There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) (5 page)

“
They’ve had more than two dozen sign up already,” Trish
continued. “Mostly Shifters, a few of the younger Werewolves and
even a couple of Magi, those who have contacts or family involved
in the Community.” Trish flicked through a few pictures and stopped
again before showing Gabi another batch of photos.

“
Wow,” Gabi said, genuinely impressed. HQ had indeed been
transformed; conference rooms had become a state-of-the-art music
studio, a fully equipped art studio, a library and even a mini
movie theatre. A group of smaller offices had been knocked together
into a large communal lounge area with TVs, beanbags, foosball
tables, pool tables, computers and arcade games.

“
The training run is still there,” Kyle told her with a grin.
“Derek uses it as part of his physical training programme, though
he’s toned it down a bit from the days we used it.” Nostalgia swept
over Gabi. She missed that training run. It had been a demanding,
ever-changing obstacle course, and she’d loved to challenge herself
on it.

“
He’s also running a self-defence class for women and has
opened it up to human-only classes as well,” Trish explained,
“though the human women don’t know that, of course.”

“
How are they getting around keeping the bulk of it
supernaturals only?” Gabi asked, intrigued. When they first floated
the idea, Gabi had assumed they’d keep it a low-key affair, but
they had taken it to an unexpected level.

“
It’s been labelled as a volunteer group for gifted teens.”
Trish made air quotes. “There’s a complicated admission process and
long waiting list. In due course humans will just be told that they
don’t fit the requirements. I’m sure there will be a few issues
along the way, but with Byron’s help they’ll get through without
too much fuss.”

“
What has the response been from the Community?” Gabi asked.
This was a project that could easily be sunk if the elders of the
Community didn’t get on board, and Gabi wasn’t sure Derek’s psyche
was up to another blow.

“
Oh, you won’t believe it,” Trish said, “they’ve got behind it
one hundred percent.” She must have noticed Gabi’s scepticism. “I
swear, ask Kyle. They had so many offers of help they’ve had to
turn many of them down.”

“
It’s true,” Kyle confirmed. “Even if the kids aren’t keen, the
adults will drag them there by their ears. It seems this has been a
missing element in our society—somewhere for those with
supernatural abilities as well as those coming to terms with
parents, siblings or friends with those abilities to hang out
together and trade ideas on how to interact with the human world as
well as let loose and just be themselves in groups of their peers.
It’s actually pretty cool.”

“
That is fantastic news,” Gabi said. “I needed some of
that.”

Trish’s face
instantly turned more serious. “Murphy told me it was another dead
end.” The dead end Trish was referring to was the latest goose
chase to the other side of the world, hoping to finally track down
the Vampire Caspian, the Dark Magus Mariska and the one surviving
half of the Gemini twins. Kyle took a seat beside her at the
kitchen counter, his expression also sober.

If Slinky
hadn’t been snoring ever so slightly in her left ear, Gabi might
have been tempted to bang her head on the countertop. The last
couple of months had taught her the true meaning of the word
frustration.

“
This one really seemed promising.” Gabi sighed. “That’s why we
stuck around longer than normal. We sniffed out every corner of the
town and every corner of every other town in a twenty-mile radius.
Nothing. Zip, zero, fuck all. How can the three
of them
, Mariska heavily pregnant,
and the Gemini twin mentally unresponsive, disappear so
completely?”

“
The world is a big place, Gabs,” Kyle said. “Caspian has been
around for centuries; he probably has loads of friends and lowlife
contacts no one else knows about. You knew this wasn’t going to be
easy setting out.”

Gabi turned a
baleful glare on him, and he quickly moved all throwable objects
out of her reach. That almost earned him a smile. Kyle always had
been the pragmatic one, the reasonable one, the yin to her yang,
the calm water to her roaring inferno. He’d get in the canoe with
her when she was way up shit creek, and he’d be the one to remember
the paddle. He was her oldest and best friend, but there were times
she still wanted to hit him with something.

