A Cat's Chance in Hell (35 page)

“
Shit!” She cursed as she almost fell over something in the dark. Righting herself, she found a head rolling on the tarmac: mouth open in a macabre grin, tongue waving hungrily. She aimed a boot at it and sent it flying through the air and into the chest of a newcomer just entering the edge of the fray.

“
Thanks,” the newcomer said with a grimace. The Vampires all spun towards the voice; none of the Ghouls had said an intelligible word throughout the entire fight.

“
Lance,” Gabi yelled with relief. “Sorry about that,” she grinned as he kicked the head away from him back into the carnage. She wiped at a smear of gore across her face as she slashed Nex across the throat of another Ghoul. “Feel free to help out, but keep the flames,” she broke off for a moment to duck under a swinging crowbar and then spun to finish off hacking the head from the burly shoulders, “away from our allies.” She nodded towards the Vampires, who’d returned to the fight once they realised Lance was on their side.

“
Sure thing, Hellcat,” Lance replied, lazily kicking away a Ghoul who rushed towards him.

In the next instant, a Ghoul near the back of the fray emitted a loud unearthly yell and began smoking; within seconds, he was engulfed in flames. The rest of the mindless creatures didn’t seem to even be aware of one of them standing burning in their midst; they simply moved around him, though they seemed to take care to avoid the flames.

“
Holy fook,” Fergus exclaimed, pausing to look at the suddenly burning Ghoul in astonishment. He glanced back to Lance with gleeful amazement. “Now that’s a handy talent to ‘ave,” he shouted with approval.

Lance gave the imposing Vampire a self-mocking bow just as another Ghoul burst into flames.

Fergus roared with laughter and renewed his attack on the ragged remains of the Ghoul army.

Gabi could feel the muscles in her arms beginning to burn. It wasn’t often they had to fight such a sustained battle, usually by this stage whoever they were fighting would’ve backed off to regroup giving both sides time to catch their breath, but the Ghouls simply kept coming, and would until the very last one had been cut down and burned.

“
Kyle,” she called, “what’s happening on your side?”

His voice came back, sounding a little breathy. “One Vampire made a run for it; Liam and Alex are chasing him down. We’re dealing with the last of the Demons, the other two Vamps are dust,” he reported.

“
Alexander,” Julius’s voice didn’t betray a hint of the fight he was in the middle of. “Take that one alive.”

“
Yes, Boss,” Alexander replied with mild sarcasm, “we’re trying. But he’s not making it easy. Ahh, I think we have him cornered now.”

The first of the burning Ghouls collapsed onto the tarmac and disintegrated, another five or six were burning where they stood. Gabi glanced around, assessing how many were left. They seemed to have stopped pouring from the hole in the ground but she couldn’t know if there were more inside. Ghouls didn’t show up on her radar like Demons and other supernaturals did apparently. She started making her way to the underground entrance to try and look inside.

“
The flame-throwers are three minutes away Gabs,” Kyle’s voice echoed in her head. “We’ve cleared the warehouse. Charlie is going to stay with Athena out front and wait for the flame-throwers. Quentin and I are on our way to you.”

“
Watch your step when you get here,” Gabi warned with a grunt as she kicked another head away into the darkness. Then she ducked into the shadows away from the main fight, grateful for the clouds that once more obscured the moonlight as she rounded the dwindling horde and made for the gaping hole in the ground. She heard Julius curse suddenly, as he realised she had slipped away.

“
Gabrielle, what are you doing?” he demanded over the comlink.

“
Don’t worry,” she replied, “I’m just going to see if that’s the last of them. I’m sure you’ll hold your own without me for a minute or two.”

She rubbed briefly at a numb spot on her left shoulder where she had taken a hit by a crowbar. She’d hardly felt it at the time, but the numbness was wearing off, and a deep ache was creeping in. She reached the entrance and peered inside. It was dimly lit, obviously Ghouls didn’t have the best night vision, and she could see a short flight of rudimentary wooden steps leading down into a narrow passageway crudely dug out of the earth. She couldn’t see further than a few metres where the passage hit a T-junction, one side heading straight towards the warehouse, the other leading away from it.

