A Cold Day in Hell (The Hellcat Series) (19 page)

The bright lights and modern decor of the room seemed utterly incongruous to the almost antediluvian ritual that was taking place in the confines of its walls.  Caspian was bare chested, dressed only in a loose-fitting pair of dark, harem-style pants.  His bare skin, glistening with a faint sheen of oil, reminded Gabi of the pale, reddish brown hue of her favourite teak coffee table.  He was well muscled for his apparent age, his biceps defined and a shadow of a six pack across his abdomen. Dark hair covered most of his upper chest before arrowing down towards his navel.  He caught her assessment, and his eyes narrowed with smugness.  She barely resisted rolling her eyes; assessment wasn't necessarily appreciation, but few men realised that. 

Only she, Alexander and Dragos stood near Julius and Caspian in the centre of the room.  The rest melted into the shadows against the walls.  Gabi felt the biting wash of Julius's power, and Caspian stiffened.  Contrition replaced the smugness, and he lowered his eyes to the tiled floor.  He had balls, Gabi had to admit, pushing his luck in front of all of them: Alexander to Julius's right, she to his left and Dragos standing to the right of Alexander.  Julius pulled his power back, containing it once more, but displeasure was clear in his bearing. 

"Not a good way to start the relationship, Caspian," Gabi thought.  She still wasn't sure if the Spaniard was playing some kind of game with them.  Her gut said he was, but if that was true, then he was one of the best liars she'd ever come across.  The ritualistic words had already been spoken by both Caspian and Julius.  Only the final blood offering remained, then Caspian's oath of fealty would be official. 

"Kneel, Caspian," Julius said.  He was holding a braided silk cord in his hands. 

Gabi had finally found out what the strips of silk that resided in his top desk drawer were for.  The answer was much less exotic than she'd anticipated.  The cord was braided from three different coloured silk strips: black, dark blue and gold.  All of his Vampires present tonight were wearing an identical cord somewhere on them. 

Caspian went to his knees in front of Julius, and Julius was suddenly holding out a small, ornate dagger to him.  Caspian took the dagger, and Gabi tensed, ready for anything, but Caspian turned the blade towards his own neck and pierced the jugular, tipping his head to one side as the blood oozed from the wound.  Not the pumping fountain it would've been if he'd been human, but a steady rivulet of dark red.  Julius bent over him, roughly tilting his head further to the side and fastening his mouth over the bleeding gash. 

The scent of the blood was faint to Gabi, but enough for her to know that it called her.  Like Julius's.  The scent made her mouth water.  She swiftly clamped down on the thought, hoping Julius had been too distracted to pick up on it.  She wasn't prepared to deal with that, not right now.  She would have to avoid being around if Caspian ever bled again.  She closed her eyes, clamping down on her self-control.  When she opened them again, she saw Caspian's gaze boring into hers, knowing in his eyes and a Machiavellian twist to his lips.  Gabi broke eye contact, but knew she'd given too much away already. 

Julius pulled away, slight distaste apparent.  Gabi knew that Vampire blood didn’t hold any attraction for other Vampires, but she hadn't known it tasted unpleasant.  He spoke a final string of words in Latin and held the cord out to Caspian, draped over his palm.  Julius had assured her that they would hold the joining ceremony in English so that she would understand it.  As she wasn't directly involved in the oath ceremony, they’d kept to the original Latin, though he had translated it roughly for her earlier while they were alone. 

Caspian rose, keeping his head bowed, and tied the cord around his waist as a belt.  A trail of blood still painted one side of his chest, but he didn't clean it away.  Gabi wished he would.  It was making it hard for her not to think of its appeal. 

Then she thought of what was coming next, and all thoughts of Caspian's blood left her head.  She was about to join Julius in some kind of official Vampire betrothal ceremony.  Panic sent her
heartbeat thudding, and all Vampire eyes turned to her.  Julius's with understanding, Alexander's with warning, Fergus's with encouragement, and Dragos's with suspicion. 

