To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4) (33 page)

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It had taken Caspian a full week of careful surveillance of
all aspects of the Princep Court, so long that he’d had to resort
to feeding on vagrants from the edge of town, before he felt
confident enough to show his face. During his time in the secret
tunnels, he’d discovered they were more extensive than he would’ve
believed. He’d been able to spy on everyone from the kitchen staff
to the Princeps themselves, when they were holding meetings, at
least. He’d been too concerned about alerting them to his presence
to try spying on them in their private quarters. And he’d learnt
another interesting thing. One of the human staff was aware of the
secret tunnels and made use of them on a regular basis. He’d almost
been uncovered by the man more than once, but had managed to slip
away each time. If he’d had a little more time, and a few less
pressing problems, it would’ve been an interesting puzzle to
solve.

It was
terribly frustrating simply waiting for someone to talk about a
subject he was interested in. More than once he’d been tempted to
come out of hiding long enough to enthral a Werewolf to do his
bidding. While most who knew him knew of his ability to control a
Werewolf, he had never revealed to anyone his ability to ‘hear’
what an enthralled Werewolf heard. Unfortunately he could only
enthral a Werewolf if he could make eye contact with it, and
sometimes it took a few minutes to wrest control of the wolf’s
mind. In that amount of time they could raise some kind of alarm.
He’d been hours away from trying it despite the risk when he
finally heard what he’d been waiting for.

A small party of Werewolf Court guards sitting in
a break room were knocking back hard liquor and discussing the
appointment of the new Princeps. They were debating the good and
bad of the newcomers. The new female Princep was from Egypt and had
such a superior attitude the staff had dubbed her Queen Cleopatra.
The man was less demanding but extremely private, and the rumour
was that he’d been a gladiator in ancient Rome. This had the guards
debating his age and whether it could possibly be true. Caspian had
no care for listening to speculation. He was certain that the
gladiator stories were fabrications anyway; Vampires of that age
were few and far between.

He was about to leave his spy hole when one of
the guards suddenly mentioned Helene’s name, wondering how quickly
she would’ve lured the new Princep into her bed. Caspian paused,
gritting his teeth as they made vulgar jokes and discussed her
sexual proclivities, including her attraction to teenage boys and
her love of orgies. He barely resisted smashing his fist into one
of the rock walls, and was about to leave when one of them made an
offhand comment about her taking the easy way out. One of the
others confirmed the story, adding his own embellishments and some
lewd remarks about what he would’ve done to her had he been on
guard duty with her. The anger that had been simmering at the
fool’s audacity to discuss Helene evaporated instantly. If the
official story was that Helene had found a way to take her own
life, then it was safe to show himself at Court. Once able to
mingle with the others at Court, he’d soon know if Julius had
lodged a complaint with the Princeps and called his Oath of Fealty
into question. And while he did that, he’d concoct a backstory to
explain his abrupt disappearance.

It took only a few hours for him to find out that Julius
hadn’t brought up anything with the Princeps to do with him. His
carefully fostered friendships at Court were finally paying
dividends. The lack of formal complaint didn’t mean he was in the
clear with Julius, but it would be frowned on for Julius to simply
kill him on sight without first taking the matter up with the
Princeps. Julius was just ethical enough to obey stupid laws like
that, Caspian thought with a sneer. The thought of returning to
Gabrielle’s company took the edge off the intense itch that had
been niggling his very soul for the last several weeks. He felt at
peace, and he couldn’t stop the smile that spread over his face. He
didn’t hesitate to make travel plans.

CHAPTER 20

“
So we’re back to waiting for them to attack us?” Gabi
groused, tapping a booted foot on the carpet in front of the couch.
She swirled the ice and whiskey in her glass and glared at it.
Tonight she actually wished it was possible for her to get drunk;
she’d love to get drunk enough to forget everything. Even just for
a few hours. Maybe it was a good thing she couldn’t. Though
everyone seemed to agree that the Dark Ones wouldn’t have the power
or resources to attack them for at least the next few days, she
couldn’t help but worry that they would manage to surprise them all
yet again.

