To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4) (27 page)

“
Yes, but we have all the raw ingredients.” Phobos sounded
excited. “The potential power.”

“
We will need more than just Blood Magic,” Deimos cautioned.
“We will need to use the ‘other’ kind too.” There was distinct
distaste in his voice.

“
Yes, but not us, we have apprentices who can do that,” Phobos
reminded him. “I think that the female will not be adverse to the
idea of Gemini’s touch as she would be to ours.”

The other Elder’s eyes narrowed contemplatively. “It might
work. We can draw on the energy created. Combining the two magics
should be enough to pull this off.”

“
Then we shall leave them stymied in our wake. Needing to
regroup and set about tracking us again.”

“
And by then we will have the Gate opened and waiting. For
them.”

The two men shared sinister smiles.

“
A decoy army would be of great benefit to us,” Deimos said
thoughtfully. “Do you think some of our allies will send servants
to act as such?”

“
I know exactly who to ask.” Phobos nodded. “They have enough
to spare us some. Gemini can provide the spell of compulsion. Come,
let us make plans.”

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

“
Knock, knock,” Alexander’s voice called from one of the lower
floors. “I’m coming up. Stop whatever embarrassing things you’re
getting up to in there.”

Gabi glanced at Julius with one eyebrow raised. “Is he talking
to us?”

“
Yes, he is,” said Alexander’s voice as the man appeared in
the office doorway.

Geesh, Gabi would’ve sworn he was on the lower level just a
second before. She must be more tired than she thought.

“
Hellcat, you have a visitor,” he told them.

“
Who?” she and Julius asked at the same moment.

“
Derek.” Alexander sighed. “I’ve got him cooling his heels in
the entertainment room. Feel free to take as long as you need.” He
flashed his million-watt grin and was gone. Gabi hadn’t even seen
him move. One second he was there, and the next he simply wasn’t.
She blinked.

“
Uh,” she said and pointed vaguely at the spot Alexander had
been in. “Is that part of the new power-level thing? Or am I just
really, really tired?”

One side of Julius’s mouth quirked upward. “It’s not you.
Alexander does seem to have developed super-speed. I need to remind
him again to rein it in. We don’t need anyone else finding out what
your blood is capable of.”

“
Ah,” was all Gabi could say, strangely incapable of proper
speech.

“
Let’s go and see what your Werewolf wants,” Julius prodded,
the faint note of annoyance snapping Gabi out of her
reverie.

“
The same thing Trish wanted would be my guess,” she told
Julius as the two of them left the office.

Derek wouldn’t be fobbed off with a seat in the surveillance
van like Trish. He wanted in on the main force, and Gabi wasn’t
having any of that. Derek may be a Werewolf, and he may be one of
the most well-trained martial arts fighters she knew, but he was
still learning to walk on his prosthetic. He’d begun jogging again,
but only recently, and he still walked with a noticeable limp. Gabi
knew exactly what happened in a fight; any that appeared to be weak
in some way would be targeted first. Neither she nor any of the
others who were going on the raid had time to watch his back as
well as their own.

A few minutes into the argument Alexander joined them. He too
was sitting out of the main fight. Gabi understood now; the Clan
couldn’t afford to lose both of them. One of them had to stay in
relative safety, and this time it couldn’t be Julius. So it was
Alexander who offered the compromise that allowed Derek to be part
of the strike force without going into the main battle. He would
join the sweeper team with Alexander. Tasked with patrolling the
nearby area and keeping both civilians away and mopping up anything
that escaped the fray and made a run for it. This was particularly
likely to be ghouls, which Gabi was confident Derek could handle so
long as he had a flame-thrower.

Derek left an hour later, not exactly happy, but knowing his
alternative was to be left out entirely.

Gabi had just ended a call to a pizza delivery place when
Maximillian appeared in the room.

“
Sire,” he said deferentially to Julius, carefully keeping his
eyes away from Gabi. “A delivery has arrived. A rather large
delivery. What shall I do with it?”

