A Cat's Chance in Hell (19 page)

“
I would like you to forward any medical bills to my office,” Julius continued, “and let me pay for a driver until you are healed. It’s the least I can do.”

Gabi was thrown for a second, and somewhat amused. Not often you got beaten up by a bunch of Vampires, who then offer to pay your doctor’s bills. She allowed a small amused grin to appear as she dropped her gaze from his.

“
No, that’s not necessary. My bills are covered already,” she drawled, tipping the wine glass and inhaling the pungent bouquet, “but, if it makes you feel better, you can owe me a favour.” She took a mouthful of wine and looked him straight in the eye to gauge his reaction. His mouth tightened, but she thought it was in amusement rather than annoyance when she noticed the cocky glint in his eye.

“
Alright,” he agreed smoothly, “I owe you a favour. Do you have a specific favour in mind, or is it to be an open-ended one?” He leant back in his seat, bringing his own wine glass to his lips and appearing to savour the taste as he swallowed.

“
Oh,” she threw back nonchalantly, “let’s go with open-ended.” She was enjoying the repartee.

“
So, we are agreed,” Julius affirmed. “I owe you a yet-to-be-determined favour, at a yet-to-be-determined date, and you will forgive me for indirectly causing you harm.”

Gabi’s eyebrows quirked as he added the last part; but she decided to continue the charade. “I can live with that,” she declared. A low growl issued from the right of her; Alexander apparently wasn’t happy with the arrangement. Gabi had had about enough of his Neanderthal-like attitude. She leaned back in her seat and dropped her left hand down beside the chair; her fingers now millimetres from the knife strapped to her left calf, and she turned her attention to the taciturn Vampire.

“
Lex Boy, are you always this cranky, or is it just a show you put on for pretty girls?” she asked him. Sticks and dragons, one day she was seriously going to regret poking a dragon, but she knew Julius would protect her tonight; they were in a public place filled with humans after all. She felt Julius and Kyle both tense, waiting for Alexander’s reaction.

He leaned forward in his seat, giving Gabi a venomous glare.

“
My name is Alexander,” he ground out in a clipped, aristocratic, British accent, “and I’m cranky because I’m hungry, and Julius won’t let me snack on you!” he finished in a hard, sharp hiss, snapping his fully extended fangs at her aggressively. Fortunately their little alcove was completely private, and the hum of the other diners drowned out anything they said to each other.

“
Alexander,” Julius snapped warningly, but Gabi wasn’t about to be cowed by an angel-faced bully, no matter how close he was to Julius. She leant slowly towards the angry Vampire, no hint of fear in her, keeping her eyes locked on his.

“
I wish Julius had allowed you to try,” she said in a deceptively calm, quiet voice. “That set of fangs would make a really nice necklace.” She enunciated the last three words carefully, drawing them out. If a Vampire could spontaneously combust, then Alexander would probably have burst into flames on the spot, his expression threatened death by small increments for the arrogant bitch across the table. Gabi felt the swell of Julius’s power; he was obviously worried that this was about to get out of control.

“
Gabi,” Kyle growled warningly just as the waitress appeared with their drinks and starters.

Gabi relaxed her stance and went back to innocently sipping her wine, as the waitress placed the platter of meats and cheeses in front of her and Kyle. The freshly made-up and newly perfumed waitress breathlessly asked for their mains orders, her disappointment obvious when Julius and Alexander declined, saying they had already eaten. Gabi and Kyle made up for it by ordering huge rare steaks with all the trimmings. The interlude seemed to calm Alexander, or perhaps that was Julius’s influence; either way, the obnoxious Vampire had lapsed back into a sullen silence. Gabi regretfully decided to leave the dragon alone for now.