It was the crowd of usual suspects in the entertainment room
at the Estate. Athena was the one pacing for a change. Dressed in
black slacks and a cream blouse, her whole demeanour seemed to have
shifted in the last few days. Her haughty, businesslike attitude
and obvious disdain of the other races had fallen by the wayside
somewhere along the ride. Her confidence had taken a knock after
the events at the warehouse. They’d come scarily close to being
overwhelmed by demons, and Athena had never been in such
close-quarters fighting with something that could literally rip her
head off. But the loss of that slightly overbearing confidence had
been replaced by a grim determination; instead of rolling over and
admitting defeat, the Magus was grabbing the problem with both
hands and preparing to wrestle it into submission. The biggest
difference was her openness to the suggestions and knowledge of
others. She was actually listening to them, and by the forced
removal of her blinkers, she was quickly beginning to jump on
possibilities the rest of them didn’t see. No one ever accused
Athena of being slow or stupid.

“
The Oracles are trying everything they can,” she said as she
paced away from the group, towards the French doors, “but they just
aren’t powerful enough to break through the shielding spell. The
Dark Ones can cast much stronger spells than us when they use Blood
Magic.” Suddenly she froze, quite literally, one foot off the
ground in mid-step. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, Gabi
would’ve laughed aloud. Gabi wasn’t the only one to go on immediate
alert. Fergus’s hand went to his sword belt, Kyle’s fell to the
dagger in his boot, and Julius and Alexander were both on their
feet without Gabi seeing them move.

“
Benedict.” Athena rounded on the Vampire, who was sitting at
the bar, pouring shots of, as far as Gabi could tell, every hard
liquor Julius had in stock. Mac was a couple of barstools down,
nursing a Coke.

“
Yes, Lady Defender?” Benedict said, not looking at her, and
downing a shot glass of dark purple alcohol. He grimaced in a
pleased sort of way and picked up the next one, eyeing the green
liquid in it speculatively.

“
Benedict!” Athena growled.

He downed the next shot, and his face contorted into a comical
mask. Gabi guessed he’d found the absinthe.

“
Athena,” he drawled, in a nasal imitation of an annoying
teenager.

Gabi glanced at Julius, one eyebrow raised. Was it possible
that Benedict was actually getting drunk? Julius gave a tiny shake
of his head and then a shrug, which Gabi interpreted to mean
‘probably not, but who the Hell knows?’

Athena strode towards the bar, and Gabi half expected her to
slap the ancient Vampire. She actually held her breath, not sure
how the Princep would take that kind of treatment, even though he
seemed to have some kind of feelings for the Magus. Everyone had a
snapping point, and Benedict may well be at his. Instead she
grabbed the next tot glass out of his fingers and spun the barstool
until he faced her.

“
Snap out of it,” she snarled. “We lost a battle; get over it.
The war hasn’t even begun.”

Gabi hadn’t even realised until that moment how different
Benedict had been since the trap in the warehouse. Now that she
thought about it, he was acting a little like a kicked
puppy.

“
Let’s blow this City,” Benedict said to her. “Come back to
Court with me. This place is doomed.”

“
No. It’s. Not,” Athena enunciated each word. “And
you
can make the
difference.”

Benedict heaved a huge sigh and, without breaking eye contact
with her, reached back and picked up another shot. He downed the
bright red liquid and instantly began coughing and spluttering.
Gabi turned a giggle into a cough; evidently he’d found the
cinnamon liqueur.

“
How can I do that, my Lady Defender?” he wheezed, his eyes
watering just a little.

“
Come with me to the Oracles,” Athena said. “Link with them;
enhance their power. With your help, they might be able to
see
through the powerful
shielding spell.”

“
I don’t like your pet Clairvoyants,” he said, with a petulant
pout. “They’re spoilt, cosseted children with an overinflated
opinion of themselves.”

