A Cat's Chance in Hell (47 page)

At his words, the other Vampire also straightened his spine and his face took on a sneering insolence. The sneer was still on his face when Alexander’s sword severed his head from his shoulders.

A moment later, they could hear human voices coming from the far side of the kitchen, the SMV contingent was cleaning up from the rear, so the men sent Athena to join the newcomers before making their way through the dank, underground passageway to the wine cellar. The far side of the passage tilted upward again as though it came out at ground level. They slowed at the other end, preparing themselves for whatever was waiting for them on the other side of the door. As they burst through the door, a group of five stood guard around a large trapdoor cut into the wooden floorboards. The Vampire and four Demons spun as one at the sound of their arrival and immediately launched into an attack. Julius heard a ripping noise to his right and spared a glance to see Kyle explode into Wolf form, his clothing falling in torn strips around him. It was the first time Julius had seen him in this form, and at any other time he would’ve taken a moment to drink in the sight of the magnificent Wolf. Kyle gave a toothy grin and launched himself at the foremost Demon, while Alexander engaged the Vampire. He threw a look at Julius as he spun to block a blow from one of the Demons.

“
Go. Find her,” he shouted and chopped the arm off the Demon before spinning back to his Vampire opponent.

Julius didn’t hesitate, he dodged the fight and sped straight for the trap door, throwing it open and jumping down into the dark, landing soundlessly on the hard-packed earth floor. A door stood closed at the end of a short, narrow corridor.

Chapter 24

Julius sped towards the door, his boot covered feet barely touching the ground. He could feel Danté’s and Gabi’s presence in the room beyond the door. He wasn’t sure how many non-Vampires were in the room with them, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t bother to check if the door was locked or not, he simply threw his power and his weight at it and it shattered into a confetti of wooden splinters. He plunged into the room, prepared for anything — except the scene that faced him.

It took him a half second to scan the entire room and realise that there was no one else in large, dank room except the two people on the floor near the far wall. A lighter and candles lay on a table, amid a collection of knives, wooden stakes and pieces of silver chain. There was blood on most of the knives, and it wasn’t Danté’s. Julius forced himself to drag his gaze from the contents of the table to the target of his rage; the Vampire now hunched over the much too still form of the woman he would do anything to protect. He knew before a second had fully passed what Danté was doing crouched over Gabi’s motionless body. He was doing the one thing that would hurt Julius the most. He was taking Gabi’s blood, draining her, so that he could turn her. Change her into a Vampire. Danté’s Vampire. If Danté managed to get any of his own blood into her at the right moment, Gabi would become a Vampire and would be inescapably tied to Danté; by Vampire law she’d be his to do with as he pleased.

Julius saw the same thoughts fly across Danté’s face as he swept across the room towards them, Danté had counted on having more time, but he would try it now if he was forced to. His mouth ripped from Gabi’s neck to his own wrist.

“
NO!” Julius roared, flying at Danté. His rage afforded him speed and strength like he’d never experienced before. Before Danté could withdraw his fangs from his own vein, Julius was on him. Julius didn’t even bother trying to hold the deranged Vampire with his power; it was too much of a risk with Gabi lying so close and Danté’s blood already welling from the puncture wounds in his arm. He simply launched himself at Danté with the power of a speeding train. The other Vampire flew backward through the air to hit the bare brick wall several feet away. The force of his impact cracked the wall and shook the room, bringing a cloud of dust and debris raining down on them all. Danté leapt up from the floor, flicking his long, dark blonde hair out of his eyes and dusting off his clothes. For a moment, the two Vampires simply stared at each other, their memories peeling back the years, remembering the last time they’d laid eyes on each other.

“
Julius.” Danté’s voice was calm and genteel, but still held the usual tinge of arrogance. “It’s been too long.”

As Julius stalked towards the other Vampire, placing himself between Danté and Gabi’s still form, he found himself looking into the face of someone he had once loved unconditionally; someone he’d respected and adored.

