To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4) (6 page)

As she reached towards a tray of tiny hors d’oeuvres, she
sensed the warmth of a non-Vampire next to her; at the same moment
she sensed annoyance lancing through Julius. Before she looked up,
she knew the newcomer was Derek. He hadn’t yet given her his
congratulations like everyone else. Gabi sighed, but knew the
conversation was inevitable. She shot Julius a loaded glance. His
eyes narrowed, but he leaned down, kissed her full on the lips, and
then left the two of them alone. Males. Gabi scowled as she turned
from glaring at Julius’s retreating back to the dominant male
Werewolf on her other side.

“
Thanks for coming,” she said, wanting to reach out and touch
him, but reluctant to give him any signal he might take the wrong
way. She liked to think they’d made it past the awkwardness, but as
she looked up into his steel grey eyes, she knew he wasn’t over her
at all. “It means a lot to have you here.” She tried for a light
but genuine tone, hoping to forestall an outburst. It didn’t
work.

“
So you’ve really done it,” he snapped, his voice flat and
hard. “You married your undead lover.”

Gabi only just held back a low growl as her temper flared.
“Yes,” she bit out, curling her fingernails into her palms to keep
from punching him. “I’ve married Julius,” she continued, even
though it wasn’t strictly true by human standards, “but he is not
undead.” She growled the last words from between clenched
teeth.

“
Really?” Derek raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “What would you
call it, then?” Although they were in a largely vacant corner, Gabi
was aware of several pairs of eyes watching them with an unhealthy
interest.

“
He is a Vampire, much as you are a Werewolf,” she snarled,
“or are you trying to pretend you’re human again?”

His body tensed as though she’d delivered a physical blow, and
his eyes narrowed in pain, but his anger only grew.

“
I didn’t have to die to become Werewolf,” he threw at her. “I
am not the undead.”

“
Well, if that’s your classification of undead, then your own
sister is undead too,” Gabi threw back. “We never told you at the
time, as you were too unhinged, but Trish’s heart stopped beating
twice as she went through the Change. Jonathon, a Vampire, brought
her back both times. Think about that,” she snapped, then instantly
regretted her words as the shock hit him like a punch to the face.
She’d let her temper get the better of her, let him get under her
skin. She’d thought she was learning to rein it in, but her control
obviously wasn’t as good as she’d hoped. “I’m sorry,” she said,
knowing she’d let Trish down as well. “That should never have come
out like that.”

She sensed movement to her left and glanced over to see Trish
and Kyle approaching them. She turned back to Derek, raising her
hand to touch his arm, but he pulled back from her, his gaze
flicking to Trish and back to her.

“
But she doesn’t need to drink the blood of the living to
survive,” he hissed, then turned on his heel and strode off into
the crowd, his slight limp more pronounced in his anger. Too many
eyes followed his exit.

Kyle reached Gabi, his expression concerned, while Trish held
back, biting her lip in distress.

“
Are you okay?” Kyle asked in a low voice. He put one hand on
her shoulder to turn her away from Derek’s furious
departure.

“
Yes, I’m fine. Can you go after him? I can’t really get away
now,” she indicated the room full of Vampires, those closest still
avidly watching the scene unfold. “Tell Trish I’m
sorry.”

Kyle squeezed her shoulder lightly. “He’ll be fine once he
calms down. It’s nothing he didn’t need to hear.” He strode back to
Trish, wrapping an arm around her back, and they both hurried after
Derek.

Gabi closed her eyes and collected herself, glad that Julius
hadn’t been close enough to intervene. Giving up on the thought of
food, she headed for the nearest table serving alcohol instead,
pretending she didn’t notice the inquisitive glances following her.
The Vampire behind the bar was a staff member she knew by sight,
and he was quick to fill a glass for her.

