To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4) (23 page)

A slight clatter sounded from the kitchen, making Mac
pause.

“
It’s Rose,” Gabi reassured him. “Nothing she overhears here
would ever be repeated, but usually she’s too busy chatting to the
pets to hear anything anyway.” As though to confirm her words, Rose
began telling Rocky off for trying to scratch open her treat
jar.

Mac nodded, using the break to finish his coffee.

Gabi glanced at her watch, holding up a finger when Mac looked
ready to continue. “Give me a second; the hour is nearly up.” She
quickly touched her small turquoise pinkie ring and muttered the
short incantation. A slight shiver in the air told her the ward had
been reset correctly. “Okay, all good,” she told Mac. “Sorry for
the interruption.”

“
Is it really that bad?” Mac asked her, intrigued.

She shrugged. “I’m the wrong person to ask, but I hear it’s
not much fun.”

Mac’s lips twitched in an almost smile; then he heaved a sigh.
“Where was I? Ah, yes. So this crazy-strong, middle-aged woman
sinks her teeth into this lowlife’s neck and looks to be drinking
his blood. I just stood there staring, telling myself I was
dreaming or in the middle of a movie set and just hadn’t seen the
cameras. Finally she pulled back and let the guy go. He dropped
like he was unconscious or dead, and she delicately wiped the
corners of her mouth. The kneeling guy was just sobbing by that
stage. I assume she’d disabled him in some way or he’d have been
trying to get out of there. I must’ve made some small sound or
perhaps my scent finally reached her, because she suddenly looked
up and directly at me. My mind told me to run, get the hell out of
there, but my body wouldn’t move. Sometimes I wonder how things
would’ve turned out if I’d run that night,” he mused, but then
shook his head and carried on. “The thing that saved me was the
piece of wood I’d found to use as a weapon against the thugs. I’d
ripped it off a broken pallet next to a dumpster. It had a
sharpened tip where the wood had splintered when I tore it off. Do
you get days when you think fate is just toying with
you?”

Gabi cocked her head. She couldn’t disagree with that; fate
certainly seemed to enjoy throwing curve balls in her
direction.

“
The Vampire didn’t see my excuse for a weapon until it was
too late. She lunged at me so fast it was all I could do to get the
piece of wood between us. She staked herself. And then she glared
at me accusingly, but before she could say a word, her face began
to decay, her hands that had been clawing for my face withered, and
her body shrank in on itself.”

Gabi had witnessed the death of a Vampire more often than she
cared to remember, but she didn’t stop him. He needed to tell the
story in his own way.

“
She shrieked and wailed as she died. It only took a few
seconds, but it felt like hours. And then she was just a pile of
ash and clothing on the ground. I picked up the clothing and the
piece of wood, and I threw them in a dumpster on the way home. I
reported a disturbance to the police, had a shower, and went to
bed. I have no idea what became of the three men or what the police
found. There was never any mention of it in any newspaper; I
checked.”

“
How did you cope with the shock?” Gabi asked, sure there was
more to the story.

A wry grin. “I ignored the incident for weeks, pretended it
hadn’t happened. Then I went out and got thoroughly drunk one
night, and it hit me. I was a quivering wreck for about three days.
When I came out the other side, I’d made a decision. I would kill
every last one of them or die trying.”

“
And you did,” Gabi said, seeing it in his eyes.

“
And I did,” he agreed, regret a dark note in his voice. “It
took a long, long time to finally see the truth. Understand the
reality. I’ll never know how many died at my hand that didn’t
deserve death, but each one of them stains my soul. I’ll answer for
every one of them one day, I know that, and I’ve accepted
that.”

Razor walked into the room, pacing solemnly over to Mac and
sitting down in front of him. Gabi knew he was aware of the
seriousness of the conversation; cats were quite sensitive to
strong emotions. Almost unthinkingly Mac reached down and put his
hand out to Razor. The great cat leaned into his hand and
encouraged a head rub, which Mac gave, staring down sightlessly. He
cleared his throat a little.

“
What changed?” Gabi asked. “The Master Vampire you spoke
of?”

