip into his throat. “Don’t look so worried—we’ll stake your vamp. Give it time.”
    Gabriel found himself tracing the lush lines of Urban’s lips with his eyes, remembering the taste of the man—sugar and spice. He wanted to reach for Urban, thread his fingers through the snake’s blue hair, press their lips together and—no. He stopped himself, giving his head a shake and hopping quickly up off the bed to put distance between them. Damnit. He didn’t need this right now. “I hope you’re right.”
    Urban’s gaze skirted down. “You know how to use that thing?”
    His heart slammed on its brakes. What the hell? Was that some sort of perverse come on? His face heated up and he turned away quickly. Urban merely laughed. “Gabe-babe. Your gun. The one at your belt? Do you know how to use it, or is it just for decoration?”
    Gabriel’s hand touched the cool metal of the pistol, drawing it out of its holster. It was firm, heavy in his hands and he handed it to Urban carefully, as if it had teeth. This drew another short laugh out of the man. He took the gun and looked it over, then checked the cartridge. “Silver bullets. Nice touch. How long have you known how to shoot?”
    He frowned. “I’ve not really… I just… I felt I’d be safer with a gun. At least then, if Jeremie burst through my window in the middle of the night, I wouldn’t be a sitting duck begging to be roasted.”
    “So you can’t shoot?”
    “It can’t be that hard. Just aim and pull the trigger.” When Urban laughed, he crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. “Glad I can amuse you. Sorry if I’ve been a slave all my life. They don’t exactly trust slaves with guns.” Spinning on his heel, he strode into the bathroom, suddenly dizzy and hot under the collar. He shut the door behind him and sank down on the toilet lid.
    “Gabe.” Urban’s voice was soft outside the door. When Gabriel didn’t answer, silence spawned between them, stretching through the air like a fog. “Do you want me to teach you how? I can help you, but you have to let me.”
    Gabriel sighed and swung the door open. Urban stood there, fingers hooked into his pockets, looking like a beaten puppy. Gabe pushed past him and sank down onto the bed, casting a cursory glance out the window to the darkness outside.”I’m going to sleep. I’m trusting you to play bodyguard and keep me safe.” He eyed the snake Shifter and frowned. Pandora made a mournful sound. “And to keep your beast quiet.”
    He didn’t wait for Urban to answer. He lay down on his side facing the window, legs bent at the knee, one arm cupped under the pillow. He breathed in the stale, needed-washed smell of the pillowcase and pressed his eyes shut. He heard Urban shuffle around the tiny room, heard the scrape of Pandora’s paws against the carpet.
    The TV gave an electronic buzz as it came on, the volume so low that Gabe could barely hear it. He willed sleep to take him, to get him out of here. He should’ve felt better with Urban at his side. Instead his pulse thundered noisily and his mind spun. He buried his face in the pillow and focused on breathing. In. Out. In…
    The only thing he dreamed about was Jeremie and his vampire army, pounding on Gabriel’s door. His gun hung heavy and solid in his hands. The vamps burst through the window, glass shattering and spraying the floor with shards. Urban lunged, but Jeremie caught his throat in his hand and snapped his neck with the flick of his wrist. Urban dropped lifelessly to the ground like a marionette with cut strings.
    Gabriel fired his gun, but the bullets buried themselves in the walls, the door—everywhere but inside the vampire’s heart where they belonged. And in the end, Jeremie lunged at him, pinning him immobile to the bed and his fangs gleaming in darkness as he bent down.
    Gabriel woke up screaming.
    “Gabe!” His eyes shuttered open to see Urban standing over him, hands clamped on his shoulders, shaking him. Gabriel sat bolt upright in the bed, the sheets strewn across the floor. He wrapped his arms around himself and rocked for a moment, trying to catch his racing heart and put it back in its cage. Urban eased down on the edge of the bed, giving him room, for which he was