A Cold Day in Hell (The Hellcat Series)

by Hannaford, Sharon

  "We have to keep her away from the Princeps," Nathan stated, "at all costs."

  "It's not a practical solution," Alexander disagreed. "We can't hide her forever. We'd have to be on full alert every day and night, and eventually something would have to give."

  "Alexander has the right o' it," Fergus rumbled from his corner of the room. "We need a plan, a permanent solution to this. Lookin' over yer shoulder forever is no way te live."

  "I've been keeping tabs on events at Court for several weeks now," Julius said. "I have a loyal contact in a key position of the Princeps' Court," he put in for Gabi and Kyle's benefit. "Unfortunately my contact isn’t always privy to what is said in closed Princep meetings. It’s possible Caspian will know more than I do."

  "We cannae risk lettin' Caspian go back to them," Fergus said with a finality in his voice. "If he be lettin' te secret oot, she's nothin' but trooble fer them, and they'll know she's makin' ye moor powerful by te day. They'd order 'er execution fer sure."

  "Can't you just use your Vamp mind control thing to make sure he doesn't tell anyone?" Kyle asked Julius.

  Julius shook his head. "The Princeps have some powerful Magi working for them. I know of at least one mind-bender. They would rip the information directly from his mind the moment they knew he was privy to the secret."

  The exchanges continued back and forth, but the words just flowed over Gabi, not penetrating her conscious mind. She'd stopped eating, the food suddenly tasting like dust. She'd never felt like a liability to anyone before, and now she was suddenly the biggest liability in the history of Vampire-kind. A Pandora's box that once opened would release pain and suffering on the world. A secret that needed to be contained and guarded for the protection of everyone. She stood suddenly, jerky and uncoordinated.

  "Excuse me," she said faintly. "I need some fresh air." She left the room in a daze, not exactly sure where she was heading, only knowing that she needed space to think and to come to terms with her new reality.

  CHAPTER 7

  Julius had given Gabi some time to collect herself before leaving the office. It took him several minutes to find her. Her scent was so strong all around the estate that it had been difficult to find the freshest trail. She was, of all places, up a tree. A huge, hundred-year-old oak, with great, sprawling branches and thick, green foliage. A pair of them overlooked the front gate, majestic sentinels. As soon as he got close enough to see her, sitting thirty feet up with her back to the broad trunk and her legs stretched out in front of her on a thick branch, he realised why she'd chosen this as her refuge. A squirrel was sitting on her shoulder, chittering into her ear, an acorn husk clutched in its tiny front paws. One side of her mouth was turned up in a tiny half smile at something the little creature was communicating to her. Two owls sat perched on a branch less than a foot from her head, and appeared to be fighting over who got to sit closest to her.

  He kicked off his shoes and shrugged out of his jacket, wondering how many years it had been since he'd last climbed a tree. He'd done it so very often as a boy growing up on his father's estate, dropping seed pods or twigs on the servants and giggling when they scolded him. He'd tried to make friends with the squirrels and birds in those trees, but without any real success.

  He jumped lightly up to one of the lower branches and then climbed the rest of the way, pulling himself up using branches and the main trunk. He went slowly and cautiously, not wanting to startle the critters around her. The branch she was sitting on was as thick as her waist, sturdy enough for both of them, so he pulled his weight smoothly onto it and then sat with both of his legs dangling off one side, balancing his weight without thought.

  She'd watched his progress up to her without speaking, and now the tiny squirrel began to chatter at him. It sounded like an angry scolding. The owls moved further along the branch away from him.

  "Let me guess; they'd prefer I left," he said into the quiet night air.

  "Ah, yes," Gabi agreed, reaching up to scratch one of the owls behind it's little feathered horn. The other one hooted at her, pushing closer, obviously upset at not getting her attention first.

  "Would you prefer I left?" he asked, trying to keep his tone mild, unconcerned.

  She was silent for several long seconds, but just as he started to shift his weight in preparation to jump to the ground, she spoke. "No, you can stay," she said. "I'm just not sure I'm ready to talk, or even listen. I'm probably not very good company."

  "We don't have to talk," he told her. "I just don't want you to feel like you're alone." A bone-deep sadness was seeping from her, though she was trying to block the link between them. He didn't know why she felt such sadness; he wanted to understand.

  Again she was quiet. He desperately wanted to know what was going through her mind, but instinctively knew pushing would only make her clam up further, so instead he reached up and picked an acorn from the tree; then as slowly and smoothly as he could, he stretched his hand towards the squirrel, the acorn balanced on his palm. The animal quit its scolding and stared at the offering, cocking its little head at him, assessing. A tiny whisper of power brushed against his senses, like a warm breath caressing his arm, and the squirrel tentatively climbed down from her shoulder and crept across the branch towards him. When it reached him, it put its tiny paws on the edge of his fingertips and stretched its body until it could reach the acorn. It froze and looked at him again, reassessing the situation, and then quick as a flash grabbed the acorn and sped back to the safety of Gabi's shoulder.

  "Why were you so anxious about Caspian's arrival?" Gabi whispered the question, catching his gaze in the dark and holding it.

