hellcat 05 - come hell or high water (20 page)

“What’s your fault?” Kimberley asked, glancing desperately at Julius for a cue, but he couldn’t help her. 

Sally suddenly looked around the room again, guilt fading to something else.  “Where’s that dastardly cat?” she asked.  “I even brought ’im a treat.” 

“I felt it was too dangerous to bring him back here,” Kimberley said, “and the plane trip took too much out of him last time.  He’ll be sorry he missed your treats.”  She smiled at the other woman, but the other woman wasn’t smiling back. 

“You…you…” She raised a hand, pointing at Kimberley.  “You’re not Gabi.” She said it slowly, as though the revelation was becoming truer as she said the words. 

Julius sent a spike of power flying outward and the door clicked as it locked tight.  How could this woman know Kimberley wasn’t Gabi when a hall full of Vampires hadn’t been able to tell?

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sally cried out, holding placating hands up towards Julius as he turned warning eyes on her.  “I won’t say anyfing, I swear it.”  She tugged a cotton handkerchief from the pocket of her apron to dab at her forehead, her heart was racing, but she was taking deep calming breaths.  “Oh, sweet muver of God, I’m getting too old for excitement like this.”

“Why don’t you have a seat, Sally,” Julius said, pulling a chair away from the table. The woman’s blood pressure had spiked alarmingly.  “You, eat.”  He pointed to the seat on the opposite side of the table with a commanding glance at Kimberley.  He remained standing; the woman was human, and an older one, but he wasn’t taking any chances. 

Sally was staring with open-mouthed amazement at Kimberley, who was already buttering a warm muffin.  “’Ow on God’s green earf did you find one to look exactly like ’er?”  And then her open mouth curved into a wry smile, and she shook her head in wonder.  “A Doppelganger,” she breathed.  “Neva in all my years did I fink to see one.  And one so gifted.  You got some interesting cards up yor sleeve, Master Julius, that you hav’.”  The woman’s reactions were consistent with the signals her body was giving off; unless she was a world-class actress, she was on the level.  She was genuinely pleased, relieved and amazed.  “I was so worried about that fekking hair. You know, I swear I cleaned that place from top to bottom, and everyone that ’elped was there because they themselves would’ve done the deed if they knew they ’ad even the tiniest chance of pullin’ it off.”  She turned her gaze up to Julius.  “That lady of yors, she’s a true gem, she is.  The kind that restores my faith in this world.  I ’ope you neva forget ’ow special she is.”

“Don’t worry,” Julius assured her, “she reminds me on a regular basis.” 

Sally threw her head back and let out a raucous laugh. 

“Now tell me how you knew this wasn’t Gabi.”

Sally sobered.  “I’m good at noticing details, you know.”  She looked over at Kimberley.  “Your Doppelganger has the looks down exactly right, but I’m guessing she didn’t spend very much time wiv yor lady.  It was mostly a collection of small fings, you see—the cat not bein’ ’ere; how easily you ’ad agreed to the testing of the hair, even though Xavier is sure it’s genuine—but two fings really gave it away.  First was the way you looked at ’er when she came out the room.  A man in luv wiv a lady has a certain look in ’is eye when he sees ’er; eiva you weren’t in luv with Lady ’Ellcat, or that wasn’t Lady ’Ellcat.  And second, you can’t fake sass, a girl eiva ’as it or she doesn’t. This one ’as a good go, but she ain’t got nuffin’ on yor lady.” 

Sally was right, Julius mused, she did have an excellent eye for details, luckily it was the kind of details most overlooked, but they’d have to tread more carefully over the next couple of days.

“You can drop the mask, Kimberley,” he told the younger woman.  “You’ll be needing your strength later.” 

The Shifter looked at him, checking he was sure, and then she put her coffee cup down and rolled her head across her shoulders, as though she was relieving a stiff neck, and when she looked at them again, she wore her own face. It took a few more seconds for her hair to return to its usual shade of light brown.

“Well, I’ll be…” Sally stared in absolute astonishment.  And then Derek chose to join them, perhaps roused by the smell of breakfast.  He was wearing a pair of boxer shorts and nothing else.  “Well, I’ll be…” Sally repeated, this time taking in the Werewolf’s muscled body from head to toe.  Julius now understood Gabi’s desire to roll her eyes whenever Derek made an appearance.

