All Hell Breaks Loose

by Sharon Hannaford

  She woke to the sound of movement outside. The room was dark and unfamiliar, and adrenalin spiked as she tried to force her sluggish brain into gear. She calmed her breathing and opened her senses. A heavy, muscular arm covered her waist, and Julius’s familiar scent filled her nostrils. The bizarre events of the previous night tumbled back into her consciousness. She stretched experimentally, remembering the bumps and bruises. She was stiff and sore from head to toe, and a headache was thrumming warningly in her temples, but aside from the fractured finger, everything seemed to be in working order. She dragged herself upright and out of Julius’s embrace. The bedside clock told her it was way past time to go home and feed the animals. She hauled her stiff, complaining backside out of bed and hobbled to the bathroom. It was going to take a while for her muscles to warm up enough to allow for normal movement. She found her boots next to the sofa. Her cellphone, jacket and weapons would all be somewhere in the rubble of the main house. She braced herself before opening the door.

  Daylight definitely didn’t make the scene of the explosion look any less devastating. In the crisp morning sunshine, all that remained of the main house was a huge, misshapen mass of burnt, smouldering rubble. Dripping in places, and smoking in others. The firefighters’ job had been made easier by the rain. The grass and nearby trees had been too wet to catch fire, and so the damage had been limited to the house itself. For a moment Gabi considered what the death toll would’ve been if the house had been filled with Clan members, as the bomber had envisioned. Anyone in the lower levels would have been torn apart or engulfed in flames. She shook off the thought with a shudder. A female Werewolf dressed in combat trousers and a black T-shirt nodded in greeting and continued her prowling patrol around the cottage. A number of other Werewolves in similar getups were pacing other circuits. There was a definite air of tension pervading the Estate. Some of the cleaners stood in a small group near what had been the front door of the main house, shock and horror on their faces.

  Folding her arms against the cool morning air, Gabi started towards the rubble and almost tripped over something lying on the path just outside the cottage door. She glanced down to find Nex in her soot-blackened sheath and a cellphone lying on top of a folded note. Bending to pick up the items made her grimace, but having Nex back in her hands eased a small portion of the new anxious knot forming in Gabi’s chest. She unfolded the note.

  ‘Found this lying around and thought you might like her back. The phone is the spare from my van, I’ve given Byron the number. I’ll stop by your place and feed the zoo before heading home, so don’t panic. Don’t wake me too early. Kyle.’

  Well, that took care of her most immediate problem, Gabi sighed with relief. If the animals had been fed, she wouldn’t have to call a cab and rush home. She skirted the smoking pile of rubble, trying to avoid looking for pieces of her beloved Mustang, and went to Hawthorn House to see if she could scrounge some coffee.

  A sort of office had been hastily set up on one side of the lounge. Trish was hunched up in front of a monitor, her fingers dancing over a keyboard, absolute concentration on her face. Lines of computer code trickled across the screen, all of it meaningless to Gabi. Derek wasn’t in the room, and by the log-sawing sounds coming from one of the bedrooms, he was sound asleep.

  “Have you even been to bed?” Gabi asked.

  “Oh,” Trish squeaked in surprise, spinning around on her chair. “Gabi, you gave me a fright, I didn’t know you were here.”

  Gabi’s lips twitched in a smile. “So I noticed,” she commented, then frowned when she got a good look at Trish. Dark crescents hung heavily under the younger woman’s eyes, and red lines dominated the white of her eyes. “You really look like you could do with some rest,” she told the other woman. “If you work yourself into a coma, we’ll be well and truly screwed. Whoa,” she whuffed as Trish rushed her and gripped her in a tight hug. She doubted Trish even realised that she was already a lot stronger than normal for a human.

  “I was so worried about you,” Trish gasped. “The force of that explosion was insane. The whole house shook, and stuff fell down.” She finally noticed Gabi’s discomfort and released her. “Oh, god, sorry, you must be hurt, and I’m making it worse.” She backed off, and Gabi was astounded to see tears glistening in the other woman’s eyes. “Seeing the state of the house, and knowing you and Julius were inside, and—oh my, everyone thought the worst.”

