To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4)

by Sharon Hannaford

  “Do you think it’s made me stronger?” Alexander asked. “Vampire strong, I mean,” he clarified, though Julius already knew what he was talking about.

  “You know the answer to that,” he told his friend. “You’re awake in the middle of the afternoon. You have to be at Master level for that.”

  Alexander paced the length of the room, a ball of nervous energy. Between him and Gabi, Julius was going to need a new carpet soon.

  “I’ve always healed quickly, better than most Vampires. Do you think that will be my strength? Like your Vampire control?” He was excited, but anxious as well. And distracted, too distracted to notice that he was moving so fast that even Julius had to concentrate to see his movements. To other supernaturals he’d seem like a blur, to humans, probably invisible until he stopped moving.

  “It’s hard to know for sure just yet,” Julius admitted. “Don’t forget you also just had an intake of Magi blood. Very few Vampires ever get that honour, so it’s possible there’ll be side effects from Athena’s blood too. Any changes as a result of her blood may not be as long term as those that Gabrielle’s blood brings. Hopefully we’ll know the full repercussions in a couple of days.”

  Gabi hadn’t only saved his best friend, she’d also solved one of his most pressing personal worries. By fast-tracking Alexander’s power level to that of Master, she’d unintentionally taken a weight off his shoulders. He no longer had to fret over what would happen to his Clan if he wasn’t around to lead them.

  “I’m tending towards thinking your speed of movement will be your strongest talent, but we have to keep any changes quiet, my friend,” Julius warned, watching as the other Vampire finally stilled, thinking it through.

  “Yes, you’re right,” Alexander agreed after a few seconds. “It wouldn’t be good if others found out. Those who know she’s Dhampir will know what’s happened. She’ll be in more danger.”

  Julius nodded, glad Alexander understood. “It hasn’t been terribly difficult to hide the increase in my own power level. It’s been blown out of proportion by the gossips in the past already, so any unusual abilities I have don’t require explanation. But it’ll be more difficult for you. You’re going to have to be extremely vigilant. No one but those closest to us can know.”

  Alexander suddenly looked a little daunted. “I’m going to need your help.”

  “You know you have it,” Julius assured him. “Now, we must decide who’s coming with us tonight to the meeting the Magi have called.” Gabi hadn’t just called to tell him about identifying the Werewolf corpse, she also had news from the Magi High Council. “They’ve asked that we keep numbers to a minimum and only those we trust with our lives and the lives of the entire City. It sounds ominous.”

  CHAPTER 12

  The mood in the conference room was sombre to the point of bleakness. It was the largest gathering of different supernatural races that Gabi had ever seen: the SMV Council, the Magi High Council, all the current SMV hunters, Gabi, Julius and a small entourage of his most trusted guards and employees, including Patrick; extra representatives from the Shape-shifter Elders, who rarely met with anyone outside their race, and finally the Werewolf Alliance in its entirety, including Betas and Alpha females. Gabi had made an executive decision and invited Mac. Byron hadn’t contested, and Julius and Kyle had backed up her decision. So Mac was sitting in their little knot of representatives, outwardly cool and calm, but his accelerated heartbeat and the tension in his jaw gave away his uneasiness.

  Large as it was, there wasn’t enough room at the conference table for everyone, so only those considered important enough had seats directly at the table, the rest were relegated to seats behind the VIPs, some even left standing. No one complained, though. Gabi, Julius and Alexander were the only ones from the Vampire contingent not relegated to the back. Kyle next to them was representing both the Hunters and the Werewolf Alliance. Athena and Irene, also representing more than one party, were seated between the SMV members and the Magi High Council. Athena looked drawn and tired, and not solely from being a blood donor earlier in the day.

  Once people stopped filing through the doors, a pair of werewolf guards closed them and took up sentinel positions on either side. Silence descended as Irene stood and began an unintelligible chant. Gabi felt a slight pressure against her eardrums and then a light pop as the spell settled over the room, sealing the room from prying ears and eyes of the non-physical variety. Irene glanced down at the rest of the Magi Council, as though for strength, before beginning to speak.

  “Ladies, gentlemen,” she said, turning her gaze towards the rest of them. “You are all here under the gravest of circumstances. We have never called a meeting of this kind before, and that is both a wonderful and terrible thing. Wonderful in that we have such a strong alliance between all the races, human and other, something that would’ve been unheard of just a few decades ago. Terrible, because what we’ve called you all together for is the most serious threat we’ve faced in many centuries. The threat we’re here to discuss has the potential to not only affect the City, but every town and city across the planet.”

  She drew a breath, collecting herself. “Some of you already know that there is something here in the City that the Magi protect. To us it is known as the Source. It is the strongest pool of magical energy on Earth. It is the mainstay of power that feeds the Veil and keeps demons on their side of the Void. It goes without saying what would happen if control of this resource fell into the wrong hands. It has been the responsibility of the Magi High Council and the most senior of us in the City for over three hundred years. We’ve spent centuries protecting it, keeping its whereabouts carefully hidden. A task we had been successful at. Until today.”

