A Cat's Chance in Hell

by Sharon Hannaford

  “It can only be one of a handful of people then,” Julius said. “Most of the guard was with us tonight. That leaves us with the household staff and the Werewolves.” Julius moved across the room to inspect his weapons collection.

  “The Jambiya Dagger is missing,” he said shortly. “That means the murderer didn’t come prepared, so it’s unlikely it was an outsider.”

  “There are two more things,” Alexander told him. Julius braced himself as Alexander continued. “Gregory is missing. No one has seen him since midnight, when Claudia heard him take a phone call on his personal phone.”

  “And the second?” Julius asked flatly.

  “Sebastian’s computer is gone.”

  Julius sank into his new office chair, only vaguely aware of the splatters of blood which were now rubbing off on his pants and shirt. The reality of the news about Sebastian’s computer sank in. There was only one reason someone would murder Sebastian and steal his computer. Sebastian had found another traitor in the Clan. The traitor had killed him before he got a chance to tell Julius, and everything Sebastian had found would’ve been on his computer, meaning that Julius now had no way of knowing what Sebastian had uncovered.

  “I think maybe we should get Kyle in here,” Alexander said cautiously. “He’ll be able to scent things you and I can’t. His nose is so good he can tell how many hours it’s been since the scent was left. It would help to know who’s been in here in the last few hours. The scent is particularly muddied in here with all the workers who have been in and out fixing the room up over the past few days.”

  “Call him,” Julius said shortly, “It would be best to have the rest of the guard back here anyway after these developments. If he only finds Vampire scent in here, I will personally be questioning everyone who has been in the Estate in the past twenty-four hours.”

  Alexander pulled his phone from his pocket. Kyle answered almost immediately. Once Alexander had explained the situation, Kyle agreed to pack up and head to the Estate as quickly as he could. They had encountered nothing of excitement since the others had left.

  “Eerily quiet,” Julius had heard Kyle described it to Alexander, “as though something big is being planned which has called in all their resources. I’m just hoping it’s too late in the night to start something.” Alexander muttered his agreement and disconnected the call.

  “Call down to the guard station and ensure that Kyle and the guard are let in. Tell them that no one is to leave the Estate without my express permission. Then send the household staff and any off duty Wolves to the gymnasium and make sure they are kept there under guard. Tell them nothing.”

  Alexander nodded and left the office.

  Julius swivelled his new, now blood-stained, office chair and bent to open a cupboard, taking out a wine glass and a bottle of red wine. He put both on his desk, avoiding the pooled, drying blood and de-corked the bottle with a quick twist of a corkscrew from his top desk drawer. As he poured the burgundy liquid into the crystal glass, his thoughts turned back to Gabi. He wondered if she was asleep. He resisted the urge to call her, it wouldn’t be fair to wake her if she was getting some rest, but the urge to hear her voice was almost overwhelming. He’d thought that his draw to Simone was the strongest thing he’d ever felt for a woman, that he’d never feel such an insane urge again. In fact, he’d schooled himself to never let another woman have that kind of hold over him again. Look what the affair with Simone had gotten him. But his willpower just wasn’t enough to rescue him from Gabi’s lure. She was like his siren call. His resistance was a pile of breadcrumbs.

  He still didn’t know how she would react to the thought of a relationship with him. The physical chemistry between them was as obvious as the lean on the tower of Pisa, but he had yet to introduce her to the reality of his life. She had seen the girl, his feeder, being escorted home a few nights ago and had apparently realised what she was, but Gabi hadn’t actually seen him feed, except for his feeding on her.

  His groin tightened at the thought of the taste of her. The taste of her blood was almost addictive, far more deliciously potent than the blood of a normal human. He hadn’t told her that he had woken at midday after taking her blood, which was unheard of for a Vampire who had crashed for the day. Julius was able to keep himself awake through the daylight hours if he needed to, but once he let himself sleep he had no control over when he woke, and he rarely woke more than an hour before sunset and had never woken at midday. It was actually the anti-thesis of what he had expected from her blood.

