A Cold Day in Hell (The Hellcat Series) (17 page)

The phone started ringing again. 

"Get that," Gabi told Rory.  "It's Julius." 

The man looked dismayed, but fumbled in her pocket until he fished the phone out. 

"Yes, Sire?" he said, answering it. 

Gabi took a moment to take stock of the situation.  Miraculously she and Derek were both still in their
seats, and the SUV seemed to be mostly in one piece.  The windows were all smashed, but only one had actually lost its glass, a sharp spear of a tree branch protruding inside the car, smears of red paint against the splintered edges.  Rory must have used all his Werewolf strength to force her partially crumpled door open. 

"She's conscious, Sire, mostly okay," Rory assured Julius.  "There was some kind of ambush. 
A shooter on the hill.  Ross has gone after him."  A pause as he listened.  "No, I think we're safe for now."  Another pause. "Of course, Sire."  He ended the call and let out an explosive breath.  "He's on his way.  If you're not too badly injured, I'm to get you to the house." 

Just the thought of moving made her grimace, but staying in the car wasn't a happier prospect.  She reached out with her other arm, at least that one didn't bring searing pain when she moved it, and thumped Derek on the shoulder.

"Derek," she called, "you alive?"  She thumped him again, and he stirred.

"
Hmmugh," he mumbled.  And then moaned.

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Gabi commiserated.  "You okay?"

"Depends on what you mean by okay," he grumbled, but he was already moving, releasing his seatbelt and fighting off the remnants of his airbags.  "God, you look awful," he said, looking her over.

"Thanks," she countered, reaching up to wipe at the eye that wouldn't open.  It was gummy with what she assumed was blood.  She could feel the swelling already beginning to form across the side of her head.  "Unclip me.  We need to get out of here."

"What's the rush?" Derek asked, as reluctant to move as she was.

"Don't really want to answer questions if the cops turn up.  We might not be in the City limits, but I'm sure someone would’ve heard the shots," she pointed out. 

Derek sighed and began manoeuvring his body upright.  He undid her seatbelt before grabbing the release catch for his door and throwing his shoulder against it.  He groaned as it didn't move, but tried again.  This time it opened a few inches.

"Watch out on that side," Rory warned.  "It’s steep.  I don't feel like going to fetch you from the bottom." 

"Yeah, yeah," Derek said, moving stiffly to put his good leg against the door and kick it fully open. 

Gabi drew a breath and mentally prepared herself for the pain of moving.  Rory put an arm under
her legs to swing them out from under the steering wheel.  She hissed in a breath; her right knee was on fire.  He gave her a short break once she was sitting with both legs out of the car. 

"Done your knee in?" he asked sympathetically, a grimace on his own face, as though he knew the pain. 

"I think so," she answered, feeling beads of sweat forming on her forehead.  A wave of nausea rolled over her, and she swallowed tightly, hoping her breakfast wasn't going to make an unceremonious reappearance. 

Derek fought his way through the rough bush, cursing, but at least he was on two legs.  His prosthetic had obviously made it. 

"Is it all right if I carry you, Hellcat?" Rory asked, uncertainty clear in his tone. 

Her automatic response was almost out of her mouth when she looked up and saw exactly how far they were from the road.  It would be a stiff climb with no injuries, despite the swath of bush-clearing the SUV had done on its tumble down here. 

"I'll do it," Derek interjected.

"You can barely stay on your own feet," she pointed out.  "I don't fancy being dropped.  Rory can help me.  Grab some of your gear if you can.  We might not be able to come back here before nightfall."  She was thinking specifically of his other prosthetic and his crutches, things not easily replaced or done without. 

His mind was in the same place, as he nodded and gingerly made his way to the back of the car without further comment.  The other Werewolf lifted her easily, overly careful of how and where he placed his hands.  Gabi wanted to roll her eyes, but that would probably hurt too. 