  Gabi grabbed Trish’s fluttering hands, astonished by the emotion pouring off her. Trish really had been badly affected by the blast. She was amazed that, with all that Trish had been through herself, the thought of injury to others was affecting her so badly. It spoke of Trish’s core character. She was a good person with a beautiful and gentle soul. Kind and bubbly and thoughtful of others. All the things Gabi wasn’t. She brushed the dark thought aside.

  Chapter 16

  “Trish, we’re fine,” she soothed. “I’m fine. You just don’t know your own strength right now. You’re going to have to do some compensating if you’re going to go around hugging ‘norms’—they’re a bit more breakable than the rest of us. Come on, take a break, and make us some coffee.”

  Trish nodded and gave a watery smile, wiping away her tears. “That’s probably a good idea. I’m getting tired enough that I might make a mistake. I didn’t realise I’d been sitting at the computer that long.” Trish led the way to the kitchen and grabbed the coffee pot to empty and clean it before starting a fresh one. “I keep thinking I’m right on top of these guys, and then I find another daisy chain. They’re really good at covering their tracks.” She broke off and gave Gabi a fierce look. “But I’ll find them, I promise.”

  “I have no doubt you will,” Gabi said, “but after some breakfast you’re going to get a couple of hours sleep. Okay?”

  Trish agreed a little reluctantly.

  The smell of bacon and eggs roused Derek half an hour later. He wandered through with sleep-tousled hair and a yawn, in nothing more than a pair of boxer shorts. Lycanthropy was obviously agreeing with him, Gabi thought, dragging her eyes away from his body. Though he’d had a good physique before, it was obvious he’d gained a couple of pounds of muscle in all the right places. As he took in her appearance, his sleepy expression transformed to a jumble of concern, relief and anger. He came over and gently laid his fingers against her cheek as though unsure where it was safe to touch her.

  “Kyle said you were okay, but…” his voice was only just above a whisper.

  “I am,” Gabi said firmly, taking his fingers from her cheek and giving them a reassuring squeeze. “Just scrapes and bruises. I’ll be fighting fit by tomorrow.” She dropped his hand and gave him a semi-playful punch in the shoulder, laughing as he pretended to wince. “Come on, I’m starving, and Trish has made a breakfast fit for a pack of Werewolves.”

  His face told her he wasn’t convinced by her nonchalance, but he dropped the subject and followed her to the dining table.

  Gabi concentrated on eating, as Trish and Derek discussed her progress in tracking their cyber enemy. She pretended she didn’t notice the furtive glances he kept sending her way. It was obvious Derek had a fair understanding of the hacker world, and it was fascinating to see the rapport between the siblings. When she was finished, she left Derek in charge of making sure Trish got some rest while she made some phones calls.

  Her first phone call was to her insurance consultant, who promised to start the claim process first thing Monday morning and would email her the relevant forms to sign. Her second call was to her usual car dealer. The man wasn’t holding much hope that he’d be able to track down a replacement for her Mustang anytime soon, but vowed to do his best. In the meanwhile they were more than happy to supply her with a temporary replacement. Her last call was to Byron.

  As she filled Byron in on some details Kyle hadn’t been able to give him, she stood staring at the remains of the mansion. Even though she was looking at it with her own eyes, it was hard to process the reality of t
he situation. In all the years of doing what she did as a Hunter, she’d never seen or come across anything like this related to the supernatural world. This was more like the actions of a human. A psychotic, sociopathic human maybe, but it just didn’t fit with what she knew of the supernatural races. As the thought occurred to her, a little bell chimed in the back of her mind, and she knew there was some kind of epiphany in that notion. As she signed off from Byron, she made a quick trip back to the cottage to retrieve the bits of paper she’d scribbled her notes on in the early hours of the morning. On her way back inside, she noticed the name of the little house was Rowan Cottage; it reminded her of a story her dad used to tell her as a little girl about the Fairy Rowan Tree. She shook off the memories and gathered up the scattered pieces of paper. She stuffed them in a pocket, determined to make time to have another look at them during the course of the day, hoping the answer would finally jump out at her. On her way out, she ran into Patrick, which was no real surprise given recent events. His face, usually without levity anyway, was downright grave today.

