hellcat 05 - come hell or high water (21 page)

“Not as yet,” Tabari replied.  “So far they have booked into one of the quieter hotels and seem to simply be waiting for something.”

“Shit,” Gabi said for all of them. 

CHAPTER 12

Gabi pulled the BMW into a vacant parking spot on the street outside the modest hotel.  Three vehicles continued past her and turned a nearby corner, disappearing down the dark street.  She knew they wouldn’t go far, just out of sight.  Fergus was in her passenger seat and Mac was in the back with Razor.  Gabi was under strict orders not to even consider opening the car door.  Fergus had threatened to knock her unconscious and dump her in the back of her own car if she so much as put a fingernail outside of the car.  This was on Alexander’s orders, of course, but Gabi knew Fergus would follow through on the threat, at least to knock her out, she doubted he’d dump her in the back of the car with her injured shoulder.  She wasn’t sure if he’d actually get the jump on her, but she didn’t want to ruin their friendship by putting it to the test.  Besides, she understood the possible consequences.  If anyone connected to the Princep Court saw her in the City, she would be putting Kimberley’s, Derek’s and Julius’s lives at risk.

If it wasn’t for her
Vamp-O-Meter, they wouldn’t have let her leave the Estate at all.  But not even Alexander and Fergus could dispute the fact that knowing exactly how many non-Clan Vampires had arrived in the City would be to their advantage. 

Having uninvited guests was a delicate balancing act for Alexander.  If he sent too many Clan members to enquire as to their intentions in the City, it might be taken as a threat.  If there was a Master with them, it could lead to a challenge to Alexander’s authority, not something they wanted to try without Julius present, if at all avoidable.  If they arrived with too few, and the band of rogues had bad intentions, it could lead to the death of Clan members.  Knowing exactly how many there were as well as their power levels gave them the advantage they needed to traverse the unstable situation.

Gabi leaned back into the car seat and closed her eyes.  She sent her extra sense outward, towards the third floor of the hotel, where their informants told them the group had booked in. She was instantly aware of them. 

“Five,” she reported.  “No, wait, six. Two of them were standing too close together, they’ve moved apart now.  Hmm.”

“What is it, lass?” Fergus asked. 

“There’s one quite powerful one,” Gabi said. 
“She’s an old one, but not yet at Master level.  Maybe close to your level, though.”  That was worrying; Fergus was strong, only Julius, and now Alexander, in the Clan were stronger than him.

“Hurumph,” Fergus grunted.  “Wha’ aboot th’ rest?”

“Nothing exciting,” she told him.  “One newbie, and the others are perhaps as strong as Liam and Nathan, probably as old in Vampire terms.” 

“That’s not exactly an army,” Mac commented from the back.  “Do you think they’re just passing through?” 

“Double-check, lass, scan th’ whole hotel,” Fergus said.  “We don’t be wantin’ any surprises.”

Half an hour and a headache later Gabi was certain that there weren’t any other Vampires in the hotel, or the hotels and businesses on either side of it or the shopping mall behind it.  With her assurance, Fergus contacted Alexander in one of the other vehicles and relayed the information.

“I’m going in, then.” Alexander’s voice was a little tinny through the earpiece.  “Fergus, you’re with me. Mac, stay with Gabi, I’m sending Nathan to join you.”

“You don’t need to leave them out of the fun just because of me,” Gabi said grumpily.  She could almost hear him roll his eyes. 

“I can’t take too many in with me, Hellcat,” he reminded her.  “I’m only taking ten, any more would be overkill, and we don’t want to tip the balance.  I’m trying to
avoid
a war, remember?”

She muttered unintelligibly as Fergus vacated his seat and Nathan slid into his place.  Alexander’s face appeared in the still-open door.

“You know the procedure,” he warned, as serious as she’d ever seen him.  “If something goes wrong, don’t do anything stupid; get back to the Estate and seal yourself and the rest of the Clan in until Julius gets back.” Her opinion of the worst-case-scenario procedure must have shown on her face.  “I mean it, Gabi.  If this is a serious play for power, Julius will need you more than you can comprehend.  If you truly love him, if you really consider us your Clan, you’ll follow procedure.”  His words stabbed her in the chest.

