There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6)

by Sharon Hannaford

  “Later,” he growled, sweeping her from the war room and slamming the door behind them with one foot.

  “Are you finally going to tell me what you pulled from Zayden’s mind?” Gabi asked Julius as the lower half of his body covered hers, pressing her hips into the bed. Their room was dark, the special-order shutters firmly sealed over the windows. His hair was still damp after their long, cool shower. She slid one hand into his hair and gripped it so he couldn’t look away from her. His face went still, all emotion erased. “You’ve had time and I can sense that there’s something you’re not telling me,” she pressed. “Good or bad. We can tackle it together.” She’d been preparing herself for this for hours now, bracing herself for whatever terrible truths Julius had learned.

  A half smile pulled one side of Julius’s face, surprising her. “It’s not bad news.” His sapphire eyes caught and held hers, and it felt as though he could see to the very edges of her soul. “Is that what’s been making you anxious tonight?”

  She glared at him. “You’re hiding something from me. That can’t be anything but bad news,” she retorted. He pulled against her grip on his hair to plant a kiss on her nose.

  “I’m not holding out on you deliberately.” He rolled off her as she released his hair, lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling. “It’s just been a lot to sort through. To try to make sense of. When you…plunder someone’s mind like that… It’s hard to explain. It’s thousands of memories sucked into your own mind without time stamps or frames of reference. It’s very difficult to sift out the mundane from the important. If you know what questions to ask, those memories come to the surface quicker, but there are always questions you don’t know to ask, and those take longer to bubble up.” He took a breath. “There was so much. So many small details, and big ones. How Zayden got to his position, how the Decuria works, who the Ten are, how much they know of each other, the origins of the Decuria and the Lucis…” Gabi was beginning to get the picture. “And then I saw Benedict. I hadn’t thought to apply Benedict’s name to Zayden’s memories, but his presence stirred something.”

  “What?” Gabi pushed up onto her elbow and turned to look down at Julius.

  “I know enough to free us of the Lucis noose.” There was a smile on his face, but his voice was hard. “We don’t have to dance whenever they play the music anymore, my Lea. I know the one thing that Benedict has been hiding from everyone. The one thing he doesn’t want the Princep Council or the rest of the Lucis to know.”

  Gabi was half a second away from punching him. “Tell me,” she growled. His sapphire eyes sparkled with cold pleasure.

  “Benedict was the original Number One. He is the Patriarch of the Decuria.”

  Gabi woke with her stomach growling hungrily. The chocolates and strawberries Julius had fed her while they made love, before Julius’s unbelievable revelation about Benedict, couldn’t exactly be classed as a meal. She was amazed she’d been able to get any sleep after Julius’s earth-shattering news. So much to think about. So much to consider. She wriggled out of Julius’s protective arms and checked her phone; it was a little after midday. Razor stretched, arching his back and yawning at the end of the bed. He was hungry too. Four hours’ sleep wasn’t really enough, but she could probably catch up later. She kissed Julius’s cool cheek and dragged herself from the bed. She filled Razor’s bowl with some cat treats from a box on her dresser, enough to tide him over for a few minutes. Once she was clean and dressed, they could raid the kitchen together.

  A tiny chill ran down her spine as she returned the box of cat treats to the dresser drawer. She stilled for a moment before shaking it off, the air-con was on high, trying to keep the heat of summer at bay in the darkened room. But even as she stepped into the steaming embrace of the shower, goosebumps prickled across the back of her neck and down her arms.

  She cut her shower short, unable to shake the feeling that something was amiss. She dressed quickly, twisting her damp hair up into a messy bun and settling Nex into her sheath before jogging downstairs. Razor followed and she made a quick stop in the kitchen to feed him something substantial enough to fill his belly. For herself she poured a cup of filter coffee and grabbed a handful of cookies from the eternally full jar, gods bless Claudia, before hurrying down the corridor towards the war room.

