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

by Sharon Hannaford

  Once the others had gone, Athena raised her head from Alexander’s shoulder. Gabi couldn’t help but notice Alexander’s fiercely protective body language as he kept one hand on her back. She was even paler than usual, and the dark rings under her eyes stood out starkly.

  “The magic inside her is vast; she will be a powerful Magus,” she told them. “There is much to try to understand about her. Can you tell me the gist of what happened in Alicante?” she asked Gabi and Julius. “Please, it’s very important to me and possibly to the City as a whole.”

  Julius pulled some chairs closer and the two of them sat while Fergus took up his usual alert stance just behind them.

  Gabi and Julius took turns replaying the events of the previous night. Athena was largely quiet, simply nodding at regular intervals until Gabi began to speak of the Seekers. At the mention of the frightening demons, the Magus’s eyes narrowed and she sat forward.

  “There were three of them?” she checked.

  “Only one spoke though, and it was going off about some prophesy and light and dark,” Gabi told her. “It told us our job was done, implied we were now expendable. Come to think of it…” A thought hit her hard enough to make her blink. “The one we encountered before also went on about a prophesy; it had prophetic titles for me and Kyle. I don’t remember everything; Kyle might remember more. It seemed to have some weird mission here on our side of the Veil.”

  “When the Seekers struck Lance, did they only attack him?” Athena asked, bringing Gabi back to the painful present.

  She opened her mouth to respond, but the words didn’t make it past the lump in her throat.

  “They attacked the three of us.” Julius took over the retelling. “Lance was trying to get me close enough to the portal to show me how to close it. Gabi was covering me while the others were chasing down demons.”

  Athena’s face twisted as though trying to work out a complex puzzle. “Was there a physical manifestation of the attack?” she finally asked.

  “Yes, it looked like red lightning,” Julius told her. Gabi wondered where Athena was going with this.

  “And they attacked all of you with it?” She was like a dog with a bone.

  “Yes,” Gabi answered this time, “what are you really trying to ask?”

  “I’m trying to work out why they only killed Lance. Why not you two? Did they give you any indication?” The Magus sounded frustrated.

  “I think they were trying to kill us all,” Julius said quietly. “I only survived because of my regenerative ability and the reservoir of power I hold as Master of a Clan.” Then he turned his gaze to Gabi. “Show her the sword.” After a brief pause, Gabi complied, pulling Nex from her sheath.

  “I got Nex in between myself and the energy bolt,” she explained. “It threw me back and stunned me, even fractured my wrist, but I was alive. Later, when the dust had settled, I noticed that the bloodstone on the hilt had changed colour. I think it somehow saved me.” She handed the sword hilt first to Athena, trying not to cringe as someone else touched her blade; very few other people ever touched Nex. “I wish I’d thought of attacking with the magical fire before…” she trailed off, the pain of Lance’s loss still too raw.

  “After that the Seekers concentrated their effort on me, pooling their energy into a single attack,” Julius told Athena, but Gabi didn’t think she was listening.

  “This stone,” she said, rubbing her thumb over the now-blackened gem. “It had a very powerful protective spell woven into it. It was woven by a very powerful Magus; I can still sense its essence. It saved your life. The Seekers were trying to kill all of you.” Her eyes had gone distant, her words whispered as though more for herself than them. “I can restore the spell for you. Not today, I’m a bit tired,” she smiled wanly, glancing briefly at Alexander, “but soon.”

  Gabi took the blade back from her. “Thank you, that would mean a lot,” she said, hoping Athena sensed her sincere gratitude at the offer. Her sword just didn’t feel the same and wouldn’t until the bloodstone was restored. It felt now, more than ever, that her father had been watching over her.