“
Damn,” she swore softly; realising she was going to have to go down and check. She looked up to see if the rest were holding their own and flinched as a shadow moved next to her.

“
Just me,” Julius said quickly as Nex came up.

“
Don’t you know better than to sneak up on a girl in a Ghoul fight?” “You’re not going down there alone,” he said, his tone brooking no argument. Which only made Gabi want to argue, of course.

Fortunately, common sense prevailed and she simply said, “Fine,” and started down the steps before he could get in front of her. She heard his faint exasperated growl as he followed her. She peeled the small voice receiver off the skin behind her ear and tucked it into a pocket; the litany of shouts and commands was getting too distracting.

The corridor was just wide and high enough for her to move comfortably, meaning it was too narrow and too low for Julius. It didn’t make him move any less gracefully, but it did make him hunch his shoulders and try to pull his head in like a tortoise. Her self-satisfied smirk lasted until she cautiously peered around the first bend. The corridor to the left ran for another few meters and ended in a short flight of steps leading up to a solid looking metal door; that would lead into the warehouse she was sure.

The corridor to the right grew slightly wider and extended in a straight line as far as she could see in the dim light thrown from a few make-shift fluorescent lanterns hanging from the ceiling. On either side of the corridor, crude doorways were hacked into the hard-packed earth walls. There were dozens of doorways, spaced about four metres apart, each sporting a rough, wooden door. Most of them stood open but a few were still shut tight. She felt the cool, muscled weight of Julius’s body as he pressed close to her to peer around the corner too. She felt her mouth fill with saliva and the now almost familiar ache in her canines as his scent enveloped her. She forced her mind back to the dank, earthy passageway and its closed doors.

“
What do you think?” he asked quietly. “More of them behind the closed doors?”

She looked back at him. “Let’s go find out.” They moved cautiously into the wider passage and crept to the first door, which was standing open. They peered in, assessing for danger with all of their senses.

“
Seems clear,” Julius murmured softly.

Gabi nodded agreement and they warily entered the underground room. It had also been hacked out of the bare earth, it was damp and cold and lined with rows of what looked like crudely made bunk beds. There was an open hole in the ground in one corner, and Gabi and Julius could tell what it was for without going to check. The stench was almost enough to be a physical force. The floor was littered with bones and small skulls, nothing looked human, probably dog, cat and rat, Gabi thought with shiver of revulsion. Having quickly established that there was no threat in the empty room, they moved to the first closed door. It was bolted shut from the outside by a thick steel rod. They paused to listen carefully. Gabi knew Julius’s hearing would be better than hers, so she looked at him expectantly after he’d pressed his ear to the roughen wood. Gabi could hear sniffling and what sounded to her like quiet moaning.

“
How many?” she mouthed at him.

“
At least three,” he mouthed back.

“
Ready?” she whispered, settling Nex comfortably in her right hand and pulling another knife from a thigh sheath.

Julius pulled her hand from the bolt. “My turn,” he said, putting his own hand on the bolt and drawing it back before Gabi could do more than roll her eyes. They burst though and shifted into defensive crouches either side of the door, ready for anything.

Nothing happened.

There were three figures huddled on two almost bare pallets. None of them moved to attack. One whimpered in fear and another began crossing itself repeatedly, muttering what sounded like the Lord’s Prayer. The third just sat still like the proverbial deer in the headlights. There were two bodies lying in a far corner of the room, well into decomp by the smell of them. The live ones were sitting on a couple of filthy, threadbare blankets and were dressed in dirty tattered clothing. Their hair was dishevelled, matted and all three were male if the ratty facial hair was anything to go by.

“
They’re still human,” Gabi whispered, not sure if she was speaking to herself or Julius.