  He drew in a breath as he wondered how to phrase his answer, how to convey his terror at the thought of losing her without scaring her. Even though they had the mind link, he was aware that she had no idea of the depth of his feelings for her. He was well practiced at keeping his emotions under control, and he had some experience at blocking inquisitive minds from reading his. There were Magi and Vampires who could pick both thoughts and emotions from another's mind, and he’d learnt how to build walls of defence against those mental forays. It served him well now, keeping Gabi from things he wasn't ready for her to see. He looked away from her out towards the waxing moon glittering between the leaves, not wanting her to read things in his eyes.

  "I wasn't sure how you would react towards him," he finally replied. "Whether you would have an immediate connection, feel some kind of overpowering need to be with…him." He didn't know how else to phrase it without making his fear and possessiveness clear.

  "You mean you thought I might throw myself at him? Leave you to be with him instead?" She sounded incredulous, which both pleased him and ticked him off. It was a legitimate concern.

  "I had no idea what effect he’d have on you. He is technically your Sire, after all." He could hear himself beginning to sound defensive, so consciously injected calm into his voice. "That fact could mean everything to you, or his blood could call to yours. I wasn't ready." He paused. "I wasn't sure I'd have the strength of character to let you go to him if that was your decision."

  Gabi let out a long breath, as though she'd been holding it. She reached for the squirrel and placed it gently on the branch next to the owls. It was bizarre to see predator and prey sitting so close to each other, entirely contrary to natural instinct. The squirrel quickly scampered away up the main trunk of the tree, and the owls swivelled their heads to watch it go. Gabi pulled herself upright and took the few steps across the branch towards him, perfectly balanced and graceful as always. When she reached him, she dropped back down to sit straddling the branch, her face just inches from his.

  "Even if his blood did call to me, I could never walk away from you," she said in a husky whisper. "Not for something like that."

  "But you could walk away from me?" It was a question of sorts.

  "If it was best for you and the Clan," she said the words steadily, but Julius could feel the wrench of pain inside her.
She wasn't just speaking hypothetically, he realised with a jolt.

  "No," he said adamantly, his voice harsh in the quiet night air. "That I will not allow. If you leave me because I make you unhappy or because I'm threatening your safety, I will let you go, but if you try to escape me for any other reason, I will hunt for you ceaselessly. You will not evade me for long."

  She smiled a small enigmatic smile and didn't answer him. She simply leaned in and captured his mouth with hers. He couldn't help but respond to her as she pressed herself close to him, his body going hard, need for her obliterating conscious thought, but another, more rational part of his brain had just gone on high alert.

  Her head on Julius's chest, his arm wrapped securely around her much smaller body, Gabi fell asleep a couple of hours before dawn, mental and physical exhaustion taking their toll.

  When she woke, Julius wasn't in the bed with her, though her internal clock told her it was mid-morning. She allowed herself the luxury of another quick shower before rifling through Julius's closet to find one of his shirts to wear. He’d torn her spare one last night, too far gone to unbutton it when they made it back to his room. Their lovemaking had continued in the vein of the past week: fervent, almost frenzied. No subtlety, no finesse, just raw, desperate passion. Luckily she still had another pair of pants, though she'd have to stop at a clothing store for more underwear soon. He was going to cost her a fortune in the lingerie department if he didn't stop ripping them off her.

  She arrived downstairs in skinny jeans and a black cashmere sweater three sizes too big for her; at least it was easy to hide Nex. She found Julius in his office, a steaming cup of coffee waiting for her on his desk, next to a bag of what smelled like chocolate somethings. She still wasn't used to being in a house with sun-blocking blinds throughout. It was hard to wrap your mind around it being daytime while it felt like night inside. The first sip of coffee was bliss.

  "Good morning," he purred, pausing from whatever he'd been typing on his keyboard. His gaze drank her in as she fished inside the paper bag for whatever sweet delights it contained.

  "You're still up?" she asked, before attacking a chocolate muffin with gusto.

  "I have some business to clear up. I want to get it out of the way so I can focus on the Princeps without distractions."

  She plonked her butt in a chair on the other side of his desk, pulling a face. She wanted to at least finish her coffee before she thought about the chaos her life had just become.

  "Have you decided about Caspian?" he asked, popping her hopeful bubble.

  "It's really a no-brainer," she said in reply, a little more sharply than she'd intended. She tried to curb her irritation. "We can't let him go back to the Princeps. We need to keep him where we can watch him, find out more about his intentions, and make sure he’s telling the truth about not leaking the secret to anyone at court."

  Julius nodded calmly, as if what she said made sense, but the tension was back, radiating around him, coming off him in waves. She bit back a sigh and put down her coffee and half-eaten muffin. She stood and went around to his side of the desk, spinning his chair to face her. Even with him sitting, he was almost at her eye level.

  "There is no attraction, Julius," she said firmly. "I will not go running to him. He’s just another Vampire to me. He has information we need, and he happens to have had something to do with my Dhampir heritage, but there is NO mystical connection between us, no matter what the legends say. Even if you weren't in the picture, he holds no appeal for me, and what I feel for you is too strong to be broken by any external force. The only thing that could destroy what we have, is us."