A sad smile lifted his features a little. “Yes,” he agreed.
“Daniela.” His smile deepened. “It wasn’t her original name, but it
was the one she liked. She could so easily have just had me killed.
It would’ve solved the problem I’d become in her city without much
effort on her part. But that wasn’t her way. No, my Daniela often
chose the difficult path simply because it was the difficult path.
But with me, I like to think there was a little more to it. I think
I intrigued her as much as I annoyed her.” A wry smile lifted his
mouth. “She was a short-tempered, little thing on the outside. Her
build was tiny, even smaller than you,” he told Gabi. “And a
delicate-looking woman, fine-boned with huge brown eyes. But
inside…inside she had a heart as big as her city.”

“
How did you meet her?” Gabi was enthralled, her coffee gone
cold. Razor had hopped up on the sofa next to her and was wrapped
around her feet, purring.

“
She kidnapped me,” Mac said with a snort. “She sent some of
her lieutenants to ambush me. They grabbed me, trussed me up, and
delivered me to her like a birthday present. I figured I was a
goner, dinner on the hoof, and was in peace talks with my maker.
She knew what I’d been doing; I’d taken out several of her Clan
members. She had every right to be seriously pissed with me, and
would’ve been justified in wanting me dead.”

Just then a tiny, red-brown streak came flying into the room,
chirping and chattering, bounding up Gabi’s leg and onto her head.
Gabi sighed and reached up to catch the tiny animal.

“
Mac, meet Rocky,” she said, plucking the squirrel from her
hair and holding it out in front of her. Rocky sat in her
outstretched hand and inspected their visitor quizzically, her head
tilted slightly to one side.

“
Pleased to meet you, Rocky,” Mac said with a gracious nod.
“You have interesting house pets,” he noted to Gabi.

She grinned as Rose came bustling in.

“
Sorry, sweetling,” she said to Gabi. “She was in the laundry
with me two seconds ago. She moves too fast for an old lady like
me.”

“
Old lady, my ass.” Gabi laughed. “Don’t worry, Rose. Razor
can keep her entertained for a while. She’ll have a sleep after
that, and we’ll all get some peace.”

Rose went back to her work after a few more assurances and
after collecting their coffee mugs. Gabi stroked Razor and sent him
a mental nudge to go and play with Rocky while she and Mac finished
their conversation. Razor sat up, stretched, and gave her an
unfriendly look before hopping to the floor and plucking the
squirrel from Gabi’s hand.

“
Hey, you brought her home,” Gabi told him, with a shooing
motion. He shot her one more miffed glance and then dropped the
furball on the floor, batting at her playfully until she shot off
out the door in a game of tag. “And stay out of here,” Gabi called
as Razor darted after her. When she looked back at Mac, he was
watching her with shrewd eyes.

“
Another time,” she told him. “Your story first.”

“
Well, Daniela obviously didn’t kill me. She didn’t even use
me as dinner. At least not then.” His tone and inability to look
her in the eye told Gabi all she needed to know. “She held me
captive in her household, no chains or torture, just forcing me to
see what happened on a daily basis, allowing me to get to know her
Clan and her staff, teaching me the intricacies of Vampire life.
She fed me, clothed me, and left newspapers lying around with
stories of the atrocities humans commit on each other.” He drew a
deep breath. “It took me longer than I like to admit to finally
remove the stupid-glasses from my eyes. To see the reality of the
supernatural races, the one your father was lucky enough to witness
before he made the same errors I did.”

“
It’s an easy mistake to make,” Gabi said, injecting
earnestness into her voice. “You’re not alone in it, and it isn’t
only made by humans.”

“
It might not have been so bad if I hadn’t been quite so good
at what I did.” He sighed.

Gabi made another round of coffee and found a stray packet of
cookies that Kyle hadn’t sniffed out yet, while Mac reclaimed his
seat at the kitchen counter and described his life with Daniela.
His words were matter of fact, but the pain in his voice gave away
the profoundness of his feelings for the Vampire. It was clear
she’d entranced him with her charm, integrity and inner strength;
her experience of the world through four centuries of life had
never ceased to amaze him. He’d spent nearly a decade in her
household, becoming her security adviser and occasionally her
enforcer.

