To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4) (13 page)

“
You can bring the glass back,” he said. “Grab a
spoon.”

Without a second thought Gabi slid a clean spoon into a
pocket, grinning.

Despite the obvious seriousness of the phone call, Kyle shook
his head as they prepared to leave the restaurant.

“
You’re good,” he told Mac. “Just a few hours and you’ve
already found her biggest weakness.” Then he glanced shrewdly back
at Julius. “Well, almost her biggest weakness.”

Julius said nothing, but there was a sudden tension in the
air.

“
Where are we headed?” Gabi asked, pushing Kyle ahead of her
to weave through the tables towards the exit, Razor at her
heels.

“
The City Cathedral,” Kyle told her in an undertone as they
made their excuses to Jorge and retrieved their coats.

Gabi knew the cathedral was one of several powerful ley line
convergences in the City. She just hoped the cathedral didn’t have
anything special planned for the evening.

“
Sorry to cut the evening short,” Gabi said to Mac as they
strode into the crisp night air and she retrieved the smuggled
dessert from him.

“
Can’t I tag along?” he asked. “I’ve never actually seen a
demon before.”

Gabi paused with her spoon halfway to her mouth, surprised.
“It’s not a pretty sight,” she said carefully and couldn’t help a
glance at his stiff shoulder.

Mac’s lips thinned in uncharacteristic annoyance. “I won’t get
in your way,” he growled.

“
What Gabrielle means,” Julius said, in a voice that made Mac
back up a step, “is that you may come along for the ride, but you
will not be joining in. Trying to protect a human in the middle of
a fight with demons will put us all at risk.”

Mac’s head was bowed before Julius, once again avoiding the
Master Vampire’s gaze. “Of course,” he agreed in a bland tone. “I
wouldn’t want to put anyone else at risk. I’ll keep as far away as
you deem safe for everyone.”

“
You’ll be fine with the Magi,” Gabi put in, slightly
exasperated with Julius. “Why don’t you travel with Kyle? Your
truck will be safe enough here for the meanwhile.”

Kyle glanced at his watch. “Need to get going,” he said,
pulling keys out of a pocket and loping towards his van.

Mac gave Gabi a quick nod and strode to catch up with
Kyle.

“
See you there?” Kyle threw over his shoulder.

“
I just need to grab my kit from my car at the Estate,” she
told him. “Won’t be far behind you. Save me one.”

CHAPTER 9

It seemed to
have been too long since Gabi had been part of the SMV Hunters, but
no one questioned her and Julius’s presence as they joined the
milieu gathered at the rear of the City Cathedral in the huge
parklike gardens. It felt good to be back amongst her SMV peers,
though there were a few unfamiliar faces. Doug, a tall
Shape-shifter and the most senior Hunter, was coordinating the
defence, but wasn’t supposed to be on active duty yet. The gunshot
that had nearly claimed his life was taking longer to heal than
he’d hoped. Despite the best care, both human and magical, only
time could really heal the damage done to his internal organs. At
least Mac wouldn’t be the only one expected to watch the fight from
the sidelines of the parking area. He’d been put in charge of
keeping an eye on Razor, who was grumpily agitated that Gabi was
refusing to let him stay with her.

Mac’s presence
had caused a little more of a stir, but once Gabi confirmed he was
there with her blessing, the rest of the crew either ignored him or
treated him as one of the group. Kyle would take the lead once the
fight began and was busy consulting with Doug. Lance, the
fire-bender Magus, was leaning casually against the crumbling wall
that separated the graveyard from the picturesque church grounds. A
Werewolf named Callum paced up and down a stone pathway, using
deep-breathing techniques to calm his inner wolf. Gabi didn’t know
him but assumed he was one of the new recruits. She doubted he’d
ever
seen
a demon
before, let alone fought one. She hoped he wouldn’t be a liability
once the fight began. Simon, one of the Vampires Julius had allowed
to join the Hunter squad, approached and greeted both Julius and
Gabi respectfully before ghosting back to his position near one of
the clean-up vans. He had the natural Vampire tendency of standing
in such absolute stillness that you forgot his
existence.

