To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4) (20 page)

Irene suddenly sat down in her seat. An abrupt, uncoordinated
movement, like a marionette who’s child puppeteer had suddenly lost
interest in the game. The other Magi looked at her in shock, and
Athena began to stand, her hand stretched out in concern towards
the older woman.

Then the doors to the conference room swung open as though
blown by a strong gust of wind.

The Werewolf guards were thrown off balance, and one tumbled
to the ground. The other stumbled back but managed to keep his feet
under him. A person appeared in the open doorway, pausing to look
at the two guards with disdain before striding nonchalantly into
the room. The Werewolf and Vampire guards jumped to attention,
ready to defend against an attack, but paused as one as they saw
that the intruder was a blond, teenage boy dressed in jeans,
thick-soled black boots, a ripped T-shirt and wearing dark
sunglasses.

“
Benedict!” Gabi exclaimed, sitting forward in surprise as she
heard Athena gasp from the other side of the table.

The boy gave her a mocking bow, straightening with a
nonchalant grace. “Consort Gabrielle,” he said in formal greeting.
“I’m pleased to see you in good health.”

The rest of the people in the room were frozen, unsure what
was happening or who this person was. Before anyone could react,
Benedict turned to face the Alpha who’d just asked why the Magi
needed help from the rest of them.

“
They need your help because they fear accessing the power of
the Source,” he told the burly man. “They don’t trust each other
enough to allow one of them to fully utilise the power. I think
they were the ones to originally coin that saying. You know the
one: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He made little air
quotations and turned his voice raspy and ominous before chuckling
darkly.

It was Julius who recovered his composure first. Standing, he
turned to the Magi High Councillors. “Ladies, gentlemen.” His eyes
made a quick sweep around the room, encompassing everyone. “May I
introduce Benedict. He is one of the members of the Princep Court,
the ruling council of Vampires.”

Gabi watched several of the Magi’s mouths actually fall open.
She was forced to turn a snort of amusement into a cough, and
garnered a mischievous grin from Benedict. Byron looked at Gabi,
consternation in his expression, not sure how to proceed. At Gabi’s
reassuring nod, he subsided; the other Hunters followed his lead.
The Werewolf Alphas looked to Kyle, who gave a barely perceptible
shake of his head, and they too stayed in their seats, not fully
relaxing, however. Athena was standing, her mouth also open, but
not in shock or disbelief, more like she’d been about to say
something and caught herself.

“
What did you do to Irene?” she finally demanded, though that
obviously wasn’t what she’d first wanted to say. The older Magus
was slumped in her seat, looking pale and ill. And as confused as
the rest of them.

“
My apologies, Priestess,” he said with a slightly contrite
nod towards Irene. “I simply intended to break the protection
spell. It’s possible I used more force than was necessary. I don’t
often pit my skills against other Magi. I think I’ve forgotten how
to be subtle.” He smiled winningly at Irene, but Athena’s mouth was
set in a thin, stern line. She wasn’t being taken in by his charm
and wasn’t swallowing his line about accidental use of
power.

“
But…he said you’re a…Vampire,” one of the other Magi
Councillors stuttered, pointing at Julius but staring at Benedict.
She was a matronly looking woman in demure clothing, but Gabi had
heard she was as tough as demon hide and twice as unpleasant if you
got on the wrong side of her.

“
He
is
a
Vampire,” Athena spoke up, turning to address her peers, “but he is
also a Magus. Turned in his teens, as you can see.” She waved a
hand in Benedict’s direction, not quite as collected as usual.
“Which seems to have enabled him to survive the Turning, and with
his powers intact. I met and worked with him on our trip to the
Princep Court a few months ago,” she said, a touch of defensiveness
entering her tone as the other Magi turned their gazes on her. Gabi
didn’t understand the mixture of censure, disappointment and
disbelief on the faces of her peers.

“
I could show you my fangs if that helps,” Benedict drawled,
jamming his hands in his back pockets and grinning with teenage
arrogance as he blew and popped a small bubble with his chewing
gum.

