There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) (26 page)

Gabi stopped
the Aston Martin a few feet from Astrid and opened her door. The
gates to the Estate parted quietly and three guards emerged,
standing in a loose line across the drive. Astrid ignored them, but
pushed away from the motorbike with one booted foot and pulled an
envelope from a pocket inside her jacket.

“
This is for you and your
Master
.” She put emphasis on the last
word, and a slightly malicious glint of amusement flashed across
her face as she held out the envelope. Gabi clamped down on the
instant frisson of annoyance that speared her as she took the
envelope.

“
I believe you have something else for us as well,” Gabi said.
“On orders from your
Master
?” She made sure to load the
word as heavily as Astrid had. The woman’s lips curved into a
genuine smile. Touché. She produced a slip of paper from another
pocket.

“
This is my contact number,” she said, tapping ash from her
cigarette before putting it back to her lips and drawing in deeply.
She blew the smoke directly at Gabi. “Don’t use it too often.” She
dropped the half-smoked cigarette on the ground, not bothering to
put it out before pulling on her helmet, zipping up her jacket and
swinging her leg over the bike. Gabi didn’t watch her speed away
into the sunset.

Their second
visitor was wearing upmarket, black and white Converse high-tops
and black skinny jeans, topped off with an untucked white T-shirt
and denim jacket with the sleeves rolled up. His baby blond hair
was hidden by a black slouchie beanie, and mirror-lensed Oakleys
topped off the look.

“
Trying out for a boy band, Benedict?” Gabi teased. Even after
months of knowing him, it was still disconcerting trying to
reconcile the boyish facade with the centuries-old and powerful
Vampire she knew him to be.

“
Trying out a new look,” he said, his lips twitching into a
hint of a smile. “Do you think I could be the next
Bieber?”

Gabi couldn’t
contain the amused snort.

“
I assume you’re here because you have news?” Julius strode
into the room; he’d gone to check in with Patrick before joining
them. They’d called him from the plane, given him a brief rundown
of what had happened at the meeting, and asked him to speak to
Cassandra about Eka’s obscure clue. She wondered what was so
important that he’d come back to the City instead of just
calling.

“
Gabi and I were just hatching a devious plan to take the music
world by storm,” Benedict said, lounging against the bar counter,
one leg casually thrown over a bar stool.

Julius didn’t
dignify his comment with a reply, but strode to the business side
of the bar and set five glasses on the counter; two red wine
glasses and three crystal highballs. He reached for a bottle under
the counter and poured peach schnapps into one of the highballs
before taking a few moments to select a bottle of red from the wine
rack. He half-filled the two wine glasses and then poured bourbon
into one of the remaining highballs and Irish whiskey into the
other. Alexander and Fergus entered the room as Julius pushed the
peach schnapps towards Benedict and lifted the two glasses of
wine.

Alexander
exchanged a reserved nod with Benedict and added a couple of ice
cubes to the bourbon before handing the whiskey over to Fergus. The
Scotsman hurumphed his thanks and took a seat on one of the
barstools, the one closest to the door.

Julius handed
Gabi one of the wine glasses and placed the other on a low table
while he shrugged out of his Van Helsing duster. Mac quietly
entered the room and took up sentry duty near the door without fuss
or fanfare. Fergus must have woken him from daysleep; the sun had
only just gone down.

“
So, to business,” Benedict declared, savouring the last
mouthful of peach schnapps. “Number One was correct, as much as it
pains me to admit. Get comfortable, it’s a fairly long
story.”

“
Cassandra, despite her disturbing gift, is a terribly
compassionate and gentle soul,” Benedict said the words with slight
distaste.

Gabi had
guessed that much about the woman from her few brief encounters
with the willowy Princep; she seemed to carry the onerous burden of
the Death Touch unhappily. Gabi didn’t envy her the ability to kill
anything living with just the touch of her hand.

“
She befriends all the waifs and strays at the castle,”
Benedict continued, “including one particular cretin named Molvolk,
though most call him Molok, as that is what it sounds like when he
says it. The name seems to be an amalgamation of the words mole and
wolf in Russian.”

