There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) (16 page)

“
You have a much bigger problem to deal with, Gabs. Go sort
that out,” he told her. “This may even be a false alarm; we get
some of those too.”

“
It’s still early,” she countered, pushing him out of the way
to peruse the repository. “Julius needs a few more hours’ sleep
before I wake him and tell him what we found out; I’ll just be
pacing the floorboards. I’ll take my own car. If this drags out,
I’ll head back. But right now,” she hefted a MacDartgun in her
right hand and a MacCrossbow in her left, “I feel like a fight.”
The prospect of a good, physical brawl with a butt-ugly denizen of
the Etherworld had her adrenalin pumping in a good way. A really
good way.

Kyle hadn’t
paused in his preparations. “Fine, just make sure you can keep up,”
he teased. “You’re probably a little rusty, and you know how I hate
patching you up afterward. You’re such a ninny.”

“
I’ll be the one fixing you up, Wolf,” Gabi retorted, “just
like old times.” They’d patched each other up more times than Gabi
cared to remember, at one time there’d been a running tally, but
that seemed like a very long time ago.

Gabi navigated
the BMW through side roads and backstreets, impatience gnawing at
her. Kyle had taken a motorbike, a new vivid green Kawasaki,
instead of his van. The tail end of morning rush hour could be
hell, and a car was a liability if you were in a hurry.
Fortunately, there were no gridlocks, so she wasn’t more than a few
minutes behind Kyle. It helped to know all the backstreets and rat
runs of the City. The Magi warning had specified an old sports
stadium; the derelict arena was a long-time favourite entry point
for demons. As Hunters for the SMV, Gabi and Kyle had fought there
more than once before. She hoped Trish had been successful in
calling in more help to counter any media coverage from the area.
The stadium was surrounded by light industry; there would be a lot
of norms in the general vicinity at this time of day.

She spun the
BMW onto the gravel parking area, where several other cars and
bikes were parked. She recognised Butch’s souped-up Subaru; did he
ever take time off? Lance’s red Corvette was parked alongside it;
she hadn’t seen the Fire-Magus in months. He’d been a fellow Hunter
for the SMV, and his ability to burn just about anything with the
power of his mind was second only to Julius’s. A small silver
hybrid caught her eye on the other side of the Corvette. She only
knew one person who drove a hybrid. The esteemed High Magus,
Athena. Now that was an interesting development. Kyle hadn’t said
anything about Athena attending demon attacks recently.

She sprang from
the BMW, quickly checking her weapons as she ran towards the
well-used hole in the chain-link fence. She knew Razor would be
pissed with her once he smelled the weapons and knew what she’d
been up to without him. She actually missed his presence. They were
rarely apart these days; he was her constant, shadowy companion.
But he’d been as tired as the rest of them, so when she’d found him
asleep on the foot of the bed after her shower, she’d left him
there.

The sizzle of
energy in the air raised the hairs on Gabi’s exposed arms as she
neared the main gate. She opened her extra sense, searching as she
ran.

“
Shit,” she breathed once she zoned in on the dark, roiling
energy of four separate demons. That wasn’t good. She pulled Nex
from the sheath down her back and changed direction for the western
entrance.

Four demons. She hadn’t seen that many demons since Dantè and
Mariska had been summoning them to the City. She burst through the
stadium gates onto the dusty, disused field, and her eyes locked
onto the four grotesque creatures emerging from an unnatural haze
of thick fog boiling up from the centre of the field. She’d seen
one of the lizardy ones once before; it looked like the lovechild
of Godzilla and Killer Croc. Lance had taken the previous one down,
roasting it alive inside its tough leather hide. The two troll-like
ones were the more common variety. She’d seen several of them in
various shapes and sizes over the years, sometimes sporting extra
pairs of limbs and eyes, but she’d never seen anything like the
fourth one. It was reminiscent of
Ghostbusters
’ Slimer, only nowhere
near as cute: dark green and slick, with no identifiable head or
limbs, just multiple tentacle-like appendages erupting from the
undulating mass of its body.

