To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4) (40 page)

“
What happened?” Gabi asked him worriedly.

“
He saved us from the fire,” Julius’s voice answered her, a
note of deep respect in his voice. “The whole place went up soon
after you left. By the time I’d subdued Gemini, we were surrounded
by flames. The smoke was so thick and the stench so strong none of
us knew which way to try to get out. We only had minutes before the
fire overwhelmed us. Razor made it clear we had to follow him; then
he found a way out for all of us. I’m sure he could easily have
found a small crevice to escape the danger himself, but he led us
to a collapsed outer wall that had a hole big enough for us all to
fit through. He’s almost as amazing as you say he is.”

The cat settled back down to the ground, apparently satisfied
that Gabi was in one piece too, and set to grooming some of the ash
from his face and ears.

Julius couldn’t wait any longer. He scooped Gabi up and held
her close against him, where he could feel the strong beat of her
heart against his chest. And she let him, despite the fact that he
was probably putting pressure on some part of her that hurt. She
turned her face into his neck and drew in a breath, pulling the
scent of him into her very being. He sensed some kind of mental
unease, a disquiet so strong that it was clear even over her
physical pain, but he also sensed that it was something she didn’t
want to discuss right now. He wondered if one day they’d be able to
actually converse in words using their mental link. The connection
seemed to grow stronger by the day, as did she, so he wouldn’t put
anything beyond her capabilities. And his own capabilities…well,
that was something else entirely, something to wrap his mind
around, something he still wasn’t quite sure he was willing to
accept. But those were issues he would ponder later. Right now he
was exhausted, and there was still much to do before he could
rest.

He reluctantly released his tight hold on Gabi; he knew she
was hurting all over. Holding her carefully, he carried her towards
the parking area where the medical vans waited. Razor suddenly
nudged his leg, and he realised he’d almost stepped off the
pathway. He blinked, forcing himself to concentrate on where he put
his feet, mentally cursing his fatigue. He’d never experienced
exhaustion like this before. At least not since he was still human.
Before tonight he would’ve said it was impossible for a Vampire to
feel this tired. Fighting using magic wasn’t something he ever
wished to do again.

In truth, he wasn’t sure he had any more magic in him. It felt
as though he’d poured every ounce of it into breaking Gemini. He
still wasn’t entirely sure how he’d done it. Something deep inside
him had reacted on instinct, protecting him and showing him how to
find the chinks in their armour. It still felt intrinsically wrong,
what he’d done to them, severing their link to their power base and
their link to each other. He’d felt it as the one died, as his
essence rose and left this plane. He didn’t hold much hope for the
recovery of the other one, especially without his twin. He’d
carried the twin outside and handed him over to the Magi just
before the underground chamber was overcome by flames. The stadium
was still burning. It would probably take firefighters days to put
out, and hopefully by then much of the evidence of the supernatural
battle would be unidentifiable.

Gabi kissed the side of his neck, concern on her face. He gave
her a smile of weary reassurance, clearing his mind of the
worries.

“
Melinda,” he barked out as they neared the parking area. The
familiar Healer Magus was just leaving one of the vans laden with
medical supplies. “Can you look at Gabi?”

Other people—Magi, Shifters and Weres—milled about, a thin
trail limping and hobbling off the pathway towards medical help;
some bloodied and bruised, some bandaged, others just looking
bewildered.

“
I’m fine,” Gabi protested. “Nothing life-threatening,
Melinda, honestly. Go to those who need you.” She waved towards the
path.

Melinda narrowed her eyes and came to them regardless of
Gabi’s assurances. Gabi allowed the Magus to touch her head. After
a second she pulled her hand away and gave Gabi a hint of a
smile.

“
For once, you’re telling the truth,” she said, then looked to
Julius. “She’s okay. More pain than she’s letting on, but nothing
that needs my immediate attention. Get food and water into her and
keep her off the leg.” Then she was gone, hurrying towards the
Source and the more seriously injured.

“
You can leave me here,” Gabi said as he set her carefully on
a cement bollard near one of the vans, “if you need to go and check
what’s happening. The Clan might need you.”