  The door was open and Gabi could hear them before she reached it. The atmosphere inside was jovial, giggling and chattering making the room sound more like a student cafe than a gloomy computer nerve centre. Walking in silently, Gabi saw that the crew had grown by two; she recognised two of the Feeders from the Estate: a gangly-limbed guy a little younger than herself, with ginger hair and the prerequisite freckles, and a college-age girl with a rounder figure and a wavy blonde bob framing her pretty face. Murphy looked more animated than Gabi had ever seen him, and even Sicarius was grinning at something Jade had said; the light-hearted expression transformed his face. Whatever was bugging her had nothing to do with this bunch.

  “Anything to report?” Gabi asked, walking up and planting her butt on the table behind them as she dunked a cookie in her coffee. The light-heartedness instantly quieted and they all turned serious, a couple of faces looking guilty. Gabi realised she had probably sounded a little harsh. “Hey, I’m not the fun police, carry on,” she said, around a mouthful of cookie. “Just wanted to know if you’ve found anything to work with.”

  “We’ve covered all the major airports in Spain for the first ten days after the abduction,” Murphy told her. “We haven’t found anyone close to matching the man we’re looking for. Big Bob is working on cracking the surveillance data for the ports.” He inclined his head towards the biggest computer box in the room. Gabi knew Murphy treated it like his baby and that it was the most powerful machine he and Trish could cobble together. “Trish and her crew are working on bus and train stations. We’ll let you know the moment we find something. You know that.”

  “I do.” Gabi sighed. “I just had this—” She broke off as her phone began to vibrate in her pocket. “Never mind. Call me the instant you know anything.” She picked up her coffee and walked out into the corridor before answering the call. “Athena?” she said into the phone.

  “Gabi, I only have a moment.” There was something in the Magus’s voice. Fear? Excitement? “Stewart thinks he’s found what he’s been looking for. At least the general area. I will travel out there the moment the conclave finishes. Hopefully I’ll have good news in a few days. I just wanted to put your mind at ease.”

  Gabi’s mind raced; Athena framed it like good news, but something inside her still felt wrong. “Do you know where he is?” she asked Athena. “He could need backup; we might be able to help.”

  “It’s a long way,” Athena said. “He’s heading to some remote region of Spain.” Cold prickles erupted all across Gabi’s neck and shoulders. “I don’t think he’s in any danger, but I’ll speak to him again in a couple of hours.” Athena continued. “I’ll contact you if we need—”

  “Athena,” Gabi interrupted her sharply, “what region of Spain?”

  “Um, I’m not sure. Why? Gabi, what’s going on?”

  “We’re closing in on Caspian and Mariska,” she said through clenched teeth. “We’ve narrowed the search down to Spain.”

  “Lord and Lady,” Athena hissed. “Holy Lord and Lady. The thread…it’s a thread to the babies. The Source is feeding the babies. How—” She broke off. “I’m so glad you called.” Her voice had transformed into false cheerfulness. “I really hope you enjoy your holiday. I hear the weather in Spain is perfect this time of year. I must run now. Send me a postcard when you get there. Yes, Vincent, I’m coming.” And then the line went dead.

  Gabi stared at the screen for several moments in silence, the unease inside her mounting with each passing second. Athena had been interrupted, but it sounded to Gabi like she’d just told them to get the hell to Spain as quickly as possible. Biting her lip, she called Kyle. They were going to need Werewolf ba
ckup on this one.

  CHAPTER 16

  It was beginning to feel like they spent more hours in the air than they did on the ground. The monotonous hum of the powerful jet engines was a now-familiar soundtrack to Gabi’s life. She should’ve been tired; she hadn’t had a solid eight hours of sleep in nearly a week, but the excitement of finally being so close to finding Caspian and Mariska had her on edge.