  They’d reached the end of their retelling. Fergus had confirmed Caspian’s demise, and Gabi knew that Athena would take care of Mariska’s remains, probably burning them as they’d done with the other Dark Magi and consigning the ashes to the sea, where the salt water would finish the job of neutralising any residual Dark Magic that remained. The Moleman had vanished into the ground of the cemetery, and no one knew where he had gone. Christos would let them know if any of his people came across the man, and his Clan was working to track down the hospital that the Gemini twin had been taken to. They had nothing more to impart to the High Magus, but something about her expression kept any of them from rising to leave. She was preparing herself to tell them something, something Gabi was pretty fucking sure they didn’t really want to hear.

  “There is a prophesy,” Athena said at last. “An obscure one that I found when researching the Source, trying to find out why it was weakening. It revolves around two reincarnated souls: one born of the light and one of the dark. According to this prophesy, at the beginning of every millennium the two souls are reborn into our world. Once they reach maturity, they will inevitably find each other and one will attempt to destroy the other. The victor gets to set the tone of the world for the next millennium.

  “It’s not really your typical battle of good versus evil, but more about order and chaos. Light loves order and peace; dark loves disorder and flux. If light wins, we get a thousand years of peace and stability; if dark wins, well, I’m sure you understand. We’re currently in a state of flux, with neither side stronger and having a mix of both light and dark, which explains the knife edge we walk now to maintain peace and order. The world is waiting for a new outcome. The prophesy is long and complicated, with encoded verses for each event, and I’ve been trying to work out which verse would be applicable to our time, but it’s arduous reading.”

  “And you think this is about Mariska’s babies?” Gabi asked, her brain sluggish from jet lag and general exhaustion. She wished she’d put this conversation off until they’d had time to get some rest.

  “I haven’t even put the suggestion to the Council yet; it seemed too far-fetched.” Athena was shaking her head, seeming confused herself. “If the prophesy is true, then this baby is the ‘light’ and the Source is hers more than it is ours; we have been keeping it safe for her. The prophesy links two reservoirs of power to these souls: one feeding the Castius and one feeding the dark. The power is theirs to use as they deem fit. If this baby is the soul of light, the Source will begin to refill now that she is near it, and the Veil will soon be strong again. I haven’t come across anything that suggests there is another version of the Source, though. If it exists, it is well hidden.”

  “What about the dark child?” Gabi asked. “I’m assuming the prophesy didn’t see it being burned to death. Surely that would put an end to the whole thing.”

  “Did you see the…body…” she stumbled over the word, “of the other baby? Was any sign of it found at the scene?”

  “I didnae see ur feel anythin’ else alive in th’ clinic when I foond ’er.” Fergus spoke up.

  “But the baby could already have been taken, couldn’t it?” Athena persisted. “Caspian’s accomplice might have been able to spirit the other child away and then set fire to the place.”

  “I will ensure that we get all the information a forensic investigation turns up,” Julius said.

  Athena pursed her lips. “I don’t think it will really matter. If the prophesy is correct, the soul of dark will find another vessel. We can only hope the next vessel isn’t as powerful as the first would have been.”

  “You know, that sounds a lot like something the Seeker said.” Gabi looked over at Julius with a frown.

  “Yes,” he agreed. “It wanted the ‘light one’ dead because the next one wouldn’t be ‘as powerful’,” he confirmed Gabi’s vague memory.
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  Athena grew even paler, and she began to chew on the inside of her lip.

  “So what happens with this baby?” Alexander spoke at last. “She’ll be taken in by the Magi and protected?”

  “Actually, no,” Athena said. “The High Council has a bad track record at raising and protecting vulnerable orphans. I have a better idea.” Her smile was brittle, the smile of someone doing something they prayed wouldn’t come back to haunt them.

  CHAPTER 20

  A rustle at the door had Gabi sitting up in bed and Julius issuing a low warning growl, his power prickling across her naked body. Razor raised his head from the overstuffed chair in the corner, but he didn’t seem alarmed.

  “An urgent letter, Sire, Consort,” Claudia’s slightly panicked voice said from the other side.

