“The Seeker is mine,” Julius growled. “Stay out of its reach.”
Gabi wasn’t going to argue with that, but she sincerely hoped he knew what he was doing.
“We meet again, Baron,” the Seeker hissed, the orbs floating in its hood where its eyes should be glowed a little brighter. As at their previous meeting with the ghostly demon, its words seemed to fill the air around them rather than issue from the figure itself. “I ssseeee you have learnt sssomething of your true nature. I would like to tell you more, but I am currently compelled to defend my puppet massster.”
“I’ll be sure to free you of those shackles,” Julius replied, his implications clear.
A ghostly chuckle vibrated around them, giving Gabi a chill down her spine.
“Enough talk,” she spat, “we need to get past you. This is your first and only warning.”
In reply, the two other demons rushed them. At the same moment Julius dropped his shield, and Gabi lifted her MacDart. She had no intention of fighting fair tonight. Four Were-saliva darts struck the soft facial skin of the male demon, burying so deeply that the creature would have to dig into his flesh to remove them. Shock registered on his face, but he kept going forward. Gabi danced back, keeping his attention focused on her and away from Julius. She felt Fergus at her side and glanced over to see that Butch and Charlie had engaged the female, they were dodging her marauding tongue, but she too had darts embedded in her head and neck. Both demons were done for; it was now just a matter of wearing them down and staying out of their way until the darts did their work.
As Julius faced off with the Seeker, power crackled through the air, sizzling over Gabi’s exposed skin and raising goosebumps. She leapt easily out of the path of the horned demon as it charged her, head down, like a raging bull. As it skimmed by her, she dropped into a crouch and slashed Nex across the back of its legs, slicing through skin, muscle and tendon. It roared in fury, trying to spin back to her, but one leg gave out, and it collapsed to the ground as Fergus moved in to finish it. A commotion to her left made her spin. Three more demons spilled from the gaping hole in the wall.
She spared a quick glance Julius’s way. His jaw was set, his mouth in a grim line, tendons in his neck straining, his blazing gaze locked on the Seeker. His hands held out from his body, fingers splayed as a silent, invisible battle raged. He was holding his own, and he looked magnificent. Razor’s urgent yowl yanked her back to her own battle as a thickset, troll-like demon rushed them swinging a spiked ball on a chain around its head.
Curses streamed through Mariska’s mind as she felt her grip on the Seeker failing. She reached into herself as the old fools had shown her, drawing on the well of power she’d fed earlier after another blood ritual, the well Gemini was supposed to keep filled. Shock hit her like a physical slap as she realised the well was nearly dry. There was nothing left to draw on. She needed more power to strengthen her hold on the Seeker and to call more servants of dark from the other side of the gate.
“I need more,” she screamed at the Magi on either side of her.
“We have no,”
“more to give.” The two spoke over the noise of nearby fighting and the discordant hum of the Demon Gate. Their gazes were focused on the doorway through which she’d sent the Seeker and its sidekicks to waylay the bitch Dhampir and her traitorous lover.
“What the fuck do you mean, you have no more?” she shrieked. That was their job; they could draw power from any living thing and feed on it themselves or pass it to another Magus. “I can’t hold all of these beasts without more power. Something is trying to break my control.”
“You are the PuppetMaster,” one started.
“you must control them,” the other continued seamlessly.
“We must conserve enough power to protect ourselves.”
“But if I lose control of them, they’ll kill us all,” she yelled, wondering if they’d somehow lost what little remained of their tenuous grasp on reality.
“No, they will be more likely,”
“to kill only you and then go hunting for fresh, easy prey,” Gemini told her emotionlessly.
Wait, what did they just say? Had she heard them right? What was going on? This wasn’t happening at all like the Elders had said it would. The old bastards had assured them this was the only way the war could be won. If the three of them defended the Gate while the rest attacked the Casti at the Source. As questions overrode the anger, several things clicked together in her mind, and the picture that emerged left her reeling.