“Fine,” she muttered with little grace.  “But don’t get yourself ashed, okay?”

His smile was pure relief.  “I’ll do my best.”  And then they were gone.

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

Tracking the Magus wasn’t difficult, the hard part had been finding her to start with.  That had taken Caspian two full nights of scouring the City, using every Werewolf he encountered to search for her scent.  There were a lot of Werewolves on the streets, more than usual.  Something was happening in the City, but he didn’t have time to concern himself with that, as much as it would please him to know that Julius’s precious City was in some kind of turmoil.  Trouble seemed to be attracted to this place, or perhaps it was Julius.  And Gabrielle.  He’d do well to be rid of all of them.  If he couldn’t get a taste of the bitch Dhampir, the Dark Magus had to know a way to break his fealty to Julius; if not, he’d find his own way to break free.  And once his plans came to fruition, he’d be more than strong enough to challenge Julius. And he’d be important enough to draw the attention of those who truly ran Vampire society.  Those who operated in secrecy and shadow, not concerned with rules and regulations.  Caspian would do whatever it took to achieve the entrance requirements for the most powerful group of Vampires on the planet.  Julius might have delayed his plans by appropriating the Dhampir, but now he had another way.  Humans joked that it was easy taking candy from babies, but it was even easier taking blood from them. 

His fangs ached a little at the idea. 

Once he’d pinpointed the building the Magus worked in, it was easy enough to turn up just after sunset and wait for her to emerge.  He’d fed on and mind-rolled one of the human security guards, who was employed more for show than actual security, and discovered several useful things about her.  First that she worked late most nights, also that she utilised a martial arts studio a few blocks away at least once a day as well as the gym in the building itself, and that she bought tea and at least two meals a day from the French-style café across the road.  She lived in an apartment just ten minutes’ walk from her office, and she rarely travelled anywhere by car, except recently.  She went out at least once a day in the car since the attack on the Magi Source, and was always gone a similar amount of time.

The building she worked in belonged to the Magus High Council and was utilised largely by their members for whatever it was Magi did all day.  Caspian knew it would be heavily warded, and he doubted he’d get through the defences.  He wasn’t even supposed to be on this side of the boundary.  If they caught him inside, they certainly wouldn’t hesitate to inform Julius of his transgression.  He didn’t want to alert Julius to his clandestine goals.  And besides, the dark voice in the back of his mind told him that the office wasn’t what he should be targeting.  He needed to find out where she was going in her car each day.  That would take some doing.  Luckily he was a dab hand at breaking and entering.  The electronics shop four blocks away probably wouldn’t even be aware that they’d been burgled.

He fingered the tiny GPS tracker in his pocket.  He knew what her car looked like, from the security guard’s description, now he just had to find it.

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

Alexander purposefully slowed his pace, keeping to a speed that the others could maintain.  Fergus rolled the mind of the concierge without breaking stride and then turned aside the attention of the rest of the humans so that they never noticed the squad of ten unsmiling Vampires ploughing through their midst.  He bypassed the elevator and slammed open the stairwell door, for no other reason than it was quicker. 

As they traversed the length of the third-floor corridor, Alexander reflected that he was relieved to have Fergus backing him up.  He’d always had an unshakeable thread of animosity towards the Scotsman.  He’d blamed many things for that tension, but he knew now that it was nothing more than his own ego.  Fergus had always been stronger than him, more powerful, more dominant, more respected by others.  The only reason Fergus hadn’t been made Julius’s second was that he wouldn’t have accepted the post.  And Alexander had always been painfully aware of that fact.  It made him feel as though he didn’t deserve the position. 

Now that he was stronger and more powerful, a genuine second to Julius, that poisonous self-doubt and sense of inadequacy had begun to slowly purge itself from his mind, like a lanced boil.  The feeling of peace and confidence that replaced it was the best thing he’d experienced in centuries.  He owed Fergus an apology.

They reached
door 308, the apartment Trish had identified as the only one a large party had checked into in the last several hours.  Alexander knocked loudly.  On the other side there was a brief flutter of conversation in a language Alexander didn’t understand before the door opened.

A
male Vampire with a wary look on his face cocked his head at them.

