All Hell Breaks Loose (5 page)

“That’s not supposed to come off yet,” he warned around a mouthful of choc-chip cookie.

Gabi shot him a wither
ing
glance.  “It’s not bleeding anymore, and the bandage was just annoying.  I’ll put on a
Tegaderm
dressing, I have a couple in the medical kit,” she
sai
d.

Kyle raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
 
“It’ll bleed all over your sheets if you don’t,” he warned.

“Do you want to go and get one and put it on yourself?” she asked, exasperated.

“Nope.
  I trust you
.
”
He grinned at her around another cookie
. 
“And besides, you know if Rose finds blood on the sheets
,
she’s going to rat you out to Byron, so I’m sure you’ll do the clever thing.”

“Don’t you need to get back to HQ?” she asked him acidly.

Kyle flicked a look at his watch.
 
“Yep, you’re right, I’d better get going.”  He glugged the last half of his cup of coffee, grabbed another cookie, kissed Gabi on the cheek, deftly avoiding a swipe from Razor, and hurried out the door to his van
,
which he’d left in her driveway earlier.

Gabi slowly finished her coffee and nibbled on a cookie as she
wait
ed
for
the adrenalin high to gradually fade away in the calm quiet of the house.  She got up and lit a few candles before heading for the bedroom.  Tomorrow was Tuesday
,
and Rose would be in to clean and tidy up.  She loved the other woman like a second mother
,
and Rose treated her like another daughter. 
Kyle was
right,
Rose would be in a panic if she found bloodstains on the sheets.  Rose had seen the damaged house the day after the
Demon
h
urricane had been through,
and it had obviously shak
en her.  She was a part of the Community
, as she came from a Shape-shifter bloodline, though she wasn’t a Shifter herself, so she knew what Gabi’
s
Hunter job entailed.  She
’
d always been a bit of a worrier when it came to Gabi’s injuries, but Gabi knew from Kyle that she’d taken the house invasion rather badly
,
and Gabi really didn’t want to alarm her any more than necessary.

She gave a wry sigh as she pulled down the medical kit.  Why was it that everyone around her seemed more affected by the whole affair than she was?  She just wanted to get on with life as it had been before.  Only Kyle was making the effort to treat her the same way he always had, but she knew it was an effort.  Sometimes it sucked to be loved.  Of course
,
the most disappointing of the bunch was Julius.  She still had no idea what to make of his new attitude towards her. Or how long it was going to last.  She pulled a face as she positioned the transparent dressing over the stitched tooth mark; the bruising was worse than the bite.  She bit her lip as she applied pressure to settle the dressing and then peeled off the backing.  She moved her arm experimentally.  It was painful, but she had almost full flexibility in her elbow.  A plate of good food, a glass of good red wine and a hot bath and she’d be as right as the proverbial rain.

Later, sated
after
a dish of Rose’s amazing beef stroganoff
and
several glasses of
Aussie Merlot, Gabi lazed in a steaming hot bath.  She realised that she missed being able to take the time for small luxuries like this.  Between her animal behaviour work, her movie work and the Hunter shifts
,
she’d had very little time to spend on herself in the past two years.  Maybe it was time to start taking a few nights off each week.  The SMV had two new Hunters that they’d fast-tracked through the training programme
with the
Danté
threat
.  They were doing really well and had proved themselves more than capable in the final battle against Dant
é
’s Clan and
Demon
army. 
Thinking about
what she
could
be doing
if she took a couple of
nights off
brought
her back to the enigma that was Julius.

Even Alexander hadn’t been able to tell her what was going on with
his Sire
.  Alexander had been Julius’s friend for nearly two centuries and his second-in-command since Julius took on the role of Master of the City.  Gabi and Alexander hadn’t started out on the same page.  He was convinced there was no way she could actually live up to the legend of Angeli Morte, the Vampire equivalent of the boogie monster.  After fighting a couple of battles alongside her
,
his attitude towards her had changed to one of tolerated comrade-in-arms. 
But once
she revealed the truth of her heritage and he and Julius realised that she was, in fact, a living, bre
athing
Dhampir, his camaraderie had be
come
laced with an undertone of awe and respect.  Not that it stopped him from teasing her mercilessly every chance he got.

Alexander, or
Lex
Boy, as she liked to call him when he was annoying her,
told her
that older Vampires didn’t handle emotional change or distress very well. 
Even though
Danté
had been utterly insane, Julius still had to come to terms with killing his own brother. 
Added to that, Alexander insisted, Julius’s feelings for her were strong enough to affect him as well
,
and watching her almost die in his arms had seriously
disturbed
the Master Vampire’s state of mind.  Alexander had advised her to give him time and space and let him come to her when he was ready.  But Gabi’s patience was running out fast.  She didn’t like Julius’s distant attitude towards her.  He could love or hate her, but she couldn’t handle his utter detachment.

She slept restlessly, w
aking every time she rolled o
nto her bruised elbow and shoulder.  Aware of Razor restively pacing the house, she repeatedly called him back to the bed and tried to get him to
settle
.  When she did sleep
,
she found herself endlessly running to try and catch a shadowy figure that remained inexorably out of reach.