The Elders never meant for her and Gemini to survive this; the Elders had figured out they were too strong, too powerful, too ambitious to be left alive. They’d engineered everything to make sure that when the dust settled, any rivals to their dominance were dead. How could she have been so blind? So stupid? To be taken in by them, to be convinced she’d found her rightful place in the world. Rage seethed through her. They would not get away with this. There was one thing the old bastards hadn’t counted on, her innate ability to escape death and capture. And Gemini? They didn’t care one iota for her, despite everything. They, too, would pay for betraying her. If she could just get out of this, she’d make it to the Source, and once she was close enough to draw on the power herself, well, they’d all just see what she was capable of after that. And she wouldn’t leave anything that could aid their cause.
With one last effort of will, she dredged up the very last scraps of power from the well and threw a command into the Etherworld, spreading the net wide, calling, demanding obedience. There weren’t many demons left in the area near the Gate, but the six that were, she dragged inexorably towards herself. She could feel her strength waning, her control fragmenting. As they tumbled through, she quickly wove the spell compelling them to fight off the invaders, trusting their lack of complex thinking to keep them on course even after she ran out of strength to support the spell. With a painful lash, she felt the chain binding the Seeker to her shatter, and behind her the air vibrated with energy as her hold on the Demon Gate faltered. A maniacal laugh burst from her lips as she broke the spell holding the gate open; then she dived for cover.
Gabi could hear a woman’s voice shrieking in the other room. She sounded enraged and demanding. It had to be Mariska. Gabi dodged a blow from the troll and slammed Nex into its sternum, kicking its legs out from under it and jamming the MacSpike against its forehead before pulling the trigger. The fanatical look went out of its eyes, and its body went limp. Gabi risked a glance through the gaping hole in the brick wall. Another pair of demons were running their way, but behind them in a semicircle stood three people in long, dark robes. Gemini with their pale skin and hair stood on either side of a plain-looking woman with long, brown hair and angry eyes. The sight of the woman who’d helped Dantè torture her brought an unbidden growl from deep in Gabi’s throat.
Several feet behind them rose a semi-transparent arch glimmering in the partial light of numerous candles. It touched the ceiling and spread out wider than the three Dark Magi protecting it. The Demon Gate was startlingly unimpressive to Gabi’s eyes. That was until it disgorged another handful of demons. She checked on her comrades. Butch was holding his own against a hunched-up demon with a piggy face and long, curling tusks. Charlie had just finished one off, and Fergus was beheading another with his MacChopper. Razor had caught a small, flying, batlike demon and was shaking it viciously. She actually heard its neck snap, and the cat immediately dropped it, distaste clear on his face.
“Watch it, more on the way,” she called to them. Just then Julius swayed forward, almost losing his balance. Gabi reached for him even though she was metres away. It was a moment before she realised he wasn’t hurt.
“We’ll hafff to finishhhh thisss another time, Baron,” the Seeker hissed. “I am now free. I hafff other mattersss to attend to.” An instant later it was gone.
“What the…?” Gabi started, but a sudden change in air pressure cut her off. Something was going on in the room with the
Demon Gate.
“Get down,” Julius roared, crossing the distance between them in a fraction of a second and hitting her like a freight train just as an explosion ripped through the room. Her head hit the floor, and pain zinged through her skull, but as the shock wave buckled the ground under them, she understood his actions.
“What in Hell’s name was that?” she groaned as Julius rolled off of her, springing lightly to his feet and dragging her with him.
“Hellcat, take the Magi. We’ll handle the demons.” Butch’s voice rang through the dust and smoke. She turned her head towards his voice and saw both him and the Vampires picking themselves up off the ground and facing the already charging demons.
“You go for Gemini. I’ll take Mariska,” she said to Julius.
“You okay?” he checked, reaching for the back of her head.
“I’m fine. Let’s go,” she said, a sense of urgency building in her. Even if her head was bleeding, there wasn’t time to do anything about it right now. She skirted the demons, jogging towards the hole in the wall, Razor at her heels. Julius caught up just as she peered back into the adjoining room.
