To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4) (30 page)

Gabi was staring at the wall, her eyes narrowed as though she
could glare it into submission. “So its purpose for being here is
to allow Magi through but to keep the rest of us at bay?” she
checked.

“
Yes,” Athena confirmed. “I’ve only ever heard about them.
I’ve never actually come across one before. You can keep non-Magi
out of somewhere with a much less powerful ward. This one has more
to it. Once the Magus or magical object has passed through, it’s
trapped on the other side; it can’t come back through the
ward.”

Gabi broke out in curses, loud, florid, sailoresque
curses.

“
Now that I know what it is, I have a better chance of
unravelling it,” Athena said over Gabi’s ranting. “I’m going to try
again.”

“
Easy, lass.” Fergus put one hand on Gabi’s shoulder. He
must’ve felt a little safer now that she’d lost Nex, but she
probably wouldn’t have cut him anyway. She’d always had a soft spot
for the Scotsman, and their friendship had been strengthened
tenfold since she’d included him on her recent assassination
mission inside the walls of the Princep Court, to take out no one
less than one of the Princeps. She’d left Julius out of the loop so
that he had the genuine excuse of deniability and couldn’t be held
accountable for her actions. The Vampire she’d wanted dead had been
a paedophile of the worst kind, and without even knowing Fergus’s
history, she’d known that he detested the Princep even more than
she did. In the end only the two of them and Kyle had been a part
of the insane strike, and by some miracle they’d pulled it off. The
experience had forged an unbreakable camaraderie between
them.

She allowed the sentiment of the cool hand to seep into her
and ease her anxiety. She breathed deeply, giving Fergus a little
nod.

“
I’ve nearly got it,” Athena said. “Be ready.”

When the ward fell, the wall in front of them simply
disappeared. Athena stumbled sideways, as though a sharp gust of
wind had struck her, and Alexander made a grab for her, jerking on
her elbow to keep her upright.

In front of them was a huge, open cavern, red-brown rock
carved by Mother Nature’s own hand. Everywhere water dribbled over
crystalline structures and down into crevices or small pools. The
ceiling was low, enough that Fergus and Kyle would have to duck in
places, but the true extent of the cave could only be guessed at in
the light from Athena’s crystal. Gabi’s sense of Julius was
suddenly strong and clear, and he was in combat mode. Battling
against something that took every ounce of his
concentration.

“
Come on,” she ordered, stopping only long enough to scoop Nex
up from the sandy floor. She didn’t need Kyle’s Werewolf nose this
time; she knew exactly which direction Julius was in. She took off
in a trot, the others close behind her. They dodged stalagmites and
stagnant pools, following a generally downward slope, Gabi
following the pull of Julius’s presence through the underground
maze. She came up short at an abrupt narrowing of the cavern, a
dark, yawning mouth of a tunnel. Gabi peered inside; it was more of
a chimney than a tunnel, narrowing before falling straight downward
for about ten feet into a large flat pool of water.

“
We’re going to get wet,” she warned, stowing Nex and sitting
at the edge of the chute.

“
Gabi wait for…” Kyle began, but it was too late, she’d pushed
off.

She scraped her shoulder and hands on the way down, but
managed to land relatively easily with a large splash in the rocky
pool. She had Nex in hand before she’d even properly gained her
footing. Before she could get out of the pool to let the next
person land, a cold, foreboding shiver ran up her spine. Evil, pure
unadulterated evil lurked down here.

“
Hurry,” she whispered upward as she brushed water drops from
her face and cautiously stepped out of the water, searching the
almost impenetrable dark with every sense she had. A splash, a
grunt and Fergus was beside her.

“
Somethin’ ain’t right down ’ere,” he rumbled in a low voice,
his broadsword in his hand. The rest followed, each with a
disturbingly loud splash in the eerie darkness. Distant roars and
grunts disturbed the musty air, faint but distinct. They were in
another small cave; Athena’s light showed a small gap between two
rock walls a few feet away. Gabi moved, but more cautiously than
she had before. The naturally formed exit led off to the left. The
snarling sounds grew louder and more defined; they weren’t coming
from anything human. Gabi held up a silent hand to stop the others
in their tracks; then she dropped to her haunches and peered
cautiously out, Nex at the ready. Her breath caught in her chest,
and she froze. They were about to walk into Hell itself.