  “Ms Bradford,” he greeted her respectfully, “I’m pleased to see you in one piece.”

  Gabi was surprised to note that the Werewolf appeared to mean it. “Uh, thanks,” she said.

  “Julius asked me to bring a car for your use today.” He held out a set of keys. “It’s the black Audi coupe parked near the front gate. While I don’t think that the bomber would try again so soon, I suggest you try not to let it out of your sight. At least until we know more about who’s targeting us.”

  Gabi took the keys from him, thankful she didn’t have to call for a cab. “Patrick, you look like you’re from a military background,” she said, and his quick nod affirmed her suspicions. “What’s your take on this? Who do you think would try something like this?”

  The man stroked his moustache as he put his thoughts in order, obviously not expecting her questions. “In my personal opinion, this all smacks of some kind of militia,” he said slowly. “If it wasn’t for these guys turning up bitten, I’d have said it was a human organisation that’d got wind of the other races and was targeting us, but I just can’t fit the lycanthropy into all of this. Maybe someone with military or guerrilla warfare training was infected and is holding a grudge. Something along those lines.” He shook his head. “That’s all I can come up with right now. I wish I could be more help.”

  Gabi pursed her lips, his comment about the guerrilla warfare had triggered that bell in her head again. She’d add that to the mix when she looked at all the pieces again.

  “Thanks, Patrick, that’s a point we hadn’t considered before. I’ll run it by the Council and see if it triggers any more ideas.”

  He gave a sharp military nod. “If there’s anything else I can help with, please let me know. I’ll be at the estate all day overseeing the clean-up and reinforcing the security measures.”

  “Good,” Gabi said. Her eyes flicked to the cottage where Julius lay asleep and helpless.

  Patrick noticed her glance. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of him,” he reassured her.

  She hastily rearranged her expression to its usual haughty mask; it wouldn’t do for everyone to see the lovesick concern on her face.

  She was just walking towards the front gate when Derek caught up with her.

  “Can I come with?” he asked. “Trish is trying to sleep, and I’ll just wake her up if I rattle around the house.”

  Gabi didn’t really want the company, but couldn’t think of a good excuse to tell him no, so she shrugged, giving in. “Fine, but I warn you now I may not be the best company.”

  As she navigated the streets towards home, she got the impression that Derek had something on his mind. On another occasion she might have tried to draw him out, but right now she was content to let silence hold sway in the car. She had too many unanswered questions roiling around in her head. They made it back to her house late enough to avoid seeing Rose. She only came in for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning, mostly to make sure Gabi had enough food for the weekend. She usually made double portions of food as she knew how often Kyle pitched up for a meal.

  Roman stuck his nose around the corner of the house and wagged his tail at Gabi, but didn’t approach them. Razor leapt straight into her arms as she opened the front door, eliciting a small groan from Gabi, but she kept her hold on him, allowing him to thoroughly scent mark her before depositing him on the kitchen counter. He gave Derek a passing scowl, but the man had learned to stay well out of the big cat’s striking range. Rocky arrived a second later, chittering demandingly. Gabi scooped her up and let her scamper up on her shoulder to scold her repeatedly for not arriving sooner. Gabi left Derek in the kitchen while she went to change into a fresh set of her own clothes. Slinky was curled up in his favourite spot in Gabi’s washing basket, and gave her a dopey look before snuggling back into his nest.

