A Cold Day in Hell (The Hellcat Series) (32 page)

Attackers, she mentally corrected as she isolated at least two different forms moving in the dingy
darkness of the castle stairwell.  She was on her feet regardless of not being able to draw breath yet, her eyes watering from the pain in her chest and spine.  One of the attackers recovered from the shock of Razor's attack and swung back to her.  He was carrying a heavy wooden club and obviously had every intention of using it on her. 

In that split second while Gabi prepared for the blow, she realised that her attackers were human.  That revelation bolstered her confidence.  She ducked the blow and countered with a sharp, perfectly directed blow to the man's chest.  She'd put all her strength into the punch, as though she was fighting a Werewolf.  She felt the crack of ribs as the man issued a loud grunt and instantly collapsed to the ground, silent.  The blow had stopped his heart. 

Gabi drew a painful breath and resisted the urge to kick the fallen man.  Razor was still harrying the other one.  He was trying to check on his fallen comrade, but every time he turned, Razor laid into him again.  Seeing that his concern wasn't going to help his partner and Gabi was now coming for him, he turned back to the big cat and aimed a vicious kick at Razor's head.  He was quick, Gabi realised, too quick for a human, but not too quick for her.  She was already moving as his heavy booted foot swung back.  His other leg was swept out from under him, and the kick went wide, connecting with a wall instead of Razor.  He was back on his feet in an instant, though, and reaching for something in his waistband. 

"Bitch," he snarled, "I only have to keep you alive; she didn't say anything about being in one piece."  He pulled a large hunting knife from his pants, and Gabi almost laughed.

"Fuckhead," she said dismissively, "that's like pulling on boxing gloves in front of Mike Tyson." 

He ignored her warning and rushed her.  She danced backward, dropping low as he made a clumsy slash at her shoulder.  She nimbly avoided the return swipe and rose, with
Nex in her hand.  Neither of her attackers had seen the sword go skittering across the floor when she'd first been roundhoused.  The human's eyes grew round as he noticed the sword in her hand and then narrowed contemptuously, obviously confident that a woman wouldn't know what to do with it. 

She was so tempted to just end the idiot's life, but she knew he was just a tool.  He wasn't the real threat, but he might know who was.  She sighed in regret; knocking him out and tying him up to deal with later was the practical thing to do.  Sometimes she hated being a naturally practical person.  She toyed with him for a few seconds, drawing him closer.  He had to be hyped up on Vamp blood, Gabi concluded.  That was the only way he could be as quick as he was, and it explained the strength of the other attacker.  She feinted to one side, giving him an opening.  The man fell into her trap, making the obvious lunge, still trying to stab her in the shoulder.  She shifted faster than he could track and kicked him solidly in the balls. 

His high-pitched yelp almost made her laugh.  He dropped the knife, automatically covering his privates with both hands, his mouth an open maw of pain.  Gabi calmly delivered an elbow to the side of his head, careful not to hit him too hard.  He collapsed in a heap at her feet.  She took a moment to massage her ribs and realign her spine before reaching for his belt, but as she bent over him, Razor's low growl alerted her to another presence.

"Dangerous little wench, aren't you?" the newcomer said, walking out of the shadows.  He quirked an eyebrow at the two forms heaped on the floor.  "They thought they were good, those two.  Never
had a shot of Vampire juice before; it made them think they were gods.  Guess Dhampirs are bigger, badder gods." 

The man was speaking conversationally, as though they were long-time acquaintances.  He was, as far as Gabi could tell, also human, but she didn't go for the immediate attack.  What he held comfortably in his right hand was one of the few things that would make Gabi pause. 
A handgun.  A Sig Sauer P226 if she wasn't mistaken.  If she wasn't so pissed off, she'd be impressed.  She'd never fired one, but it was a remarkable piece.  Not one you wanted to be shot with, even if you had better than normal healing abilities. 

The man was tall and broad shouldered, muscular under his black shirt and combat trousers.  Short cropped hair and a general air of arrogance screamed some kind of military Special Forces.  Without changing expression, she sent a command to Razor to back down and
act like a normal cat.  Right now he was her best hope of getting out of this without any extraneous holes in her body. 

"What do you want?" she asked as she casually dropped her sword arm and slid
Nex into her ankle sheath.  The sword didn’t quite fit, but it freed up her hands. 

"Yes, bring the sword," he said, ignoring her question.  "I wouldn't want it lying around, alerting someone to the fact that you were ambushed here."  Keeping his eyes and the gun trained carefully on her, he backed her up so he could check on the first man Gabi had downed. 

"He's dead," Gabi told him.  She could hear the absence of a heartbeat and breathing, but the human still needed to check for a pulse at the man's neck. 

He gave her a grim smile as he confirmed her diagnosis.  "And that one?" he asked, indicating the other one.

"Numbnuts is still alive," she conceded, "though I wouldn't guarantee his ability to produce offspring in the near future." 

"What a pity, then," the man said, sounding regretful as he moved to stand over the unconscious man, "that he came around from his fight with his friend and tripped and fell down the stairs."  He delivered a sharp, vicious kick to the back of the man's neck. 

