hellcat 05 - come hell or high water (17 page)

“It’s alright,” Gabi soothed Razor, bending to stroke the cat’s raised fur back down, making sure he could smell what was in the paper bag she held.  She didn’t try to lift him, it wouldn’t do to tear open the gunshot wounds.  Instead she lifted his face to hers so she could plant a kiss on his nose and turned him to precede the rest of them up the stairs to Julius’s office.  At least if he was in front, he couldn’t take a piece out of one of the Werewolves.

“Geez, he lives up to his reputation, doesn’t he?” Patrick remarked in a loud aside.  “Not sure I’d take him on.”

“You are wise indeed, Lone Wolf,” Kyle agreed. 

Gabi ignored them.

Entering the office, she opened the paper bag, pulled out the cheeseburger and removed it from the bun, breaking the pattie into small chunks and placing them on the desk in front of his lordship.  He glared at her one last time before accepting the tasty bribe. 

Gabi started Julius’s computer as the Werewolves paced restlessly.  She used her login to check email and was pleasantly surprised to find an email from Harrison already.  The girls had already worked on the tattoos and Harrison had photographed the end results.  He’d included a brief note that Adriana had narrowed down the places she thought it likely that they’d come into initial contact with her.  Both locations were popular craft markets. 

Gabi opened the attached files.  She’d forgotten how beautifully Jade could draw.  She had a real talent for capturing lifelike images with a pencil or charcoal.  The sketches showed very intricate and detailed tattoos, not the kind you got on a whim at a run-of-the-mill tattoo place.  These were works of art, displaying the touch of a true artist.

She swung the monitor for the guys to see.  “I’ll print these out. I think we may well be able to find the artist if we can find someone in the know on the tattoo scene,” she said.

Kyle whistled appreciatively, and Patrick studied them intently.  “Those certainly look custom,” Patrick agreed.  “I think I might know someone we can speak to.” 

Gabi was relieved. It wasn’t like Werewolves or Vampires ever bothered with tattoos, as their bodies rejected the ink within hours, healed the tiny wounds and erased the image, rendering the pain and effort worthless.  The printer whirred to life with a few clicks of the mouse. 

“Great,” she said.  “You work on that angle and we’ll get working on the names Adriana gave us.  Maybe Trish can find something on the web.  These guys must have a way to communicate.  She’s been checking the captives’ phones, but so far they’ve only led to disposable mobiles.  I can speak to Byron about following up on the guns; maybe he has someone we can speak to about how and where to go about acquiring the kind of firepower these guys have.”

“What do we do if nothing pops?” Kyle asked, pausing to study Julius’s knife collection.  “I think we need to get someone on the inside.  That’ll be the quickest way to get information.”

“You have someone in mind?  You know we can’t chance sending in a supernatural, the Kresniks might know about the rest of them too.  I don’t want to be putting something useful right in their lap.” But Gabi could see the wheels turning in Kyle’s head; he had an idea.

“Well, there’s the Null,” Kyle said.  “He’s human, and he’s always keen to help out.  With the SMV dismantled, he’ll be at a loose end.” 

Gabi grimaced. She considered Henry a friend and trusted him implicitly, but he was new to the supernatural scene and hadn’t truly been put under pressure before.

“He’s had no training, he’s completely green,” she reminded Kyle.  “I’m not sure how he survived the Dark Elders, but it was most likely sheer, dumb luck.”  She honestly wasn’t sure how he’d cope as an undercover agent.

“We can only ask him,” Kyle persevered.  “He has a backstory already, and he’d have reason to hate supernaturals without needing to make anything up.  He’s not going up against people who can smell lies or deception, he only has to have enough acting skills to fool other humans.  If those two we caught are anything to go by, they aren’t exactly fussy about who they recruit.  As long as they want to help expose the rest of us.”  Kyle had a point there; the two they’d caught weren’t exactly exemplary human specimens.  But that brought up an inconsistency.

“That’s true enough about the ones we caught,” she said, “but Adriana said that the men who kidnapped her had some kind of fight training.”

“She wasn’t sure about that,” Kyle reminded Gabi.  “Her description could be of dancers or acrobats or some kind of athlete for all we know.  A lot of humans move lithely and are quick on their feet.  She was under a lot of stress at the time; she could be putting emphasis on something actually unremarkable.” 