For just a
millisecond the scene froze in time; the smoke from the portal
still hung heavy in the air in front of the small group forming a
living barrier between true evil and the rest of the world. Kyle
was at the forefront of the group of Magi and Werewolves. Lance to
his right and Butch to his left, four other Werewolves spread out
slightly behind them. Athena stood in the sunlight, several feet
back from the rest of the group. She was in a dark pants suit and
practical, dark pumps; her long pale blonde hair was twisted up in
a severe bun. The only thing unusual about her was the dark cape
neatly draped down her back. Her attention was firmly fixed on the
thickest area of the foul-smelling fog.

And then the
scene exploded in a frenzy of dart guns and crossbow bolts, grunts
and shouts, the zing of steel through the air and the sizzle of
demon blood hitting the hard-packed ground. Gabi held back from the
fray for a moment, checking for weak spots in the line of
defenders. There were none. Kyle’s team was well trained and
operated with smooth, calculated efficiency. The new weapons made
it possible to take down multiple demons without getting up close
and personal. Werewolf saliva was known to be fatally poisonous to
demons, with the exception of the ethereal Seekers. Now that they
had high-powered crossbows and darts filled with concentrated doses
of the Lycanthropy antigen, killing demons was a lot less hazardous
to one’s health.

Gabi had almost
decided to stand back and watch the show when, from the corner of
her eye, she noticed Athena jerk and sway slightly. Gabi’s legs
were carrying her towards the Magus before she fully processed the
scene. Athena squawked and threw her arms up in a swift defensive
manoeuver as a demon the size and shape of an overly large bat
swooped, screaming, out of the smog, aiming lethally sharp talons
at her face. Gabi heard Kyle’s warning shout as Nex intercepted the
dark leathery beast, slicing it completely in half.

“
Back,” she yelled at Athena as oily, black innards and goo
rained down on them. They both shied away, but as the head and half
the torso hit the ground, demon blood splattered upward, globules
hitting Gabi on the shoulder and unprotected neck. A sizzling sound
accompanied the instant burning pain on her skin.

“
Here, let me,” Athena gasped, spinning around and grabbing the
hem of the cloak to swipe away the acidic gunk.

“
Gabs,” Kyle shouted, leaping over the swiftly dissolving hunks
of dead demon, “are you two okay?”

“
Ouch,” Gabi said, pressing the back of her gloved hand to her
blistered skin and holding Nex a safe distance away as the sword
dripped demon blood into the dust. “I’d forgotten how much demon
blood fucking stings. Great moves and instincts, High Magus.” She
nodded appreciatively at Athena. “Looks like you’ve been
practicing.” The Magus had been taking self-defence classes, and
the speed and confidence she’d shown defending herself were proof
of her commitment to her training.

Athena gave her
a small relieved smile. “Thanks for the save. Now I must finish
closing that portal.” She dropped the cloak back into place and
turned back to the swirling haze. Gabi was fascinated to see that
the material of the cloak hadn’t been affected by the smear of
demon blood. Magically protected, she guessed. Smart woman.

Kyle put his
hand to her face and turned her head to get a look at her blistered
skin. He grimaced. “Butch will have some burn stuff in the medical
kit.”

“
The rest under control?” Gabi asked him, squinting through the
sunlight and fog towards the scene of the main fight.

“
Yep, just clean-up to go now.” Kyle nodded. “Ben is going to
fetch the crew for that. Lance and the others are watching for any
other surprise arrivals. Let’s get out of here; it
stinks.”

“
Shouldn’t we wait for Athena?” Gabi checked. “What is she
doing here anyway?”

“
Nah, she’ll be a while,” he said, turning towards the exit
gates. “She’s been coming along to these raids more often lately.
She’s trying to permanently seal as many of the portals as we can
find. She can’t seal them unless she’s here when they’re open.” He
grunted; Gabi guessed it was in frustration. “It’s easier to kill
them now. We have the experience and the weapons on our side, but
they just keep making new portals. The Veil just isn’t strong
enough to keep them back anymore. At the moment they’re
concentrating on the natural weak spots in the Veil, which makes it
easier to monitor, but we’re concerned about what happens if they
manage to break through elsewhere. Athena says it will be a few
months until the Magi are back up to full strength, but I think it
could be more like years.”

