Julius put a call through to Patrick while Gabi went to fetch the Aston Martin. He was still on the phone when Gabi pulled up a few feet from the hangar lounge exit. Julius had donned his full-length black duster despite the heavy heat of the summer afternoon and a black cap, treated with the same Savanna-perfected UV repellent as the coat, and sunglasses. These items combined provided just enough protection for him to get from the doorway into the similarly protected car without so much as a mild sunburn. He flashed her a smile as he shifted his body, getting comfortable in the passenger seat, and disconnected the call.
“We have visitors at the Estate,” he explained as she navigated the car out of the airport and onto the motorway. “Nothing to get alarmed about.”
“Any word from Tabari?”
“I think one of our visitors may be able to help us with that,” he told her.
A familiar dark-haired, curvy figure waited for them beside her dark motorcycle outside the gates to the Estate. She was leaning against the bike, her protective jacket hanging open to reveal a tiny black crop top while a cigarette dangled precariously from her mouth. She watched the car approach with narrowed eyes, taking the cigarette from her lips and blowing a small puff of smoke into the air.
Gabi stopped the Aston Martin a few feet from Astrid and opened her door. The gates to the Estate parted quietly and three guards emerged, standing in a loose line across the drive. Astrid ignored them, but pushed away from the motorbike with one booted foot and pulled an envelope from a pocket inside her jacket.
“This is for you and your Master.” She put emphasis on the last word, and a slightly malicious glint of amusement flashed across her face as she held out the envelope. Gabi clamped down on the instant frisson of annoyance that speared her as she took the envelope.
“I believe you have something else for us as well,” Gabi said. “On orders from your Master?” She made sure to load the word as heavily as Astrid had. The woman’s lips curved into a genuine smile. Touché. She produced a slip of paper from another pocket.
“This is my contact number,” she said, tapping ash from her cigarette before putting it back to her lips and drawing in deeply. She blew the smoke directly at Gabi. “Don’t use it too often.” She dropped the half-smoked cigarette on the ground, not bothering to put it out before pulling on her helmet, zipping up her jacket and swinging her leg over the bike. Gabi didn’t watch her speed away into the sunset.
Their second visitor was wearing upmarket, black and white Converse high-tops and black skinny jeans, topped off with an untucked white T-shirt and denim jacket with the sleeves rolled up. His baby blond hair was hidden by a black slouchie beanie, and mirror-lensed Oakleys topped off the look.
“Trying out for a boy band, Benedict?” Gabi teased. Even after months of knowing him, it was still disconcerting trying to reconcile the boyish facade with the centuries-old and powerful Vampire she knew him to be.
“Trying out a new look,” he said, his lips twitching into a hint of a smile. “Do you think I could be the next Bieber?”
Gabi couldn’t contain the amused snort.
“I assume you’re here because you have news?” Julius strode into the room; he’d gone to check in with Patrick before joining them. They’d called him from the plane, given him a brief rundown of what had happened at the meeting, and asked him to speak to Cassandra about Eka’s obscure clue. She wondered what was so important that he’d come back to the City instead of just calling.
“Gabi and I were just hatching a devious plan to take the music world by storm,” Benedict said, lounging against the bar counter, one leg casually thrown over a bar stool.
Julius didn’t dignify his comment with a reply, but strode to the business side of the bar and set five glasses on the counter; two red wine glasses and three crystal highballs. He reached for a bottle under the counter and poured peach schnapps into one of the highballs before taking a few moments to select a bottle of red from the wine rack. He half-filled the two wine glasses and then poured bourbon into one of the remaining highballs and Irish whiskey into the other. Alexander and Fergus entered the room as Julius pushed the peach schnapps towards Benedict and lifted the two glasses of wine.
Alexander exchanged a reserved nod with Benedict and added a couple of ice cubes to the bourbon before handing the whiskey over to Fergus. The Scotsman hurumphed his thanks and took a seat on one of the barstools, the one closest to the door.