“
Yes, it has Danny,” Julius said, only barely conscious of using the old nickname. The other Vampire let out a peal of manic laughter.

“
Sorry, Julius. In case you hadn’t noticed, Danny doesn’t live here anymore. There is only Danté, Demon Master and soon-to-be Master of the City,” Danté declared, wiping at a smear of blood at the corner of his mouth and sneaking a hungry look at Gabi around Julius’s shoulder.

“
You’re not getting anywhere near her again,” Julius said in low warning. “This is going to end here and now!” His words didn’t seem to register on Danté, and he continued as though Julius hadn’t spoken.

“
I must say, I can see why you’ve kept her around. She tastes awfully good, even if she was a bit too spirited for my liking. I think I’ve solved that problem though,” his voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, “pity you won’t get to enjoy the new, broken-in Angeli Morte.”

Julius’s chest tightened and dread washed through him in a cold wave. He cast around for some kind of distraction to give him an opening in Danté defences as the other Vampire continued.

“
But there is only room for one of us in this world.” Danté’s voice trailed off as his eyes suddenly turned devious, and he took a step towards Julius. “Unless, brother mine, you are willing to join with me.” A new plan seemed to be blossoming in his mind. “Come, Julius, give me your blood oath. Stand beside me instead of against me. Demon Master and Vampire Master - we’ll be unstoppable. Even the precious Princeps will be running for cover. The world will be ours to do with as we please.” His eyes were alight with excitement and fervour.

As Julius stared into Danté’s demented, grey eyes, he knew he was finally doing the right thing, and it gave him a small measure of peace. Danté had given him an opening, and he took it. His eyes softened, his body relaxed, and his eyes closed in apparent submission. “Brother,” he whispered, almost stumbling towards the other Vampire, reaching out his arms as though to welcome him.

Danté froze for an instant, his expression suspicious, and then he smiled beatifically. He moved towards Julius, reaching out to him in welcome as well.

Julius moved willingly into that embrace. “Danny,” Julius whispered again, “I love you.” And then he plunged Nex into Danté’s back, straight into his brother’s heart, twisting the blade viciously to make the death quick and final. He watched the shock flash across Danté’s face as he held his brother’s body against his own for a moment. Then the shock left Danté’s face, and in the last moment of life, his brother’s human eyes stared into his, and they looked …… grateful, then the light was gone.

Julius took a deep breath. “Goodbye, baby brother,” he said, still whispering, and he let his brother’s body drop to the floor.

He didn’t watch as the body began to whither and shrivel but rushed back to where Gabi lay utterly still on the floor in a spreading pool of her own blood. He desperately moved her head to get a better look at the bite wound on her neck. The blood was still pulsing out of the open carotid artery. A movement in the doorway brought Julius back to his feet in a swift motion, immediately on the defensive. Kyle and Alexander surged into the room and stopped dead at the sight in front of them. Kyle had switched back to human form and was wearing Alexander’s overcoat.

“
Danté?” Alexander asked urgently, eyes darting around the room.

Julius indicated with a toss of his head the pile of decaying skin and bones lying a few feet away.

“
Gabi!” Kyle cried, horrified as he took in the sight of her. Besides the blood pooling around her shoulder, she had obviously been beaten, stabbed, cut and burned. One side of her face was a black and red swollen mess, her eye swollen shut, blood trickling from her mouth and nose.

Julius looked down at her, and then at the blood covering his hands, her blood, her body lying crumpled in a heap at his feet, his head swam as he realised that this was his vision come to life. This was what he had seen would happen so many days, was it only days - it felt like months - before.

“
No. No! No! NO!” His voice rose with each denial, until the last was a kind of roared keening.

“
Stop that,” Kyle yelled at him. “She’s still alive, can’t you feel her heartbeat? Listen Julius, she’s still got a chance. We must stop the bleeding.”

“
Julius,” Alexander’s voice cut into his moment of insanity, sharp and reproachful. “Kyle’s right. She’s still alive. Either help us or get out the way.”