Gabi sucked on her bottom lip.  “How would Henry get more information about the upper echelons of the Kresniks than the two we have here, though?” she mused.  “Those two know fuck all. Besides confirming the nicknames of some of them, they’ve hardly given us anything.”

“Henry could go in saying he had information for them,” Patrick said, nodding as though he could see this plan working.  “If he managed to get recruited, he could tell them he had important information that he would only divulge to the leaders.  If we let him give them just enough information to believe he can help them…” He left the sentence hanging.

“I don’t think they’re going to simply invite him to wherever they hole up. These guys seem pretty careful about that kind of thing.  They’ll meet him somewhere well away from their safe house.”  Gabi couldn’t see how that would help them.

“All we need really is a photo or two, maybe some fingerprints.” Kyle was fully behind this idea now.  “Byron will have someone in the police who can look them up for us.  Or Trish can use her ‘backdoor’ into their database and look for information.  Once we can identify them, we’ll be able to figure out how to find them.  These guys can’t be functioning without some kind of financial backing.  They’re either independently wealthy, have a wealthy backer, or they work to fund their after-hours exploits.  And if they were planning to distribute the footage of Adriana’s Change to wolf form via the Internet, I’m willing to lay good money down that they have an Internet presence, one Trish will be able to track down.”

“Alright,” Gabi finally capitulated, mostly because she didn’t have any better ideas.  “I’ll call Henry and get him to meet us.  You guys get to work on your assignments.” She handed each of them a small pile of hard copies of the tattoo sketches. “I’ll call you once I’ve spoken to him.” 

As the men left, Gabi settled back into Julius’s comfortable leather office chair and pulled out her phone, hoping she’d remembered to save Henry’s contact details.  The phone vibrated in her hand, almost making her drop it.  The message icon popped up.  It was from Julius.  She checked the time and did a quick mental calculation; Julius must have been awake for a couple of hours already. The day had gone by so fast she hadn’t realised it was already mid-afternoon.  ‘Have meeting with Princeps scheduled in a few minutes, then the trial. Leave Alexander to sleep. I’ll contact you after the trial. Miss you.’  The message was typical Julius, he wasn’t one for verbose text messages.  The trial of the Vampire accused of attempting to create a Dhampir should be fairly straightforward, but the additional meeting was being deliberately shrouded in mystery.  Curiosity was eating her alive.

CHAPTER 10

The trial was scheduled to begin at midnight, a few hours from now.  Julius wasn’t looking forward to it.  As much as he wouldn’t hesitate to kill in the heat of battle, or in defence of his Clan or someone he cared about, killing didn’t come easily to him.  The deaths of Dantè’s Clan members still hung heavily on his conscience.  It was the first time in all his Vampire years that he’d truly lost himself.  The beast inside him took control and it was a wholly savage creature, one he fought every single day of his life to keep securely contained.  If anything happened to Gabi, the beast would surely break free again, and if she wasn’t there as a beacon to call him back, the man might never regain command.  It was the reason his new-found Magi abilities scared him worse than they could possibly scare anyone else.  If he lost control now, who would ever be able to stop him? 

Julius drew a breath, calming his thoughts.  He needed a clear mind for the mysterious meeting that awaited him.  He was grateful that Kimberley tended to be quiet around him.  The rest of his retinue were back at the suite, they would be allowed to accompany him to the trial, but this meeting was a small private affair, invitation extended only to himself and Gabi.  Xavier didn’t know the reason for this meeting but didn’t think it had anything to do with Santiago’s death. As far as he knew, none of the Princeps were aware of the evidence Santiago’s Clan was holding.  Julius hoped he was right, he’d prefer a little time for Kimberley to wear Gabi’s skin in public before she was thrown to the wolves. 

He glanced at her; she strode at his side, keeping pace with him despite his longer legs, just as Gabi would.  The only outward sign of her nerves was the way her thumb worried at the ring on her left ring finger.  Julius knew what it had cost Gabi to hand it over.  He’d had it specially made just for her and presented it to her at their Joining ceremony. There had been no time to have a replica made; finding the right stones to match would’ve required weeks if not months of searching, and Vampires could certainly tell the difference between diamonds and any other pretender gemstone.  He was profoundly aware that the tiniest detail could be the one that tripped them up. 