A hubbub of angry and anxious voices started up, but too many
for anyone to be heard clearly. Gabi pushed her chair back and
stood up next to Julius. She tried to speak and then shout over the
hubbub, but her voice was drowned out. The gentle charge in the air
that always hummed naturally around Julius suddenly flared to life
like a sudden electric storm, crackling dangerously against her
skin.

“
Enough,” he said, his voice barely more than a low
growl.

Gabi pursed her lips, trying to hide her amusement as the
entire room fell instantly silent. “Benedict, please don’t take
this the wrong way,” she said into the strained silence, addressing
the cocky Vampire, “but what the fuck are you doing
here?”

“
I’m here to help, of course.” He smirked at her before
shifting his gaze to find Athena. “Among other things.” His face
suddenly went predatory, his eyes hungry. An instant later his
expression was back to careful, amused nonchalance, the glimpse so
quick Gabi wondered if she’d imagined it. “A little birdie
whispered that you’d attracted the eyes of the Elders. The Elders
and I have a history. I’d prefer that they didn’t get their
repugnant little tentacles into the flow of the Source
either.”

“
But how do you even know of the Source?” Athena
asked.

Gabi was more interested in how he knew about the Dark Elders
and their predicament when the rest of them had only just found
out, but she figured she’d be able to ask him that later, in
private. It was unlikely he’d be staying anywhere but at Julius’s
estate. That is if the Magi Council didn’t try to run him out of
the City.

“
There isn’t much magic in this world that I don’t know
about.” His eyes twinkled with challenge as he answered Athena. “I
keep telling you that, but you just don’t seem to hear
me.”

“
How exactly do you think you can help us?” one of the male
Magi High Councillors asked, his attitude a little on the snooty
side for someone addressing a being centuries older than himself,
but Gabi doubted the Magus could sense the Vampire’s age and power
like she could. And she knew he was keeping his full power very
tightly controlled. Once, when they’d first met, Benedict had
allowed her to feel the full magnitude of his power. She’d almost
collapsed under the weight of it. As powerful as Julius was, his
power was still young and immature compared to Benedict’s. She was
pretty confident that Benedict was the only Vampire in the world
who could resist Julius’s commands.

“
I can give you the insight you lack,” Benedict told him in a
flat voice. “Your Clairvoyants may not be able to penetrate their
masking spells, but I can. And I can tell you that Deimos and
Phobos,” he sneered the names, “are not yet in the City, but their
lapdogs are. They’re the ones shielding your Maleficus.”

“
Who do you mean?” Athena asked.

“
Gemini, of course,” Benedict told her almost
pityingly.

Gabi flinched, the impact of the name making her spine go
rigid.

“
The other Princeps are under the impression that Gemini work
for them, but in truth they’ve been the Dark Ones’ underlings for
several decades now. Adepts, to use the correct terminology.
Learning all they can of the Dark Arts and Blood Magic. They’ve
learnt much, but not quite enough to challenge their Elders yet, so
for now they travel the world being the eyes, ears and hands of
their masters.”

“
Gemini are here? In the City?” Gabi reiterated, not quite
suppressing a shudder. If they were mere underlings of the Elders,
the reality of the danger surrounding them had become crystal
clear.

Benedict tilted his head in a semblance of a nod, but didn’t
reply.

“
Do you know what their next move is?” Julius asked. At least
one of them had some wits about him.

“
Now that they have the location of the Source, they’ll take a
step back, taking time to put together a plan of action, hoping you
haven’t noticed the intrusion,” Benedict answered without
hesitation. “It will be the calm before the storm. When they come
back at you, it will be with everything and everyone they can bring
together at one time. They know this is their one and only chance.
They’re running out of time.”

“
Who else can they call together?” a Pack Leader asked. “What
kind of an army can they bring against us?”

“
There is an underground network of Dark Magi. Some of those
will work with them, some won’t. They have Vampire and Werewolf
slaves, and will expend the energy to enslave more now that they
can virtually taste the power of the Source. And they have your
Maleficus. With her they can bring over as many demons as they can
control. I guess you can count yourself lucky that Dantè is no
longer walking the earth.” He glanced towards Julius, his
expression unreadable.