Julius felt a semblance of sanity return, felt the red tinge to his sight fade a little, and realised he was crouched over her in a protective stance, daring anyone to try and get near her. He blinked and mentally shook himself, trying to calm his inner sense of utter hopelessness.

“
Get the medics. Now,” he growled at Kyle.

Then he kneeled in the blood close to her head. He leaned down to brush away her blood matted hair and fastened his mouth to the terrible wound. He sensed more than saw Alexander keep Kyle back when Kyle saw what he was doing; reassuring him that Julius was only stopping the flow of blood, not feeding. He heard Kyle speak quickly and urgently into the phone telling the medics where to find them. He kept pressure on the wound with his tongue, not even tasting her blood in his mouth as he did it. He worked his mouth making himself produce more saliva, forcing it into the rip in her artery with his tongue. Once he felt the pulsing slow and could sense the wound coming together, starting to close, he unfastened his mouth from the area. He continued to lick over the wound again and again, cleaning the blood away from her torn skin and flesh, and beginning to seal the outer wound. He prayed to whatever God was listening that he’d done enough to stop the flow of blood from the artery.

Kyle let out a relieved breath when Julius moved away from her neck, and they could see that the blood flow had stopped. Kyle knelt down on the other side of Gabi and was now trying to assess her injuries and do something to help.

“
I’m not sure the artery is completely sealed,” Julius said, lisping slightly as he tried to speak around his extended fangs. “We need to get her to a hospital, her heartbeat is not strong or steady, and she has lost far too much blood.”

“
The medics are at least a few minutes away, they have to be escorted through the fighting,” Kyle said. “Ian is on his way in a chopper, and he has bagged blood with him, but his ETA is about ten minutes.”

It was a clear indication that all of them were monitoring her condition closely when all three of them looked at her simultaneously as her heartbeat faltered for a terrifying second, and then started up again in an unsteady, hiccupping rhythm.

“
Julius,” Kyle said anxiously, “you gave her blood to heal her when she was staked. Give her some now, enough to stabilise her until the medics can get here.”

Julius turned tortured eyes to Alexander’s briefly, acknowledging Alexander’s brief shake of the head, before looking back at Kyle.

“
I wish I could,” Julius whispered hoarsely, “but it’s too dangerous.”

“
What?” shouted Kyle in disbelief. “You’re the reason she’s lying here. Now you can’t do anything to help her.” His anger, quick and hot, burst across the Vampires’ senses, the smell of Wolf suddenly filling the room. Neither of them had ever seen Kyle lose his temper, never even seen him come close.

“
Kyle,” Alexander said, putting a calming hand on his shoulder, “you need to understand what happened before we got here. Julius didn’t say he didn’t want to help; he said it was too dangerous.”

“
What’s that supposed to mean? What happened before we got here?” Kyle was still furious. If he was any other Werewolf, he would’ve been sporting fur, fangs and four legs already.

“
Danté was trying to turn Gabi.” Alexander explained calmly, but Julius could hear the edge of fury in his voice. “That’s why she was on her way to bleeding out. He wasn’t just feeding; he opened her artery so he could drain her. He was in the process of turning her into a Vampire. A Vampire who would have belonged to him in every possible sense of the word.”

Kyle shuddered, but persisted in his angry frustration. “So why does that make it dangerous for Julius to help her.”

“
To finish turning a human a Vampire has to give his own blood to the human after he’s almost drained the human of their own blood.”

“
Do you understand now?” Julius demanded, angry again himself. “She’s lost enough blood that if I give her any of mine, or Alexander’s, it may finish what Danté started. It may turn her into a Vampire. Do you think she wants that? Do we have the right to make the decision for her?” Julius could no longer contain the profound turmoil inside him. Pain seared across his face, his eyes burned with fear and torment.

“
Shit!” Kyle slumped down beside her, taking her hand, bringing it up to his mouth to brush the back of it against his lips, and closing his eyes as though in prayer.