A Cold Day in Hell (The Hellcat Series) (24 page)

As she and Athena turned away from the table with steaming mugs, two men entered the hall.  Gabi recognised them immediately from her brief encounter with them the previous evening.  She’d warned Athena that they were here before retiring to bed.  She sensed Athena go tense as she saw them.

The twins headed straight towards them, cheerful smiles on their faces.  It made them seem more unhinged than before. 

"Good morning,"

"Dhampir," the two greeted them, again speaking as one entity with two voices. 

"And Defender."
  They inclined their heads towards Athena.

"We hope you have,"

"Settled in and are,"

"Finding your way around."
 

Gabi gritted her teeth, the twin-speak was her equivalent of experiencing thumbscrews first hand.

"Oh, look, it's Fred and George," she drawled. 

Athena choked on her tea, turning quickly to set her mug down and grab a napkin off the table.  Gabi raised an eyebrow; Athena knew Harry Potter?  But apparently the twins didn't; they looked at
her questioningly.

"Those are not,"

"Our names," they said in twin-speak. 

Gabi merely smiled coldly at them.  A soft growl rose from the floor at Gabi's feet.

"Nice cat,"

"Is it yours?"  Both pairs of almost black eyes settled on Razor, with an excited kind of hungriness. 

Gabi's smile vanished, and Athena moved to position herself on Razor’s other side.  Dark Magi used animal sacrifice for some of their most potent magic.

"Yes, he's mine," Gabi said, her voice flat and unfriendly.  In turn she looked the two of them directly in the eyes as she spoke.  "Touch him and I'll carve your hearts from your chests and feed them to him in tiny, tasty slivers."  Her hand itched for
Nex, but she didn't reach for the sword.  Not yet. 

Surprise flickered in their eyes, but not fear
.  Gabi realised you had to be sane to understand fear.  Perhaps it was enough that she'd surprised them, as they inclined their heads with a grudging respect.

"Even we have heard of your,"

"Father's prowess in killing,"

"
Supernaturals," they conceded.

"We have heard you are,"

"Becoming the apple to his,"

"Tree."
  They looked at her appraisingly. 

Gabi narrowed her eyes to a glare.  She wasn't getting into a conversation about her or her father's fighting prowess with these two.

"We mean the animal,"

"No harm," they said, looking at Razor again.  The word 'yet' seemed to hang in the air between them.

"It has a certain,"

"Air of power,"

"Which we find,"

"Intriguing."
 

Gabi was suddenly reminded of the warning the Oracle had given.  "Don't give away your ability to interact with animal species," he'd said.  Did that warning have something to do with these two?

"In fact," they continued, "we find,"

"Much about all of you,"

"Intriguing."  They had turned their scrutiny to Athena and were inspecting her with the sort of attention a butcher might give a cow at a livestock auction. 

"So many powerful Magi,"

"And power in species,"

"Not known for their supernatural,"

"Abilities."  For the first time they turned to look at each other. "Perhaps,"

"It would be a good idea to,"

"Visit this City, and see,"

"What other wonders we
can,

"Find."  There was fervour in their eyes and cunning in their smiles. 

Athena took a step forward, once again garnering their full attention. "Dark Magi are not welcome in the City."  She enunciated each word carefully.  "I suggest you think twice before testing the patience of the Magi Council.  The use of Blood Magic would see you declared Maleficus.  Your lives would be forfeit."

"It is such a pity,"

"That the rest of you,"

"Cannot see the virtues,"

"Of Blood Magic."  They both smiled beatifically, Athena's warning going unacknowledged. 

"Stay away from us, my cat and the City or you're going to be finding out whether the fires of Hell burn hot or cold," Gabi said, her voice jocular but her undertone darkly threatening. 

"We are most surprised,"

"That the young
Maleficus,"

"Is so set on wanting,"

"You all dead.  She really,"

"Does hate you."

"Perhaps she is,"

"Jealous?" 

Just then a woman came towards them.  Well, perhaps 'marched' was a better word to describe her approach.  There was purpose and determination in her stride as she made a beeline for the four of them.  Some may have referred to her build as matronly, but Gabi was reminded of Rose's wonderful womanly endowment.  The similarity between the two women stopped there, however.  The steely glint in this woman's eyes would give anyone, including Gabi, pause.  A hairnet and apron announced her as belonging to the kitchen in some way, but Gabi doubted she was simply one of the cooking or waiting staff. 

"
Wha' are you two doing bothering these ladies?" she demanded in an English accent not far removed from Alexander's.  Her hands on her hips, she glared at the twins.  She was utterly unaffected by their unnervingly emotionless faces as they looked at her.  Astoundingly both their expressions became contrite, and they glanced at each other like naughty schoolboys caught smoking behind the gym.

"Get gone with
ye both," the woman said in a hard voice, taking a kitchen towel from the band of her apron and flicking it at them like she was shooing off an annoying dog.  Her 'th' sounds tended to become 'f's but that didn't dilute the sternness in her one bit. 

Gemini dropped their gazes and gave Gabi and Athena stiff, formal nods.

"Yes, Mistress Sally," one said meekly.

"We were just talking."

"We meant no harm." 

Sally cleared her throat, and the two turned and walked smartly away with a last lingering look at Razor, who stared back at them, undaunted.  Gabi knew the amazement was clear on her face, but she couldn't believe what she'd just seen.  A waitress with a food trolley passing near the twins kept her gaze carefully averted and made an unnecessarily wide arc to avoid getting close to them.

"Those boys," Mistress Sally said in an exasperated tone.  "I'm sorry.  I know they freak people out.  I 'ope they didn't disturb you.  I'm Sally, head of kitchens 'ere at court."  She nodded back towards the large swinging doors that Gabi surmised led into the kitchens. 

