There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) (19 page)

“
What is the travel time?” Gabi asked.

“
About twelve hours in the air and another two and half or so
of road travel. The area she’s in is a military no-fly zone, so no
private planes or helicopters allowed.”

“
Fifteen hours in total,” Julius mused. “Just long enough that
we will be concluding our meeting at around the same time we can
get people to her.”

“
Exactly,” Murphy agreed. “It explains why he isn’t going out
of his way to keep her hidden anymore. Alexander told me that you
have no contacts there that we could rely on to make the raid for
us either. He’s crossed all his T’s, hasn’t he?”

“
Yes, a supreme strategist.” Julius’s eyes were narrowed and
his top lip twitched. “We’re being led around by the nose.” Gabi
knew this was his thinking face.

“
Call Patrick to
the war room. We have a rescue to orchestrate.”

CHAPTER
10

The ruins
hardly deserved the name. So little remained of whatever original
structure stood here that Gabi couldn’t picture the place in better
times. Mother nature had reclaimed what was hers, thick jungle
inexorably swallowing the feeble attempts of humankind to beat it
back. Vines and shrubbery interwove through the sparse remains of
hand-carved rock walls, trees exploded from beneath the chipped
mosaic floor, and anything less durable than rock was long gone.
Beetles, mice and shrews scuttled in the heavy leaf litter while
bats swooped overhead and restless monkeys patrolled the highest
branches of the forest around them.

The abundance
of wildlife lent Gabi a sense of reassurance. There was an army at
her disposal if they needed it.

As they
travelled further into the ruins, a bonfire crackled in the very
centre of a large open area, perhaps once a hall or place of
worship. It was an oval less than twenty metres long and half that
wide, though the encroaching jungle made it feel smaller.

On the far side
of the fire waited six human shapes.

Gabi and Julius
led their small group forward, coming to a halt several feet back
from the fire. Gabi had scanned and re-scanned the area with her
ESP since reaching the summit; four Vampires and two Werewolves
registered to her senses, aside from their group, and Butch, of
course. There was one other presence that prickled the back of her
mind, making her slightly uneasy and hinting at a long-forgotten
memory that she couldn’t bring to mind. It didn’t shout imminent
threat, but it set her teeth on edge.

On the other
side of the bonfire someone stepped forward, a tall, slender man,
with pale skin and pale hair; in the light of the fire it was hard
to discern if his hair was white blonde or white grey. His features
were lean and angular, like the rest of the man, cheekbones
prominent and chin narrow, but lips full, hinting at sensuality and
somehow softening the rest of his face. Scandinavian sprang to
mind. While not classically handsome, Gabi doubted this man ever
struggled to find willing partners, female or male. There was a
hint of the androgynous about him. She ran a critical eye over his
attire: a dark, perfectly fitted pinstriped suit, complete with
matching waistcoat, crisp white shirt, probably silk, and pale grey
tie. Another in the group held a dark overcoat over one arm, which
Gabi suspected belonged to the pale man too. His black leather
dress shoes reflected the light of the bonfire like a mirror.

Show-off, Gabi
thought darkly. She, by comparison, felt exactly like she’d just
pushed through twenty miles of untraversed jungle. She tucked a
stray, knotted curl back behind her left ear and surreptitiously
tugged out the small twig she found there.

“
Good evening.” The man in the suit spoke at last. “I hope you
didn’t find the trip too taxing.” His English was perfect, smooth
and resonant, the timbre lending further to the illusion of
androgyny, and his crisp pronunciation even put Julius to shame.
Still, Gabi doubted it was his original accent. He was too old for
that; her ability to sense the exact age of a Vampire became blurry
after about two centuries, but, having met several older Vampires
now, she at least had a working comparison. They had suspected that
the Decuria Number One would try to fool them by sending forward
someone as his proxy, but it seemed they’d been wrong. This Vampire
was at least as old as Benedict and hundreds of years older than
any of the other Vampires in the ruins. But he didn’t emanate raw
power like Julius or a mixture of age and potency like Benedict. He
felt somehow different.