At her hiss, Kyle and Fergus crowded up behind her, carefully
peering out themselves. Gabi straightened and moved forward a
little to give them room. The water-chute cave was in a dark alcove
of another massive, open cavern, this one extending metres above
them, awash in a sickly green glow. Julius and Benedict stood back
to back about a foot apart in the centre of the cave, Julius
holding a sword, Benedict with empty hands. The Princep could’ve
looked small and inadequate with his lanky, teenage body outlined
against Julius’s tall masculine form, but he didn’t. It was all in
the way he held himself and in his eyes. They were surrounded.
Misshapen, inhuman forms assailed them from all directions. Large,
small, limbed, scaled, fanged, clawed, winged; they were closing
in. None of them seemed aware of the new arrivals, but Gabi knew
that Julius could feel her presence, even though he hadn’t so much
as glanced her way.

“
Guess we found the demons,” Gabi growled low in her throat,
as one the size of a pony and looking vaguely like a three-headed
dog lunged at the pair. Gabi gasped and started forward, but Fergus
grabbed her arm. The dog-thing howled in fury as it was suddenly
tossed into the air, sailing to strike a thick agate column on the
far side of the cave.

“
Wait, lass,” Fergus whispered. “Assess before we rush
in.”

Gabi gritted her teeth and yanked her arm back, but heeded the
Scotsman’s advice.

“
There,” Athena said in a harsh whisper. She’d joined them in
the dark alcove. She was pointing to a spot on the other side of
the two Vampires and their circle of attackers. Gabi narrowed her
eyes, squinting, and then she saw it. The Wraith.

“
Fuck,” she drew the word out tiredly. “We’ve got to do
something permanent to that thing soon. It’s starting to piss me
off.”

“
The Seeker is controlling the rest of them,” Athena said. “If
we take it out, the rest will begin fighting amongst
themselves.”

“
It takes a Magus to get rid of it,” Gabi snarled bitterly. “I
tried, remember?”

“
Why haven’t Benedict or Julius done something about it?” Kyle
asked.

“
You have to be a Banisher to send it back to the Etherworld,”
Athena explained. “Julius has several magical talents, but
Banishing isn’t one of them, and Benedict is predominantly an
Enhancer. He wouldn’t be able to do it on his own.”

“
And you?” Gabi asked. “Can you Banish it?”

“
I have a bit of Banishing talent.” Athena sighed. “But not
enough to banish something that powerful.”

“
Ye said Benedict can enhance magic,” Fergus said. “How close
do ye need to be for ’im to enhance yer powers enough te do
it?”

Athena narrowed her eyes, staring at the scene, but she was
running the possibilities. Another demon body went flying through
the air to land with a splash in a shallow puddle of
water.

“
Benedict is enhancing Julius’s telekinesis. That’s why the
demons are flying so far. I think I need to be as close to him as
Julius is,” she replied, but it was clear she wasn’t
sure.

“
How close were you when he helped you clear the poison out of
my system?” Gabi asked, not that she liked to think about her brush
with death in the Princep Court.

“
He was touching me,” Athena said, and Kyle backed up her
reply with a nod. An unearthly shriek followed by a heavy grunt
rent the air.

“
Well then, we can’t count on anything less.” Gabi sighed
wearily. “Guess we’re going to have to cut a pathway for
you.”

“
Uh, not to interrupt or anything,” Alexander said, “but where
are the Dark Ones? Aren’t they supposed to be here somewhere too?”
There was silence, and then all eyes turned back to the cavern,
searching, scanning.

“
Nothing,” Gabi grumbled. “I can’t see any of them. You guys?”
A quiet chorus of negatives echoed around her. Gabi realised she
didn’t have the niggling prickle at the back of her neck that
usually warned her of Mariska’s presence. “Then where the fuck are
they?” She really didn’t want to launch an assault on the demons
around Julius when she didn’t know where the next attack might come
from.