“
And SID is still doing an amazing job, even if you haven’t
found Caspian yet,” Trish reminded her. “You can’t lose sight of
the good things you’re doing. You must celebrate the successes.”
That was true, the task force they’d set up at the behest of the
Princeps had caught and apprehended three separate Vampires in the
act of attempting to create Dhampirs. An act criminalised several
months ago by the Princep Council and punishable by death. While
putting an end to the Vampires’ cruel attempts was indeed a win for
the world at large, Gabi didn’t like the idea of sending them off
to the Princeps for trial and execution. More than one of them had
begged to be allowed to kiss the sun before they were shipped off
to Court. But she didn’t make the rules, and she was trying to keep
her head down and her nose clean, determined not to be pulled up in
front of the Council herself again. They were a scary bunch, and
once was more than enough for her taste.

“
You’re right, the Dhampir Squad have done good work,” she
agreed, unable to help the ghost of a smile at the name the regular
members of SID had bestowed on themselves. She and Julius had a
core of experienced Vampires and Werewolves whose only
responsibility now was to SID. This included Murphy, a human who,
up until a few months ago, called himself Darkstalker and had tried
to expose Werewolves to the world at large, but now he worked for
them and had shown remarkable talent at computer hacking. Another
regular was Mac, a newer Vampire and personal friend of Gabi’s
who’d been a private investigator when he was human. And then there
was Butch, a Werewolf who could drive just about anything with an
engine and was also a dab hand at patching up the wounded. A
handful of other trusted Vampires and Werewolves rounded out the
group. “And our base of experts to call on is growing by the week.
More Clans have offered far more help than we expected.” All of
them had anticipated resistance when asking for the assistance of
Vampires from other Clans with certain powerful gifts, but the
opposite had proved true. Either the might of the Princeps’ wishes
was a particularly strong motivator, or other Clans genuinely
didn’t want the chaos and upheaval that would ensue if Vampires
were once again able to create Dhampirs. Gabi suspected a
combination of the two.

“
So many great positives.” Trish beamed with approval before
turning to the coffee machine, pouring fresh grounds into it and
setting it to brew now that the midday heat was finally beginning
to dissipate.

Gabi blew out
her cheeks. If only she had Trish’s optimistic view on life. “We’re
running out of time, you know,” she told her friends. “By our
estimations Mariska is between six and seven months along. At this
point she could have the babies at any time, and they’d more than
likely survive. And then who knows what havoc will follow.”

“
Do you really think Caspian will do something to newborn
babies?” Trish turned back to her, dawning horror scrawled across
her features. “Surely he’ll wait until they’re older?”

“
We just don’t know.” Gabi shook her head, trying to dispel the
images that flashed through her mind: Caspian sinking his fangs
into babies, Mariska using them as blood sacrifices, perhaps hoping
to bring back her Dark Magus lover from the brink of death. A
shudder crawled down her spine. “But we’d rather not give him, or
Mariska, the opportunity to do anything to them.” Slinky seemed to
sense her unease and disentangled himself to settle on the counter
instead.

Trish came
around the counter and pulled Gabi into another hug. “You’ll find
them; I know you will.” Gabi allowed herself the luxury of
believing her friend, even if it was just for a few minutes. Just
as Trish pulled away, her body tensed slightly and she cocked her
head to one side, and then she relaxed.

“
Speak of the devil, and he rolls into town,” Kyle drawled. And
then Gabi heard it, the sound of a car idling at the gate outside.
And then the gate was rumbling open. She glanced quizzically at
Kyle and Trish, but the pair only smiled, and Trish pulled a fourth
mug from the cupboard before pouring coffee.

A minute later
the front door opened and Derek bounced inside. Bounced was a
strange word to apply to an adult man, especially a tall,
well-muscled hunk of a man, but that was the word that sprang to
Gabi’s mind. There really was a noticeable spring in his step. His
gait was so light and fluid that she could barely detect his limp.
He’d grown so accustomed to his prosthetic lower leg that it simply
seemed to be part of him now.