“
I apologise for Alexander’s behaviour,” Julius addressed Gabi, as though none of it was her fault for stirring up the angry Vampire, “he is somewhat annoyed with me for seeking out the assistance of your organisation. He feels it undermines my authority in the Clan. Makes me look weak,” he explained. He pursed his lips and shot a sidelong glance at Alexander. “He has yet to understand the severity of what we are about to come up against. Alexander hasn’t had much experience with Demons, so he is convinced we can deal with them on our own. He has forgotten that while Demons can only cross the Void at night, they are quite capable of moving around in sunlight if they escape detection for that long.” He sounded like he was trying to drum the lecture into Alexander’s head for the hundredth time.

As he said the last sentence a few more pieces of the puzzle clicked together in Gabi’s head. She glanced surreptitiously at Kyle, wondering if he had made the same connection. The Vampires needed the SMV’s help because they were vulnerable during the day. Danté had minions who were able to attack during daylight; this exposed Julius’s Clan in the most dangerous way, they could be slaughtered without even being able to defend themselves. Kyle nodded minutely, acknowledging the connection; the request for an alliance was beginning to finally make sense. Julius leaned over to re-fill Gabi’s glass before filling his own.

“
You said in your message that you had some news for us from the Council. I trust that means you presented my case to them,” he asked Gabi, watching as she daintily shovelled the thinly sliced meat and cheese wedges into her mouth.

“
Yes,” Gabi answered between mouthfuls. “I met with the Council this morning. They have agreed to consider your request for a meeting.” She winced and shook her head slightly. “I know that sounds extremely bureaucratic, but at least they didn’t dismiss the idea straight away.”

If Julius was disappointed he hid it well, his expression remained bland, even though Alexander snorted derisively.

“
Alexander, perhaps it would be better if you waited for me in the car,” Julius said in a deceptively mild voice, a muscle tightening in his jaw. Alexander finally seemed to realise he was pushing Julius a step too far.

“
No, I’ll restrain myself,” he capitulated, dropping his gaze from Julius and burying his nose in his drink. Julius took a deep breath watching Alexander for a long moment before addressing Gabi again.

“
Did the Council give you a time frame of any kind?” he asked. “I understand the bureaucracy involved in any kind of Council, but we’re running out of time. I think Danté is preparing some kind of assault as we speak.”

“
They want to try and verify some of the details you’ve given us; mostly the ones about the Dark Mage. They have sent an inquiry to the Magi High Council for any information they have on her. If they can establish that she is a dark mage, and that she is working with Danté, they’ll meet with you.”

Further conversation was stalled by the arrival of Kyle and Gabi’s main course. The waitress fussed at the table for a while, hovering, until Gabi felt a slight brush of Julius’s power and abruptly the girl seemed to realise that she had something else to do and scuttled off. Gabi raised a questioning eyebrow in Julius’s direction. He smirked back at her, unrepentant, like a school boy caught cribbing on a minor test.

“
She won’t be back to bother us for a while,” he said, as though that excused him.

“
Useful talent,” Gabi remarked blandly, “what other tricks do you have up your sleeve?” She pretended she wasn’t particularly interested in his reply as she gingerly slipped her right arm out of its sling to cut into her juicy chunk of red meat. Kyle and Julius simultaneously leant forward to offer assistance. She glared them both back into their seats, but ground her teeth as she used the injured arm to hold the meat in place with a fork and sliced off bite-sized chunks with her left hand. She caught Julius and Alexander both watching her with an odd intenseness as she devoured the succulent meat.

“
What?” she demanded. “A girl has to eat.” She was somewhat sensitive about her enormous appetite, she knew it wasn’t considered appropriate for a woman to eat like she did, and she often got incredulous stares when she ate in a restaurant.

Julius shook his head, and Alexander actually cracked a hint of a smile. “Sorry,” Julius apologized quickly, “we’re not passing judgement. It’s just been too long since we actually watched a human eat. It brings back memories, makes us yearn for the variety of tastes.” He got a distant look in his eyes.

“
So, the legends got that bit right then,” Gabi nudged, “you can’t eat any human food?”