“
You are the one known as Eka?” Gabi asked for the benefit of
the others.

“
I am indeed.” The man smiled warmly, but the warmth didn’t
touch his eyes; he was keeping his expression carefully controlled.
His hands were clasped loosely together in front of him, his feet
slightly parted and his body at ease. “You would be Gabrielle
Bradford, the Dhampir and esteemed Consort of Master Vampire
Julius.”

He turned his
attention to Julius, who stood on Gabi’s left. Unlike her, he’d
come through the jungle looking fresh and unscathed; one hand
through his hair had seen it back to tousled perfection. The dark
combat trousers and black, long-sleeve crew neck accentuated his
wide shoulders and lean waist. He would look like a bodyguard lined
up alongside the suave Decurian. He stood motionless beside her,
arms folded, weight evenly balanced.

“
I am so pleased to meet the two of you,” Eka continued. “The
stories of your exploits are nothing short of legendary, and I’m
sure will be told to countless generations of newly Turned
Vampires.”

“
You wished to meet with us?” Julius interrupted his meandering
discourse.

“
I do not see my Sicarius with you?” the man mused. “I trust he
is still alive?”

“
Yes, of course,” Gabi answered, “we had to leave him to follow
at his own pace, or we may not have made your deadline.”

“
You left him without protection or a guard?” Eka sounded
surprised.

“
He has both,” Julius said shortly. “A member of the Clan is
with him.” No need to tell him that the Clan member was a
forty-pound cat. Gabi hid a smile, and Eka’s eyes narrowed
slightly.

“
Why exactly have you gone to so much trouble to bring us
here?” Julius asked, crossing his arms across his chest. “Alone, on
the top of a mountain without any other Decuria to back you
up?”

The man mirrored him, folding his arms too, but his smile
didn’t falter. “In such a rush, my friend,” he chided, British
royalty dripping from each word. “Forgive me my old-fashioned
manners and let us observe a few pleasantries before getting to
business. We shall start with a little show-and-tell.” Without any
outward sign from him, the rest of his group moved forward,
spreading out to flank him, three on each side. “As a show of good
faith, I’ll show you mine first.” He opened his arms to encompass
his people and his smile widened so brilliantly that he seemed the
tiniest bit unhinged. Gabi tensed automatically, her right palm
itching for Nex.
Steady
. The word was breathed softly into her mind.

“
This is Annmarie.” Eka indicated a tall female Vampire at his
right shoulder. She dipped her head slightly in polite greeting,
but her eyes spoke of dark, dangerous things. “She is my personal
guard,” he extrapolated.

“
This is Felipe.” He turned to the man on his right, shorter,
with a wiry build and dark hair, he reminded Gabi painfully of
Marcello, one of Julius’s guards who had died the true death,
someone Gabi had come to love as a friend. “He is my right-hand
man.” Eka laughed a little at his own joke as he waved his right
hand in front of the man.

Gabi
steadfastly resisted the urge to look at the watch on her wrist. It
would show the countdown to the ETA of Kyle’s group, who were on
their way to Transylvania to rescue her mother. She was desperate
to know if things were going according to plan. The sooner they had
her mother in safe hands, the easier the negotiations here would
go.

“
The rest are of no significance,” the man continued, “except
for this one.” He reached out a hand and pulled one of the figures
to stand beside him. The figure was shrouded in a thick, black
cloak—hood up, no part of the person exposed—but stood at least a
foot shorter than the Decurian. Eka tugged the hood back, baring
the head of a girl. The girl was of African descent, her hair cut
short, her eyes large in her small face, her skin a rich, dark
umber. Gabi judged her to be no more than mid-teens. The air behind
Gabi swirled and Tabari was suddenly beside her, a low growl rising
from his chest. Gabi clamped a hand on his arm as Eka looked up and
the others around him tensed. Tabari didn’t back down an inch but
didn’t move any further forward either. His gaze was fixed on the
girl.