“
They could still be infected,” Julius warned. “Maybe they haven’t had time to become fully Ghoul yet. How long does the transformation take?”

“
I don’t know.” “How long have you been here?” Julius demanded of them.

They all just looked at him in utter terror, not one of them could get a word out, and the one who had been moaning began to cry softly.

“
Bugger, they’re scared shitless,” Gabi cursed roundly. “We’ll leave them here for now. Byron will know what to do with them. Let’s carry on and see what other horrors this crypt holds.” They backed out of the cave-like room and Julius shot the bolt back in place.

As they headed towards the next doorway, the acrid stink of burnt flesh, hair and clothing came wafting down from the entranceway. Apparently, the flame-throwers had arrived.

They checked three more open rooms and found all of them in much the same state as the first, give or take a body or three. Gabi had begun holding her breath whenever they entered one — the stench was stomach churning, she was sure she wouldn’t feel like eating for a week.

The next door they came to was closed. The sounds from the other side seemed familiar, almost identical to what they had heard from the other occupied room. If anything, the sniffling sounded more like crying. They didn’t let up their guard and entered the same way as before, quickly and ready for anything.

On the pallets this time was a woman holding a small body in her lap. She was facing away from the door, her shoulders hunched protectively as she sniffled over the limp bundle in her arms. Gabi froze in shock. A mother and child, in these conditions? Her stomach rolled nauseously but her anger burned white hot. She unfroze and moved closer to the pair, wanting to see if there was any hope of saving the child, though she could only hear one heartbeat besides her own.

As she bent towards the woman, she heard Julius say, “No Gabi, I don’t…” and in that instant the woman struck. Hurling the body of the child off her, she spun and plunged a splintered piece of wood straight into Gabi’s side.

“
No, you can’t have her!” the woman shrieked. “Child of Satan. She’s mine. You can’t have her.” The woman was raving now, screaming as she gathered up the pitifully small body and backed into a corner like a brutalised animal.

“
Gabrielle,” Julius shouted in alarm. He reached her before reality did and caught her as she swayed towards the dirt floor, her hand clutching at the crudely made stake protruding from just under her right ribs.

“
Fuck,” she said slowly as she felt hot, sticky blood seep onto her hand.

Chapter 18

“
No,” thought Julius desperately, ‘this can’t be it, this isn’t right; it’s not the same as the vision.”

“
Gabrielle,” he breathed, gathering her up with infinite care, his mind torn between knowing it was better to leave her where she was so as to limit the damage, and needing to get her out of that filthy hole with its dreadful inhabitants. He looked into her eyes as the reality of what had happened registered in them. He could see the emotions lick over her face: confusion, shock, pain and then indignant anger. When he saw the anger, he knew he would take the chance and get her out.

“
Kyle,” he yelled, louder than necessary for the comlink, “Gabrielle’s been injured, we need a stretcher and medics.”

“
Shit,” Kyle cursed, then, “Charlie, send the medic back here fast, we’re almost done so it’ll be safe enough. Julius, do I need to send men down there? How bad is she hurt?”

“
No, don’t send anyone, we can clean up down here later,” Julius replied. “I’m going to need some help getting her out the last section of the passage. It’s very narrow, and I won’t fit through carrying her.”

He stopped at the intersection and glanced up to see Kyle already manoeuvring himself sideways down the narrow passage. Alexander was at the top of the staircase peering down into the gloom. Gabi was lying quietly in his arms, but he could feel the tension in her body as she braced herself against the pain, one hand clenched around the offending shard of wood. She obviously knew enough about penetrating injuries to not try and pull the stake out, though he knew it was always a person’s first instinct and she had to be fighting it hard. Kyle slowed and worry filled his eyes as he got close enough to scent the blood and see the stake protruding from her bloodied fingers.

“
There’s a door here I think leads to the warehouse,” Julius snapped at Kyle. “See if you can find a way to open it, otherwise we’ll have to take her out through there,” he nodded back down the tight space behind Kyle.