Julius settled
back into the sofa and Gabi nestled into his side, sipping on her
wine.

“
He’s been at the castle for some seventy or eighty years, as
far as Cassandra is aware, but he inexplicably went missing at the
same time that Caspian spirited Mariska and the Gemini twin
away.”

“
What is he, and why and how would he help Caspian?” Gabi was
intrigued but sceptical.

“
According to Cassandra, he’s half Magus, half Shape-shifter,”
Benedict told her. Everyone in the room stilled.

“
But it’s impossible for Magi and Shifters to reproduce, isn’t
it?” Gabi couldn’t remember why that was, just that it was fact in
her mind.

“
Actually they can reproduce very easily, but the offspring are
almost always…tainted in some way,” Julius explained. “The results
were so horrific that mating between Magi and Shifters was strictly
outlawed in the late nineteenth century.”

“
So when you call this Molok a cretin…” Gabi glanced at
Benedict to fill in the blanks.

“
He is severely deformed,” Benedict told her. “Almost the
entire left side of his body is affected. His arm is that of a
toddler, with only two almost useless fingers; his left leg is
several inches shorter than the right. He has horrific facial
deformities, a cleft lip, drooping eye and almost no
nose.”

“
So how and why would he help Caspian?” Alexander repeated the
second part of Gabi’s original question.

“
I’m getting to that.” Benedict scowled behind his sunglasses.
“His birthright wasn’t solely disfigurement, he also has a way with
the earth, in particular caves and tunnels. Cassandra describes him
as a human mole. He can actually move the ground and rocks with the
power of his mind.”

“
Holy shit,” Gabi swore, sitting bolt upright and almost
spilling her wine, “that would explain the holes in the floor of
the medical ward where the Dark Magi were being held, despite the
ground appearing solid underneath.”

Benedict
nodded. “Exactly. For reasons unknown to Cassandra, Caspian had
actually developed some kind of friendship with Molok during his
time at Court. It defies explanation, the Spaniard has few friends
there, unless he has some kind of foresight…enough to know when to
make useful alliances. Regardless, many of the staff had seen them
talking and even witnessed Caspian buying things in town for the
man.”

“
And Molok hasn’t returned to Court?” Julius
checked.

“
No,” Benedict confirmed. “He’s been known to go wandering for
a couple of weeks at a time in the past, but Cassandra says he’s
never been gone this long before. She had noticed he was scarce,
she kind of keeps an eye out for him, but it was only when I asked
about him that she realised he went missing the same time as
Caspian.”

“
So if they’re still traveling together, then we need only to
put out feelers at international entry points for someone who has
seen a badly deformed man travelling with several companions.”
Alexander sounded excited.

“
Exactly,” Benedict agreed. “And to narrow it down further,
apparently he always wears a tatty fur cloak. Something to do with
his survival as a child. Cassandra thinks he is at least a century
old, and a hundred years ago most deformed babies would have been
killed or left out in the elements to die. It seems as though a dog
or a wolf took care of him and nurtured him to adulthood. Between
his deformities and his attire, he would definitely stand out in a
crowd.”

“
Mac,” Julius said, bringing the man to attention, “find
Murphy. Get him on this.”

Mac nodded once
and left as quietly as he’d arrived.

“
And now you get to share a story with me,” Benedict said,
ambling over to the sofa opposite Gabi and Julius’s. He sprawled
across it nonchalantly, but when he removed his glasses and threw
them on the table, the intensity of his gaze belied his casual body
language.

Julius had been
brief when filling Benedict in over the phone from the plane; now
it was apparent that he wanted more details. Between them, Julius
and Gabi recounted most of the meeting with Eka, but, in tacit
agreement, neither of them mentioned Eka’s knowledge of Dhampirism.
That was something they needed to wrap their heads around first.
Privately. They focussed instead on Eka’s relationship with the
girl and what he’d told them of his gift.