Julius handed Gabi one of the wine glasses and placed the other on a low table while he shrugged out of his Van Helsing duster. Mac quietly entered the room and took up sentry duty near the door without fuss or fanfare. Fergus must have woken him from daysleep; the sun had only just gone down.
“So, to business,” Benedict declared, savouring the last mouthful of peach schnapps. “Number One was correct, as much as it pains me to admit. Get comfortable, it’s a fairly long story.”
“Cassandra, despite her disturbing gift, is a terribly compassionate and gentle soul,” Benedict said the words with slight distaste.
Gabi had guessed that much about the woman from her few brief encounters with the willowy Princep; she seemed to carry the onerous burden of the Death Touch unhappily. Gabi didn’t envy her the ability to kill anything living with just the touch of her hand.
“She befriends all the waifs and strays at the castle,” Benedict continued, “including one particular cretin named Molvolk, though most call him Molok, as that is what it sounds like when he says it. The name seems to be an amalgamation of the words mole and wolf in Russian.”
Julius settled back into the sofa and Gabi nestled into his side, sipping on her wine.
“He’s been at the castle for some seventy or eighty years, as far as Cassandra is aware, but he inexplicably went missing at the same time that Caspian spirited Mariska and the Gemini twin away.”
“What is he, and why and how would he help Caspian?” Gabi was intrigued but sceptical.
“According to Cassandra, he’s half Magus, half Shape-shifter,” Benedict told her. Everyone in the room stilled.
“But it’s impossible for Magi and Shifters to reproduce, isn’t it?” Gabi couldn’t remember why that was, just that it was fact in her mind.
“Actually they can reproduce very easily, but the offspring are almost always…tainted in some way,” Julius explained. “The results were so horrific that mating between Magi and Shifters was strictly outlawed in the late nineteenth century.”
“So when you call this Molok a cretin…” Gabi glanced at Benedict to fill in the blanks.
“He is severely deformed,” Benedict told her. “Almost the entire left side of his body is affected. His arm is that of a toddler, with only two almost useless fingers; his left leg is several inches shorter than the right. He has horrific facial deformities, a cleft lip, drooping eye and almost no nose.”
“So how and why would he help Caspian?” Alexander repeated the second part of Gabi’s original question.
“I’m getting to that.” Benedict scowled behind his sunglasses. “His birthright wasn’t solely disfigurement, he also has a way with the earth, in particular caves and tunnels. Cassandra describes him as a human mole. He can actually move the ground and rocks with the power of his mind.”
“Holy shit,” Gabi swore, sitting bolt upright and almost spilling her wine, “that would explain the holes in the floor of the medical ward where the Dark Magi were being held, despite the ground appearing solid underneath.”
Benedict nodded. “Exactly. For reasons unknown to Cassandra, Caspian had actually developed some kind of friendship with Molok during his time at Court. It defies explanation, the Spaniard has few friends there, unless he has some kind of foresight…enough to know when to make useful alliances. Regardless, many of the staff had seen them talking and even witnessed Caspian buying things in town for the man.”
“And Molok hasn’t returned to Court?” Julius checked.
“No,” Benedict confirmed. “He’s been know
n to go wandering for a couple of weeks at a time in the past, but Cassandra says he’s never been gone this long before. She had noticed he was scarce, she kind of keeps an eye out for him, but it was only when I asked about him that she realised he went missing the same time as Caspian.”
“So if they’re still traveling together, then we need only to put out feelers at international entry points for someone who has seen a badly deformed man travelling with several companions.” Alexander sounded excited.
“Exactly,” Benedict agreed. “And to narrow it down further, apparently he always wears a tatty fur cloak. Something to do with his survival as a child. Cassandra thinks he is at least a century old, and a hundred years ago most deformed babies would have been killed or left out in the elements to die. It seems as though a dog or a wolf took care of him and nurtured him to adulthood. Between his deformities and his attire, he would definitely stand out in a crowd.”
