All Hell Breaks Loose (47 page)

“But it’s a…”  Gabi just couldn’t finish her thought.  Too many things were whirling through her mind.  Foremost was that Julius had just spent a small fortune on a car for her.

“It’s an SUV,” Kyle put in again, “but not as you
know
it.”  He was clearly enjoying her state of bewilderment.  “This thing has enough power that even you won’t be able to reach top speed.”  He was still grinning at her.  “I think your boyfriend’s realised you drag around a lot of gear and, with you adopting that idiotic dog, figured you’d need something with a bit more room than the average supercar offers.  I don’t think it’s a bad compromise, personally.”

The shock finally began to wear off, and Gabi walked closer to inspect it.  It sure had the sleek, angular lines typical of a Lamborghini, but built well off the ground with large tyres.  The interior looked distinctly space age.  Kyle wasn’t
wrong,
the thing sure had plenty of room inside.  She opened the driver’s side door and sat inside for a moment, allowing the strangeness of the situation to sink in.  Then, noise from the construction site nearby brought her back to earth.

“What’s happening?  How’s Derek? 
And Trish?”

Kyle held up his hands in defeat at the barrage of questions.  “Trish is making breakfast, that’s why I came to see if you were up.  I’ll fill you in as we walk.”

Gabi climbed out of the car and shut the door, following Kyle in the direction of Hawthorn House.

“Trish is doing remarkably well under the circumstances,” he said, pride clear in his tone.  “She’s one strong woman.”

Gabi nodded her agreement.  Luckily, she felt the same way; she had the feeling that if she’d disagreed, Kyle would’ve sent her packing without breakfast.

“And Derek?” she prodded, not sure she wanted to hear the news.

Kyle took a few steps in silence and then stopped.  They weren’t far from Hawthorn House, any closer and Trish would be able to overhear them.

“He’s not coping very well right now,” Kyle said at last.  “Don’t say anything to Trish; she has enough to deal with,” he warned her with a stern glance.  “It’s very early days—I think he’s still in the shock stage, but he’s shut down from everyone.  Trish is the only one he’s responding to at the moment, and even that is monosyllabic.  The anger stage will come next, and we’re all on alert for that.  I’m hoping Trish’s proximity will help him keep control.”

Gabi nodded her understanding, but her heart was heavy.

“The operation went as well as it possibly could.”  Kyle had felt her despondency and was trying to be more positive.  “Jonathon was very happy with the outcome.  He even said that Derek would be up and around in a couple of days, and they’d be able to fit him for a prosthesis by the end of next week.”  He pulled her towards him for a quick, reassuring hug.  “He’ll be okay in time.  We’ll all be here when he needs us.”  He kept his arm around her shoulders and resumed their walk towards the delicious breakfast smells wafting from an open window.

“So you and Julius are really on again, huh?” he teased her as they went inside.

Derek had been distant and uncommunicative when she went in to see him.  He’d come through the surgery well.  He lost his left leg just above the knee.  Gabi left after a few minutes, feeling frustrated and impotent.  She knew her time to help would come later, once he’d begun to accept himself again.  Only time, and a new purpose, would help him heal.

Just before lunch, Gabi and Kyle took the slightly intimidating Lamborghini and drove to SMV HQ.  Kyle had his own debrief to give, as well as wanting to check on the troublemakers being detained downstairs.  On the way he filled her in on what had happened while she slept.

The blaze at the lab had burnt itself out by the time Byron’s fire truck had arrived on the scene.  The clean-up crews had had a difficult night extracting the remains of the wolf-men and the bodies from the cold-storage.  There had been nine bodies in total in the storage room: three wolf-man creatures and six humans, five of those had been infected with lycanthropy.  They hadn’t recovered enough of Jason’s body to confirm whether he had indeed infected himself with the hybrid strain of lycanthropy.  Gabi sighed; that wasn’t going to help her case.

At least all traces of the research that had been conducted had been destroyed by the blaze. 
Very little remained of that section of the building besides ash and molten lumps of glass and metal.
  The bio-geneticist had spent the morning in the company of a Mind-bender, but Kyle didn’t know any more than that.  Kimberley had had some kind of mental break once they’d revealed the true extent of what Jason had been doing.  She’d been shipped off to a Shifter-run psychiatric recovery respite in another city.  Once she was well enough, her punishment would be decided by the City Elders, but it would more than likely entail working for the SMV.  The
Werewolves
remaining at the base totalled forty-two, and a further seven were being held at HQ.  It was unlikely that all of them could be incorporated into the five City Packs without major ructions, so they were reaching out to Packs in nearby cities to try to accommodate some of them.  The humans that were still on the base, including two who had worked in the lab, would get a session
with the Mind-bender, and they would probably be found jobs where the SMV or the Packs could keep a close eye on them for a while.

They had begun checking the base for other weapons caches, but it would take time to search the whole place.  It was hoped that once the recruitment team had spent a few days locked up, they would be ready to spill what they knew about Jason’s intentions and contacts.  There had been dozens of injuries, but Derek was the worst of them.  Gabi had to acknowledge, even if only to
herself
, that the low injury rate was due to the careful thought and planning that had gone into the operation.  The others had been right to wait and go in prepared.

Gabi’s meeting with the five Council members was as agonizing as she’d anticipated.  Athena was having a field day, and for once Irene let her have her say.  Gabi remained stoic and held on to her temper by the tips of her fingernails.  She held her ground on her decision and refused to pretend she regretted her actions.  She said very little, other than to make her case that as Jason was no longer
human,
she had applied Council law as she felt was appropriate at the time.  Byron also didn’t contribute much, except to finally call an end to the interview after nearly two hours.  He told Gabi they would get back to her once they’d discussed the matter amongst themselves.  In the meanwhile, she was temporarily relieved of duty and encouraged to enjoy the time off.