Gabi was silent as
she mentally added this to her long list of things to worry about.
How long could they keep this up without norms finding out?
Something needed to be done urgently, and they needed the
cooperation of the Magi to do it.

CHAPTER
9

“
You’re sure?” Julius asked, fastening the buttons on his
cuffs. He’d showered and changed into dark pants and a pale green
shirt after Gabi woke him a little past midday. Either she was
getting better at estimating how much blood was needed, or Julius
was getting used to being woken during the day, because he’d
snapped fully awake before he even sat upright this
time.

“
Yes,” Gabi assured him. She’d just finished summarising the
contents of the forum messages between hungry mouthfuls of the
steak sandwich she was sharing with Razor. “Some of the references
were a bit obscure, but the gist of the exchange came across loud
and clear. They want to overthrow Number One. They believe he’s
become soft, less committed to the cause, more comfortable with the
status quo. They’re baying for his blood.”

“
There’s no way for him to step down and walk away?” Julius
asked, but this time he wasn’t talking to her.

“
No.” Benedict’s voice came over the speakerphone on the desk.
“If he stepped down, it would be showing the ultimate weakness.
Akin to an old lion lying down and offering his throat to a pack of
young upstarts. The only way he’ll go down is if he is taken down.
And that means a true death.” It struck Gabi that, although
Benedict professed to know little about the secretive Decuria, he
spoke with surety now. If she could just figure out what that
meant…

“
This is good news,” Julius said with a grim smile. “Now we
know he’s desperate. Desperate men do desperate things. It gives us
the high ground, strength to negotiate. We just have to play the
game without showing our hand too soon.”

“
It’ll be tricky,” Benedict warned.

“
Of course,” Julius agreed, “but an ace up our sleeve might
just tip the odds in our favour.”

“
Agreed,” Benedict said. “I’ll be in touch if I get anything
more for you to work with. Keep me in the loop.” A faint click
signalled the end of the call.

Julius came to
the other side of the desk and reached over to grasp Gabi’s chin
and tilt her head to one side. The large blister on her neck was
already mostly healed, it hardly even hurt, and she’d removed
Butch’s sticky bandage when she got back to the mansion and cleaned
up. Still, she allowed Julius to inspect it, to see for himself
that it was fine. She knew it eased something inside him to fuss
over her, and that in turn eased something inside of her.

“
Do you feel better about allowing Kyle to do his job now?” he
asked, no censure in his voice, pure curiosity.

“
Yes.” Gabi sighed. She hadn’t realised until they were finally
packing up after the fight that it had been one of the worries
weighing her down. In her defence, Kyle had managed to get beaten
up by demons several times in the recent past. But now he was
efficient and professional at it. The team worked together
seamlessly. She would definitely worry less about him handling
situations like that. “But I’m still worried about the increase in
the number of crossings.”

“
You spoke to Athena about it?” he asked.

“
No, she was busy closing the portal,” she replied. “Kyle says
that the Veil is weakened, making it easy for demons to find places
they can cross over. Athena assured him it would all be fine once
Magi numbers were back up and injured Magi were back to full
strength, but that feels like an excuse to me. I think they’re
covering for something or someone.”

“
What do you mean?” Julius let her chin go and stepped back to
study her expression.

“
Argh, I don’t really know.” Gabi was finding it hard to put
her impressions into words. “I think it’s something we’ll have to
address more aggressively in the near future.” She shook her head
to clear it; that was another day’s problem. “But first we get my
mom back.”

“
Absolutely,” Julius agreed, “but even before that, you get
some rest. No…” he interrupted her protest. “You know you need it.
I will be on the phone putting the pilot and the plane on standby
and making business calls. There’s nothing else you can do right
now. I promise to wake you if anything comes up.” In the past Gabi
would’ve argued on principle, but she liked to think she’d grown up
a bit in the last few months, so she capitulated without too much
fight. She finished the last bite of sandwich and the rest of the
mineral water in the bottle and made her way upstairs to their
bedroom. She removed Nex and stripped down to her underwear, turned
up the air-conditioning, and collapsed into the huge bed with a
large, fuzzy ball of purring Razor.