A Cat's Chance in Hell (27 page)

“
Please make yourselves comfortable,” he said, indicating the chaise longue Gabi had woken up in and another up against the window wall. Alexander had taken one of the two guest office chairs and Julius settled himself in his chair behind the desk. The other guest chair sat waiting for the unfortunate Sebastian.

Gabi continued her investigation of the room, browsing the book collection. There was too much nervous energy in her body to sit still. She didn’t turn from her perusal of the books as she said, “I’ve answered your question, now it’s your turn.” She heard Julius snort softly, apparently he was under the assumption she had forgotten all about that question amid all the new developments. She turned her attention to him now, leaning back against the bookshelf and resting her left hand on her hip, she would have folded her arms to look more stern if it didn’t still hurt to do that.

“
All right, fair enough,” he conceded, “but you have to understand that much of the information we have on you came from Sebastian, whom you are about to meet. Sebastian has no ties to the SMV, he is just an absolute computer whiz, who used all kinds of geeky computer tricks to find out things about you. You need to trust me when I say that my informants didn’t give me very much information at all.”

Gabi sighed. “Informants?” she asked sharply, emphasising the ‘s’. “There’s more than one?”

Julius nodded. “And I ask that you entreat the Council to send them to me if they decide to dismiss them, I have places for them in my own staff. They will not cause you any harm, I assure you of that. Neither of them would have given me any information if they were not completely convinced that I had no intention of harming you or anyone else in the organisation. And they were under Alpha’s orders.” This meant that they were Weres and their Alpha was under Julius’s orders Gabi realised, once again intrigued by supernatural politics.

“
Just spit out their names, and we’ll take it from there.”

“
Ross and Rory. They gave me the information that you were close to one of the Council members and told me when you had a night off. They were to help me make contact with you.”

Kyle sat up in surprise. “Ross and Rory the Werewolves? The team Drivers?” he asked, shocked.

Julius nodded. “They’re part of the Blackriver pack, and the Alpha of the Blackriver pack works for me.”

“
Byron would have looked into that kind of link. He would have checked on their Alpha before bringing them into the Society,” Kyle protested.

“
Ah,” Julius responded dryly, “but their Alpha does genuinely work as Head Security Officer at Flamingos Gentlemen’s Club. Flamingos just happens to be owned by one of my holding companies.”

Further discussion on the matter was brought to an end as they all heard a set of quiet footsteps approaching the office.

“
Come in, Sebastian,” Julius called when the footsteps hesitated near the door.

Gabi took a seat next to Kyle as a tall, gawkish young man entered the office. It took a few seconds before Gabi realised that the freckled, ginger-haired individual was actually a Vampire. His Vampire presence was so weak so as to be almost non-existent. And he moved with none of the fluid, confident grace of the rest of Julius’s retinue.

“
Sire,” he greeted, almost tripping over his own feet on his way to bow jerkily in front of Julius’s desk. “Alexander asked me to come to you urgently.” He kept his eyes down except for a brief, worried glance at Alexander.

Gabi wasn’t sure he was even aware of her and Kyle being in the room. Extremely unusual behaviour for a Vampire.

“
Yes, Sebastian. I need you to find some information for me. It is of a very important and sensitive nature. I know if anyone can do it, you can.” Julius spoke with a carefully toneless, but utterly authoritative voice.

Gabi felt slight wisps of power brush against her as it quickly filled the room and swirled around the geeky, young Vampire.

Sebastian nodded, with quick erratic bobs of his head. “Of course, Sire, anything I can do to help, anything at all.”

Gabi had the feeling that if Vampires could sweat, this one would be lathered like a nervous horse. It was strangely unsettling for her to see another Vampire having this reaction in front of Julius. It reminded her once again of exactly how powerful Julius was and precisely what different worlds they lived in. It brought back the memory of Gregory asking if he could take the young woman home, and she barely suppressed a small shudder.

Julius rose from his chair and inclined his head towards Kyle and her on the couch. She saw Sebastian actually flinch when he turned and noticed the two of them, apparently for the first time. Gabi wondered briefly if Sebastian was just a really new vampire, or if something had actually gone wrong during the ‘change’. She had never encountered such a feeble, nervous, inept Vampire before. She guessed that out on the streets, without the protection of someone like Julius, he would just have been fodder for other Vampires.

“
I would like you to meet Gabrielle Bradford and Kyle Robson,” Julius said formally. “I’m sure you recognise them from your surveillance footage.”

The gawky, young Vampire swallowed convulsively and his eyes grew huge and panicky. He looked quickly from the two of them back to Julius with a pleading look on his face. He seemed utterly incapable of getting any words out. Alexander actually started sniggering from his chair and Julius’s expression suddenly became one of annoyed exasperation. Then he spoke slowly and clearly, as though explaining something of significance to a three year old.

“
I’m not giving you to them, Sebastian. They didn’t come here looking for revenge or retribution.”

The ginger-haired Vampire’s anxiety levels immediately went down a notch, but he still had a frightened, apprehensive look in his eyes. “Something has come to our attention, and we need to verify or disprove a theory. You are the most competent Clan member for this kind of investigation.” Suddenly, Julius’s voice took on that strange authoritative quality again, and whispers of power teased the hairs on Gabi’s arms upright. “What we are about to reveal to you is not to leave this room and is not to be discussed with anyone besides the five people present here. Do you understand me, Sebastian? No one.”

“
Yes, yes, of course, Sire, I completely understand. You can count on me, of course. Anything I can help with,” he stammered quickly.

“
Good,” Julius said shortly, his voice returned to normal and the power level in the room subsided. “Alexander will explain the situation and our requirements to you, while I see to our guests.” A millisecond later he was in front of Gabi with his arm extended in invitation. “Shall we,” he invited, slightly mockingly.