Fortunately Gabi also tended to worry at the ring when she was bored or anxious, so Kimberley’s slight fidgeting wouldn’t draw unwarranted attention.  The replica Nex nestled in a replica sheath down the back of her faux-fur-lined, leather bomber jacket; it might not be deepest winter here anymore, but the castle held a bone-chilling coolness almost all year round.  She wore Gabi’s auburn curls loose, shielding her face to a degree, giving her a margin for error in facial expressions and unconscious reactions.  Julius was impressed with her acting skills; she was a true chameleon.  So good that it seemed almost magical in nature.  He was more than impressed that she’d agreed to this madness. He hadn’t even needed to resort to manipulating her mind, she’d signed up willingly.  He would be in her debt once this was over. 

They’d devised a wordless communication system during the long hours on the plane; ways for Kimberley to tell him if she was nearing the exhaustion point, and ways for him to warn her she was doing something unGabi-like.  The system required physical contact, which didn’t bother Julius, he’d been in close physical contact with female Feeders and unknowing donors for centuries, but Kimberley had to steel herself to his touch. She was still nervous of him, and it took everything in her not to flinch when he came too close to her.

She was under orders to say as little as possible without arousing suspicion.  One of the Princeps, a Vampire named Faruq, had the ability to tell truth from falsehood.  Julius was shielding Kimberley using his Magi abilities, but he wasn’t sure that would keep Faruq from sensing her deception.  Julius was counting on Faruq doing as little as possible to call attention to himself, especially where Julius and Gabi were concerned.  After all, he’d been one of those fooled by Helene, the Vampiress maneater, into doing her bidding against Princep ordinance, and had only just forced himself to speak the truth instead of defending her.  The others all knew how close it had been, and, having proven his fallibility, the integrity of his word could now be in question. 

Their guide, a short, stoutly built female Vampire, slowed at a door.  It was a carved, wooden door much the same as numerous others they’d passed down the long, heavily carpeted corridor, but Julius could sense the other Vampires behind it.  The Vampire servant, not the same one who’d overseen their stay the last time, knocked quietly and then opened the door, stepping back to allow Julius and Kimberley to enter.

The room was large and severely extravagant.  It was like a scene from
Downton Abbey
, and possibly what his family home would’ve looked like if his mother hadn’t been the eclectic free spirit she was.  Heavy brocade curtains contended with heavier brocade furniture and onerously patterned rugs, the overbearing tenebrosity exacerbated by dark wood furniture and morbid paintings of bloody battles and malcontent portrait subjects.  Julius wondered whose idea of decor this was. 

He turned his attention to the gathering of Vampires.  All twelve of the Princeps were already in attendance; gathered in small groups of two and three, some standing, some sitting.

“Ah, Julius,” Oleksandra greeted him, from her seat in a gaudily tapestried wingback chair, “it is good to see you looking well.”  Her heavy accent was laced with authentic happiness.  “Welcome to you both.”  She turned her grandmotherly smile to Kimberley.  “I hope the trip was not too tiring.” 

“Thank you, Lady Oleksandra,” Kimberley replied on cue.  “The trip was fine.”  She, like Gabi before her, had had to learn the names, faces and abilities of all the Princeps on the plane trip here.  A point in Kimberley’s favour was her natural photographic memory; this particular trait was intrinsically linked to her incredible grasp of her Doppelganger ability.  Without perfect recall, a Doppelganger could never pull off what she did.

“Excuse the informal setting.” Eliasz stood from his small clique and extended his arm around the room, a look of pride on his face.  Ah, now Julius knew who had commissioned the oppressive decor of the room. He just barely kept himself from glancing at Klara, Eliasz’s wife and puppet master, who was seated primly beside him.  “We weary of the formalness of the Hall, so we thought it would be more comfortable to have our meeting here in our library instead.”  It took a little searching, but Julius did eventually find the pair of bookshelves in a far corner, neatly packed with old tomes.

“Of course, Princep,” Julius said with a tiny bow of his head.  “It is always a treat to be reminded of my roots.” 

Eliasz’s return smile was bland.