He kissed the tip of her nose and went to rummage in one of
the nearby vans for bottled water and a pair of narrow-bladed
shears. With the healthy dose of blood he’d given her before the
battle, it was too soon to give her any more. They still had no
idea what a safe amount was, and he didn’t want to take chances
with altering her state of life.

“
They’re fine,” he told her as he returned. “Alexander is
there. He’s got it under control. It’ll be good for him and the
Clan, to give him room to test out his leadership skills without me
interfering.”

He handed her the bottle before kneeling down in front of her.
She grimaced as he began cutting away her trouser leg. He could’ve
just torn it, but he would’ve jostled the injury more that way.
Luckily the SMV medics carried surgical scissors sharp enough to
cut Kevlar. He wondered if that required some kind of spell but was
too tired to check for the telltale tingle of magic. Her knee was
swelling beyond the confines of the pants leg, and the pressure
would be making it worse. He hoped he was doing the right thing.
The relieved sounds she made when he cut the leather away from her
knee made him think it was.

Tyres crunched in the gravel as the surveillance van carrying
Trish, Kyle and the rest of the Demon Gate crew arrived on the
scene. Kyle was the first out of the van and spotted them
immediately.

“
Geesh, Hellcat,” he said, approaching, “you look like you’ve
been to Hell and back.” Wolf himself was sporting several
superficial injuries, but his wolf was calm, and Trish was at his
side a second later, surreptitiously touching as much of her body
to his as she could.

“
Yep.” Gabi sighed her agreement, self-consciously trying to
finger-comb her hair into some kind of order, tugging on the twigs
and leaves entwined in the knotted strands. Julius pulled her hands
away and set to the task himself after tossing the shears back in
the van.

“
Twice,” Kyle pressed jokingly, his relief apparent to
Julius.

“
Okay, don’t push it.” Gabi scowled, but Julius knew she was
glad to see Kyle as well. Then she glanced at the group and asked,
“Where’s Caspian?”

“
I sent him back to the Estate, with Charlie and Tabari,”
Julius told her. “He’ll remain under guard until I have time to
figure out what to do with him.”

Gabi nodded approvingly.

Julius had been worried that Caspian’s saving her life may
have changed her view on the Spaniard, but that didn’t seem to be
the case. He had a difficult decision to make where Caspian was
concerned. He didn’t really have enough official cause to kill him,
no proof of his desire to end Julius’s life, and the Princeps
wouldn’t sanction his demise with no proof.

“
What’s happening at the Source?” Kyle asked, interrupting his
dark thoughts.

Before Julius could answer, Nathan came hurrying towards them.
There were several lacerations and contusions on his face, head and
arms, in various stages of healing, but nothing that was slowing
him down. Julius knew by the set of his friend’s mouth that he
wasn’t bringing good news.

Nathan didn’t bother with pleasantries. “It’s Maclary,” he
said the moment he was close enough. A muscle twitched in his jaw
as he dropped his eyes to Gabi. “I’m sorry, Hellcat. He joined the
fight right near the end; some demons tried to make a run for
it.”

Julius felt the emotional blow as it hit her. She stopped
breathing, her face lost colour, and her mouth opened as though to
speak, but nothing came out.

“
He’s…gone?” Julius quietly asked the words she
couldn’t.

“
No, not yet. But not far from,” Nathan replied.

One more blow, one more shock. The kind you cannot prepare
yourself for. Not ever. Gabi gasped in a breath when her lungs
began to scream from lack of oxygen. Pins and needles prickled
across her face and chest. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Without
thought she tried to stand; she needed to see him. Agony spiked up
her leg, and it buckled under her. Julius caught her arm and
steadied her, but his attention was on Fergus.

“
Look in the van,” he told the Scotsman. An instant later a
pair of medical crutches appeared in front of her. She reached for
them, but Julius took them and gave them to her to hold, then swept
her into his arms. Kyle was already jogging down the
path.

“
I’ll carry you to the entrance,” he said. “It’s a rugged,
downhill path. Then you can go in under your own steam.”

She nodded, grateful he understood her ridiculous need not to
be babied or, perhaps more importantly, not to show weakness in
front of others. Seconds later he set her down at the yawning maw
of the cave that very few other people had ever seen, and waited as
she shoved her arms into the crutches and gripped the handles. It
had been a long while since she’d used crutches; it took a few
tries to get going, the rocky ground underfoot making it harder.
Nathan led the way, threading through crumpled forms on the ground.
Some were covered by white sheets; others were being attended by
medics. Pools of stinking black demon gore dotted the ground;
someone had begun cordoning off those puddles with a circle of
white bandage.