On the trip back to the Estate, Kyle tried to make light of it.

“They’ll get over themselves in a couple of weeks.  Don’t worry,” he assured her.  “Things will be back to normal before you know it.”

She grunted noncommittally, but she knew that things wouldn’t be that simple.  It wasn’t just a case of the Council being annoyed with her for overstepping the mark.  She wasn’t sure she could continue to be a part of an organisation that protected monsters just because they were human.  Something had to change, or she wouldn’t be going back at all.  For once, she kept her thoughts from Kyle.  This was something she needed to figure out for herself.

She dropped Kyle at the Estate, to collect his van.  Not that it seemed like he was going to be heading home as long as Trish was still there.  She parked the futuristic Lamborghini SUV back at the cottage while she made a quick trip inside to leave Julius a note.  She knew there was only one place she wanted to be right now, and that was in her own home, surrounded by her four-legged family.

Her welcome home was rapturous, considering she was used to being snubbed by Razor every time she’d been gone for more than half a day.  First, Roman went a little crazy, completely forgetting his training and jumping up to lick her face and almost knocking her over.  He looked a little sheepish once he recovered himself, but Gabi didn’t let him feel that way for long.  It was a struggle to untangle
herself
from him and get inside.  The welcome inside was almost as enthusiastic, but it’s hard to beat an excited dog.  Razor leapt straight into her arms; Rocky bounded up her pants leg to settle on her shoulder, chittering excitedly into her ear; and Slinky galloped out to wind between her legs, reaching up to scratch at her hand for attention.  Just then, all the worries and concerns of the past weeks simply fell away.  Being surrounded by her pets and drowned in love and affection pushed all the negative things aside, and a measure of peace settled over her.  Rose had been in to feed the wild bunch and had left a meal in the fridge in case Gabi got home.  She fell on the meal ravenously once she was finally able to extricate herself from Razor’s clutches.

After a long, lazy, hot bath and some time spent catching up on email, she found herself pacing.  She’d invited Julius to join her at the house once he had dealt with whatever he needed to do for the evening.  It was past midnight, and he hadn’t shown up.  She told herself he would have a million things to sort out after all the drama of the week and weekend, but hoped he would at least call to let her know.  She resolutely refused to phone him and find out if he was coming.

She wandered to the kitchen and poured another glass of wine and figured she’d turn on the TV and see if there was anything worth watching.  As she returned to the lounge and grabbed the TV remote, car lights flashed across the window.  She crossed to the window to check.  Julius flowed gracefully out of the Aston Martin, a bottle of tequila and a single rose in one hand, an overnight bag in the other.  A ridiculously happy smile tugged at her lips.

 
Epilogue

Gabi woke feeling agitated.  It was still dark, but the bedside clock said it was almost daybreak.  Despite the familiar and comforting weight of Julius’s body, curled almost protectively around her, there was
a heaviness
in her soul.

Seeing her mother the day before hadn’t been easy.  Gabi loved her mother, but their relationship had been strained since Gabi became a Hunter.  Her mother bore a bone-deep resentment towards the SMV and all Vampires.  They had robbed her of her soul mate in more ways than one.  Gabi’s father’s need to obliterate
rogue
supernaturals
from the City had become a higher calling, one his wife had begged him to give up before it killed him.  She’d come to see it as putting his family second.  When he’d been killed, it had almost killed her too, even though she’d considered it an inevitable outcome.  She simply could not understand Gabi’s need to do the same thing.  She’d resorted to pleading with Gabi to give up the Hunter work every time they saw each other, until Gabi had simply stopped visiting and spending time with her mother just to keep the peace.  They rarely saw or spoke to each other except for holidays and birthdays.  Her mom was happily remarried, and Gabi considered it a blessing; she even kind of liked the guy.  He took good care of her mom and treated her with love and respect.

There had been another man in her mother’s life once, who’d been the opposite.  It was the first time Gabi had been driven to violence, and it was a defining moment in her life.  In the aftermath of the event, she’d tried to make sense of what she’d done, attacking the man who was physically and mentally abusing her mother.  During her soul-searching, she’d come to a realisation.  She’d finally understood what had driven her father.  Standing up and defending the innocent, putting
yourself
on the line when no one else would. 
The same need that had to drive
firefighters
, bomb disposal experts and soldiers on the front line.
  Running into situations most people would be running away from because if you don’t, who else will?  It wasn’t something that could be defined or pinpointed.  It would never be found in a DNA sequence.  It had nothing to do with creed or culture or upbringing or social background.  It was a brand on the soul, and to deny it only brought unhappiness.

Predictably, her mother had been overjoyed to hear that she was taking a break from the SMV, reminding Gabi that no one would think less of her for it.  The conversation had begun its familiar degeneration into argument until Gabi had simply changed the subject to her stepfather’s new job.  Her mother’s visit left her feeling drained and adrift.  She needed to find an anchor to bring her some peace.  Lying in the semi-dark, she suddenly knew what she needed to do.  She first checked that Julius was asleep,
then
untangled herself from his embrace.  She reached for some clothes and dressed quickly.  Habit made her strap
Nex
on under a loose T-shirt.  She left the room quietly, aware that Julius didn’t always drift into day sleep until a couple of hours after dawn.  This was something she needed to do on her own.  As she reached the kitchen and grabbed the keys to her new car, Razor made an appearance.  A deep purr began low in his throat, and he looked at her inquisitively.  It reminded Gabi that she often used to take him with her in the car; he always enjoyed an outing.  It had been months since he’d gone with her.  Maybe a little feline company wouldn’t be a bad thing.

“Come on, then,” Gabi told him, “but don’t wake the rest of the house.  I don’t need any more company.”

Razor blinked his understanding and beat her to the front door.