She heard Julius grunt as they passed through into the larger room. Gemini were back on their feet, if the explosion had even taken them by surprise enough to knock them over. And then she saw it.
“Holy shit,” she breathed. Where the shimmering arch of the Demon Gate had been, there was now blackened rubble and another gaping hole in the wall beyond, only this one bigger than the one they’d just stepped through. Much bigger.
A growl from Julius snapped her attention to him. He was gritting his teeth, his eyes, near full black, fixated on the twins. Mariska was picking herself up off the floor and backing away, towards ground zero.
“What’s happening?” she demanded from Julius, but he was beyond responding to her. Then Razor howled like something possessed. Gabi spun, and the world suddenly slowed. Each heartbeat taking an eon, she saw the danger, all too clearly and far too late. She couldn’t possibly move fast enough to avoid the fatal blow from the iron cudgel aimed directly at her skull.
CHAPTER 23
The cudgel hit with a sickening crunch. Gabi gasped, expecting searing agony or the black nothingness of death. But it didn’t come. No pain, no black, the cudgel hadn’t hit her. Something had blocked the weapon, something lightning fast.
“Gabrielle,” an accented male voice breathed. “Are you all right? Tell me you’re all right.” A cool, muscled body pressed against hers, sheltering her protectively.
“Caspian?” she said slowly, disbelief making her question her sanity. Was she actually already dead? Was this the other side and Caspian had beaten her there? A nudge at her bruised leg made her glance down. Razor was head-butting her anxiously, a deep concerned purr vibrating through her knee.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she reassured him, giving him a quick pat.
“Good.” Caspian’s accented voice sounded relieved.
“Uh, thanks,” she said, still befuddled, but realising that somehow the Spanish Vampire was actually here. And had just saved her life. A roar from Julius made Gabi pull her thoughts together. One look at him and Gemini and it was clear there was a brutal unseen battle raging. Fire danced across his open palms, and the twins had a hand on each other’s shoulders. She looked around for Mariska and saw the back of a dark robe disappearing through the enormous hole in the stadium wall. Behind her Caspian was finishing off the demon who’d almost killed her, and the other two were entangled with the last of the remaining demon horde. Fire suddenly leapt up around Gemini, surrounding them in a tight circle.
“GO!” Julius roared at her. “I have them.”
Gabi wasn’t sure about that; despite being surrounded by an eight-foot wall of magical fire, the look on the faces of the twins wasn’t one of fear. In fact, they looked supremely confident despite the tinge of mania. They were working up to something. She was torn; the thought that Mariska was about to escape them yet again countered by the idea of leaving Julius to take on two of the most dangerous Dark magi in the world, alone.
“I’ll go with her.” Caspian spoke up.
“No, you won’t,” Julius snarled, and the wall of fire flared higher. “You’ll stay here, well away from her.”
Gabi knew there wasn’t time to argue; she knew she was just distracting him now.
“Fergus,” she yelled, and the scarred Vampire immediately turned her way as he lopped the head off another demon. “Watch Caspian, and don’t let him get too close to Butch or Julius. Raz, you too.” She didn’t know what the Spaniard was doing here now, but despite his just saving her life, she didn’t trust his motives, especially when Julius’s back was exposed.
“Go on, lass,” Fergus boomed from across the room.
She turned and closed the distance between her and the Spaniard. His arm was a bloody mess where the cudgel had struck him instead of her head, but she raised Nex to his chest. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, and I don’t have time to work it out, but touch him and I’ll carve your heart from your chest myself.” She allowed the truth of her statement to saturate every word.
Caspian’s eyes flashed in annoyance, and Razor gave an unmistakable warning growl from his position at her side. She reaffirmed her command to Razor, blew Julius a mental kiss, and took off in pursuit of the fleeing Maleficus.