Ross met them at the road, his clothing dishevelled and leaves and twigs adorning his hair.  He lent Derek a hand, grabbing some of the stuff and taking it to their vehicle.  Gabi looked in astonishment at the position of her wrecked car.  Reality smacked her in the face when she saw how far they'd rolled, and how much further they could've rolled if the car hadn't rolled into a small copse of stout trees.  The mere fact that the car was in one piece was a miracle on its own, one she had some suspicions about. 

"Fucker got away clean," Ross reported sourly.  "There's a forestry road up there, and he took off in a four-wheel-drive.  Too fast for me to even get a plate number.”  He opened a rear door of the car as Rory carefully placed Gabi on her feet where she could lean on the car if she needed to.  "We need to get moving.  I can hear sirens," he reported.

"Give me my phone," Gabi said to Rory.  "I need to make a call to do some damage control."  She awkwardly folded herself into the back seat and took the phone.  The others climbed into the car, and Ross drove them quickly from the scene.

Gabi put a call into SVM HQ, not wanting to worry Byron yet.  She knew the Magi who took the call would smooth things out with the police department and emergency services.  They'd been doing it for years and had people in all the right places.  As they pulled up outside her gate, the sound of another engine roared up behind them.

"The boss," Ross reported, checking in the rear-view mirror. 

Gabi used her pinkie ring and the short incantation to nullify the ward around the house so that Ross and Rory could enter safely.  The way the two of them braced themselves as they drove through the gate made Gabi think that they'd probably been some of the poor guinea pigs who'd had to test the system.  They both visibly relaxed once past the threshold. 

Before they could stop the car in front of her house, Julius was pulling open her door.  He was wearing a full-length, black duster with a hood, and dark, wraparound sunglasses.  The material of the coat was something she'd never seen before.  It had a faint sheen to it, as though it had some kind of coating on it.  The hood was pulled up over his head, shielding his face; he wore black gloves and dark glasses.

"Get into the house, idiot," she hissed at him.  "What are you doing out at this time of the day?" Even with all the protection she could feel his unease and discomfort.  

"Deflection isn't going to work, Lea," he said, scooping her out of the car, assessing her quickly as he hurried them both towards the house.  He threw some orders over his shoulder to the guards.  Reinforcements were on the way, and they were going to sweep every inch of the surrounding area, looking for anyone or anything suspicious.  He'd also arranged the collection of her car; he didn't want the police towing it. 

In a flash they were inside the cool interior of her house.  Gabi reached out and hit a button on the electronic wall panel near the front door, and the sun-deflecting blinds automatically slid into place over all the windows, instantly darkening the place.  Lights turned on without any intervention from them.  You had to love modern technology, she mused.  He took her to the lounge and carefully set her on a sofa. 

The front door opened again as Derek came in with what gear he'd managed to salvage from the car.  Razor was on the sofa next to her in an instant, purring worriedly.  He'd seen this scenario more than once.  Before Julius could back away from her, a tiny, red furball appeared on his shoulder, chittering at him excitedly.  He made a grab for her, but she was too quick, even for him, and almost like magic appeared on his other shoulder, still appearing to scold him.  He threw back the hood of his unusual coat and pulled off his gloves and dark glasses. 

"Jonathon is in the daysleep.  We couldn't rouse him, but Ian can make a house call if necessary," he told her. 

Ian, Byron's son, was a trauma doctor at the City's main hospital.  Before Julius had opened the lines of communication between the Clan and the SMV, Ian had been the only option they had for dealing with injuries to herself or any of the Werewolves.  Now they mostly made use of Jonathon, Vamp-doc extraordinaire, except in daytime emergencies.

"I'm fine," she grumbled. 
"Nothing more than a couple of cuts and lots of bruises.  Let Ian look after people who need him." 

Julius pierced her with a look, but didn't argue as he removed the coat and threw it over a chair.  Rocky had moved to the top of his head and seemed to have no plans to remove herself anytime soon.  For some reason she loved Julius; whether it was genuine affection or simply because she knew that she bugged him, Gabi wasn't quite sure.  The little critter's mind was sometimes a little hard to read.  It was as active as she was.  Another quick grab for her finally paid off, and Julius removed
her from his head and placed her on the sofa next to Razor.  She eyed him for a moment, but something in his return glare must have registered as pushing her luck too far, so she settled for winding her little body between Razor's front paws. 