To Gabi’s surprise, Julius’s eyes lit up.

“
Excellent,” he said. “Bring it here.”

The tiniest hint of exasperation tweaked Maximillian’s thin
lips, but the skeletal Vampire left without further comment. When
Gabi made to ask what was up, Julius held up a hand, signalling
patience. He should know she was last in line when the gods were
dishing out patience. But before she could get too annoyed,
Maximillian re-entered the room carrying several large boxes.
Alexander and Kyle followed the steward into the room, looking
expectant.

“
The first delivery from Savannah and Mac,” Julius said with
an extravagant wave of his hand towards the packages, which
Maximillian set unceremoniously on the floor before hurrying out of
the room, a slight shudder making his thin shoulders
tremble.

Gabi felt she was waking up on Christmas morning and Santa had
granted all her wishes. The weapons were amazing; replicated in
carbon fibre and other compounds Gabi couldn’t name, they were
sleeker, lighter and more complex than their predecessors. They
were soon joined by other Clan members as well as some of the
Werewolves who would be involved in the strike. An excited air
vibrated through the room, and Gabi felt her little spark of hope
flare back to life.

As the men passed the weapons between themselves, it became
apparent that they needed names for them. It was Kyle who
christened the first one the MacDart, and soon each deadly item had
a Mac prefix added to it. A MacSpike, a MacBow and a MacChopper
joined the list. Gabi grinned approval; the names seemed very
apt.

The arrival of the pizza was all that tore her away from
playing with the new toys. Soon after that, Benedict put in an
appearance, and Julius took the opportunity to take his leave. He
had one final lesson with the Magi. Once he returned, they would go
over the final details of the strike, and until then, the rest of
them could go and practice with the new weapons.

Gabi spent the night at the Estate. She and Julius made love
until the first rays of dawn activated the automatic blinds and
shrouded the manor house in cool darkness. Unless something
calamitous happened during the course of the day, everyone was
under strict instructions from Julius to leave Gabi to rest. No one
knew exactly what the following night would bring, only that it
wasn’t going to be easy. They all needed to be at their
best.

CHAPTER 17

The trio of dark vehicles
travelled in convoy, each one protected by a bubble of concealing
magic. Alexander drove the lead car, with Kyle, Patrick and two of
Julius’s elite guard, Charlie and Tabari, crammed inside. In the
middle of the convoy was a large van, essentially a moving computer
and surveillance hub; inside it travelled Trish, Mac and Athena,
with Nathan driving. Bringing up the rear, Gabi was at the wheel of
her BMW; Julius was in the passenger seat while Fergus and Benedict
took up the back seats. A fourth vehicle was leaving SMV HQ,
equipped with medical supplies, a Banisher Magus named Christian,
Melinda the Magus Healer, the new Hunter Simon, and Derek. This was
the safeguard responsible for mopping up anything that escaped the
battle and helping anyone who needed immediate medical
attention.

The SMV and the Magi Council
knew what they were planning, but hadn’t given their official
approval of the mission. Not that it mattered. Byron had arranged
to have the cul-de-sac leading to the Dark Ones’ den closed for
‘roadworks’. Trish had already secured a back door into the City
traffic control centre, giving her access to all the traffic lights
as well as the power grid. Between her and Byron, they had complete
control over who moved in and out of the area, by vehicle at least.
Keeping foot traffic away was another responsibility laid on Derek
and Simon and Alexander. Gabi hoped the outer safeguard wasn’t
spread too thinly.

“
Some of the others call you Angeli Morte,” Benedict said
suddenly from behind her, his tone musing. “Do you realize that
means death of an angel?”

Gabi took her attention off the road long enough to look
around at the Princep. “What?” she asked, befuddled.

He shrugged. “No one speaks Latin properly these days; it’s a
pet peeve. I just wondered if you knew.”

