To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4) (2 page)

“
I held my own for a few minutes, but then I realised they
were just toying with me.” Yes, it was time to purge the story from
her memory. “They’d lured me into a disused factory on the lower
east side, a long way from the rest of the Hunters and any kind of
rescue. Once I knew I was outgunned, prudence slapped me in the
face and told me to run, but it was too late. They cornered me on
one of the upper levels of the factory, taunting me for being a
hypocrite; having seen my not-terribly-human moves, they assumed I
was hyped up on Vamp blood. I got in a few blows and injured one of
them. What happened next was both good and terrible.” Her voice had
gone thoughtful. “Well, I know it’s good now, but I didn’t at the
time.”

It was the first time she’d considered the attack with the
knowledge that she was a Dhampir: nine parts human, one part
Vampire. Vampire Holy Grail and most closely guarded secret outside
of the actual existence of supernatural beings. Her heritage was
the Vampire version of Pandora’s Box. “I went in for the kill on
the injured one.”

Julius had gone deathly still, not even breathing; he didn’t
need to breathe, but he usually did out of habit.

“
I think if I hadn’t killed him, they might have toyed with me
a while longer and then drunk from me. That wouldn’t have been a
good thing.”

“
No.” The word was a low growl. In fact, she’d been
ridiculously lucky it was Julius who worked out what she actually
was. The power her blood gave to Vampires was something that could
easily be used to cause chaos throughout the Vampire community. If
Gabi herself, or the knowledge of her creation, fell into the wrong
Vampire hands, it could spell the beginning of a massive Vampire
war. One that would spill over in the human world and affect every
person on the planet.

“
As it turned out,” Gabi continued, “they were pissed at me
for dusting their friend. The powerful one threw me through a
window onto the road below. If I’d jumped myself, I probably
would’ve been all right, but with no control over my fall, I landed
badly. I didn’t know it then, but I’d fractured my pelvis and
damaged two vertebrae in my back. They jumped down after me and
took one of my short swords. They kicked me onto my stomach and
stabbed me several times in the back, in the same place I’d stabbed
the dead one. I think they were being careful to keep me alive as
long as possible.”

Julius hadn’t moved, but anger poured off of him in
waves.

“
Before they could finish me off, Kyle and Byron arrived. The
trade-off for letting me play bait was that I carried a GPS
tracker. I’d fought with them about it too.” She sighed, smiling
ruefully. “It took me nearly two months before I could walk
unassisted; if not for Ian and my better-than-human healing, I may
never have walked again. It was a valuable lesson, one in humility,
a reminder of my human frailty. One that taught me to put my ego in
a box when I need to.” She turned her head and kissed Julius’s
rigid hand on her shoulder. “But the rest of the time my ego is out
and in plain view for all to see,” she said in a sassy tone, trying
to lighten the mood.

Julius breathed deeply, regaining control of his anger. “As
you say, it was a lucky thing they never tasted you,” he said, his
face unreadable in the dim light and their mental connection
suddenly gone fuzzy. He leaned close and kissed her. “Time for that
shower.” He scooped her up, carrying her to his luxurious
bathroom.

A knock on the door woke Gabi, Julius was already up and
striding towards it, naked but for a towel slung loosely around his
hips. Either Julius had called one of his staff for something, or
the person on the other side was going to get blasted, she thought
drowsily. To her surprise, once the door opened, they spoke
quietly. She knew the voice outside the door: Alexander. If
Julius’s second in command was disturbing them in Julius’s bedroom,
something had to be wrong.

She concentrated on the mental bond between her and Julius.
The link wasn’t exactly mind-reading, mostly it was a sense of the
other’s feelings, and if she concentrated, she could send him a
mental picture; it seemed to be growing stronger as they spent more
time together. She could sense concern and a tinge of annoyance
from him; nothing too serious, then. She released a breath she
didn’t know she’d been holding. After a few brief moments of
conversation Julius shut the door, striding back to the bed less
quietly than he’d left; her subtle intrusion into his psyche not as
subtle as she’d thought.

“
I have to go and deal with the Werewolf Alliance,” he said,
kissing her on the tip of her nose before stepping into his
dressing room.