She’d just turned from the bar with the precariously full
glass of red wine and taken an unladylike gulp when a woman broke
away from a small group nearby and swept over to her. She was older
in human years than the majority of the other guests, but she was
slender and elegant in an understated black evening dress. Already
several inches taller than Gabi, her high heels only added to her
statuesqueness. Her hair was one of the most remarkable things
about her; waist-length and with a very light wave, it was a
shimmering, steel grey colour. Not the kind of grey that came with
age, but that slightly different grey that came when a person went
grey early in life. Gabi would bet Nex that this woman had been
grey by the age of twenty. Not that it detracted from her beauty
one iota. She must have been in her early to mid-fifties when she
was Turned, but she held her age well, probably one of those women
who actually got more beautiful as she aged. Lucky cow, Gabi
thought ungraciously.

“
Yes, in many ways I am,” the woman said, catching Gabi’s eyes
as she stopped a few feet away and appeared to be sizing Gabi
up.

Gabi blinked in consternation. Had she just spoken aloud?
She’d swear she’d only thought the words, but how else…

“
Ah, Svetlana.” Julius’s voice interrupted Gabi’s confusion as
he appeared at her side.

“
Savannah,” the other woman replied emphatically.

“
Of course, my apologies,” he placated her, leaning forward to
drop a kiss on her cheek.

She chuckled and patted his face affectionately. “You’re the
only one who even remembers that name, Julius.”

Gabi stiffened, not liking being left out of the joke. Julius
quickly put a calming hand to her back, his cool fingers brushing
the skin bared by her open-back dress.

“
Gabrielle, this is Savannah. An old friend who, at another
time, bore another name.”

Gabi resisted the urge to put out her hand to shake the other
woman’s, reminding herself, as she had been all night, that it
wasn’t polite Vampire etiquette.

“
I’m pleased to meet you, Savannah,” she said cautiously,
injecting a hint of formality into her tone and inclining her head
politely in greeting.

“
The feeling is indeed mutual,” Savannah replied. “I’ve heard
so much about you that I feel I know you already. I’ve been dying
to meet the woman who finally tamed our commitment-phobic boy.” Her
smile seemed genuine, but perhaps a little too bright.

“
Gabrielle, Savannah is the one who designed the, er,
protective coating on your SUV,” Julius supplied.

“
The body-armour paint job you never bothered to mention to
me, you mean,” Gabi checked, only slightly caustically. That was
still a sore point, especially as it had been done by a mystery
Vampire female Gabi had never been introduced to.

“
Yes,” Julius confirmed mildly. “Savannah is a very talented
lady.” They both looked at the lady in question, and Julius
continued. “So let me warn you, before she decides to have a little
fun with you,” Savannah’s face took on ‘who-me’ expression, “that
one of her special talents includes reading minds.”

“
You spoil all my fun, Julius,” she protested, but with no
rancour in her tone. “Though I think your Consort would’ve figured
me out pretty quickly anyway.” She gave Gabi a surreptitious
wink.

Gabi had been quite ready to dislike this woman, even before
she knew of her close friendship with Julius, but somehow she found
herself smiling back at the mischief twinkling in the grey-green
eyes.

“
She is the prettiest little thing,” Savannah stage-whispered
to Julius. “I’d stick to her side like superglue if I were you,
with the sharks patrolling around here tonight.”

Julius simply laughed out loud. “Don’t let appearances fool
you, Sve—Savannah. My Lea is more than capable of looking after
herself.”

“
Against outright attack, yes, but against the subtle charm
offensive that someone like Angelo will launch?” she
enquired.

“
He’s welcome to try. It might even be fun to watch the
match,” Julius countered. “I might just need to disarm her first,
however, to give him a fighting chance.”

Savannah laughed, a thoroughly uninhibited chortle.

“
You certainly chose a worthy Consort, Julius,” she
proclaimed.

Gabi smiled weakly. She didn’t feel like a worthy Vampire
Consort; she felt like a nervous schoolgirl suddenly thrust into
the middle of a political rally and expected to know how to charm
and entertain a large, unfriendly crowd. Then she remembered
Savannah’s extra talent and quickly cleared her mind, concentrating
on thoughts of the paperwork she needed to deliver to her
accountant’s office.