“
I resisted her offer to Turn me,” he told her, accepting the
fresh cup of coffee. “I’m not even sure why, what it was about my
humanity that I clung so desperately to. Never a day goes by that I
don’t wonder if things would’ve turned out differently if I’d just
agreed to be Turned, become her Consort.”

Gabi didn’t fill the silence, quietly sipping her own coffee
and allowing him to speak when he was ready.

“
One morning she just walked outside and kissed the sun,” he
finally said, his voice so gruff it was hard to make out the words.
“She told me often that she was tired, world-weary she called it,
but I never realised the depth of her weariness.” He cleared his
throat self-consciously, and Gabi busied herself finding her
owl-shaped cookie jar and tipping the cookies into it, allowing Mac
to collect himself. “Her Second took control of the Clan. I got on
well enough with him, he’s a fair man and a good leader, but it
wasn’t the same without her. I packed my bags and left the next
day.”

Seeing that the retelling of his story was taking something of
a toll on Mac, Gabi changed tack and decided to explain the
uncomfortable situation she was in with the SMV Council. It took
longer than she expected to walk Mac through the events culminating
in the death of Jason, the norm who’d tried to use Werewolves as
mercenary soldiers. Once she’d told him of her actions in killing
the man and her disagreement with the Council, Mac quickly realised
what her request was going to be. He was nothing if not
astute.

Gabi found chatting to Mac so easy that the hours just slipped
away, and she almost didn’t make the third ward delay in time, only
Razor’s reappearance after his mid-morning nap reminded her.
Several topics later, Rose made lunch for the two of them,
tactfully suggesting they eat on the veranda in the sun while she
watched her favourite soapie on the kitchen TV. Gabi was grateful
for Rose on a daily basis. She remembered to reset the ward once
again and took a bottle of wine and a Coke outside to the huge
outdoor table while Mac brought the food. As they ate, the two of
them left all the serious topics and instead swapped funny
anecdotes to lighten the mood. The sun and food and conversation
combined to make Gabi feel relaxed and a little
lethargic.

Mac caught her yawn as she began to clear the lunch plates.
“Well, you honestly look like I should leave you to catch up on
some sleep,” he said. “I’m sure there’s going to be little enough
time for it in the coming days. I’ll give your proposal some
serious thought this afternoon. How about we meet this evening? I
have something I’d like to show you and Kyle, and Julius if he has
time.” The twinkle was back in his eye, and Gabi was glad to see
it, but wondered what mischief he had planned. “Don’t worry,” he
told her, noting her frown. “You’ll like it, I promise.”

She considered beating the surprise out of him, but figured
she could wait a few hours. The thought of some more sleep was
making her eyelids heavy.

“
Fine,” she groused. She saw him off and reinstated the ward,
then bade Rose goodbye before curling up next to Julius on the bed
and sinking into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The three of them met Mac in the parking area of a small lake
reserve a few kilometres from Gabi’s. At this time of night it was
deserted. Mac had asked for somewhere deserted and outdoors; this
was the best she could come up with on short notice.

“
There’s only one reason I sat out of the last fight,” Mac
said, an altogether too vicious grin on his face. “Because I didn’t
have my kit with me.” He finished unlocking the heavy-duty padlock
on the steel lid covering the rear of his truck bed and gave the
lid a good shove. It rolled smoothly open like a roller door on a
garage, parallel to the truck bed. Gabi couldn’t quite bite back
her gasp of surprise, and shocked mutters next to her told her she
wasn’t alone. The bed of the truck was home to possibly dozens of
weapons: swords, battleaxes, one that looked like a hybrid of a
scimitar and a battleaxe. And then some the like of which Gabi had
never seen before. The kinds of weapons you might expect to see in
a steampunk graphic novel. She couldn’t take her eyes off the
collection, leaning into the truck and reaching out to touch them.
Suddenly realising they were someone else’s weapons, she quickly
pulled her hand back and glanced at Mac. His grin was
smug.