She got up early, feeling stiff and bleary eyed.  She
cleaned and refilled
the coffee maker and pulled on a long-sleeved robe before Rose arrived.  If she was careful about her arm
,
she could avoid worrying the older woman and also avoid the distressed phone call from Byron and the visit to Ian’s consulting rooms to have the wound checked. 
Minutes later, Rose let herself in and bustled into the kitchen.
Gabi gave her a quick hug, grabbed a cup of coffee
,
and headed to her office.

She’d barely sat down and turned on her computer when her mobile rang.  She considered ignoring it; it really was too early for anyone to be calling with good news, but then
she
noticed the caller ID.  It said Russell. 
Russbear
, as she called him, was her assistant animal trainer whenever she had work on movie sets.  It wasn’t that she actually needed the help of the friendly, ginger-haired Shapeshifter when handling the stunt animals; he was more of a prop for Gabi to appear less remarkable, as well as her minder in certain ways.  Her abilities with animals went far beyond simply understanding animal nature, she could actually control their emotions and
,
to an extent
,
their behaviour.  What she really needed was someone to tell her when she was
overstepping the boundaries of human belief and drawing too much attention to herself.  Russell was actually very good with animals, as good as anyone without her unique abilities could be, so he pulled his weight in that regard as well.  It was very unusua
l
for him to call her
,
though
;
they generally met on set on the day they were needed there.

Intrigued
,
she answered the call.

“Gabi
.
”

S
he could clearly hear the anxiety mixed with sudden relief in his voice.
 
“Russ, what’s wrong
?
” she asked, already knowing she wasn’t going to like his answer.

“It’s Derek,” he replied.

“Derek?” she repeated, confused.

A picture of the tall, dark and criminally handsome stuntman popped into her mind, but she couldn’t think why Russell would be calling a
bout him.  Derek was a ‘norm’, a full human,
and only a passing acquaintance of Russell’s.  They only met on movie sets where the three of them happened to work together.  Gabi had been struggling for months to keep the man at arm’s length.  He’d been open about his attraction to her, but she had a strict
‘no-norm
s
’
policy when it came to dating.  It was just too damn complicated.  But it hadn’t been easy to resist the man’s easy charm, honed athlete’s body and sexy, silver-grey eyes.

“Uh, yeah,” Russ said.  “You remember my friend Jenny, the make-up artist who covered up your burn mark on that last movie we did?”

“Yes,” Gabi said a little impatiently.

“Well, she called me to say that Derek hasn’t shown up for work for over a week,” he continued.

“Is he sick or injured?” Gabi asked, wondering why it felt like a load of cement had been tipped into her stomach.

“Word in the Community is that he’s been infected.”

“WHAT?”  She jumped to
her
feet so quickly that Razor leapt up from his nearby spot in the sun, fur on end, teeth bared, growling warningly.

Chapter 3

“Derek, let me in,” Gabi called when her fist pounding on the door didn’t elicit a response.  She knew he was home.  If the evidence of his truck in the driveway wasn’t enough, she could clearly scent him.  The presence of another vehicle on the curb disturbed her
.
I
t was a small red Toyota, the sort of car a woman would drive.  If he had a woman in the house with him
,
things could get ugly really fast because the Community was right.  His normal masculine scent was now heavily cloaked in the distinct tang of
Werewolf
.

“Derek!”
s
he shouted again.  “Let me in
,
or I’m
gonna
break in.”  Finally
,
she heard slow, heavy footsteps coming towards the door, then a dull thud, like a body slumping against a wall.

“Gabi
.
”
H
is hoarse voice cracked on her name
.  “Gabi, you need to leave.  I…
” He took a ragged breath, like a man exhausted.  “I can’t explain right now, but you have to trust me.  You need to go.”

Gabi tried to keep the frustration from overwhelming her patience.  “Derek, open the door,” she said in a commanding voice.  “I can help you.  I know what’s going on, and I can help you.”

“I’m sick
,
Gabi
.
Y
ou can’t come in here
.
I
t’s not safe,” a note of pleading in his voice now, “please just go.  I’ll call you when I’m better.”

“It’s not going to get better
,
Derek,” she said softly, “not without help.  You need to let me in.  I promise you I can help.  You have to trust me
.
I understand what’s happening to you.”

A half sob issued from the other side of the door.
 
“How can you possibly understand?” he demanded raggedly.  “No one can understand.  No one can help. And
…
”
H
e dragged in a breath
.
“I’ve done something terrible. 
Something unforgivable.
  No one can help me now.”

Ice drenc
hed
Gabi’s veins as she realised she might be too late to rescue the woman.  Either way
,
she had to get inside.

“Derek,” she repeated, struggling to keep her voice calm when it felt like she’d just mainlined adrenalin.  “You remember how many times I’ve been injured?  You remember suspecting that my injuries weren’t always caused by animals?  You’ve asked me about it more than once.  I know you’ve thought things weren’t quite right.  Your instincts weren’t wrong
,
Derek
.
T
hose injuries weren’t caused by animals.”  She paused
,
letting her words sink in.  “I have another job, a job that involves things that would send most humans screaming.  I’m trained to deal with those things. 
I. Can. Help.”
  She said the last three words with absolute conviction.