“
Yes,” Julius confirmed. “We can’t digest solid food. We could eat it if we had to, but we would have to purge ourselves soon afterwards. It also doesn’t taste palatable to us, so to appreciate to the taste of a good rare steak we have to taste it vicariously through your reactions. We can, obviously,” he indicated their glasses “drink liquids, and as some of us get older we develop the ability to taste some of them like we did as humans; hence my appreciation of red wine and Alexander’s inclination towards bourbon.”

Gabi found herself enthralled, and even Kyle was paying close attention as Julius’s discourse about the abilities and disabilities of being Vampire continued. The tension around the table gradually started to ease, and Alexander even added in the odd snippet of information. Julius confirmed that while breathing was not necessary, they still did it to both appear normal in human company, as well as to be able to smell their environment, a sense essential to a Vampire. Julius sent out a thread of power to summon the waitress back to clear the table and take dessert orders from Kyle and Gabi. Julius then turned the tables on her.

“
Would you tell us something, now that we have been open with you?” he suddenly asked.

“
I guess that depends on what you want to know,” she said, suddenly wary.

“
Your exceptional….” he paused searching for the right word, “abilities,” he settled with, “are they Vampire in nature?”

“
Why would you say Vampire?” she hedged.

He smiled but answered her. “Well, firstly the word on the street is that you are half Vampire, and secondly you have a very subtle but very definite Vampire scent.”

Gabi concentrated on taking a large sip of her Irish coffee, contemplating her answer. He waited her out patiently. Finally she made up her mind.

“
Yes, they are Vampire in nature,” she said, only answering his direct question; she was going to make him work for his answers. His eyes narrowed and she thought he looked a trifle disturbed.

“
But that’s impossible, unless you are ingesting Vampire blood on a regular basis,” he said slowly.

Gabi kept a calm face and looked directly into his eyes. “No, it’s not impossible and no I’m not drinking Vampire blood,” she said holding his gaze.

He had gone dead still, he didn’t even appear to be breathing.

Gabi flinched when Kyle’s mobile suddenly vibrated. He glanced at the incoming number and immediately pushed away from the table to take the call. The others turned their attention to him, and as he listened to the voice on the other side of the call, his expression turned serious.

“
Shit,” he swore roundly. “When, where and how many?”

As he listened again Gabi knew instantly what was happening. She glanced at Julius. “Call the waitress. We need the cheque,” she said tersely, looking regretfully at her bowl of chocolate mousse, knowing it was heading back to the kitchen.

“
What’s wrong?” Julius asked, instantly on full alert. The air was saturated with the scent of adrenaline by the time Kyle disconnected the call.

“
I gotta go,” he stated simply. Gabi grabbed his arm as he went to stand.

“
How many?” she demanded.

“
Too many,” came his brusque reply. “Can you catch a cab home?”

“
No chance. I’m coming with you,” she declared.

“
Don’t be stupid,” he responded curtly. “You’re already injured; you’ll only make things worse.”

“
I can see it on your face, they need every sword we’ve got. My perfect good health is not worth the life of innocents.”

Kyle shook his head, realising he didn’t have the time to get through to her. “OK. Fine. Whatever.”

Julius spoke then, “You’re talking about a Demon attack, aren’t you?”

“
Demon attacks,” Kyle asserted, emphasising the plural. “At least three different locations, multiple Demons. It’s not going to be pretty. We have to go. Now.” He stood drawing Gabi up with him.

“
We’re coming with you, give me co-ordinates and I’ll call for reinforcements,” Julius announced. “Alexander call Nathan, tell him to get the team together we’ll call him with the details soon.”

Kyle started to protest, but Gabi quickly stopped him.

“
It makes sense; why not let them help if they’re willing?” She looked at him challengingly. When he didn’t argue further she turned to Julius. “You’ll have to stick with us though; I can’t guarantee the other teams will see you as allies instead of enemies.”

He nodded, standing as Alexander pulled a phone from a pocket and began dialling. He drew a wad of notes from his pocket and slid them under an empty wine bottle. “Let’s go. We’ll follow you.”

Chapter 10

“
We need more weapons,” Gabi muttered darkly around a lollipop. “I have some extras in the trunk of my car, but not enough.”