Gabi found she had to concentrate to understand the other woman as she tended to run her words together, rolling her '
r's and leaving her 'h's out almost entirely. 

"
Ye're just to let me know if ye 'ave any special dietary needs.  We're well equipped to cater to just about anybody.  Including you," she said, looking down at Razor. 

Gabi stiffened, expecting someone in charge of kitchens to have a problem with a cat near the food preparation areas.  Instead the woman bent slightly and extended her hand for Razor to sniff.  His immediate response was to puff himself up slightly and show her a little fang.  Before Gabi could respond and try to calm him, Sally clucked.

"Pish, you silly thing, I mean ye no 'arm," she told him sternly.  "No need to get hissy with me."  With that she reached into a large pocket in the front of her apron and pulled out a small piece of dried something, Gabi wasn't quite sure what.  She held it out to Razor, who, to Gabi's surprise, cocked his head at her before gently accepting the morsel from the woman's fingers and chewing on it.  It seemed to require a lot of chewing. 

Sally grinned as she straightened.  "A bit of cured beef," she explained.  "Not many carnivores can resist." 

Gabi could smell it then, a strong red meat with some heavy curing spices.  Razor obviously approved, as he finished chewing and looked expectantly at the woman.  She chuckled before reaching for another piece and holding it out for him.  This time he actually purred as he chewed.

"Amazing," Athena breathed.  "You have no idea how vicious that cat can be." 

Sally looked at the Magus with a glint in her eye.  "Cats are just the same as anyone else.  Show no fear, order them about like it's yer right and then soften them up with a treat.  Works every time."  She darted a purposeful look across the room to where Gemini sat at a table eating, of all things, ice cream sundaes. 

Gabi bit back a laugh, lately too many days it felt like she was Alice on the wrong side of the looking glass.  

"Now ye know who I am, don't hesitate to let me know if I can 'elp with something.  The wait staff usually know where I am."  Then she looked down at Razor.  "And you, fine fellow," she told him, "ye stay away from those Dark Magus boys and come to find me when yer guardian comes for a meal."  She reached her hand back towards him, and this time he bestowed a regal rub of his head against it.  "Now, I must go and check on those idiots I call cook staff."  And with that, she bustled off back to the kitchen. 

Gabi and Athena returned to apartment 403, pushing a food-laden cart.  The meeting with the twins had doused Gabi's appetite, but once Kyle began taking lids off platters and the heavenly scent of bacon and eggs assailed her nostrils, her hunger roared back to life.  They sat at one of the tables and ate in relative silence, each mulling things over in their minds.  Gabi's omelette was perfectly done, filled with cheese and bacon and sweet piquant peppers.  Kyle's plate of bacon, eggs and sausages was enough to fill even a hungry Werewolf.  Athena had a more modest breakfast of bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon, and there was a pile of warm, thickly sliced toast, made from dense, handmade bread, a dish of what looked to be homemade butter and a variety of fruit preserves.  A plunger of dark, strong coffee and a smaller one of a delicately scented tea waited for the end of the meal.  If nothing else, the Princeps' Court sure had some good catering staff. 

With her stomach full and the caffeine kicking in, Gabi could no longer sit still.  She stalked to the only window of the room and moved the heavy curtains aside.  Their apartment overlooked the courtyard they’d been delivered to the previous night.  It was surrounded on three sides by castle walls, but the far side was open, and Gabi could just glimpse a cobbled road flanked by green fields.  The day was cold and drab, with thick clouds hovering oppressively across the sky.  It wasn't long before she knew being cooped up in the suite all day was going to be a form of torture.  Kyle came to join her at the window.  He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side in a hug of solidarity. 

“Forgiven me yet?” she asked him.  She knew he was justified in his disapproval of her joining with Julius, but it was still important to her that he understand why she’d done it. 

He let out a rumble: half growl, half exasperation.  “I still think you’ve done it for the wrong reasons,” he told her, “but it’s your life, and you have to live with the consequences.  I would expect you to understand if I made Trish my mate the day we got back from here, so I can’t be a hypocrite.  And,” he looked down at her with a grin, “you know I can’t stay mad at you.” 

His words eased something inside her.  She always hated to be at loggerheads with Kyle.  As she pulled away from him, she caught him wrinkling his nose and realised she hadn't taken a shower the previous evening.

"Fine," she huffed, "I'll go take a shower." 

Kyle looked bemused for a moment, and then laughed.  "It's not that you stink," he said, figuring out that she'd seen him sniffing the air.  "There was just a strange scent around you.  I was trying to figure out what it was."

"Yeah, right.
  I'm going."  She turned and stomped off to the bedroom and its luxurious en-suite bathroom. 

The hot shower and clean clothes should’ve made Gabi feel better, but somehow she just felt worse.  She pulled on a sweater before leaving the room; the cold was seeping into her bones and making her feel chilled and jittery.  Kyle had found a pack of cards and was playing some form of solitaire, and Athena was sitting upright in a chair with her eyes closed.  Meditating, Gabi assumed.  She went to the fireplace and added some wood, hoping the added warmth would chase off the shivers beginning to wrack her body.  She picked a double sofa near Kyle and sank into it, wrapping her arms around Razor as he hopped up to purr in her face worriedly. 

"Hey, hand me that blanket," she asked Kyle, pointing to a throw rug neatly folded on a small footstool.  Oddly the word 'blanket' didn't come out of her mouth right.  It was as though she had a mouthful of fluff. 

Kyle looked up at her, surprise on his face.  "Gabs, are you okay?" he asked, out of his chair and bending over her before she noticed him move.

"I'm…I'm…I'm just cold and tired."  Forming words was ridiculously difficult. 

Razor nudged at her face, worry for her clear in his mind.