  As she had a certain amount of Vampire in her DNA, he had expected her blood to be less potent, less nourishing for him. Vampires couldn’t feed each other. They could take blood from each other, it gave an amazing edge to sex, or it could be used as a way of showing dominance, but it didn’t actually provide nourishment. Something contained in human blood was needed. But her blood had been his version of Red Bull, it was incredible. It would probably scare her to know how good her blood was for him. But the reality of the situation was that even if she was willing to let him feed from her he would still need to take blood from other feeders, he couldn’t only take from her. Even though he didn’t need to feed every day, at times he could stretch to every third or fourth day, over time it would weaken her, and there would be times when she couldn’t come running when he needed blood. She had her own life, and he wasn’t going to interfere in that. He also knew how he would feel if he would have to watch her have that kind of close interaction with another male, the jealousy would be hard to contain.

  At that thought, he wondered if any feeders had been brought to the Estate tonight, he would have to get Alexander to check. They had two or three resident feeders; people who lived on the Estate and worked there or studied during the day and were available to Julius and his staff for feeding when necessary. Julius encouraged his staff to go off the Estate and find willing donors in the clubs and bars of the City. He enforced a strict code of conduct when it came to feeding; donors had to be willing, there was to be no violence in the act and the donor’s memories had to be cleared of anything to do with being bitten and fed on. But occasionally someone needed blood urgently or didn’t have time to go ‘hunting’, and this was what the feeders were for. He only allowed the feeders to stay for a few months at the most; they usually left with some memory about undertaking a medical experiment and a decent bank account, so it worked for all parties concerned. Julius wasn’t sure what Gabi would make of that, but they did have to feed somehow, he was trying to do it in the most humane way he could.

  Kyle’s voice downstairs pulled him from his contemplation, and he drained the last few drops from his glass as Kyle walked into the office and stopped to stare at the head and body on the floor.

  “Time to change office I think,” he said to Julius with an eyebrow raised in surprise. “This one seems to attract violence.”

  Julius refilled his glass and looked enquiringly at Kyle.

  “No, thanks Julius. I’d rather not dull my senses tonight. I have a funny feeling there is more going on than we realise.” He paused, closing his eyes and drawing in a deep breath through his nose. “Alex said you want me to see what scents I can trace in here?”

  “Please,” replied Julius, “there are so many in here at the moment. Though our sense of smell is enough to identify most of them, it is hard to tell how long it’s been since they were actually in the room. It would help us immensely if you could tell how many were in here in the last few hours.”

  Kyle nodded. “I can probably do that, though if I haven’t been close to the person I may not be able to tell you who it was, but I can tell if it was human, Were or Vamp. Do you have any idea when Sebastian was killed?” Kyle had started moving around the room, his eyes half closed in concentration, carefully avoiding stepping in the pools of drying blood.

  Julius could see his nostrils flaring as he breathed in the air and all its scents. “He was still alive at a little before midnight, Claudia heard him making some
kind of noise and went to check on him just before she went off duty. She said he looked pleased about something but wouldn’t discuss it with her. She incidentally heard Gregory on the phone on her way out, and that was the last anyone heard from either of them.”

  Kyle completed a circuit of the room and began a second round. “So the scent you’re after will be less than four hours old,” he mused, mostly to himself, so Julius didn’t reply but drank his wine and attempted to keep a leash on his rage.

  “There are only four scents newer than Claudia’s,” Kyle said as he got back to his starting point again.

  Julius held up his hand to stop Kyle from continuing as they heard soft footsteps approaching.

  Alexander entered the office again. “Everyone is under guard in the gymnasium,” he informed Julius, giving Kyle a nod in greeting.

  “That’s probably not necessary,” said Kyle. “Unless you or Alexander killed Sebastian, your killer is Gregory.”

  Julius noticed the shock hit Alexander as hard as it hit him, it felt like some kind of spell had been cast at him, freezing him in place, not allowing his body to move while his brain tried to comprehend the impossible. Kyle seemed to sense their anguish and he walked over to the desk and refilled Julius’s glass. Minutes must have passed before Julius finally unfroze, he could feel a bone-deep sadness dragging at him as he finally picked up the wine glass and drained it in a single swallow.