This was a Code
Gamma, just two steps away from a grab-granny-and-flee-the-city
call. The entire crew had been called up tonight, and those who
weren’t at the cathedral had been sent to the old sports stadium as
a precautionary measure. The Oracles, a trio of powerful Magi
clairvoyants, were certain of a demon infiltration at the
cathedral, but had insisted on an SMV presence at the stadium as
well. They refused to go into details as to why, and Byron had
acquiesced to their wishes. Gabi knew that Byron probably had more
information than he was sharing, but Gabi also knew he wouldn’t
have sent Kyle, Doug and Lance to the place less likely to see
action. Of Gabi’s original Hunter squad only Matt, the Werewolf,
had been sent to the stadium, obviously Byron wanted at least one
experienced Hunter there. She wished Byron had sent Doug there too.
It was going to be hard for him to stay out of the action, but she
doubted a whole pride of lions could’ve kept him from the
cathedral.

The full dark of a cloudy night blanketed the area, lit dimly
by several distant streetlights, a few decorative garden lamps, and
some subtle lighting set into the old, brick wall of the graveyard.
Gabi was grateful for her acute night vision. While she’d always
been able to see better at night than any human, since she’d begun
taking blood from Julius, her night sight was almost as good as a
Vampire’s. The only sounds were those of traffic and a distant car
alarm. There wasn’t a peep from any wildlife that may normally live
in the gardens. Gabi didn’t know if it was their presence or some
kind of sixth sense that had sent them to ground. She knew very
well that animals were far better tuned to the supernatural than
any human.

Julius’s arm brushed hers. It was no longer strange for her to
be fighting beside him; they’d done it several times now. She found
she liked having his strong presence nearby, but she still worried
that he may end up trying to protect her rather than accomplish the
mission.

An icy cold chill brushed down Gabi’s spine, and the tiny
alarm bell in the back of her mind rang loud and clear. She gasped
at the force of the sudden sensation, and Julius looked down at her
sharply. Before he could phrase a question, a commotion erupted
amongst a knot of Magi standing in a small tight circle in the
graveyard itself. Gabi tensed, a shot of adrenalin replacing the
warning shiver of dread she’d just felt. She tucked the warning
into the back of her mind as she started forward, but was brought
up short as another car screeched to a halt in the parking
lot—Alexander’s Ferrari. A few seconds later an unremarkable silver
car pulled up beside the standout red one.

Alexander was out of the car in an instant and around to the
driver’s door of the other car. Once he had it open, Athena climbed
out. She was dressed in dark pants, sturdy boots, a dark sweater,
and had her hair tied back in a severe bun. Gabi had never seen her
dressed like this before; she was obviously ready to join the
fight. Alexander and the blonde Magus exchanged a quick, intense
look, and then Athena hurried to join the group of agitated Magi,
and Alexander veered off to join Gabi and Julius.

“
The portal is opening,” one of the female Magi warned in a
piercing tone, and Razor’s menacing growl from his position on the
hood of Kyle’s van confirmed her assessment.

“
Non-essential
personnel prepare to clear out,” Doug yelled, and several vans’
engines started.

“
The others aren’t far behind,”
Alexander told Julius, securing a broadsword to his waist. He was
referring to Fergus and Charlie, who’d insisted on coming along as
extra backup. Gabi thought it was overkill, but who was she to deny
them some fun?

She rechecked her weapons as the Hunters began forming a loose
line of defence. She had a dart gun in a small holster at her hip;
it looked a little ridiculous to be fighting demons with, but a
shot of Werewolf saliva was known to incapacitate, if not kill,
most demons. She also wore a pair of butterfly swords in a double
sheath on each thigh, and the smaller throwing daggers she had
strapped to each arm were from the assortment that Savannah had
sent back with her and Julius, each was treated with the protective
compound, and Gabi was eager to see how they stood up to the
corrosive qualities of demon blood. Of course Nex, her magically
protected sword, would always be her primary weapon, but if they
could provide others with demon-proof weapons without the need for
the exhaustive Magi spell of protection, it would be a good thing.
In a back pocket she had a few of the leather offcuts Savannah had
sent from her work on Razor’s armour. If she had the chance, she’d
be putting those to the test as well before the night was
over.