Gabi rose and joined him, kissing his back, and enjoyed his
hissed intake of breath as she wormed past him to get to her stash
of clothing on the far side. They hadn’t gotten around to making
any kind of formal living arrangements yet, instead taking each day
as it came, and splitting their time between his place and hers.
Leaving clothing and toiletries at each other’s seemed
prudent.

“
What kind of midge got up their nose this time?” she asked,
glad he didn’t bother ordering her back to sleep. He was
learning.

“
A Lone Wolf has been found dead in the Inner City,” he
said.

“
So?” Gabi rolled her eyes. “You can’t be responsible for
every stray Werewolf who enters the City, can you?”

The newly formed Werewolf Alliance had seemed like a great
idea a few weeks ago when it was first formed. For too many decades
the various Packs of the City had been at each other’s throats,
each vying for ultimate dominance over the others, but recent
threats to the City had taught them that if they unified, they were
a real force to be reckoned with. This had led to the idea of a
coalition, something that would benefit them all in the case of
another threat to the City. The idea was an excellent one, but so
far they’d all been acting like insecure teenagers, jumping at
their own shadows and trying to legislate far too many rules and
regulations, each Pack Leader aiming for the best deal for his own
Pack. Julius and her friend Kyle, a Werewolf beholden to none of
the Packs and therefore considered impartial, had had their hands
full trying to calm overstimulated tempers and stroke egos while
also forcing them to pull their heads in.

“
This time they have some justification for calling me in.”
Julius shrugged into an ivory button-up shirt and began doing up
the buttons. “This wolf was found drained of blood.”

“
What?” Gabi’s voice was half an inch shy of a shriek. “That’s
insane. I’ve never heard of a Vamp draining a Werewolf. Can one of
you even do that?” His statement had caught her so far off guard
that she was standing with one leg in her panties and one in
mid-air trying to find the hole. It was enough to make Julius grin
despite the seriousness of their conversation. She scowled and
finished pulling on the underwear.

“
No, it’s highly unlikely it was a Vampire. We gain little
nourishment from their blood; the taint of the Lycanthropy virus
actually weakens us,” Julius confirmed as he buckled his belt and
reached for socks. “That’s why I’m not too concerned about the
tantrum the Alliance is throwing. It certainly wouldn’t have been
one of ours.”

Gabi got a tiny little thrill down her spine when he called
his Clan ‘ours’. She wasn’t sure if it was a chill of anxiety or
exhilaration. With the Consort ceremony due the following night, it
was probably anxiety. They’d ‘tied the knot’ Vampire style
officially a few weeks ago, giving Gabi Julius’s ultimate
protection when they had to face the Princep Court, the governing
body of vampires, over some trumped-up charges levelled by a Dark
Magus with a grudge, but that had been a hasty affair with few
witnesses, and now Julius wanted to officially introduce her to the
Clan and his friends.

“
What I’m more concerned about is who, or what, else would’ve
done it,” he continued as he slipped on shoes and grabbed a black
Melton jacket off a hanger. She was still pulling on a blouse,
strapping on a sword sheath took time. “The SMV has a lead on the
case and has already retrieved the body. Can you head over to HQ
and see what their take is on it while I join the meeting of the
Alliance? We can cover more ground before daylight like
that.”

“
Of course,” Gabi agreed. Though she didn’t officially work
for the Societas Malus Venatori as a Hunter anymore, she still
consulted for them and would be welcome to any information that
concerned Werewolves and Vampires. As a co-founding council member
and day-to-day operations person for the organisation, Byron would
probably appreciate her input on the case. “Where’s Kyle?” she
asked, knowing it was probably him who’d contacted Alexander when
she didn’t answer her phone.

“
He went to HQ with the body after checking the area where it
was discovered,” Julius told her, already back in the bedroom. “But
now he’s on his way to the meeting to fill them in on what he knows
so far.”

Gabi followed him, plonking onto the bed to pull on her boots
and slip her Indonesian short sword, Nex, into the sheath already
fastened down her back. She ran a comb through her unruly chestnut
mane before grabbing her phone from the bed stand; a quick check
revealed several missed calls from Kyle and Byron. She sighed.
She’d known it was a bad idea to switch it to silent.