Gabi heard the bones crack and had to swallow a gasp of shock. 

Combat man backed away and flicked the gun from her to the now dead ambusher. "Take him and push him down the staircase," he directed her.  She knew the indignation was clear on her face.  "Don't even try the helpless woman routine with me, Dhampir.  Just do it." 

She drew in a deep breath and made herself count to ten as she stalked over and grabbed Numbnuts by an ankle.  Muttering curses under her breath, she dragged him to the top of the steps and then booted him down, regretting they weren't another floor down.  She could hear the fight going on now; Kyle's growl was unmistakable.

"Come away from there, or the cat gets it," the man said, even as she considered the possibility of making it to the next floor before he could shoot her. 

Facing away from him, she closed her eyes and centred herself.  Sometime in the next few minutes, this man would make a mistake.  She turned back to face him, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"Fine."
  She moved away from the descending stairs. 

"Upstairs," he said, motioning toward them with the gun.  "And don't test me."  His words were a dark warning.  "I may be human, but I never miss a target." 

Three flights of stairs up and then a left turn, down a long, dimly lit corridor, and then another two flights of stairs up.  Gabi wasn't sure where exactly they were headed, but it was a part of the castle she hadn’t seen before.  They'd bypassed several doors, and she could sense Vampires in some of the rooms, but their essences were all faint, a sure sign that they were in their daysleep. 

"So, you from around here?"
Gabi asked the gunman casually.  It gave her an excuse to look behind her and check out her ambusher again. 

"Eyes forward," was the only response she got. 

She drew in a breath and forced her anger to a calm level.  What he didn't know was that when she was walking the long, straight corridor, she could close her eyes and allow her mind to merge with Razor's, seeing everything the cat was seeing.  Razor was following the two of them, as though simply keeping up with his guardian.  The gunman had arrived too late to see how savage Razor could be in attack mode, so he wasn't concerned about the cat at his back.  If he'd taken the time to inspect the other two men, he wouldn't have been nearly as comfortable letting the cat stalk him from behind. 

There were several reasons Gabi was going quietly with the human.  One was having Razor as a back-up, another was that she hoped the man would lead her to his employer, but lastly she knew that Kyle would stumble across the man she'd kicked down the staircase, and the moment he saw the bite and claw marks, he'd know Razor had done the damage.  Kyle would know that the Demons had been a distraction.  Between him and Caspian, they should be able to track her by scent.  She just had to hope they didn't find her before she found whoever was behind the ambush.  Her sword hand itched for
Nex.

"Stop," the man called as they reached the end of yet another passage and a closed door.  She halted.  "Knock," he ordered, but before she could lift her knuckles to the dark wood door, it swung open.  A figure whooshed back from the opening to stand in the centre of an otherwise empty room dark and gloomy with its dusty, velvet drapes drawn tightly closed. 

"Come in," said a haughty female voice with a snooty British accent. 

Gabi snorted, shaking her head.  "Helene," she greeted the Vampire, stalking into the room.  She was prevented from getting close to the Princep by a trio of musclebound men, who closed ranks protectively in front of her.  Werewolves all of them.  Gabi fought to hide her satisfaction at the unexpected turn of events.  The Princeps really had been lax not asking exactly what powers she possessed as a Dhampir.  They'd simply assumed they knew it all.  Tsk, tsk, she thought.  Curiosity might kill the cat, but complacency would kill a Princep. 

The human gunman followed up behind her and kicked the door closed.  He wasn't quick enough, though; Razor had slipped through and ducked into the shadows near the floor-length curtains.  One of the Werewolves noticed him and raised his top lip in a disdainful snarl, but didn't make any move towards him.  No one else paid him any heed. 

Incongruously her stomach chose that moment to declare that it was empty.  Helene raised her haughty eyebrows at the low gurgle.

"You think we can hurry this along?" Gabi asked in a bored voice.  "As you can hear, it's past breakfast time." 

The English Vampire drew herself up to her full height, she had a few inches on Gabi even without the Manolo Blahnik stilettos, and thrust two of the Werewolf bodyguards aside. 

"You are remarkably good at staying alive," Helene ground out, swishing her Gucci coat aside to plant her perfectly manicured hands on her narrow hips. 

"Yeah, well, my nickname is Hellcat, and you know what they say about cats and lives."  Gabi allowed her stance to become casual, unruffled, as though she was simply having an uninteresting conversation with a boring acquaintance.  She wondered if picking her nails would be overacting it. 

The woman's outrage narrowed her eyes and pinched her mouth.  "Well, your extra lives have just come to an end," she declared in a hiss.  "This time I'll make sure you're dead myself." 

“You would risk it all to kill me?" Gabi wondered aloud.  "If someone else comes across this scene, won't you be sentencing yourself to death?  Surely even a Princep has to respect
incolumitas
?"  Her barbs hit home, the other woman flinched slightly.  Then her eyes grew steely with determination. 