Melinda was with Mac when they got to him. Kyle knelt beside
him. The sight of the tall, quietly confident man she’d come to
love as a friend in such a short space of time lying crumpled and
bleeding from a terrible gash in his stomach nearly brought her to
her knees. Julius touched her mind, the gentlest of brushes, akin
to him running the back of one finger over her cheek. An
understanding of her pain.

“
Is there nothing you can do?” she asked Melinda in a tight
voice, but she could already see the answer in the amount of blood
on the ground around him.

“
I’m sorry, Gabi,” Melinda said with deep regret. “All I can
do is ease his passing. He is beyond my skills and probably even
those of the best surgeons in the world.”

Gabi felt a hot tear slide down her cheek. Julius moved to
Mac’s side and hunched down, putting out a hand to touch his
forehead. Mac moaned a little but didn’t open his eyes. He was
slipping away fast.

“
There is one other option,” Julius said, turning to look at
her with a penetrating gaze. “He has mostly bled out already; he
might just be strong enough to survive the Turning.”

Gabi closed her eyes and swayed, absorbing Julius’s words,
their implications. Her mind a churning maelstrom trying to process
the idea.

“
I…I don’t know,” she said, “if that’s what he’d want. I…” She
trailed off, glancing from Julius to Kyle to Trish and then to
Melinda. “Can you get him conscious enough to ask him?” A tiny
thread of hope flared to life inside her.

The set of Melinda’s lips doused the tiny light.

“
I could probably get him responsive,” the Healer said. “But
he wouldn’t really be lucid. Any decision he made would be
irrational. And it would be cruel to subject his conscious mind to
the pain he’s in right now.”

“
You must make the decision, Gabrielle. You know him best,
care for him the most,” Julius said, “and I know this is not the
time or place for rushing, but we don’t have more than a few
minutes before it’ll be too late to try.”

Gabi threw her head back and closed her eyes, the tears
flowing harder. She tried to put herself in Mac’s shoes, tried to
imagine what he would want. It was impossible. She knew she would
choose life. She wasn’t ready for the next step, not ready to let
go of the love and passion she’d only just found, but there was no
way to know another person’s mind. Mac had so much to give this
life, but she’d seen the bone-deep sadness when he spoke of his
lost love. Perhaps they would be together again if they simply let
him go. Perhaps not. The seconds were ticking by, and thinking it
through would not make the decision any easier. In the end she did
what felt right in her heart, and prayed he would forgive her if
she was wrong.

“
Do it,” she whispered. “Turn him.” When she opened her eyes,
Julius was in front of her. He bent and kissed her
forehead.

In the end it wasn’t Julius who did the Turning. Fergus
stepped in and offered to do it in his stead. When Julius nodded
agreement, Fergus cut his wrist, kneeling to hold it to Mac’s mouth
and gently rubbing his throat to encourage him to swallow. When
he’d got enough blood down, Fergus picked him up and carried him
away, holding the large man easily and like he was carrying his own
child.

Gabi watched them go, a mix of anxiety and sadness heavy in
her chest. Later she would be glad she didn’t know at that moment
what else the Turning entailed. Right then her attention was
redirected to a low keening that had begun on the far side of the
huge cave. She blinked, finally taking in her surroundings. The
cavern was vastly different to the one the Dark Ones had set the
trap for Julius and Benedict in. This one was large and open,
reminding her of being inside the City Cathedral, the ceiling of
the cave arching to a central point. Intricate symbols and glyphs
adorned the pale rock where Mage-light radiated from within the
very essence of the cavern walls. The light seemed to pulse with a
life of its own; the entire place felt like an entity to Gabi’s
senses. It was…Amazing. The sense of power was strongest at a large
altar-shaped rock at the furthermost point of the cave. Behind the
altar a curtain of glistening liquid flowed, appearing from nowhere
and disappearing just as mysteriously. Gabi forced her mouth closed
with a snap. Several Magi were gathered around one form near the
altar. It was from this gathering that the keening was
coming.