  “You’re absolutely sure?” Alexander asked in an emotionless voice.

  “Yes,” Kyle said, there was sympathy in his voice. “Sebastian must have scratched or cut him with something, I can scent small traces of his blood in here.”

  As the shock gradually wore off and reality started to seep into Julius’s mind, he realised that they were faced with pieces of a puzzle that didn’t seem to be making sense. They needed more puzzle pieces before the whole picture started to emerge.

  “What did Sebastian find that had him excited?” he demanded from no one in particular, banging his fists on the desk in frustration.

  “If it was on his computer, we’ll never know,” Alexander said bleakly, “Gregory must have taken it with him.”

  “So, whatever he found was worth killing for,” Kyle prompted. “Do you think he found more traitors in your Clan?”

  “That’s very possible,” Alexander said.

  Kyle had started pacing, on the far side of the room from Sebastian’s body. He mused as he paced. “He was a computer geek, right?” He looked to the Vampires for their affirmations. “Have either of you two checked your e-mail or intranet to see if he forwarded you anything?”

  Julius could have kicked himself that the thought hadn’t occurred to him. His hand twitched and the new computer purr to life. A few quick clicks later he’d found what they were looking for.

  “You’re right, there’s something here from him.”

  A feeling of dread washed over him as the other two rushed over to watch as Julius opened the first of several video and audio clips.

  Kyle knew there was trouble brewing seconds into the first clip; Julius’s face was a mask of undiluted rage, Alexander’s was pinched with disbelief and betrayal. It was clear now that Gregory had been working with Stephan and Genevieve as well as a Werewolf in Julius’s employ. They’d all been feeding information to Danté’s Clan and taking orders on ways to undermine security and stir tensions in Julius’s Clan. It was apparent that Gregory had realised Sebastian had found this footage and his cover was blown, so he’d killed Sebastian, grabbed his computer and run to Danté. As Julius and Alexander looked at each other in horror, thinking of the kind of information that would now be in Danté’s hands, a sudden thought occurred to Kyle.

  “Sebastian was the one who tracked Gabi’s details for you, correct?” he asked, sudden tension locking his jaw, making it hard to form the words.

  “Yes,” Alexander replied, slightly confused.

  Kyle knew the moment that Julius caught up to him, as the wine glass Julius had been holding fell from his hand onto the desk, fracturing from the impact.

  “Her address is on that computer,” he said hoarsely, unconcealed fear in his voice.

  Before any of them could react further, a phone rang. Kyle recognised his own ringtone and patted his pocket before pulling out his phone. He glanced at the call ID.

  “It’s her,” he breathed.

  Chapter 22

  Gabi’s mind hit full consciousness the moment she heard Razor growl. Her hand instantly flashed to the 9mm strapped underneath the bed, and she ripped it free of its mount. Yes, it was highly illegal, and yes, it had cost her a fortune to have smuggled into the country, but she figured if anything nasty enough to require the use of it was in her home she would happily take the legal consequences. If she was still alive when the cops arrived. It was a small, compact Glock 19 with an extended 19 round magazine, and it had been a long time since she last fired it, though she made sure it was cleaned and oiled at least once a month, and Glocks were renowned for their unfailing reliability.

  In the darkness, Gabi could see Razor fuzzed out to his fullest size, on his tiptoes and glaring at the bedroom door, the low growl in his throat continuous and menacing. Gabi didn’t doubt him; she could feel the Vampire presences and smell the sulphuric stench of Demon. She released the safety on the Glock, eased herself quietly out of bed and hit speed dial 1 on the mobile next to the bed without picking it up. She grabbed Nex from the dressing table and shoved the scabbard into the waistband of her pyjama bottoms. When she heard the click of Kyle picking up the call, she yelled at the phone while keeping the gun trained on the bedroom door.

  “Three Vampires, unknown number of Demons. Get back-up and get here. Now!”