“I can help you with something?” he asked, his
accent heavily Spanish.  It was obvious he knew why they were there, but Alexander would play the game.  For now.

“Yes.” He inserted a little more upper-crust English into his voice than normal.  “You can invite in the acting Master of this City.”  He kept his hands carefully folded in front of himself while Fergus and the others stood a little behind him, looking suitably menacing.

“Let them in,
Bernard,” a female voice drawled from the room behind him.  Her
accent was a little less guttural than his, but still distinctly
Spanish.  “You are not showing your manners.  I have taught you better.”  By the slight lift of Bernard’s lip, Alexander knew that he was doing exactly as she’d told him.  Reluctantly Bernard dropped his gaze from Alexander’s and backed away from the door.

As Alexander was about to step forward, Fergus inserted himself between Alexander and the door, entering the apartment and using his bulk and physical presence to force the other man back into the room.  Fergus made a quick visual sweep of the bedrooms leading off a sitting room, one hand on his broadsword, before nodding briefly to Alexander. 

“They’re all here and accounted fer, Sire,” Fergus said, his eyes warning Alexander to remember the role he was required to play here.

“Thank you,
Master at Arms.” Alexander used the Scotsman’s formal designation.  “Set a guard at the door,” he ordered as he swept into the suite.  The order was unnecessary, but it sounded good.  “And now would someone care to explain who you are and what you are doing in my City?” He directed his questions towards the female Vampire.  Even without Gabi’s suspicion that the most powerful of them was a woman, her bearing and attitude left no doubt as to who was in charge.  The five male Vampires formed a loose
semicircle around her, alert and narrowed eyed.

“Please, call me
Chica,” the woman said with a sultry smile.  She was standing in the centre of the room, resplendent in a full-length, emerald green evening gown, one hand suggestively on her hip.  Layers of skilfully applied make-up gave her skin a healthy glow and accentuated her
large hazel eyes and ebony curls. 

Alexander raised an eyebrow, his Spanish wasn’t the best, but he was pretty sure
chica
was an endearment used for young, petite girls.  There was nothing young or petite about the woman in front of him.  Though she was alluring, sexy even, in her own way; just not his type.  He quickly banished the image of a slender blonde Magus that sprang unbidden to his mind and focused on the six Vampires before him. 

“I am Alexander,” he told her.  “Unless you are an invited guest, it is protocol to approach the Master of a city before taking up residence in one.  Are you unaware of this decree?” 

One of the Vampires standing to her left bristled a little, taking offense at his tone.  Alexander ignored that, his eyes never leaving Chica’s face.  She twitched a hand at her lackey and dropped her eyes from Alexander’s in mock acquiescence.

“I must ask for your forgiveness, Master Alexander,” she said.  “We have been travelling a long way, and were tired.  I was going to request an audience with you tomorrow evening once we had risen.  I did not think it would be such a problem.”  She swayed a little, making her dress move against her body provocatively.

“What are your intentions here?” Alexander asked, not distracted by her display.  But as the words left his mouth, he felt a strange lethargy come over him.  He’d never experienced the effects of anaesthetic, but if he had to imagine it, this is what he thought it might feel like.  He blinked, trying to force his body to remain rigid and his mouth to form the rest of the words his mind was telling him to.  Just as he felt his head fall forward, an icy breeze blew across him, except it wasn’t really a breeze.  It was the slap he needed.  The lines of power between himself and the nine other Vampires of the Clan around him flared to life, and their life force, the very power that kept them alive, flowed down the threads towards him, burning him with the fiery essence. 

In that instant Alexander understood so much more about Julius, about every Master Vampire in existence.  The sheer weight of each life that was his to nurture or to exterminate, the knowledge that every one of them would willingly give their lives if he asked it of them.  And he understood so much more about Fergus.  The Scotsman had been the one to show him the way, had snapped him from his stupor, and was by far the biggest pool of energy from which he could draw. 

And draw on it he did.  He could sense the threads that connected him to every member of the Clan so clearly that he could almost see them.  He drew on each of them just a little, careful to avoid any that seemed weak or close to empty; he drew heavily on Fergus, his reservoir seemed virtually bottomless.  As the weakness left him and the infusion of raw Vampire power charged his body, he looked up and speared the female Vampire with his gaze.