  She closed her eyes, weariness etched in every line of her face. “Today its whereabouts was discovered by some of those we have been seeking to protect it from. Today the Maleficus Mariska called forth a demon known to us as a Seeker. Our combined forces dispatched this very demon in the early hours of the morning during the infiltration attempt at the City Cathedral; we sent it back to the Etherworld. We had no idea she would try again so soon.” She shook her head sadly, self-recrimination clear in her expression. “Mariska’s second attempt was successful. The Seeker was sent on its mission and returned to its controller with the precise whereabouts of the Source.”

  Gabi felt dread, cold and dark, fill her chest. This was the mischief the Maleficus was up to while they were chasing their tails, trying to find Alexander. They weren’t just up shit creek, they were up shit river, and they didn’t even have a raft let alone a paddle.

  “What Mariska has been able to achieve is not possible without a very specific kind of magic. Reports of bloodless non-human bodies turning up in the City have confirmed our worst fears. Mariska is using Blood Magic to magnify her powers. We suspect she has joined with a particularly dangerous group of Dark Magi led by two who call themselves the Elders and are individually known as Deimos and Phobos. No one knows their exact origins, when they were born, or how they came to their knowledge of the arcane, only that reports of their activities have been filed for more than a hundred years. They’ve been experimenting with Blood and other Dark Magic for decades, finding ways to extend their natural lives and magnify their arcane powers. Drinking the blood of Vampires and using the blood of Werewolves for Dark Rites has made them far more powerful than they have any right to be.”

  A slight buzz of low, excited voices travelled around the room. While Gabi and those who’d travelled to the Princeps Court had found out the truth of the Dark Magi’s use of Blood Magic, most others were still under the carefully propagated impression that Magi couldn’t partake of Vampire or Werewolf blood and live. The Magi present were all stony faced, obviously either having had that knowledge prior to tonight or having been recently informed.

  Irene ignored the interruption. “The abilities of these particular Dark Magi are already quite formidable, but if they were to gain access to the Source itse
lf, they would become unstoppable. They would have eternal life, unlimited power and unrestrained access to the demon world. The Dark Elders have been searching for the Source with increasing urgency over the last few years, so we assume their time is running out, that they’ve reached the end of their unnaturally long lives. They will do anything to seize control of the Source. Mariska has fallen into their hands at exactly the right time for them, the wrong time for us.”

  “Why have you had no warning of this? What are the Oracles doing?” one of the Werewolf Pack leaders demanded, a few others nodding their support of his question.

  “Elder Deimos is incredibly adept at masking spells; we assume he’s been keeping their activities and intentions carefully hidden. The Oracles have known of a threat and had seen Mariska being approached by other Magi, but there was no indication of what her path would be, or even what they were offering her. They had no idea her newest union would be such a dark and powerful one. Either they have taught her to shield as well as they do, or the Dark Elders themselves are also in the City.”

  “What do you foresee as the worst-case scenario here, Irene?” Byron asked. “What do these Elders want?”

  “They want to upset the balance of power. They want to be the ones in control. With infinite power at their fingertips, they will start by reinvigorating their own health and increasing their own personal abilities, and then they will start recruiting supernatural soldiers and bending humans to their will. If they have Mariska on their side, they will be able to bring in as many demons as they need to assume control of all the inhabitants of the City. We fear they’re not concerned with keeping a low profile, that they have no worries about human casualties or being uncovered as non-human. The power would enable them to control the mind of every person in the City. No one on Earth would be able to stand against them in a direct attack. Their next objective would be to execute every Castus Magus they could find, then start on other defenders of the City, like the SMV, the Werewolves, Julius’s Clan.” She looked at each of them as she spoke. “Once they’d cowed the population here, we assume they would move onto other cities, spreading their malicious tentacles to as many places as possible. Their loyal followers will be rewarded with power beyond measure and anyone defying them will be annihilated.”

  There were a few seconds of shocked silence.

  “So if these Dark Elders can use the power of the Source to do all of this, why can’t you use the power to stop them from getting to it in the first place? With all that power at your fingertips, why do you need us?” Another of the Werewolf Alphas spoke up.

  Irene suddenly sat down in her seat. An abrupt, uncoordinated movement, like a marionette who’s child puppeteer had suddenly lost interest in the game. The other Magi looked at her in shock, and Athena began to stand, her hand stretched out in concern towards the older woman.

  Then the doors to the conference room swung open as though blown by a strong gust of wind.

  The Werewolf guards were thrown off balance, and one tumbled to the ground. The other stumbled back but managed to keep his feet under him. A person appeared in the open doorway, pausing to look at the two guards with disdain before striding nonchalantly into the room. The Werewolf and Vampire guards jumped to attention, ready to defend against an attack, but paused as one as they saw that the intruder was a blond, teenage boy dressed in jeans, thick-soled black boots, a ripped T-shirt and wearing dark sunglasses.

  “Benedict!” Gabi exclaimed, sitting forward in surprise as she heard Athena gasp from the other side of the table.

  The boy gave her a mocking bow, straightening with a nonchalant grace. “Consort Gabrielle,” he said in formal greeting. “I’m pleased to see you in good health.”