********************

Gabi didn’t want to be alone.  Raz was great company as long as you didn’t need someone to bounce things off of, and she needed to bounce things off of people or she’d be bouncing off the walls herself.  So she wrapped a soft fleece blanket around her shoulders, it was easier than wrestling her painful shoulder into a jacket, and grabbed her phone off the bedside table.  She found Kyle’s number as she made her way downstairs to the entertainment room.  By the time she’d poured a glass of wine and set the gas fireplace to warm the room, Alexander arrived.  He was on the phone, discussing some financial takeover with Nathan, but it sounded like they were wrapping up.  Trish arrived next, she gave Gabi an overly gentle hug and put on the coffee maker in the corner, setting out a couple of mugs; she looked like she could do with at least a week of sleep.  Fergus and Mac narrowly beat Kyle through the door.  With her war council assembled, Gabi shut the door.  As she claimed the spot nearest the fireplace, they all looked to her expectantly.

“Make yourselves comfortable,” she told them. “This might take a while.”  She waited while they found somewhere to sit, Trish handed Kyle a steaming mug of coffee, and Alexander poured himself a bourbon behind the bar.  Mac seemed surprised to be there at all, but settled on a barstool. Fergus took another barstool within easy reach of Mac, but without being overly obvious about it.  Alexander splashed a healthy dose of Irish whiskey into a glass and set it in front of the Scotsman, who lifted the glass in silent salute. 

“I’m really concerned about the safety of the City and everyone in it,” Gabi finally began once they were all settled.  “The one thing that has let me go to sleep at night is knowing that someone out there is watching over us all.  Now that the SMV is gone…” She trailed off.  “Julius and I have been asked by the Princeps to front a special force to investigate Vampires trying to create Dhampirs.”  She waited for that to sink in, holding up a hand to prevent questions she didn’t know the answers to. “I’m not sure we would be able to wriggle out of the responsibility, even if we wanted to.”  Damn, she really wanted to pace, but her shoulder was already throbbing.  She swiped a tired hand across her eyes.  “There is so much going on I don’t know which way to turn, and I’m not sure what we should be concentrating on.  I need some advice or at least some brainstorming to try to work out the best way forward.”

“You’re right, Hellcat,” Alexander agreed, shoving his phone in his pocket, “prioritising would be a good idea.  I’m sure I don’t need to remind you,” and his eyes flicked around the others, “that what is discussed here is not for general consumption.  Nothing leaves this room without discussion amongst us first.”  A murmur of agreement ran around the room.  Then there was silence.

“Um, so what are your biggest concerns, Gabs?” Kyle finally spoke up.  “Let’s list them; then we can tackle them one at a time.”

“Okay.” Gabi nodded. “Let’s see.”  She never thought she’d see the day that she actually missed being given orders by the SMV.  She lifted her good arm and began counting off with her fingers. “We have the Shadow group, we also have the Kresniks, the lack of supernatural policing in the City, the possible trial of Kimberley in my place at Princep Court, and the request for Julius and me to assemble an anti-Dhampir-experimentation task force.”  She looked at the five fingers held up in front of herself.  “Anyone got another one to add?”

“No, I think you’ve pretty much covered the big stuff,” Alexander said after no one else spoke up. 

“Lass, there’s naught ye can do aboot the accusation at Court, so cross tha’ one off th’ list,” Fergus advised.  “Julius and the Doppelganger will get tha’ sorted oot.”

“True.” Gabi sighed, the matter still weighed on her conscience though. 

“I’m pretty sure the Werewolf Alliance will be able to do a lot of what the SMV used to do,” Kyle told her.  “It’s still in its infancy, but the seeds are there.  I think Trish and I can pull it all together.”  He glanced at Trish, pride in his gaze. 

Trish returned his smile with a determined nod.  “I guess we’ll need a fancy name, or at least something easier to spit out than Werewolf Alliance Central Communication Network,” she chimed in, “but Kyle has been working long hours whipping the other Alphas into line.  We have a few holes to fill, but we’re discussing things with Byron and the Shape-shifters to find ways to fill those.  Some of the existing SMV infrastructure will be easy enough to simply take over, and the rest we’ll muddle through between us all.”

“Just give us a couple more weeks and we’ll be in much better shape,” Kyle assured Gabi.  “It won’t be the same as the SMV—there won’t be any council, just us Alphas—but the idea is to keep communication open with the other races.”  He looked across at Alexander with a Kyleish grin.  “And, while I have yet to have a formal meeting with them, we’re hoping to keep on good footing with the local Master and his second in command.”  Alexander returned the grin.  “We wouldn’t want to step on their toes, but would be open to assisting when they needed us, and vice versa.” 