Julius paused
when they reached the abrupt end to the meeting, scrutinising the
Princep’s face.

Benedict was
silent for long seconds, his gaze fixed unseeingly on a painting
near the fireplace.

“
His infatuation with the human girl explains a lot,” he
finally said. “If, of course, it is the truth and not some kind of
subterfuge.”

“
You think he would have been able to fool all of us?” Julius
included Fergus and Mac, who’d returned a few minutes ago, in his
nod. The Princep took the time to study each one of them, weighing
them. He took the longest studying Fergus. The Scotsman calmly
returned his gaze, not giving an inch.

“
Fair enough,” Benedict said at last. “That is unlikely.” Then
he turned back to Julius. “You should not have allowed Tabari to go
with him. That may well be a grave mistake.”

“
How do you figure that?” Gabi asked, feeling Julius stiffen
beside her. Letting Tabari go was a raw wound that neither of them
was comfortable with, but no one had the right to tell Julius what
to do with his own Clan members.

“
If Eka’s main strength lies in what he told you, he is sorely
lacking in offensive skills. He has built his reputation based on
his strong defensive abilities. If you give him a powerful, fully
trained Vodun priestess, he will have the best of both worlds. She
will make him nigh-on invincible. If he changes his mind and
decides to go back to what he knows best, where does that leave
us?”

“
With the only Dhampir in the known world.” Mac spoke up,
surprising Gabi. He rarely got involved in conversation when
Benedict was around, but his face was taut with frustration. “Don’t
you see? That’s the problem here. The Lucis and the Decuria have
kept to some kind of equilibrium for decades. You told us that they
have never truly gone out of their way to change the face of the
world because neither side was strong enough to dominate the other.
Now you hold a game-changer piece, the kind that could wipe them
out entirely. Until they hold one too, there isn’t an even playing
field, and they will do their utmost to swing the pendulum back in
their favour.” One of Mac’s greatest assets was his ability to see
things from several points of view; what he saw made perfect sense.
“With Tabari training Flora, we have a chance to manipulate what
they see as their game-changer piece. Even if Eka changes his mind,
we will always have as much or more knowledge than
them.”

“
We have no way of knowing what is going on in the Decurian
minds,” Benedict said. “You can theorise all you like, but they
still have us on the back foot.”

“
I know exactly what is going on in the Decurian ranks,” Julius
responded, his tone such that he instantly had Benedict’s undivided
attention.

“
Explain,” Benedict ground out.

“
When we reached our helicopter, another of the Decurians was
waiting for us, with a contingent of Vampires and Werewolves. They
were there to take possession of Gabrielle,” Julius
said.

“
What?” Benedict seemed oddly rattled. “Which Decurian? What
happened?”

“
We took control of his people, and, when he refused to answer
our questions, I took the information directly from his memories. I
broke his mind, but now I know everything he knew. I have the best
understanding of the Decuria that anyone outside of the Ten is ever
likely to have.” Julius usually bordered on deferential when
dealing with Benedict, or any of the Princeps, but there was
nothing respectful or submissive about his attitude now. Gabi moved
slightly so that she no longer leaned against him, the tension had
become so thick that she almost expected the two Vampires to leap
at each other.

In silence
Benedict stared at him, eyes narrowed, a muscle ticking in his
jaw.

“
We will need to fully debrief you,” he finally said, his voice
cold. “You have to tell us everything. There are bound to be
consequences for killing one of the Ten.”

Gabi was
confused by Benedict’s unexpected withdrawal. She looked to Julius;
they’d spent some time discussing what Julius had found in Zayden’s
memories, enough to reassure her that Eka was telling the truth
about his stance on the Decurian’s role in the world and that there
were those who disagreed with him and wanted to usurp him. She’d
realised Julius was holding back, but had decided to give him time
to process it, expecting him to tell her when he was ready. With
the loaded look now hanging between him and the Princep, it seemed
there was more going on than she’d anticipated. Perhaps the Lucis
weren’t as perfectly on the level as she’d assumed.