“Mac,” Julius said, bringing the man to attention, “find Murphy. Get him on this.”
Mac nodded once and left as quietly as he’d arrived.
“And now you get to share a story with me,” Benedict said, ambling over to the sofa opposite Gabi and Julius’s. He sprawled across it nonchalantly, but when he removed his glasses and threw them on the table, the intensity of his gaze belied his casual body language.
Julius had been brief when filling Benedict in over the phone from the plane; now it was apparent that he wanted more details. Between them, Julius and Gabi recounted most of the meeting with Eka, but, in tacit agreement, neither of them mentioned Eka’s knowledge of Dhampirism. That was something they needed to wrap their heads around first. Privately. They focussed instead on Eka’s relationship with the girl and what he’d told them of his gift.
Julius paused when they reached the abrupt end to the meeting, scrutinising the Princep’s face.
Benedict was silent for long seconds, his gaze fixed unseeingly on a painting near the fireplace.
“His infatuation with the human girl explains a lot,” he finally said. “If, of course, it is the truth and not some kind of subterfuge.”
“You think he would have been able to fool all of us?” Julius included Fergus and Mac, who’d returned a few minutes ago, in his nod. The Princep took the time to study each one of them, weighing them. He took the longest studying Fergus. The Scotsman calmly returned his gaze, not giving an inch.
“Fair enough,” Benedict said at last. “That is unlikely.” Then he turned back to Julius. “You should not have allowed Tabari to go with him. That may well be a grave mistake.”
“How do you figure that?” Gabi asked, feeling Julius stiffen beside her. Letting Tabari go was a raw wound that neither of them was comfortable with, but no one had the right to tell Julius what to do with his own Clan members.
“If Eka’s main strength lies in what he told you, he is sorely lacking in offensive skills. He has built his reputation based on his strong defensive abilities. If you give him a powerful, fully trained Vodun priestess, he will have the best of both worlds. She will make him nigh-on invincible. If he changes his mind and decides to go back to what he knows best, where does that leave us?”
“With the only Dhampir in the known world.” Mac spoke up, surprising Gabi. He rarely got involved in conversation when Benedict was around, but his face was taut with frustration. “Don’t you see? That’s the problem here. The Lucis and the Decuria have kept to some kind of equilibrium for decades. You told us that they have never truly gone out of their way to change the face of the world because neither side was strong enough to dominate the other. Now you hold a game-changer piece, the kind that could wipe them out entirely. Until they hold one too, there isn’t an even playing field, and they will do their utmost to swing the pendulum back in their favour.” One of Mac’s greatest assets was his ability to see things from several points of view; what he saw made perfect sense. “With Tabari training Flora, we have a chance to manipulate what they see as their game-changer piece. Even if Eka changes his mind, we will always have as much or more knowledge than them.”
“We have no way of knowing what is going on in the Decurian minds,” Benedict said. “You can theorise all you like, but they still have us on the back foot.”
“I know exactly what is going on in the Decurian ranks,” Julius responded, his tone such that he instantly had Benedict’s undivided attention.
“Explain,” Benedict ground out.
“When we reached our helicopter, another of the Decurians was waiting for us, with a contingent of Vampires and Werewolves. They were there to take possession of Gabrielle,” Julius said.
“What?” Benedict seemed oddly rattled. “Which Decurian? What happened?”
“We took control of his people, and, when he refused to answer our questions, I took the information directly from his memories. I broke his mind, but now I know everything he knew. I have the best understanding of the Decuria that anyone outside of the Ten is ever likely to have.” Julius usually bordered on deferential when dealing with Benedict, or any of the Princeps, but there was nothing respectful or submissive about his attitude now. Gabi moved slightly so that she no longer leaned against him, the tension had become so thick that she almost expected the two Vampires to leap at each other.
In silence Benedict stared at him, eyes narrowed, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
“We will need to fully debrief you,” he finally said, his voice cold. “You have to tell us everything. There are bound to be consequences for killing one of the Ten.”