“
But surely they couldn’t control more than one demon each,”
one of the other Magi spoke up from the shadows.

“
That is only true if they stick to Castus Magic,” Benedict
said pityingly. “The Dark Ones are using Blood Magic, not only in
their rites, but consuming it to magnify their own powers and
extend their lives.” When there were no gasps of shock and outrage,
he raised an intrigued eyebrow.

“
The Magi informed all of us of that little deception just a
few minutes ago,” Gabi filled him in.

His grin returned.

“
How do you know so much about Blood Magic?” another of the
Magi ventured, in a small but steady voice.

“
Because,” Benedict sighed, like a teacher who was tired of
trying to explain a basic concept to a particularly ignorant
student, “I have the blood of a Magi running through my veins. I am
as powerful as a Magi who consumes Vampire blood all day, every
day. My magical abilities have been feeding on Vampire blood for
over nine hundred years.” He only barely kept the smugness from his
face as he paused to let the room digest that bombshell.

“
What exactly are your abilities?” Irene had finally recovered
enough to begin her own interrogation and, by the look on her face,
was preparing to do just that.

“
He’s an Enhancer,” Athena said before Benedict could answer.
She held her hand up when others made sounds of protest, cutting
off any disagreement. “Trust me.”

“
Among other talents,” he agreed with a cryptic
smile.

“
And those would be?” Irene asked.

“
It would be quicker if I simply told you what I
couldn’t
do.” Coming
from anyone else, Gabi would’ve called his statement arrogance, but
in Benedict’s case, he was merely voicing a fact. He’d told Athena
about his power of Enhancement, but Gabi had glimpsed the full
extent of his power the very first time they met, and she knew,
without a doubt, that he was capable of far more than he let on.
But then a tiny twitch of his left eye before he dropped his gaze
to the floor for a moment made Gabi pause. She was almost certain
the twitch was a tell of some kind. Not a lie, Irene would pick up
on that, but…something. She stowed the thought for later
consideration.

“
So we are to believe that you’ve arrived to help us out of
the goodness of your heart? Why should we trust you?” Irene asked.
“What is to stop you claiming the Source for yourself once you find
out where it is?”

“
I already know where it is. I could feel its pull the moment
I entered the City. And I’m here, in front of you, not claiming it
for myself. You know the truth when you hear it, Priestess. I can
see it,” he said, his gaze boring into hers. “Can you see any
deception in me? Have you sensed any evil intent in my words, any
dishonesty?”

Irene paused. “No, I haven’t,” she finally admitted. “But if
you’re as powerful as you claim, you could be strong enough to
blind me. We know nothing of you or your skills. You are one of a
kind. We have no idea what you’re capable of.”

Benedict suddenly and unexpectedly began to laugh out loud.
“No, Lady Priestess, I’m not one of a kind. In fact, I’m not even
the only Vampire Magus in this room.” His darkly humorous gaze
shifted to settle on Julius.

Gabi’s heart stuttered, raw intuition slamming into her hard
enough to stun her. Her mouth popped open, but the rest of her body
froze as she looked up at the man she loved, the man she thought
she knew.

CHAPTER 13

“
What do you mean, Benedict?” Gabi heard Athena’s voice
demand, but she couldn’t move, didn’t hear if Benedict responded.
Then others were talking, but she couldn’t make out any of the
individual words. Her mind was racing through all the moments she’d
spent with Julius over the past months, picking out tiny details,
small events, previously insignificant facts. It all fitted
perfectly. How had she not made the connection before? Did he know?
Had he been keeping it from her? There was an uncomfortable
sensation in her chest, and she realised she needed to breathe. She
concentrated and made her lungs work, air in, pause, air out.
Repeat. Somehow she still wasn’t getting quite enough oxygen. The
ring on her left hand felt like it was burning her. Then a soft
growl in her ear.