“
Gabi.” His already cheerful expression lit up in pleasure as
she stood up. “I didn’t know you’d made it back.” He caught her up
in a huge bear hug, lifting her off the ground, and she let him. It
was such a relief to have him back as the friend she thought she’d
lost to a half-broken shell of a man, one who imagined himself in
love with her. He positively oozed happiness and contentment, and
it eased something inside her chest.

“
I hear congratulations are in order,” she said, poking him in
the ribs so he’d let her take a breath.

“
Yep, I’m a taken man,” he announced proudly, letting her go,
but keeping one hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry we didn’t wait for
you to get back, but the time just seemed right.”

“
Don’t be sorry,” she told him. “I’m just happy that you’re
happy. And don’t go fucking it up.” She poked him in the ribs
again.

“
Yes, ma’am.” He stepped back and gave her a cheeky salute
before accepting a cup of coffee from his sister.

“
So what’s news in the City?” Gabi asked, settling back onto
her stool and breathing in her favourite Ethiopian blend. “I only
landed early this morning; I haven’t had time to catch up with Alex
and Patrick yet.” Alexander, Julius’s second in command, never
travelled with them on SID assignments. It was impossible for
Julius to avoid the responsibility that had been thrust on them by
the Princeps, and that made it even more important that there was a
strong second to oversee the Clan while he and Gabi were
travelling. Despite the support of the Princeps, there was no
guarantee a power-hungry Vampire without a city to call his or her
own wouldn’t try their luck and challenge for control while Julius
was tied up elsewhere in the world. Alexander had already proven
his mettle once before, and he would again if he needed
to.

All three of
her friends’ faces grew serious.

“
Demon attacks are still on the rise,” Kyle told her. “The Magi
are working with us and can usually give us a bit of warning.
They’ve identified another three weak spots though. And they’re not
sure if there are more forming or if we just haven’t found them
all.”

Gabi grimaced;
that wasn’t good news. The Magi were responsible for maintaining
the integrity of the Veil, a magically charged shield that
separated the demon plane, the Etherworld, from their own. If the
Veil became weak, tears could form, allowing demons to force their
way through into the natural world. Once on this side of the Veil,
demons created chaos, killing and maiming anyone they came across.
There was also the ever-present risk of humans turning into Ghouls
from the bite or blood of a demon. There was only one good demon
and that was a dead one. No one actually wanted a zombie apocalypse
despite what mainstream TV would have you believe.

“
The Magi still aren’t up to full strength?” she asked. Since
the battle for the Source, a fight with Dark Magi over control of
the largest pool of magical power in the world, the Magi’s numbers
had been severely compromised. Dozens had died and some others had
exhausted their magic so completely that it had yet to return to
its former strength. They had been working to bolster their forces,
fast-tracking promising youngsters and recruiting from across the
world, but their race had never been prolific breeders and their
population as a whole was small.

“
Athena is trying her best,” Trish said. “She looks exhausted
every time we see her, but there just aren’t enough of them to go
around right now. And the problem isn’t just here, it’s widespread.
The best they can do is try to limit the demon raids to cities
where there is a force in place to deal with them.”

“
We’ve started working with Packs in other cities,” Derek put
in. “Explaining the dangers, training them to deal with demon
raids, shipping them the most effective weapons. We’re kind of
hoping what we’ve started here will rub off on some other towns and
cities. If more Werewolf Packs have a proper job, hopefully
there’ll be less infighting and less senseless violence. Look how
well it’s worked here.” It was true; Gabi hadn’t heard of another
city in the world that was home to six different Werewolf Packs
that worked together for the good of all, but there was no reason
their model couldn’t be adopted elsewhere. Derek was as bad as his
sister.

“
Annoying optimist,” she growled, backhanding him across the
shoulder. “You are doing pretty well though, I have to admit.” She
finished her coffee and glanced at her watch. It was after four and
she’d only slept about five hours in the last twenty-four, time to
get back to the Estate and try to grab a catnap before Julius woke
from his daysleep. She called to Ross and Rory, telling them it was
time to go, when her phone rang in her back pocket.