  Gabi put a hand on Julius’s arm; she didn’t want to be disturbed either, but taking it out on the messenger wasn’t exactly fair. The prickling sensation calmed and he rolled out of bed, stalking over to retrieve the envelope that had been hastily stuffed under the door. A familiar craving started in Gabi’s core as she watched him move, all lean muscle and perfect skin, graceful and predatory. She couldn’t get enough of him.

  After finally getting back to the Estate at close to lunchtime the previous day, she’d eaten and Julius had fed from a Feeder. They’d checked on the baby and, with Ian’s okay, sent her home with Kyle and Trish, to both of her friends’ absolute delight. Then they’d gone upstairs to shower and sleep. They had showered, but it had been a long time before they’d fallen asleep tangled in each other’s arms. They’d woken at sunset and repeated the lovemaking and the shower, and then the lovemaking. For the first time since they’d met, there was no sense of urgency or overriding danger hanging over them. Nothing to detract from simply enjoying each other. It was a heady sensation, and Gabi could easily have locked the bedroom door and held Julius hostage for at least a week.

  His eyes caught hers as he prowled back to the bed, and she realised she wouldn’t have to resort to a hostage situation, his desire matched hers exactly. As he reached the bed, he raised the envelope to his nose, turning it so that Gabi could see it was addressed formally to Julius and herself, inked in flowing calligraphy.

  He inhaled and his eyes narrowed. “Astrid delivered it,” he told her, handing it over with a regretful sigh. Gabi grimaced; bye-bye week of fantasy, hello reality.

  The letter was from Tabari, handwritten and signed, outlining that he was being treated with respect and, while he knew he essentially was a captive, he didn’t feel like one. His training with Flora was going better than he had expected, and he had found within himself a surprising capacity for teaching. It was evident in his words that he was growing fonder of the girl with each day that they spent together. But laced into his words too was wariness of her growing abilities. He ended assuring them that he felt Eka would not renege on their deal and that he would be home soon.

  Gabi reread the letter, then glanced at Julius, wondering what he had read between the lines of his friend’s words. But before he could give voice to his thoughts, his phone chimed on the dresser. Very few people had his number.

  Julius retrieved the phone. “The Magi High Council wish to discuss placement of the Dark Magus’s child,” he told her after glancing at the screen.

  Gabi smiled grimly; Athena had warned them it would happen, and now they had to face the music. Luckily they wouldn’t be facing the music blind; this time they had the music sheets and they’d be doing the conducting.

  She disentangled herself from the sheets and rose from the bed to wrap her arms around the man she loved.

  “It feels good not to be on the back foot for a change,” she mused. “It’ll take some getting used to.”

  “Life is going to be different,” he agreed, pulling her against him and breathing in the scent of her hair. “The Decuria should leave us alone for a while. It won’t last forever, but we’ll have time to rest and regroup.”

  “We no longer have to chase Caspian and Mariska,” she added, placing a kiss on his chest where the ivory-hilted dagger had so recently penetrated his flesh.

  “And we have leverage over the Lucis, so they can no longer control us.” His voice held an edge, and when she glanced up at him, his eyes glittered with something feral. “Now we only do what we want to do. We get to play both sides to strengthen our own people and protect our City.”

  “I like that idea.” Gabi smiled fiercely. “No more Mr and Mrs Nice Guy.” She went up on tiptoes to nip Julius’s lower lip. “Let’s go and practice our new personae in front of the Magi High Council.”

  ********************

  “So?” Trish had yanked open the door to Gabi’s old house before she even had the chance to knock, and stood in the doorway with Kyle hovering just behind her. “Do we get to keep her?” Trish was trying very hard to keep it together, but Gabi could see how very close to tears she was. And Gabi could sense her wolf prowling restlessly near the surface, wanting to take control.

  Gabi dropped the serious mask and let her brightest grin out to play.

  “Yes!” She actually shrieked the word. Suddenly she was dreadfully glad Julius hadn’t come along to break the news.

  Trish just looked at her for a full second without responding.