She leapt the ruins of the outer wall recklessly. Mariska had a couple of minutes head start, and Gabi knew she had a habit of getting away from dangerous situations and disappearing. Gabi wasn’t letting her run away from this one. Unfortunately the hole in the wall opened nowhere near to where Trish and Derek waited in the van, and Gabi wouldn’t know where to send them, not knowing the outskirts of the stadium very well. She’d have to follow the Magus on foot for now. She paused as she hit the cool night air, listening, breathing, opening all her senses. She heard a quiet sound to her left and took off in that direction. In the space of a few heartbeats she could just make out a shadowy figure running through the dark.
She followed; it was all she had. Soon she was gaining on the fleeing figure, and she could make out long, tangled hair streaming out behind the running silhouette, confirming Gabi’s suspicions. She put on another burst of speed, pushing herself until her lungs began to burn. When she got within a hundred feet of Mariska, the Dark Magus glanced back over her shoulder. Her eyes grew first wide, then narrowed. She slowed from her headlong run, lifted her arms upward and flung them both down in a dramatic gesture. Gabi couldn’t stop quickly enough to avoid the sinkhole that appeared in front of her. The ground simply ceased to exist under her feet, and she dropped, yelling, into a large crater. Desperately she spun her body, grabbing for the jagged edge of tarmac and finding purchase with just the fingertips of one hand as her body slammed into the compacted earth wall, knocking most of the air from her lungs.
“Fuck,” she cursed, though it came out more as a hoarse rasp, spitting dirt from her mouth. It took precious seconds to swing her body back up and onto solid ground. She gasped in a ragged breath, coughing and blinking dust from her eyes. The cloaked figure was nowhere to be seen. “Double fuck,” she yelled disgustedly. It was more satisfying when the swear words came out clearly. Then she heard a vehicle’s tyres squeal. It was a block or two away, but she set off in that direction, her boots barely touching ground as she sprinted.
A man stood in the middle of the road, looking both astonished and pissed off. He was wearing blue overalls unzipped over casual clothing, and his boots were clearly of the safety-boot variety. He was either on his way to or from a work shift. He scrubbed a hand through his hair, cursing.
“What happened?” Gabi asked, slowing to a walk as she approached him.
The man gave a startled yelp and turned surprised eyes on her. “Ah, I just got hijacked,” he said in a disgusted tone. “I probably shouldn’t even say this aloud, but by a woman too.” It sounded like the fact it had been a woman was worse than the hijacking itself.
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br /> “What car?” Gabi demanded.
“A red Dodge truck,” the man replied.
“Which way did she go?” Gabi asked.
“Down the road and left at the lights,” he said. “Why?”
But it was too late. Gabi was already running down the road in the direction he’d indicated. She made it to the lights just in time to see taillights turning another corner onto a long, main arterial road that led to the freeway. It was a good thing Mariska wasn’t driving a sports car, but she’d still be faster than Gabi on foot. It would take too long for Trish and Derek to find her. Quickly she scanned the parking lots of the factories and warehouses around her, searching for alternatives. The gods smiled on her as she spotted a motorbike in one of them. Kyle had taught her how to hotwire a bike a couple of years ago, though it was only something you could do quickly to certain bikes, mostly the older ones. What she’d spotted was a Fireblade, an old model. Perfect.
It took her two precious minutes to pull the wires she needed and spark them together, but the motorbike roared to life, sounding good for its age. She was sorry to be taking it from its owner; it looked well loved. Not something she could worry about now. She mounted and revved the engine. Satisfied with the high-pitched whine, she dropped it into gear and sped off, crouching low over the fuel tank as her hair was instantly torn from its pins. She leaned into the corners, quickly getting a feel for the bike’s handling, wishing she had some glasses as tears whipped from her eyes in the rushing wind. She hoped to god her intuition was right about where Mariska was heading. Something about her attitude told Gabi she wasn’t running away this time; something whispered to Gabi that Mariska was heading to the main fight. And if the Maleficus was heading there, it was for no good reason. Gabi would have to make sure she never reached the Source.
To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4) Page 27