Gabi dragged her gaze back to the road, her grip on the
steering wheel tightening. “I’m not the one who came up with it.
Take it up with the rogues,” she grumbled, inexplicably
peeved.

“
It works on a certain level, though,” Benedict continued, and
Gabi felt her jaw muscles clench.

“
I’d leave well enough alone, Princep,” Fergus warned mildly,
and the car returned to silence.

“
Yes, we’re in the right place.” Benedict’s voice came again a
few minutes later as they approached the target area.

“
Fuck, what is it with bad guys and warehouses?” Gabi muttered
to no one in particular. “Bad things always happen in warehouses.”
She had the scars to prove it. Julius’s mind brushed against hers,
a calm, soothing presence, the cool touch of midnight to her flame
of midday heat.

“
ETA three minutes,” Trish’s voice invaded Gabi’s head. Gabi
gritted her teeth, remembering just how much she hated the
state-of-the-art commlink systems they were all wearing. Nothing
more than a small sticking plaster at the back of her ear and a
tiny receiver the size of a credit card tucked in her bra, the
problem lay not in the size or design but the efficiency of the
system. The transmitted voices sounded like they were coming from
inside your own skull. Not too bad now, while only one person at a
time was speaking, but a whole different world when everyone was
yelling in the heat of battle. Gabi was glad that the system had
been redesigned with a mute function since the last time they used
it.

“
We’re at position one,” Trish said as the brake lights on the
van in front of her flared.

Gabi steered the SUV smoothly around the slowing van and
pulled to a stop alongside it. The front car continued on; Julius’s
men and Kyle would be entering the rear of the warehouse, with
Patrick shadowing them, providing cover if necessary during the
initial attack. Alexander would drop them off close to the targeted
warehouse and fall back to another position a few blocks
away.

“
Is the bird in position?” Gabi asked. Patrick had called in
some favours, and a helicopter was on standby in case their coup de
main turned into a rout and they needed an emergency evacuation.
There was a brief pause.

“
Almost,”
came Trish’s voice. “They’ll be on the pad in less than five
minutes.” She was referring to the small open space at a nearby
junkyard that had been earmarked as the best place for the
helicopter to wait. It was less than two minutes flying time from
the warehouse and unlikely to garner any unwanted
attention.

Gabi hopped out of the SUV and went to open the back. It was
filled with upgraded versions of Mac’s weapons, compact
flame-throwers and dark protective clothing. She pulled her new
black combat jacket off the top of the pile, shrugging into it. It
looked like toughened leather but was supple enough to fit like a
second skin. It didn’t hamper her movements in the slightest.
Savannah had even designed the collar so that she had easy access
to Nex. She quickly strapped several knives and daggers to her
thighs and calves over her new leather combat pants; then she
twisted her hair into a knot at the back of her head and fastened
it securely. She threw the strap of a flame-thrower over her head,
positioning the metal cylinder against her back out of her way, and
pulled on her fighting gloves. It took a bit of tugging to get the
left one into place over her ring; she’d contemplated taking it
off, but couldn’t bring herself to part with it just yet. Finally
she tucked a MacDart and a MacSpike into a modified gun belt around
her waist and shouldered a large MacBow, jamming six blue-tipped
bolts into the modified clip. She was ready. She’d never felt more
ready to go up against a demon army. The adrenalin was making her
edgy and excited.

She concentrated on calm breathing, glancing over at Julius
where he stood in the shadows, also armed, though with fewer
weapons than her. His primary target was one of the two Dark
Elders, and they wouldn’t be fighting on a physical plane. In a
full-length, masculine version of her close-fitting leather jacket,
he looked confident, dangerous, untouchable and sexy as hell. She
bit back a smile and kept her thoughts to herself; she didn’t want
to distract him tonight. Though he’d been using his magical gifts
for centuries, it had always been unconsciously. He’d only been
training to use them for specific purposes for a couple of days. He
had serious doubts about his abilities, but he was keeping them to
himself. Gabi doubted anyone besides herself, and possibly
Benedict, knew.