"Blood?"
Julius asked her, as she leaned back into the sofa and closed her eyes against the throbbing in her skull.

"How about some painkillers first," she suggested. 

Derek had appeared in the doorway to the sitting room, and she still found it difficult to take blood from him with any kind of an audience.  In fact, unless it was during sex, it always made her horribly self-conscious. 

She opened one eye.  "Derek, would you mind?  They're in the cupboard above the coffeemaker," she asked him.  "You look like you could probably do with some too." 

He retreated to the kitchen.

"Special coat?" she asked Julius, nodding at it. 

"Yes, it has a protective layer embedded in it.  Sunlight can't penetrate the fabric," he explained.  It must be true; here he was after being out in full sunlight without a burn on him. 

"Wow," she said.  "Impressive.  And speaking of special protection, I assume that my car wasn't a stock-standard issue either?"

His eyes widened slightly, and an almost-smile twitched at the corner of his mouth.  "What makes you say that?" he asked, all innocence. 

She raised an eyebrow, the one that didn't hurt so much.  "The windshield took two bullets, and neither of them got through.  The car itself hit a solid wall of rock doing at least forty miles an hour, bounced off and tumbled over a hundred feet down a bank, and was still in one piece.  Either I had twelve guardian angels on duty today or that car is the toughest thing on four wheels that I've ever heard of." 

He allowed a tight grin.  "Actually it is something of a prototype.  I have a friend who specialises in cutting-edge protective technology.  She'll be very pleased to hear how well it performed today,” he finally admitted.

"She," Gabi growled before she could stop herself. 

Julius's grin turned slightly smug, and Gabi cursed herself.

"No need to worry," he assured her.  "We’ve known each other for a very long time.  We’re merely friends, and she owes me a favour or two.  This one was mutually beneficial, though, as she wanted a real-world test for her new brainchild.  Having your car coated seemed like a good option."

"So you knew there was a chance someone was going to take a shot at me?" Her voice had gone up an octave.

His smile died in an instant.  "No," he assured her quickly, "this was completely unexpected.  The armour coating was a precaution.  You have been shot at while chasing rogues, and had a car wired to explode in recent months.  You seem to attract danger, you know." 

Gabi sighed.  Yes, she knew.  And her insurance company was going to initiate divorce proceedings against her if she didn't stop wrecking cars soon. 

Derek returned then with a bottle of water, some tablets and a basin with water and a washcloth. 
As he got within arm’s length of her, Razor lifted one huge paw and swiped at him, growling warningly.  Derek flinched away just in time to avoid being slashed.  A little of the water sloshed from the basin.  While Julius was tolerated by the big cat since the Master Vampire's blood had brought him back from death's door, that tolerance didn't extend to anyone else, especially Werewolves.  Gabi put a calming hand on Razor, and Julius took the tablets and the basin from Derek.

"Some coffee too, sweet and strong," he ordered the other man. 

Derek bristled for a moment, but looking at Gabi on the sofa, her hand on Razor's back beginning to shake with reaction, he turned and left the room without comment. 

"You don't need to order him around like a servant," Gabi said in a low voice. 

Julius ignored her and handed her the pills and water; then he placed the basin on a side table and squeezed out the washcloth.  Julius was aware of Derek's infatuation with her, had known how serious it was before she had, in fact.  He felt no need to be polite to the man and held off being rude simply to appease Gabi. 

Once she'd swallowed the tablets, he crouched in front of her and wiped at the blood over her eye and in her hairline.  Gabi was surprised at the colour of the water the first time he rinsed the cloth.  More blood than she'd thought.  She could hear and smell the coffee percolating now.  Julius finished cleaning her face and then, without warning, sliced a fang across his thumb and held it to her mouth.  Her first reaction was to clench her teeth, to keep herself from greedily sucking in the blood that called to her like a drug.  Then she realised she was being stubborn for the sake of being stubborn.  She needed to be in peak form.  She couldn't show weakness, not right now.  Pain and shock were clouding her mind as well as affecting her body.