A familiar, nose-burning stench began filling the air, and a
shimmering distortion of the night air became noticeable in a
clearing just to the north of the graveyard under the wide-spread
arms of an ancient oak tree.

“
There,” one of the Magi called
unnecessarily, and the Hunters moved as one towards the portal,
gathering close, shoulder to shoulder, as the backup crew and other
witnesses scrambled to their assigned defensive positions. The
entire area needed to be covered in case any of the demons had
ideas of escaping into the City. They all knew their jobs, and Gabi
was trusting Doug to keep Mac and Razor out of the way.

Shoving all other concerns from her mind, she breathed in deep
of Julius’s solid presence on one side of her, Kyle’s on the other,
knowing Alexander was covering Julius’s other flank, and focused on
the billowing cloud of acrid smoke that had begun rising from the
ground before them. Gabi waited for the crushing, depressive miasma
that normally preceded the demons’ crossing of the Veil.

It never came, but the demons did.

In a terrific rush and without pause. There was no time to
assess what tumbled out of the portal or how many. There wasn’t
even enough time to spread out. For several manic seconds Gabi was
too scared to swing Nex in case she took Kyle or Julius down by
accident. Frustrated, she thrust Nex back into her sheath and
yanked out a dagger and the dart gun. Thick, oily smoke burned her
eyes and seared her nostrils, making it hard to pinpoint any enemy.
She began firing darts at anything that looked like an eye or ear
or armpit, the soft parts she knew to be the most susceptible to
darts. The defenders desperately needed to slow down the frantic
pace of the assault, give them time to regroup and
organise.

Limbs and tentacles armed with cudgels, flails, maces and
spears laid into the Hunters and Vampires alike. Helmeted
heads—some with horns or tusks, protective scales or grotesque
rotting flesh—spewed fire, toxic gases or putrid drool.

Gabi ducked and spun, aiming to get out of the central fight
to reassess the situation. Narrowly avoiding a spiked flail, she
threw herself into a dive, tucked and rolled, coming up and
sprinting for the far side of the big oak tree. Out of the central
throng of demons and Hunters, she quickly wiped her streaming eyes,
trying to push back the shouts, screams, grunts and yells as she
concentrated on what was around her. The ground shook beneath her,
and she dropped into a crouch to steady herself. That was when she
realised the tree trunks a short distance from her weren’t tree
trunks at all. Bearing down on her was a demon several feet taller
than Julius and Kyle; its legs as thick as a full-grown elephant’s;
its arms thick, slimy tentacles each gripping a vicious-looking
weapon; and its tiny red eyes intent with murderous
rage.

“
Holy Lord and Lady,” she
swore, frozen for an instant as she tried to make sense of the
thing. She’d never heard of a demon this size. It was monstrous.
Then it was on her, plunging a spiked mace down towards her. She
leapt out of the way, diving into a left roundoff, then a backward
handspring, landing ready just behind the giant demon. She threw
the empty dart gun to one side and drew Nex, desperately searching
for a weak spot. She lashed at the back of the demon’s legs, hoping
to find some kind of hamstring to cut, but Nex barely managed to
scratch the tough hide. The giant moved deceptively fast for its
size, lashing out sideways with a foot, aiming for Gabi. Her world
narrowed, the sounds of the struggle disappearing, the toxic air no
longer worrying her as she danced the age-old dance of defender and
foe.

Frustrated at not being able to hit her with the mace or club
in its grasp, the giant made another attempt to kick her. As she
ducked the massive clodhopper, she noticed the creature was
barefoot. The tough grey leathery hide covered the top of its feet,
but not the soles. She vowed to pack a second dart gun next time as
she pivoted to stay just out of its direct line of sight. A quick
look around and she found Kyle back to back with Julius, surrounded
by at least five Godzilla-like demons. Fuck, they couldn’t spare
her a dart gun. Another flash of motion and she wasn’t quick
enough. A well-placed kick from a foot the size of a car tyre
caught her left hip and sent her crashing to the ground with a
groan.