Gabi was confused by Benedict’s unexpected withdrawal. She looked to Julius; they’d spent some time discussing what Julius had found in Zayden’s memories, enough to reassure her that Eka was telling the truth about his stance on the Decurian’s role in the world and that there were those who disagreed with him and wanted to usurp him. She’d realised Julius was holding back, but had decided to give him time to process it, expecting him to tell her when he was ready. With the loaded look now hanging between him and the Princep, it seemed there was more going on than she’d anticipated. Perhaps the Lucis weren’t as perfectly on the level as she’d assumed.
“That will have to wait,” Julius told Benedict. “I have other urgent matters to attend to first. I will let you know as soon as I have time to meet and brief you all. What you can take back is that Eka no longer supports the Decurian agenda. He is quietly working to undermine their efforts to disrupt the human world. There is an element who is looking to overthrow him, and when they do, there will be serious unrest in the Vampire world. The Lucis need to begin making preparations to mitigate the effects on the human world when that occurs. In the meanwhile, Gabi and I will do everything in our power to ensure that the Vodun priestess ends up safely in our hands rather than theirs. We all need to be on alert for retribution for the death of one of theirs, though I expect Eka will have the power to smooth that over.”
Benedict had lost all pretence at casualness. Tension radiated from every muscle, and his face held a pinched look. Gabi threw a sidelong look at Julius. He was definitely no longer acting submissive to the Princep. She and her Consort were due to have a long, urgent talk.
Benedict came to his feet. “I’ll take this information back to Court,” he told them, his words stilted and formal. “I trust you will tie up your urgent business expediently and be ready for your debrief as soon as possible.” With that he collected his glasses and was abruptly gone from the room.
“Uh, does that mean the Lucis have secrets too?” Gabi asked mildly as they all watched the door bang shut.
Julius gave her a tight smile. “I wasn’t sure before, but I am now,” he replied. “I need time to sift through the memories I took from Zayden, to try to make sense of it all. It will take a couple of days, but it helps to know what I’m looking for. I promise I will tell you everything once I have it clear in my own mind.”
“We have something else we need to tell the others though,” Gabi reminded him.
&n
bsp; Alexander raised his eyebrows as the air pressure in the room increased for a split second, and then it settled as Julius’s ward fell into place around them.
“Eka knew a Dhampir.” Gabi couldn’t hold it in any longer; Vampire politics be damned.
“Whoa.” Alexander sat back in the sofa as though someone had smacked him. Mac and Fergus didn’t seem as surprised. “Truly? There is another one?”
“Not anymore,” Julius said, “his Sire had been gifted with one who was killed centuries ago. But he had information for us, things we haven’t been privy to, things not recorded on paper.”
“And…” Alexander looked expectantly from Julius to Gabi and back again, searching their faces for answers. He was almost as anxious about Gabi’s fate as they were. Gabi grimaced as Julius sighed.
“Some questions he could answer; others just brought up yet more questions,” Julius told him. “Dhampirs were treated very much like slaves back then. He didn’t give us an exact date, but by the way he described certain things, I’d throw a ball at the tenth or eleventh century.”
“But surely the way a Dhampir works wouldn’t have changed, even in that amount of time?”
Julius smiled enigmatically. “Think of the dogs that roamed the streets of London two centuries ago. They were skinny creatures, scavengers, weak and shy unless they were in a large pack. Consider dogs today. Think of Gabi’s Rottweiler, pit bulls and bull mastiffs. Time changes many things.”
“You’re lucky I like dogs. Another woman could’ve taken that the wrong way,” Gabi commented, but the two men barely heard her. They were doing their ‘talking without saying everything’ routine. It still weirded her out.
Alexander nodded, his eyes flicking to her, narrowing appraisingly. “So they had curs and we have a wolf?” he asked Julius.
“I think that sums it up.”
“Unbelievable.” Alexander was still staring at her; it was getting uncomfortable. “But that means that we still don’t know what the future holds for Gabi.”
There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) Page 19