"No one will know it was me.  This is a completely unused section of the castle, and the rest of the ants in this place are being kept busy trying to contain the Dark Magus and her Demons, even the twin imbeciles."  Her opinion of non-Vampires was almost comical. 

"So it was you who arranged for Mariska to be released to try to poison me, then?" Gabi checked, though she was sure she already knew the answer. 

"Of course," the other woman said haughtily, "and she assured me there was no way you could recover."  Fury darkened her expression.  "Today she pays the price of her failure.  She thinks if she's caught, I'll protect her, but in fact, she won’t be getting out of this castle alive. 
Much like you."  She took a breath, calming herself.  "I'm not sure how you avoided my sniper's bullets, or how you overcame the poison, but none of that matters now.  I will personally see to your demise this time." 

Lord and Lady, Gabi blinked as she realised that the car accident had been this woman trying to kill her before they even left for the Princeps' Court. 

Helene pulled a jewel-inlaid dagger from the pocket of her designer coat, her eyes glittering with blood-thirsty anticipation.  "First I will be tasting you, though; I hear your blood can be quite…invigorating." 

"Whoa," Gabi cautioned.  "Before we commence with the final act, how about you explain why you see me as such a threat."

"You aren't a threat, just a nuisance.  I will kill you as easily as I would kill a fly," Helene spat.

"By killing a fly you aren't risking your own life," Gabi pointed out, hoping her delay tactics weren't too obvious.  Where in Hell’s name were Kyle and Caspian?  She wanted witnesses to this woman's intentions.  With her succubus abilities, there was no telling if she could sway Faruq into backing up her lies in front of the rest of the Princeps. 

"You stand between me and the man meant to be my consort," she raged from between clenched teeth.  "I have been working for decades to make Julius mine.  And he will BE MINE."  She roared the last words.  "An annoyingly hard-to-kill half-breed will not thwart me."  She was so furious she was actually spitting.  She seemed to sense she was losing control and brought herself back with a deep intake of air.  The Werewolves next to her stirred restlessly, the scent of her ire calling to their wolves.  "Enough talk.  Hold her down," she ordered the Werewolves. 

Gabi had run out of time.  Backing away from the Werewolves as though afraid, she sent Razor a directive to go for the human with the gun while she quickly centred herself.  Using every ounce of will in her, she called to the wolves.  The result was spectacular.

All three Werewolves fell to the ground, writhing as their wolves took control, demanding to be free.  The gunman yelled as Razor took him in the calf.  A gunshot went off, deafening in the confines of the empty room.  Gabi ducked, but the bullet hit the ceiling, dislodging a puff of grey plaster and shaking the light fitting above her head.  While the gunman was distracted by Razor ripping into his leg, Gabi lunged towards him, kicking him square in the side of the jaw as he bent to pistol-whip Razor away from him.  A shriek of rage was the only warning she got as Helene flung herself at Gabi, the dagger upraised.  Gabi twisted just in time to get a defensive arm in front of her chest, flinging it wide to knock the dagger away.  Hot pain sizzled across her forearm as the blade sliced through wool and cotton, biting flesh to the bone. 

"Damn you, you will die," Helene screamed, recovering fast and grabbing the dagger with both hands to plunge it towards Gabi's throat.  Gabi caught Helene's deceptively delicate wrists, the tip of the deadly blade millimetres from her neck as she yanked her face out of immediate danger.  Razor growled, and the gunman groaned groggily.  He was down but not out.  She threw a quick order at Razor to disable the man's gun hand.  If he couldn't pull the trigger, he was hardly a threat to her.  She heard a satisfying male scream as Razor sank his fangs into the man's flesh. 

Helene's face was twisted into an obscene mask of fury as she pulled free of Gabi's grasp and prepared to lunge again, but then something changed in her face, a reluctant desire, her eyes suddenly fixed on the blood dripping from Gabi's arm, her mouth fell open, fangs fully extended.

"Oh no, you don't," Gabi hissed, taking advantage of the woman's distraction and pulling Nex from the sheath on her calf.  She tried to grip her sword with her right arm, but the laceration was deep enough to be affecting muscles and tendon, her grip was failing, and Helene rushed again, this time without the dagger but with viciously bared fangs.  Gabi switched the sword to her left hand and braced herself with the tip directly where Helene's heart would be in a tenth of a second.  The Vampire brought herself to a halt a hair's breadth from Nex's deadly kiss. 

Gabi lunged forward.  Helene was gone.  Two of the Werewolves had reached full wolf form and were staggering to their feet, looking dazed.  Gabi speared them with a mental command to sit and stay, and hoped she had enough willpower to keep them there.  Damn, she really needed to practice controlling more than one Werewolf at a time.  Who knew she'd desperately need the ability so soon after discovering it. 

Too late she realised Helene was directly behind her.  Fuck, she'd fought over a dozen Vampires in her years as a Hunter, but she'd never had to fight a Master.  This one may be a female with no fight training, but she was still strong, quick and deadly.  Before Gabi could drop and spin, Helene had her dagger across Gabi's throat, pressing it warningly against her flesh.  Gabi stilled