“
We need a rearguard,” Kyle said. “We can’t all go on the
path-cutting mission.”

Gabi made a quick assessment and nodded. “Fine, you go to wolf
form to patrol the perimeter, looking for them. You’ll be quicker
on all fours and more deadly to them than in human form,” she told
Kyle. “Lex, take Kyle’s MacBow. Once Kyle finds the Dark Ones, you
let rip. As long as they don’t have some kind of shield against
physical attack, a crossbow bolt through the chest should keep them
out of mischief long enough for us to get to Benedict.” She looked
Athena over quickly, then pulled the MacDart out of her holster.
“Take this. It’s still loaded with Werewolf saliva darts. Aim for
eyes, ears or any part that looks soft, and whatever you do, don’t
shoot yourself.”

Athena glared but didn’t say anything as she took the small
gun-like weapon. She feigned great interest in it as Kyle began
pulling off his protective clothing.

“
Fergus, it’s sandwich time. You and I are the bread; Athena
is the meat,” Gabi said, and the Scotsman nodded understanding, his
eyes taking on the familiar gleam of anticipation as he hefted the
MacChopper onto one shoulder.

Athena flinched as Kyle, already in wolf form, shook out his
fur and huffed.

“
Ready?” Gabi asked, looking around at them. When she received
four nods, she settled Nex in her right hand, drew in a deep
breath, and set off in a quick lope over the uneven ground towards
the thick knot of demons. She paused twice on the way to finish off
stunned demons; a single, hefty jab to what passed for a heart or
an eyeball and they were out of the fight permanently. And then
they were close enough to gag on the rank odour of
demon.

They had the advantage of both surprise and more-than-basic
intelligence. No one ever accused demons of being precocious. Gabi
and Fergus laid into the outer ring of creatures. They were crowded
at least three deep around Julius and Benedict. Gabi could just
hear Julius’s grunt of effort over the cacophony of grunts, snarls
and inhuman yowls, and a smaller, winged demon went sailing over
them, landing with a revolting squelch a few feet to her left. She
couldn’t see either of the men in the centre of the circle. The
majority of the demons were much taller than her, but she knew,
with unquestioned certainty, where they were. As the first few
demons fell to her sword, howling in fury, others turned and
quickly redirected their savage attention.

Gabi kept a portion of her attention fixed firmly on Athena.
Playing the role of protector didn’t come naturally to her, but she
had no intention of letting anything get to the Magus. She had
absolutely no desire to face off with a Seeker again. She chopped,
hacked, stabbed, spun, danced, leapt, ducked and yanked Athena out
of danger more than once. To give her credit, the Magus kept her
cool, firing the darts with a fairly steady hand and rarely
missing, but she had no sense of what was coming at her from beyond
her direct view. She lacked the intuitive edge of a seasoned
fighter, the one that told you a sword was coming for you before
you ever saw it, told you a foe was hiding in a dark corner, told
you a demon was about to knock your head off your shoulders from
directly behind you.

Severed arms, hands and other unnamed appendages lay
underfoot, making the already precarious footing even more lethal,
but the protective leathers were worth tenfold their weight in
gold. Claws and teeth had raked her, fangs had tried to pierce, and
acid blood had splashed her, but nothing got through the jacket and
pants. Nex flashed again, and Gabi heard the zing of the MacChopper
followed by Fergus’s exuberant battle howl, and suddenly she could
see the empty stretch of rocky floor between Julius and the demons.
She hadn’t understood why the space was so defined when they’d
viewed the battle from the alcove, but now that she was just a few
feet away, she understood. The air in that space was vibrating with
power and energy. When one of the demons was pushed forward by its
peers into the empty space, it was instantly knocked backwards,
bowling down its comrades like an out-of-control bulldozer. Julius
and Benedict had erected some kind of protective ward, and Gabi
wasn’t sure whether they’d be able to pass unharmed. Athena was
right behind her, her eyes large and a little panicky, her breath
coming in small gasps.

“
Can we pass through?” Gabi yelled in her ear. Then she lunged
sideways, lopping the arm off a demon as it tried to grab Athena by
the hair.