  Also, it was strange setting off on an expedition with so few Vampires at her side. More exactly she didn’t like not having Mac around. The delicate timing of this particular mission meant they couldn’t entirely control how and when they travelled. There was a good chance they would have to travel in daylight. Only three Vampires in the Clan could do that in relative safety, with a little help from Savanna’s UV repellent, and of those three, Alexander still needed to remain in the City. Having to sit this particular mission out seemed to affect him worse than normal; his mood had turned absolutely foul in the hours before they left. That left only Julius and Fergus. Well, she shouldn’t say only. If she had to choose two Vampires to stand beside her in a fight, they would be her first choice anyway. Still, it just didn’t seem quite right not to have Mac and the rest of the Dhampir Squad with them.

  Not that they were without extra backup; lying across three seats near the back of the plane, playing some shoot-em-up game on his phone, was Kyle. Trish had backed him when he informed her he was joining the team, and Gabi didn’t have the time to talk them out of it. Much like Alexander, Derek, as Kyle’s Beta, had been forced to remain behind; and his feelings on the matter mirrored Alexander’s exactly. Responsibility was a bitch. Butch was back in the co-pilot’s seat, and across from her, Lance, the ex-SMV Hunter and Fire-bender Magus, sat calmly reading a magazine. Gabi envied him his total unflappability. It must be something they were taught during their Adept training, because most Magi she knew were equally unruffled in high-pressure situations.

  The final two members of the team were making use of bunks in one of the cabins. Sasha, the ex-Lady Helsing, and one of her Kresnik sidekicks, known to this day as Big Dog, were sleeping off a nightshift. Sasha managed two of Julius’s nightclubs under Liam’s guidance, while Big Dog headed up security at both venues and reported to her. The Vampire blood the Lieutenant had secretly fed them had not only made them impossible to mind-wipe but also enhanced their physical abilities, already well defined by being experienced Parkour practitioners. While they were no true match for a Vampire or Werewolf, they were handy in a fight, especially a fight where Vampires were at a disadvantage and Werewolves could be compromised by their adversary.

  Personally, if they had to have humans in the team, Gabi would’ve preferred Sicarius’s backup. She’d come up against him once and lost—not that it had been a fair fight, him having a handgun and all. He hadn’t spoken much of his job, but for him to be the Decurian assassin, he was unquestionably good at his work. She did understand Julius’s reasons for leaving the man behind, despite his best efforts to be included. Sicarius was not simply good at killing, he was also an astute observer. Though they’d decided to trust Eka with Tabari’s life, there was no way they would gift him the knowledge that Caspian was a Maker.

  Julius and Fergus were both taking the advantage of some daysleep. It would be late afternoon, local time, when they landed in Madrid, and Gabi would have to wake them then. Even Razor was catching some shut-eye on the seat next to her because who knew when they’d next get the time to rest.

  Lance seemed to read where her thoughts had gone. “You should get some sleep,” he said without looking up from his magazine; it was Classic Car Weekly, which surprised Gabi, she didn’t know cars interested him. “We still have six hours in the air. Stewart will meet us at the airport; he may already have news. There may not be any downtime after that.” She knew he was right, just as he knew she wasn’t going to take his advice.

  She suppressed a frustrated growl and stood, stretching before aiming for the kitchenette. If she couldn’t rest, she might as well stock up on energy another way, and maybe a full stomach would make her eyes heavy and her brain switch off. A raid of the cabinets produced two dozen individually sealed muffins in assorted flavours, a dozen pre-packaged sandwiches with a variety of fillings, half a dozen meat pies and several microwave meals. She chose a bacon and egg sandwich and a blueberry muffin before opening the fridge for an energy drink. Curse Murphy for introducing her to the damn things, but they were a good alternative to coffee in the summer heat.

  “Want something?” she asked the other two.

  “Fruit?” Lance said hopefully.

  She rechecked the fridge and threw him an apple from the well-stocked crisper drawer.

  Kyle grinned. “You know me, load up a tray.”

  She added a mandarin and handful of fresh cherries to her own tray before filling another tray for Kyle and, balancing one on each hand like a good little waitress, sashayed down the aisle. Kyle sat up and she set the trays down with a flourish before plonking down onto the seat next to him.

  As she took the first bite of her sandwich, the Skype jingle sounded from her tablet over on the centre table. She jumped to grab it, flicked out the stand, and set it on the table between the food trays before swiping the screen awake. An icon with Murphy’s face blinked at her.