Gabi was surprised, relieved and just a little sad to hear how far along the plans for the amalgamation of the Packs had come.  The sadness was purely born of the reminder that she and Kyle weren’t nearly as close as they’d been just a few months ago. 

“That’s excellent news,” Gabi told him. “If anyone can pull this off, it’s you two.”

“You know you can count on our assistance, Wolf,” Alexander said. “Anything you need.”

“Well, now we’re down to three.” Mac spoke up for the first time, his slow, lazy drawl exactly as Gabi remembered from the first time they met.  They all turned to him.  “I don’t know all the details about the Princeps and the new task force, but I’m thinking that you and Julius can delay that one a few weeks at least while you think it through.  I haven’t met these Princeps myself, so correct me if I’m wrong, but usually fancy councils don’t expect things to happen overnight.” 

“Ye’re nae wrong aboot tha’.” Fergus snorted derisively.  “He’s right, lass, Julius won’t be expected tae give them an immediate answer. He’ll hae to bring it back tae discuss it wi’ th’ Clan.” 

“So now we’re down to two, right?” Trish asked.  “The Shadow group and the Kresniks.” 

Gabi was so glad she’d brought them all here.  What had seemed utterly overwhelming just half an hour ago suddenly seemed manageable.  All their lives were still at risk, but just two threats, insane and dangerous as they were, sounded manageable. 

“And do you know what I’m utterly sick of?” Gabi asked.  The question was rhetoric; they were going to hear whether they wanted to or not.  “I’m sick of being reactive.  I’m tired of reacting to the shit that heads our way.  It’s time we began hitting them where it hurts instead of waiting for them to strike at us.  I’ve had it.  We’re going to find these bastards, both groups, and hit them with everything in our arsenal.”

“Go, Hellcat,” Alexander said mildly, and held his hands up defensively when she turned to glare at him.  “I’m all for it.  I swear.” 

“I’m not sure we’ll be able to do that with the Shadow group.” Kyle met her gaze, his eyes narrowed in thought.  He’d always been good at standing his ground with her.  She both hated and respected that about him.  “From what Trish tells me, they’ve been operating underground for a very long time, possibly centuries.  They’re all smoke and mirrors, and they like to use others to do their dirty work.  It’ll take something spectacular to uncover their true identities.  There’s a good chance that they’re scattered all around the world.  And we’re still not certain they’re coming to look for trouble right now.”

“And on the other hand we have the Kresniks,” Mac added. “They’re human, they’re in the City, and they’re currently stirring mischief with the Werewolves.  I say they should be our number one priority.  If we can take them down, it’ll be the end of a huge headache.  That’ll give us room to concentrate on the Shadow group while you and Julius discuss your next move with the Princeps.” 

Gabi chewed the inside of her cheek. She didn’t want to lose her focus on the Shadow group, they were, without doubt, the biggest threat to the Clan and the City, but Mac was right, if they could shut down the Kresniks quickly and quietly, they’d be free to concentrate on more pressing issues.

“Right, I’ve been putting it off, but I’ll contact Henry and ask if he wants to go undercover for us,” she said.

Before anyone could comment, Alexander held up his hand and was suddenly standing at the door.  Gabi hadn’t seen him move; it was as though he’d teleported.  She cleared her throat meaningfully and he glanced back at her, looking slightly embarrassed, but a knock at the door grabbed everyone’s attention. 

“Master Alexander.” It was Maximillian’s voice, nasal and officious.  “Tabari is seeking an audience with you.  He says that it’s urgent.”

Alexander opened the door to find the tall, skeletally thin head steward hovering outside.  “Send him in, and then go back to your other duties,” Alexander said, his tone curt. 

The steward inclined his head, but didn’t display the same obsequiousness he did with Julius.  A moment later Tabari’s broad-shouldered form appeared in the doorway.

He didn’t bother with a greeting.  “A group of unknown Vampires has arrived in the City,” he told the gathered group.  “One of the scouts called it in a few minutes ago.”

“How many?” Gabi asked, already on her feet. 

“Around half a dozen that we are aware of,” Tabari told her.  “There may be more.  More scouts are being dispatched as we speak.”

“Have they done anything threatening yet?” Alexander asked.  “Taken any Feeders?”