Gabi ignored his arm but stood and strode towards the door, casting a last analysing look at the young Vampire causing him to pull in a quick nervous breath. Julius seemed to have problems hiding an amused smirk as he trailed behind her out the door. Kyle loped out after them, giving Alexander a quick farewell salute.

Ten minutes later Gabi and Kyle were in the Mustang on their way home. Gabi had wanted to stay and find out if Sebastian turned up anything, but Kyle had pointed out that he had hardly had any sleep in the past few days, and he was on duty the following day. Gabi had a feeling that he was only saying it to get her to go home and rest, but she couldn’t really argue with the sentiment. She was practically asleep on her feet; it was nearly three am Monday morning, and even though she was officially off Hunter duty, she was bound to have some conventional work for today. So they reluctantly left the estate with Julius’s assurance that he would let them know the moment he had any worthwhile information to share.

Chapter 14

The next morning, Gabi was surprised when the annoying buzz of her phone woke her, and as consciousness hit her, she could see sunlight peaking in through slits in her curtains. She grabbed the phone, taking in the bedside clock with sleep blurred eyes. 9:18 glowed in bright red numbers. She squinted at the caller ID — Donovan. Damn, she would have to take it. Donovan was one of her oldest and most loyal clients; a film producer who often made use of her services as animal trainer. Usually, she got contacted by underlings on a movie, but Donovan always called her personally. They’d developed a good working relationship over the past few years, and she always tried to help him out if she could. He was openly gay, and a genuinely nice guy if you were on his good side, heaven help you if you pissed him off. She sat up and cleared her throat before she pushed the receive button.

“
Hey, The Don,” she said cheerfully, using her brisk, teasing but professional voice that she always used with good clients. As a Hunter for the Malus Venatori, she was known as short-tempered, rude and abrasive; she allowed her natural temperament to show among her supernatural peers, but in her business she was all smooth, confident professionalism and after so many years of wearing it, her business mask now felt comfortable and familiar.

“
Gabrielle, my Sweet,” he greeted her, his natural effervescence clear even across a phone line. “How is my little ray of sunshine this morning?”

Gabi groaned; he knew full well that she was not a morning person.

“
I haven’t had my first cup of coffee yet, so tread carefully,” she warned in a mock growl.

Donovan chuckled on the other side of the phone as she absent-mindedly petted Razor who head-butted the side of her face, almost giving her a black eye.

“
And what was my little Tiger up to last night that she’s extra grumbly this morning?” His tone suggested she had been up to something naughty and he wanted details.

Gabi let his imagination go wild at what she got up to at night that often caused such bleary-eyed mornings. Rather he thought she was a wild party girl, living the single life than he find out the monster-encrusted truth. She climbed out of bed, wrapping a robe around herself one-handed and grimacing at the uncomfortable stiffness in her shoulder and ribs. “Now, that would be telling,” she retorted. “A good girl doesn’t kiss and tell, now does she?”

Donovan chuckled even louder. “Not sure I would put you in the ‘Good Girl” category,” he retaliated.

Gabi stifled a yawn and headed for the kitchen where she could smell a pot of coffee on the brew. Rose had obviously heard her take the call.

“
Oh, I’m good,” she drawled, “I’m really, really good.” She found Rose in the kitchen and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as she headed to the coffee pot like a Magus who’d spotted a henge.

“
I don’t doubt that for a moment, Angel,” he countered with a mock seriousness.

Gabi smiled wryly; Donovan was a wonderful flirt. “I take it you didn’t just phone to check up on my personal life?” she prompted him.

“
No, unfortunately there’s no rest for the wicked as they say,” he replied, sighing dramatically. “The script writer for my latest movie has sprung a fight scene on me involving a black panther, so I am in dire need of your rather unique talents.”

Gabi took a much needed gulp of hot, strong coffee and headed to her office. “Let me just get my computer awake,” she told him, hitting the power button and sinking into her chair. The computer purred to life as she opened her diary to today’s date.

“
Ok,” she said, putting Donovan on speakerphone. “What dates are we looking at? Do you have animals lined up or do I need to track some down?”

It was standard practise to use more than one animal on a movie set. The animals could only be used in short bursts, and in the case of large animals, if one got particularly grumpy it was safer to give it a break and use another.

“
It’s a fairly short scene, so we’re hoping to do it in a single day,” Donovan replied. “We have animals available, but there is a catch.” He sounded a little apprehensive now.

“
Just spit it out, Don,” Gabi said calmly, she was used to the film industry after working in it for the past five years, the word impossible was not supposed to exist in the movie world.

“
Well, we need you today. I know what short notice this is, and I know you have other clients, but we can only have the panthers today, and their regular trainer was mauled by one of them over the weekend. He just got a bit scratched and a single bite, nothing serious, but no other trainer will go near them now. Our stunt man is prepared to go ahead with the scene if you take over as trainer. He appears to think, as I do, that you have an uncanny knack with big cats, and isn’t worried about them mauling him with you around. He thinks the other trainer did something to piss off the cats, and they were just putting him in his place.”

Gabi sighed. She didn’t like to upstage other trainers; it just drew more attention to her abilities, but he was right, the stuntman would be perfectly safe if she was there.

“
Let me guess, the stunt man is Derek,” she said with weary resignation. She could really do without dealing with Derek today. He was a really nice guy. In fact, he was the whole package; rugged good looks, charm, mouth-watering physique, he was even single and he had shown obvious interest in Gabi from the moment they met on a movie set two years ago. She couldn’t deny that he appealed to her on many levels, most of them physical, but he had one major short-coming in her book; he was human. Fully, completely and unchangingly human. It made a relationship with him impossible.

“
I’ll owe you for a life-time,” Donovan wheedled, obviously sensing her wavering capitulation.