“
Take Alexander with you,” Julius said as he strode from the
bedroom. “He’s waiting for you.”

“
I don’t need a babysitter,” Gabi yelled after him, even
though he would’ve heard a whisper.

His chuckle floated back to her; he didn’t even bother making
excuses for sending a Vamp with her everywhere she went lately. At
least it would be more fun to have Alexander with her than her
usual tail of guards in a second car. She hadn’t had enough time to
torment Alexander lately anyway.

She didn’t bother to call for him as she ran lightly down the
stairs and grabbed the keys for the spare Audi, but before she made
it to the door, Alexander was in front of her. Even for a Vampire,
Alexander moved insanely fast, and he loved making her jump in
surprise; she was training herself not to flinch every time he
caught her unawares. This time she was ready for him; in a
lightning-fast move of her own she kicked his legs out from under
him and planted a boot in his chest to prove her victory. He was
dressed in dark chinos, a midnight blue pullover and a biker-style
black leather jacket. A wry grin cracked his model-perfect face;
his was the kind of face that could grace the pages of
GQ
magazine or a sultry
paperback romance, the kind of face that was called beautiful
rather than handsome.

“
You got me, Hellcat.” He laughed, putting his hands up in
surrender before she pulled Nex on him. “Now be nice, or I won’t
let you drive my car.” He was suddenly dangling his Ferrari’s
trademark red and black key, complete with rearing horse, in front
of her face.

Gabi chewed on her bottom lip. “You’re really gonna let me
drive it?” she checked, suspicious. She hadn’t had a chance to
drive his new wheels yet. She’d never driven a Ferrari before, and
his was the latest Ferrari 458 Spider, a hardtop, which she would
never buy for herself but sounded like fun to drive. She still
hadn’t gotten around to replacing her car after the Lamborghini SUV
Julius bought her had been totalled in an attempt on her life
several weeks ago. Her insurance was due to pay out on her original
car, her beloved Mustang Shelby, in a couple of weeks, and then she
could look for something. In the meanwhile she’d been driving one
of Julius’s ‘spare’ cars, an Audi. Not that there was anything
wrong with the Audi, but it wasn’t exactly exciting by her
standards. She’d never admit it out loud, but she loved cars,
especially muscle and sports cars.

“
If you play nice,” Alexander challenged, “and don’t try to
give me the slip tonight.”

Gabi grinned. “What’s wrong, Lex Boy? Don’t think you can keep
up?” she taunted.

He rolled his eyes. “I have some other matters I need to sort
out while we’re at HQ, and I can’t do that and keep track of you at
the same time. And you know the boss will flay me and put me out in
the midday sun if something happens to you on my watch.” He groused
like a reluctant big brother left in charge of a younger sibling,
but Gabi got the feeling he wasn’t nearly as reluctant as he was
pretending to be.

“
Fine,” she agreed, “hand it over.” She snatched the key from
him. “So who is it that you’re wanting to see at HQ?” she asked
with feigned innocence as they walked towards the stairwell leading
to the underground garage. “It wouldn’t perchance be a certain lady
Magus, now would it?” And so the torture began.

CHAPTER 2

“
Could he have bled out somewhere else?” Gabi asked, frowning
as she studied the pale body of the man on the cold, steel gurney.
His torso attested to a lifetime of fighting, scars showing up
purple and blue against the pale white flesh of his chest. “Maybe
been dumped after the fact?”

“
It certainly is a possibility,” the Shape-shifter medical
examiner agreed. He was a tall, thin man who’d been the city
coroner for many years until his retirement a few months ago; in
his heyday he’d been a forensic pathologist. Byron counted him a
friend and still called on him on the odd occasion when they needed
advice from a person with his particular skill set. Gabi didn’t
know him well, but she did know his favourite form was that of a
bear and, though his name was Donald, everyone called him Teddy.
“Kyle told me there was no blood at the scene, which means the
blood was either removed in an extremely efficient, clinical manner
at the scene, or it was done elsewhere and he was cleaned up before
being dumped.”