  He didn't speak, but reached out to grasp her hand and pull her to him. He kissed her fiercely, his tension easing but not dissipating entirely.

  The sound of her phone ringing in her back pocket brought them back to earth; it was still playing 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC, Kyle's idea of funny. She untangled herself and pulled the phone out. The screen showed Byron's name, and she bit her bottom lip. She'd been avoiding him for weeks now, but she knew she'd have to make a decision one way or another soon.

  "You should speak to him, Lea." Julius spoke the words she didn't want to hear. "For your sake as well as his. He'll love you no matter what your decision is; just let him back into your life. That’s what is truly important to him."

  He was right. This had been playing on her mind for too long. Some action was now required. It was time to take her own advice to Derek and stop being a coward. She brushed a last kiss across Julius's forehead and pressed answer.

  "Hello, Byron," she said into the phone as she left Julius's office and headed for the front door to give herself a semblance of privacy.

  What they needed to discuss shouldn't be done over the phone, so she asked to meet Byron at his house in an hour. On the drive there she realised that, aside from the times she'd been away traveling, she'd never gone more than two weeks without seeing Byron. The past two months, things had been so awkward and uncomfortable between them that she'd avoided him almost completely. He'd been father, mentor and friend to her since the day her own father died when she was just ten years old.

  Byron had felt a keen sense of obligation to take care of her and her mother after the fateful night that saw the City's most feared Vampire-slayer taken down by a notoriously nasty Vampire. Gabi now knew that the City had, for a time, had no Master to control the Vampires within it. When Julius’s predecessor had taken control, it’d been an uphill struggle to regain order. It took years, and though he eventually made a difference, he never truly eradicated the Rogues and challengers. In the meantime the job had fallen to the Societas Malus Venatori, the SMV, and her father.

  Byron blamed himself, she knew. Her father should never have gone after the Vampire on his own, and had done it without consulting Byron, his best friend, and co-founder of the SMV. While everyone else knew that her father had made his own fatal mistake, Byron felt he should’ve known what Daniel Bradford was planning, and found some way to prevent the inevitable. Gabi knew now that it had only been a matter of time. Her father's quest had become all-consuming; he would've kept going out until one of them was too quick, too strong, too vicious. Only death could bring an end to his obsession.

  By the time she drove up to Byron's gate and punched in the access code, waiting for the security gate to open, she knew she had her answer. Byron's pack of dogs galloped up to the car to greet her. All shapes and sizes, tails wagging and tongues lolling. She knew them all intimately and took the time to make sure each one got a pat, while trying not to have her legs swept out from under her by the writhing mass of excited, furry bodies. They had missed her and were overjoyed to see her; the emotions fairly vibrated through her they were so strong.

  When she finally managed to disentangle herself from the pack, she found Byron waiting for her at his open front door, a smile quirking one side of his mouth. He was still a handsome old devil, she thought wryly, no wonder there was a never-ending stream of women trying to convince him to change his widower status. She hoped one of them would eventually succeed, but also knew it would take someone very special to overcome his grief at the loss of his beloved wife. She also knew that if he finally allowed himself to love again and the woman hurt him, Gabi would personally skin the bitch alive.

  Without saying a word, she hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek. He looked tired and, for once, closer to his real age. A stab of guilt pierced her.

  "Gabi, honey." He let out a long breath. "Come in. Meryl has laid out lunch for us."

  Gabi smiled; Meryl sure knew how to feed hungry bellies. She followed him to his patio, where a table was ready for the two of them. It was a beautiful day, and being out in the sunshine felt good. The dogs had made their way around to the rear of the house as well and now lay sprawled around the garden, happy mounds of fur enjoying the sunshine and human company. Meryl brought out a mouth-wateringly good dish of lasagne, a fresh salad and warm bread, straight from the oven. She g
ave Gabi a hug and berated her for not coming around in so long, but soon left her and Byron alone to their meal. And their discussions.

  "I'm so glad you came today," Byron said, raising his glass of white wine in a toast. "I've missed your company." There was no hint of accusation or disappointment in his voice, just relief.

  "I'm sorry I've been such a coward," she replied. "There's no excuse, really. I've been avoiding my obligations."

  Byron held up his hand to stop her. "I didn't ask you here for apologies or explanations, sweetheart," he said. "I just wanted to see you and find out how you're doing. I deeply regret allowing the Venatori business to drive a wedge between us. Whatever decision you make about your future with the SMV is between you and the rest of the Council. I just want the two of us to still be friends, still be able to share a lunch and a bottle of wine, and discuss old times and what's new in our lives."

  Gabi grinned, picking up her own wine glass and clinking it against his. "That sounds good to me."

  They tucked into the delicious meal and avoided talking 'business' until they were both stuffed to the point where even Gabi couldn't eat any more. Finally Gabi knew she needed to tell Byron about the Princeps, as well as her decision about the SMV.

  "I know the Council hasn't asked me back yet officially, but even if they did, I've decided I'm not going back. Not full time at least," she clarified.