  “Murphy,” she said, answering quickly. His attention wasn’t on her; she could hear him typing furiously in the background. He glanced up for a second and she could read the excitement on his face.

  “Hang on,” he said distractedly. “I’m just trying to change your flight plan. Ha. There.” He looked up at her, with a vicious smile. “You’re about to be redirected to Alicante-Elche Airport in the Valencia region of Spain.”

  “You’ve found them?” Her voice rose an octave and she fought to rein it in.

  “They were trying hard to fool us. Without the info from Sicarius, I doubt we’d ever have found them,” he said.

  “Get to the good stuff,” Gabi said, her tone thick with warning.

  “Right.” Murphy glanced to his left, his eyes flicking from left to right as he read something. “The man with the disfigurement arrived by ferry in Santander in Northern Spain eight days after the kidnapping. We haven’t bothered tracking him before that, as his end point seemed more important.”

  Gabi nodded her agreement.

  “From there he caught a train to Madrid and another to Alicant. Tickets were all prepaid and booked via an international travel agent. He had a private booth to himself, I assume to keep from being notable among the other passengers. Trish tracked a private flight that was chartered by the same travel agent for two days after the disfigured man arrived in Alicante. The manifest listed three passengers. Two were flagged as requiring medical assistance. The flight landed in Barcelona, where one passenger disembarked. There’s a record of a medical helicopter making a landing at the same hangar and leaving with one patient on board less than an hour after the chartered flight landed. The flight then continued on to Alicante-Elche airport, where the other two passengers disembarked, according to records, one in a wheelchair. The travellers names were recorded as Mary Jones, Paul Smith and Carlos Garcia.”

  “Probably three of the most common names known to mankind,” Lance commented. “Sounds like the three you’re after to me.”

  “And if the Gemini twin is still unresponsive it would make sense that they send him to another hospital rather than try to look after him themselves,” Gabi mused. “He would be the one they dropped off in Barcelona, then Caspian and Mariska would carry on alone.”

  “So we’ve narrowed down the city they’re in. Exactly how big is Alicante?” Kyle asked.

  “It’s a pretty big city, but we have even better news.” Murphy’s grin rivalled the Cheshire cat’s.

  “The final two passengers had a wheelchair-enabled hire van waiting for them. We pulled the surveillance footage, got the registration, and found out the van was equipped with GPS tracking. We’ve narrowed down the
search area to a couple of blocks in the old part of the city.”

  ********************

  Caspian bit back a growl and resisted the terrible urge to simply break the Magus’s arms and legs. That would give her something else to worry about instead of fighting them, fighting the powerful cramps inside her trying to expel the babies. He twisted his face to avoid the glob of spit that flew towards his face as he held her arms pinned above her head. Again he wondered if he shouldn’t send the doctor away just long enough to force more of his blood down her throat; then he could control her again. But he was getting worried about what the blood might do to the babies. No, it was better to restrain her physically, he could do it. For the babies.

  Molok didn’t hold back his low growl as the Magus tried to kick him off of her right leg. They’d been able to tie one leg down, but she was fighting too hard to restrain the other. The doctor glanced at the cretin warily; between the crazy Magus and the looming monster, Caspian was having to work hard to keep the doctor from fleeing the terrible scene. Another contraction stiffened the woman’s body and she screamed around the gag.

  “Uno Mas,” the doctor cried out. “The head, it’s coming.”

  ********************

  It had taken a little longer to get to the new airport, and then they’d been put in a holding pattern while the tower found room for their plane to land. By the time they touched down, it was well dark. Two black Hummers with darkened windows awaited them as they disembarked Julius’s plane. Not exactly unmemorable, but they didn’t intend on being here long enough for it to matter. The staff who approached the plane to process them into the country were unceremoniously mind-rolled by Fergus, but there was no way to roll the minds of every person who saw them, so they needed to get moving without delay. They didn’t want to broadcast their arrival and possibly spook their targets.