"Such excitement," Gabi said brightly, cursing the slight break in her voice.  Facing an army of Demons she could do without the faintest trace of anxiety, but binding herself to someone?  Well, that was a much more terrifying prospect.  She took a deep, steadying breath, trying to be inconspicuous about it, while knowing she'd failed.
"Our ceremony next?"

Julius was as calm as she'd ever known him.  Warm, comforting waves lapped at the edges of her mind, his reassurance that he wouldn't let her down, that she had nothing to be afraid of.  Mentally she grabbed hold of all her fears and thrust them into a box, quickly clamping down the lid and bolting it shut.  When she had time, if she had time, in the next few weeks, she'd pull them out and deal with them.  Now, she just had to put on a happy face and speak the words Julius was already saying to her.  His incredible blue eyes bored into hers as he faced her and finished the spoken vow.  They didn't touch in the physical world, but they were connected in ways Dragos had no idea of.  The Master stood to one side of them, and the rest of the Vampires formed a circle around them. 
To stop her escaping? she couldn't help wondering.

She drew in a breath, and when the words came out, she was surprised by the strength and surety in them.  "In front of these witnesses, I come to you and offer myself to be your consort.  I pledge allegiance to your Clan and loyalty to you.  I offer this union of my own free will.  My home is your
home, your home is my home.  My people are your people, your people are my people.  An injury to me is an injury to you.  A debt to me is a debt to you.  From this time forward we are to be considered one."  Her voice stayed strong to the end, and she felt Julius's joy through their bond.  Somehow the box with all her fears was shoved right into a dusty corner of her mind where she couldn't worry about it. 

Alexander stepped out of the circle with a delicately braided bracelet and walked to Julius's side, and Fergus did the same, stepping up to her with a similar but more robust bracelet. 

Julius reached for the bracelet from Alexander, and Gabi offered up her left wrist to him.  The bracelet was made of softened leather thongs and was in the same colours as the cords the Clan members wore.  He tied the bracelet to her wrist with quick, intricate knots. The bracelet Fergus handed her was in red, black and gold.  As she didn't have a Clan, she'd been allowed to pick her colours, and those seemed appropriate somehow.  It took her a little longer to achieve the complicated knots Julius had taught her to fasten her bracelet to him, but she managed it eventually.  Not one of the Vampires had dared to even twitch in impatience.

Then the final act that sealed the joining.
  They had to exchange blood.  There was no set, ritualistic way that it had to be done, so Gabi had opted for wrists.  It seemed right to do it next to the bracelets they'd just exchanged.  She took his wrist as he took hers, and his eyes conveyed his myriad of emotions: concern for her, joy, confidence, promise. She gave a small but genuine smile and then lowered her mouth to his skin and bit down. 

********************

The dull roar of the aircraft's jet engines should've been soothing, like white noise, but Gabi's mind was simply too wired.  She couldn't unwind enough to get any sleep; she'd been trying for hours.  She'd catnapped the previous morning, after the ceremonies and then her and Julius's own consummation of their joining.  She drove home as the sun was cresting the horizon, after Julius had fallen into an exhausted daysleep.  Her mind had been in such turmoil that it had finally spun her into oblivion as she lay on her sofa, counting down the hours until they left for the Princeps' Court. 

She threw back the light blanket that was covering her and rose from the narrow but surprisingly comfortable bed in the sleeping quarters of the plane.  Razor blinked at her sleepily before yawning and stretching.  He was about to follow her, but she reassured him and encouraged him to go back to sleep.  He complied without fuss.  She made her way along the narrow corridor back to the open-plan main seating area in the centre of the jet. 

Kyle and Athena were absent.  Obviously they were managing to get some sleep.  Not that Gabi would've doubted Kyle's ability to sleep just about anywhere; he was gifted like that.  Athena might just be avoiding the rest of them.  Though she suddenly didn't seem to mind Alexander's company, that tolerance didn't extend to the rest of the Vampires.  With only around two dozen seats in the space, the plane actually felt roomy.  A long, cream leather couch dominated one side of the plane with single-seater leather sofas scattered along the other side.  At the far end were matching table and chair sets, suitable for eating or working at, and a flat-screen TV.  Julius was on his phone at one of the tables, apparently discussing some pending business merger. 