Savannah smiled again, nodding approvingly. “She truly is a
quick study, Julius,” she said. “I’ll leave you to mingle, but do
bring her over for a visit to my lab one of these days. I’m sure
she’d find it interesting.” Then she turned to Gabi. “And you must
bring the cat,” she said fervently. “I love cats.”

Before Gabi could form words of farewell, the woman was
gone.

“
She reads minds?” Gabi demanded in a clipped but hushed voice
as soon as Savannah had joined another group of guests.

Julius nodded, a faint smile playing at the edges of his lips.
“Well, not mine, and not the minds of other stronger Vampires, but
weaker Vampires and humans, as well as most Shifters and
Werewolves. She has a problem reading most Magi, however. Something
about the skill they’re all taught to keep others out of their
mental space. The tricks you use when you want to keep your
emotions from me will probably keep your thoughts safe from her as
well.” That little fact made Gabi feel infinitely
better.

“
She’s not one of your Clan members, is she?” Savannah hadn’t
been wearing Julius’s colours on her anywhere that Gabi could
see.

“
No, she’s Nomas Solitarius, and happily so. She lives outside
a small rural village about an hour’s drive from here. She’s quite
reclusive, staying on a large country estate, making a steady
income from several of her inventions. I invited her tonight as
she’s someone I consider a friend. Someone I know I can trust in a
pinch, and she has some brilliant ideas, some that may well prove
to be very useful to us in the future.” Julius suddenly pulled her
close and tipped her face, his expression concerned. “Are you all
right?”

She knew intuitively that he was referring to her argument
with Derek rather than her encounter with Savannah the
mind-reader.

“
Upset with myself,” she said ruefully, “but thank you for
letting me deal with it.”

Julius smiled, but before he could say anything more, another
small group of Vampires approached them.

CHAPTER 5

Gabi lay with her back nestled into the protective curve of
his body, sated and physically exhausted after the mental strain of
the evening, but unable to quiet her mind enough to sleep. It was a
couple of hours to dawn, so Julius wouldn’t need to sleep yet, but
he would lie with her so she could get some rest. Having met
several Master Vampires tonight, her thoughts turned to the Master
she’d killed at the Court of the Princeps and the conversation
she’d had with Alexander on their way to the Estate.

“
What happens to a Clan if the Master dies the true death?”
she asked into the silence. She’d detested everything about the
Princep Santiago. Stunningly beautiful on the outside, stunningly
ugly on the inside; he’d been the worst kind of pervert, a
paedophile and a sadist, powerful enough to do as he pleased and
drunk on his own self-importance. The world was an infinitely
better place without him in it, but for the first time, Gabi
wondered what ripples his death may have caused. Those ripples
would’ve had the biggest impact on his Clan, and she was suddenly
worried about what happened to them all.

Julius breathed in, stalling a little, perhaps trying to
decide what prompted her question. “It depends largely on the
hierarchy within the Clan itself.” She didn’t interrupt as he
paused, allowing him to order his thoughts. “If there’s a strong
second in command or even another Clan member who’s capable of
becoming a Master, the Clan can appeal to the Princeps to declare
the second their new Master. The majority of the Clan needs to be
in agreement, though, and the second must be at Master level. If
there isn’t one strong enough to lead or the majority don’t agree
with the appointment, then the Clan is dissolved, the members
dispersed to other Clans or to become Nomades Solitarii: lone
walkers, the Clanless.”

“
Like you were?” she said softly.

“
Yes, for a time.” There was a heaviness in his
voice.

“
Until you found Lex?” She needed to pull him back from the
precipice of gloominess; she was too close to it
herself.

“
Yes, Alexander was my first.”

She could hear the smile in his voice and turned so she could
make out his features in the dark, wondering what the joke
was.