  Kyle’s panicked reply was drowned out by the sound of the bedroom door exploding inward. Gabi ducked to avoid the bigger splinters of wood and threw herself into a diving roll, landing in the corner of the room nearest the door, out of the direct line of sight of anyone, or anything, entering. She flattened herself against the wall and steadily took aim, waiting for the first head through the shattered doorway. Slinky, shocked by the noise and commotion, beat a hasty retreat off the bed and into Gabi’s wash basket, while Razor emitted an ear-piercing shriek and launched himself at the first Vampire through the door. The Vampire was tall and thin and fairly old if his aura was anything to go by. He entered somewhat casually, obviously not expecting any kind of attack on entering the room; he apparently thought he would find a shocked and panicked woman half asleep in the bed. The onslaught of an animal the size of a half-grown tiger, with teeth and claws to match and shrieking like a banshee, completely threw him off his stride.

  A second Vampire was directly behind him, though so much shorter than the first that he was all but invisible in the darkness. Shorty, in his haste to get in on the action, shoved Lanky straight into Razor’s attack. Razor took Lanky at face level sinking teeth into the Vampire’s cheek and clawing at his eyes and nose. The tall Vampire lurched backward screaming and batting at the enormous cat. Shorty simply leapt over his beset companion and headed for Gabi’s bed with a long knife and a coil of rope in his hands. Gabi could only imagine the confused look on his face when he suddenly looked down and found the tip of a curved blade protruding from his chest. She wondered briefly if he had any idea that he was already dead when he fingered the sword tip dazedly. She didn’t bother waiting to see his body shrivel, she put a bare foot on his back, kicked him forward onto the bed and yanked Nex free, then spun to face the Demons now pouring through the door. They seemed to be slightly distracted by the Vampire rolling around on the carpet, screaming, with a large cat attached to his face. She switched the gun to her right hand and smoothly began pulling the trigger, aiming at the eyes gleaming maliciously in the darkness. Her heart was pounding like a thoroughbred at the finish line and adrenaline was screaming through her bloodstream, but her mind remained calm and clear. She knew she was hugely outnumbered, and Kyle was not going to make it with rei
nforcements in time.

  “Raz,” she screamed at the huge cat, pulling at his mind to let the Vampire go and backing away to one of the large bay windows that looked out over her garden. Escape was the only option now. She knew the woods and surrounding farmland like the back of her hand, if she could get out of the house, she could lead them a merry chase across country and bring them back for Kyle and company to finish off. She was running out of bullets fast. Damn, why did Demons have to have so many fucking eyes?

  Four of them were lunging around the room blindly, making wild grabs for her, but more had appeared in the doorway. The room was a seething mass of grotesque bodies, skeletal arms and dank, acrid breath. She put more bullets into their faces, trying to dodge sprays of blood, and used Nex to hack at arms, hands and fingers reaching for her. Razor was still wrestling with the first Vampire, Gabi tripped over the bones of Shorty as she backed away from a rotting arm and tried to get close enough to Razor to pull him away. She slammed Nex into the throat of one of the smaller Demons who had spotted her in the gloom and made a lunge at her, she leapt clear of the acidic blood and heard the carpet and floorboards hiss as the Demon fell forward and began trying to crawl towards her.

  “Raz,” she yelled at the cat again and threw a mental order at him to let go and get out. He paused briefly, hissing at Lanky, and reluctantly began backing away towards Gabi. He never took his eyes off the Vampire, who was screaming and trying to hold flaps of skin and flesh in place on his face. Gabi noticed he was missing an eye and a couple of fingers, too.

  The bedroom was fast becoming too crowded for Gabi to avoid all the searching arms and hands. They had closed off her escape from the bigger windows— there was only one option left. She leapt onto the bed and aimed a flying kick at the small window above her bed. The glass and wood gave way in a muffled explosion. She yanked the curtain out of the way, kicking at a scaled hand which latched onto her ankle, and fired another shot into the Demon’s face — it was her last bullet. She pulled herself up onto the window ledge and threw the gun at the Demon’s head, slashing Nex down onto another groping hand. Razor jumped up next to her as the hand, with six black-clawed fingers, began tightening inexorably on her ankle, compressing the bones together excruciatingly, claws digging into her flesh. She hacked at the toughened skin on the wrist, desperately sawing with Nex’s keen edge until she managed to severe the hand from the arm.