  “Really?” she finally said. “You’re not kidding about this, are you?”

  “Would I do that? About this?” She would joke about many things but never something this important to one of her best friends.

  “Babe,” Kyle said, pulling her backwards into his arms, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head, “Gabi is deadly serious. Did you hear her squeal? I’ve known Hellcat for fifteen years and I’ve never heard her squeal.”

  Instead of shouting and jumping for joy, Trish promptly burst into tears.

  Fifteen minutes later Trish’s tears had finally ebbed to a trickle. Her nose was red and her eyes still glistened, but she radiated happiness. Gabi had known being a mother was important to Trish, but it had been a superficial knowledge. She’d thoroughly failed to grasp the true extent of Trish’s maternal desire.

  “That’s unbelievable news. You guys are amazing,” she said to Gabi, reaching to take the cup of sweet tea from Kyle. Gabi smiled around her sip of strong coffee. Kyle knew how to make it strong enough to curdle the milk.

  “It’s not me that was amazing, and it’s not all going to be plain sailing,” Gabi said. “You should have seen Julius in front of the Magi High Council.” She couldn’t help the sappy grin; he’d made her so proud she’d been ready to burst. Keeping the smile off her face during the meeting had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done. “I know I’m biased, but he was absolutely spectacular.” Watching her Consort stand before the Council, most of them aged and venerable and entirely accustomed to getting their own way, and putting each one of them in their place had been exhilarating.

  “He convinced them to let us keep her?” Trish asked. Trish was using the royal us, but Gabi had another ace up her sleeve. One she and Julius had discussed at length the previous night.

  “I wouldn’t put it quite like that,” Gabi said, taking another sip of coffee as Kyle brought in his own cup and sat next to Trish on the sofa, facing her. “He just told them we were keeping her. According to both Vampire and Magi law, whoever saves an orphaned minor has automatic legal guardianship of that minor unless someone else has a stronger familial claim. He pointed out that they told us to deal with the problem and hadn’t been fussy about whether Mariska or the babies lived.”

  Trish’s face clouded a bit at the mention of babies, plural. Gabi knew it weighed on her friend’s mind that they hadn’t been able to save both the babies. Gabi felt differently, but knew it wasn’t the right time to discuss the prophesy.

  “He also told them her other secret after making them swear an oath of silence.” Gabi doubted anyone else in the world would’ve been able to make the Magi High Council swear an oath of any kind
. “Once they agreed in principle, he made a few concessions, but we have a few years to get our heads around them. She does have Magus blood, and she more than likely will show signs of her abilities young. If our assumptions about who her father is are correct, she has two very powerful Magus parents. It will be hard, if not impossible, for her to forsake her Magi heritage. Athena will be allowed to be a consistent part of her life, and she will judge when her powers are beginning to manifest. Once that happens, she will be assigned a Magister and she will become an Adept, training and studying how to use and control her Magi abilities.” It was the agreement they’d hashed out with Athena in the airport lounge two days ago.

  “Will she have to leave and live with the Magi?” Trish’s voice was small.

  Gabi smiled. “That is something you and Kyle will have to judge and negotiate when it happens. She will be your daughter, after all. Julius is already arranging the adoption papers. Most Adepts still live with their families, generally only going to live at one of the Adept Centres if they don’t want to stay with their families or their families are living a long way from one of the Centres. The City has its own Centre, so she would be able to live with you and attend her lessons during the day or evening. But that is still a long way away. The earliest onset of powers is towards the end of puberty. In the end all the Council asked was that she be exposed to her Magi heritage, that we not keep it from her, and allow Athena to be a part of her life. I think they are just so relieved that the Source is refilling that they’re a little distracted. They may become more problematic once life settles down and they have less to worry about, but we’ll always have your back, and I think Athena will too.”

  “We get to adopt her?” Trish whispered, and Gabi grinned, realising her friend probably hadn’t heard a thing she’d said after the words ‘adoption papers’.