  The rest of the people in the room were frozen, unsure what was happening or who this person was. Before anyone could react, Benedict turned to face the Alpha who’d just asked why the Magi needed help from the rest of them.

  “They need your help because they fear accessing the power of the Source,” he told the burly man. “They don’t trust each other enough to allow one of them to fully utilise the power. I think they were the ones to originally coin that saying. You know the one: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He made little air quotations and turned his voice raspy and ominous before chuckling darkly.

  It was Julius who recovered his composure first. Standing, he turned to the Magi High Councillors. “Ladies, gentlemen.” His eyes made a quick sweep around the room, encompassing everyone. “May I introduce Benedict. He is one of the members of the Princep Court, the ruling council of Vampires.”

  Gabi watched several of the Magi’s mouths actually fall open. She was forced to turn a snort of amusement into a cough, and garnered a mischievous grin from Benedict. Byron looked at Gabi, consternation in his expression, not sure how to proceed. At Gabi’s reassuring nod, he subsided; the other Hunters followed his lead. The Werewolf Alphas looked to Kyle, who gave a barely perceptible shake of his head, and they too stayed in their seats, not fully relaxing, however. Athena was standing, her mouth also open, but not in shock or disbelief, more like she’d been about to say something and caught herself.

  “What did you do to Irene?” she finally demanded, though that obviously wasn’t what she’d first wanted to say. The older Magus was slumped in her seat, looking pale and ill. And as confused as the rest of them.

  “My apologies, Priestess,” he said with a slightly contrite nod towards Irene. “I simply intended to break the protection spell. It’s possible I used more force than was necessary. I don’t often pit my skills against other Magi. I think I’ve forgotten how to be subtle.” He smiled winningly at Irene, but Athena’s mouth was set in a thin, stern line. She wasn’t being taken in by his charm and wasn’t swallowing his line about accidental use of power.

  “But…he said you’re a…Vampire,” one of the other Magi Councillors stuttered, pointing at Julius but staring at Benedict. She was a matronly looking woman in demure clothing, but Gabi had heard she was as tough as demon hide and twice as unpleasant if you got on the wrong side of her.

  “He is a Vampire,” Athena spoke up, turning to address her peers, “but he is also a Magus. Turned in his teens, as you can see.” She waved a hand in Benedict’s direction, not quite as collected as usual. “Which seems to have enabled him to survive the Turning, and with his powers intact. I met and worked with him on our trip to the Princep Court a few months ago,” she said, a touch of defensiveness entering her tone as the other Magi turned their gazes on her. Gabi didn’t understand the mixture of censure, disappointment and disbelief on the faces of her peers.

  “I could show you my fangs if that helps,” Benedict drawled, jamming his hands in his back pockets and grinning with teenage arrogance as he blew and popped a small bubble with his chewing gum.

  A hubbub of angry and anxious voices started up, but too many for anyone to be heard clearly. Gabi pushed her chair back and stood up next to Julius. She tried to speak and then shout over the hubbub, but her voice was drowned out. The gentle charge in the air that always hummed naturally around Julius suddenly flared to life like a sudden electric storm, crackling dangerously against her skin.

  “Enough,” he said, his voice barely more than a low growl.

  Gabi pursed her lips, trying to hide her amusement as the entire room fell instantly silent. “Benedict, please don’t take this the wrong way,” she said into the strained silence, addressing the cocky Vampire, “but what the fuck are you doing here?”

  “I’m here to help, of course.” He smirked at her before shifting his gaze to find Athena. “Among other things.” His face suddenly went predatory, his eyes hungry. An instant later his expression was back to careful, amused nonchalance, the glimpse so quick Gabi wondered if she’d imagined it. “A little birdie whispered that you’d attracted the eyes of the Elders. The Elders and I have a history. I’d prefer that they didn’t get their repugnant little tentacles into the flow of the Source either.”

>   “But how do you even know of the Source?” Athena asked.

  Gabi was more interested in how he knew about the Dark Elders and their predicament when the rest of them had only just found out, but she figured she’d be able to ask him that later, in private. It was unlikely he’d be staying anywhere but at Julius’s estate. That is if the Magi Council didn’t try to run him out of the City.

  “There isn’t much magic in this world that I don’t know about.” His eyes twinkled with challenge as he answered Athena. “I keep telling you that, but you just don’t seem to hear me.”

  “How exactly do you think you can help us?” one of the male Magi High Councillors asked, his attitude a little on the snooty side for someone addressing a being centuries older than himself, but Gabi doubted the Magus could sense the Vampire’s age and power like she could. And she knew he was keeping his full power very tightly controlled. Once, when they’d first met, Benedict had allowed her to feel the full magnitude of his power. She’d almost collapsed under the weight of it. As powerful as Julius was, his power was still young and immature compared to Benedict’s. She was pretty confident that Benedict was the only Vampire in the world who could resist Julius’s commands.

  “I can give you the insight you lack,” Benedict told him in a flat voice. “Your Clairvoyants may not be able to penetrate their masking spells, but I can. And I can tell you that Deimos and Phobos,” he sneered the names, “are not yet in the City, but their lapdogs are. They’re the ones shielding your Maleficus.”