He gave her a disapproving frown; he wanted her to rest.  She ignored him.  Nathan and Quentin were also at one of the tables, playing some sort of card game.  Fergus was carefully honing the blade of a dagger, sitting on the long sofa; Caspian was sitting quietly, spinning his wolf's head cane in his hands; and Alex was working on a computer tablet, each in one of the large single-
seaters.  No one was speaking.  She pulled a bottle of water from the well-stocked fridge in an alcove between the two seating areas, then plonked herself down wearily with Fergus on the sofa. 

"So tell me about the Princeps," she prodded, cracking the lid on the water bottle and taking a long sip. 

Alexander looked up from the tablet, but Fergus continued to hone his blade. 

"
Ane or twa are no too bad.  The rest…"  He looked up from the dagger.  "Weel, the rest be just varying degrees o' evil."

"Specifics, Fergus, I need specifics, so I understand what we're walking into," Gabi said, curling her legs up underneath her and getting comfortable. 

"You might as well put on the coffee," Alexander said, putting down the tablet and swivelling his seat to face her. 

More than an hour and several cups of strong coffee later, Gabi was trying to get the Princeps straight in her mind.

"So Eliasz and Klara are joined; whatever she votes, he will follow along with, regardless of his own feelings?" she clarified.

"Yes," Alexander said, "and don't forget Eliasz is very charismatic.  Others look to him for leadership."

"They are powerful as a pair and currently are intent on voting against you.  With Klara's general dislike of anything that threatens her power, she's unlikely to come over to your…our…cause," Caspian inserted. 

"And Lennert will more than likely vote with them?" Gabi asked.

"Yes, he's a little weak-minded.  He likes to think he is part of a triumvirate.  Thibault will also more than likely follow majority sentiment," Caspian agreed.

"So, Benedict, Cassandra and Oleksandra are the only reasonable ones?" she checked, hoping she had them all straight.

"Benedict is the oldest and most powerful, so he is one you want on your side," Caspian said.

"He is on our side."  Julius spoke up for the first time; he'd finally come to join them.  "Benedict has no fear of others with power.  I think he will feel a certain kinship with you and Kyle," he said to Gabi.

"Because he is also a one-of-a-kind?"
Gabi asked, remembering that Benedict was Magus born.  Common lore stated that Magi didn't survive Turning.  Benedict was the only living proof that it wasn't always the case.  Julius believed it had to do with his youth; he'd been only a teen when he'd been attacked by a Vampire intent on killing him.  The Vampire's plan had backfired.  But that was over nine centuries ago, according to Julius and Caspian.  There were few Vampires older than Benedict. 

"Yes," Julius agreed, "one-of-a-kinds are rare, and in my experience," one corner of his mouth turned up in a slight smile, "they tend to stick together."  

Gabi returned his smile wryly.  Kyle still hadn't got over his anger with her for going through with the joining ceremony without discussing it with him first.  She'd rarely seen him as incensed, but Julius assured her he'd get over it soon. 

"Cassandra is forward-thinking and against taking life, despite, or perhaps because of, her terrible ability."  Caspian broke the moment between them.

"She's the one with the touch of death?" Gabi checked. 

All the Vampires nodded. 

Gabi shuddered; the thought of a being able to kill with a touch, by sucking the life-force out of anything living, just gave her the heebie-jeebies. Thank the Lord and Lady she was one of the more reasonable Princeps.

"Oleksandra is the only
Princep Prime left."  She recalled the term for one of the founding members of the Princep council.

"And only because of her unique ability to know exactly when she's under threat," Caspian agreed.

"Okay, so that's four against us and three in our favour," Gabi summed up.  "What about the other five?"

"The other five haven't shown their hands yet," Caspian said.  "I'm working on finding out what their thoughts are.  Perhaps Julius's contact has information on them?"  He looked questioningly at his new Sire, his innocent expression a little too pure to be believable.