“
What is the meaning of this?” Tabari demanded, anger deepening
his accent. “What are you doing with her?”

“
This is Flora,” Eka introduced the girl, his eyes not straying
from Tabari. “She is my ward. I tried calling her my foster
daughter, but she didn’t like that, so we settled on ward, like
Batman, she tells me. She was orphaned seven years ago and banished
by her tribe. She was found by an elderly priestess who envisioned
her plight. She was taken to the nearest city and word came to me
of her predicament. I had need of her potential gifts; she had need
of someone to care for and protect her. Now she has come into her
powers and she has need of a mentor. To fully come into her own, to
become as skilled as she wants to be, she has need of one taught in
the old ways.”

In the space of
a lightning strike Gabi understood why the Decurian needed Tabari,
and so much more.

“
It was her,” Gabi said, her tone only just above a whisper.
“She was shielding my mother from the Magi who tried to track her.
She is a Vodun priestess.”

Eka’s gaze
drifted to her, and he smiled. “She is an acolyte, a priestess in
training. She will one day be capable of great things, but now she
needs a teacher.”

“
What do you plan to do with her?” Tabari growled. “A fully
trained priestess is capable of not only great things, but of
terrible things, things that defy the natural laws, things that
should rather be left untouched.” The desolation in his voice cut
at Gabi; she’d never heard such emotion from him before. What he
spoke of was deeply personal to him; it made her wonder what he’d
been through, how he’d come by such painful knowledge.

“
Flora’s future is her own,” Eka said, putting one hand on the
girl’s shoulder. She didn’t flinch or change expression as Gabi
might have expected from someone being coerced or forced into a
situation. “She is sixteen now, she is no longer officially my
ward, and she is free to choose her own path. I personally am very
attached to her, as any foster father would be. I only want the
best for her. And if she chooses to stay with me, she is eternally
welcome in my family and Clan.”

“
Father, you have no need to fear.” The girl spoke for the
first time, putting a hand onto Eka’s and turning her face towards
him. Her voice was clear and strong, her accent a curious
combination of West African and British. Her expression erased any
doubt that she was under duress. The affection in her expression
would be impossible to force, even for someone like Fergus, whose
control over humans was impeccable. “Even if I do stray over the
years, home will always be wherever you are.” She turned back to
Gabi’s group, but her gaze was all for Tabari. “I owe my father
everything. He took me in when no one else cared; he makes
allowances for my differences and protects me more than he should.
But I also want to honour my birth mother; she was a powerful and
respected priestess, who shielded our village from enemy eyes for
many years. A neighbouring tribe had her assassinated when news of
her ability to protect our village reached them. When she was dead,
the other tribe attacked, killing the men, stealing our cattle and
our crops. Afterwards what was left of my people shunned me. They
feared the ancestors were angry with my mother and had allowed her
to be killed; they worried that I would bring them more bad
fortune. I was sent away.”

Under Gabi’s
hand, the muscles on Tabari’s forearms bunched and rippled, as
though the girl’s words caused him physical pain. She glanced at
him, alarmed. In the warm glow of the bonfire a single tear trailed
unheeded down Tabari’s cheek.

“
Your story, little one, has been the harsh reality of Africa
for centuries,” he said, his voice raw with emotion.

“
Please.” The girl took a step forward away from the protective
hand of her foster father. “Please help me. I will not dishonour
the ancestors, I swear. I don’t think they were punishing my
mother, and I want to make them proud. I only want to be able to
protect my new family, to keep those I love from harm.”

“
This is what you require of my son?” Julius spoke now. Gabi
had never heard him refer to one of the Clan members as a son, but
the emphasis was clear. He loved each of them as family, and he was
making the point to Eka that Tabari meant as much to him as Flora
did to the Decurian. “You want him to be her mentor, to train her
in Vodun ways? This is in exchange for the safe return of my
Consort’s mother?” His words were simple, but Gabi could detect the
menace behind them. Eka must have sensed it too, as he stepped
forward, coming up behind Flora to place both hands on her
shoulders.