Gabi wasn’t in time to stop the amused snort that erupted from
her nose as he described his own behaviour. Benedict turned his
head towards her, far enough that Athena couldn’t see his
expression, and winked. Gabi couldn’t contain herself any longer.
Between the tension of the last few days and the exhaustion from
nights of fighting, the wink, combined with Athena’s glare in her
direction, sent her over the edge. She laughed until her ribs
ached, and after a few seconds of befuddlement, the rest of them
joined in. It was the best stress reliever Gabi had ever
experienced, and when she regained her breath, she felt like an
entire mountain had been excavated from her shoulders.

“
It’s actually a very good idea.” Julius spoke once they’d
collected themselves and Gabi and Kyle had finished wiping tears
from their eyes. “Will you do it, Benedict?”

“
You’ll owe me one,” he answered, downing yet another shot of
alcohol, a pale orange-coloured one, obviously a little less potent
than the previous few, because he actually smiled and looked at the
glass appreciatively.

Gabi rolled her eyes; trust him to like peach
schnapps.

Gabi picked at the leftover Thai takeaway food. The Oracles
were still playing at being secretive; it had taken some convincing
on Athena’s part to get them to meet with Benedict. They’d finally
acceded but only on the condition that she and Benedict go alone.
To fill the time, Gabi had taken Mac and Kyle with her on a food
run after Athena and Benedict left. She’d taken immense pleasure in
introducing Mac to the palate-pleasing cuisine produced by her
favourite Thai restaurant. His scepticism soon gave way to
reluctant nods of approval; he seemed particularly fond of the beef
rib red curry. Gabi had ordered an array of meals, and the
food-eaters amongst them shared the containers around, sampling
each until they were full to bursting. The Vampires had looked on
with that intense concentration they only seemed to get when
watching others eat; that look that was part remembering, part
wondering, and all envious. Gabi was too hungry to feel sorry for
them.

When they’d eaten themselves to a standstill, Julius went off
to take care of some business, and the rest left to do whatever it
was Vampires did in the early hours of the morning, leaving just
her, Mac, Kyle and Alexander in the room. In boredom she flicked on
the large flat-screen TV and found a news channel. Trish had sent
word earlier that the media in the City were all in a tizzy over
the minor earthquake that had apparently rolled across much of the
City, not only in the industrial area around the warehouse. Experts
were concerned about shifting tectonic plates and the possibility
of further quakes more serious than the first one.

Sure enough a news presenter was interviewing a seismologist
on the size and range of the earthquake, and discussing the chance
of more. Bored, Gabi switched channels, the next one she stopped on
was a small, regional channel dedicated to the more unusual stuff
that happened. Gabi knew the channel well; it gave Byron countless
headaches as their researchers had a knack for finding genuine
examples of supernatural occurrences, sometimes with video or
photographic evidence. It was a lucky thing that the vast majority
of humans liked wearing their rational blinkers, and as easy as it
was to produce some kind of recorded proof of the paranormal with
the advent of smartphones, tablets, intelligent eyewear and the
like, it was now just as easy to fob off any such proof as CGI or
graphic manipulation. As the human race evolved technologically, it
also devolved spiritually. The few believers left were simply not
enough of a voice to make others believe something they didn’t want
to.

Gabi scowled as a male reporter—dressed vaguely goth, complete
with studs in his nose, lip, eyebrow and tongue—stood facing her
from the TV screen, describing some of the clean-up operations that
had gone on after the battle the previous night. By the man’s
description, he’d been somewhere not too far off. He’d seen large
wolves, men and women with bandages and blood, the medical vans as
well as their battle clothing, and some of the new
weapons.

Gabi knew Trish and some of the Magi from the SMV would make
sure there was no seriously damning evidence, and the scene would
be fobbed off as a movie set or something similar. The few humans
who believed the reports wouldn’t become a real threat to them.
Unless the supernatural races chose it, nothing would uncover them,
but it was another job to do when they needed to pool all talent
and conserve all energy. Mac, seeing her interest in the channel,
told her a little more about his home city and how they dealt with
the ghost-hunter types and the believers. It wasn’t too dissimilar
to their own solutions; there were only so many ways you could
dissuade annoyingly persistent humans.