  Gabi popped some painkillers as she set about putting together the lunch ingredients Rose had left. She and Derek sat down at the dining table to a meal of steak and onion paninis and salad. Rose sure knew how to feed a hungry Dhampir, and by the way Derek’s food was vanishing, he was enjoying it too. Gabi contemplated how she was going to rid of Derek after lunch. She needed some downtime. Though none of her injuries were dire on their own, the sheer number of them added up. Her system had gone into shut-down mode, and she was only just functioning at human speed. Exhaustion hung over her like an unwanted cloak. A laceration on her cheek pulled and stung with every chewing motion, and a headache the size of Africa throbbed in her temples. She hoped what Derek wanted to discuss wasn’t going to require any brain power, or any patience for that matter; she was short on both.

  Finally, once their plates were both empty, he sat back and looked at her.

  “There’s something I wanted to ask you about,” he said.

  Gabi nodded, motioning him to carry on talking as she gathered the empty plates and set them to one side. “So I gathered,” she said dryly. “Spit it out, I can hear my bed calling.”

  He gave a ghost of a smile. “I don’t doubt that, you look like you should be in a hospital.”

  Gabi gave him the hurry-it-up expression.

  “Well, I’ve been doing some thinking, and I want to join the SMV as a Hunter. I know there’s a waiting list of trainees, so I thought you might be able to get me higher up the list, you know…”

  Gabi held up her hand, stopping him. “Derek, that’s a nice idea, and I’m sure you’d be a great asset to the SMV, but it’s not that simple. There’s a process to get in for a reason, in fact, for several reasons. And I’m not on the Council, I don’t get a say in who gets selected to train, or who gets fast-tracked.”

  Annoyance flashed across Derek’s face, twisting his handsome features. “Fine,” he said shortly. “If you don’t want to help me, I’m sure I can manage it on my own.” He pushed away from the table in irritation and brusquely scooped up the dirty plates to stalk off to the kitchen with them.

  Gabi let out a half-growl. Fuck, she just wasn’t in the mood for a temperamental Werewolf today. Where the hell was Kyle? If she’d been able to find him, she wouldn’t be dealing with this right now. She leashed her temper, reminding herself that the lycanthropy virus affected parts of the psyche, making victims more aggressive and mean-tempered. It was hard to get her head around the new Derek.

  “Look, I can tell you who to contact,” she said wearily as she moved past him to the freezer to find an ice pack for her wrist. “But honestly, you’re going to have to get your attitude sorted out first. There is no room for ego in the SMV. It’s the kind of thing that can get people killed.”

  He was facing away from her. He didn’t make any comment, but she could see the tension in his neck and shoulders as her words struck.

  “I can give you the name of a good Reiki teacher who could help with the anger issues, help you feel more balanced and in control.” She wrapped the ice pack in a kitchen towel and held it to her arm, grimacing.<
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  Finally he took a deep breath and turned to face her, but before he could speak, the gate intercom chimed. They both jumped. Gabi dumped the ice pack on the counter and lifted the receiver on the intercom panel.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Hey, it’s me,” came Kyle’s voice.

  “Wolf?” she asked, confused. “Forgotten the code already?”

  “Ha ha,” his disembodied voice said, unamused. “I have Trish with me. You’ll need to let us in.”

  “Oh,” Gabi said. The day was getting stranger and stranger. “Hold on,” she told him.

  “Kyle is outside with Trish,” she said to Derek. “I need to disarm the ward.” She rubbed the little signet ring on her right hand and silently ran through the short incantation. When she felt the ward disengage, she pushed the button on the panel to open the gate. A moment later she heard Kyle’s van pull up outside. Boy, Razor wasn’t going to be impressed with three Werewolves in his domain. She was just heading to open the door when she heard Roman start to bark. That was strange; she hadn’t heard him bark the whole time he’d been here. She opened the door and found the dog standing between the house and Kyle, glaring menacingly at him. A low growl issued from his throat between the bouts of barking, and his stance was protectively aggressive.

  “That dog is off its rocker,” Kyle said, standing frozen and actually looking nervous.

  Trish had climbed out of the passenger seat and was calling to Roman, trying to calm him, but the big dog was ignoring her.

  “You two get inside, let me settle Roman at the back,” she said, walking stiffly down the stairs and grabbing Roman’s collar. She threw a sense of calm and reassurance towards the dog, and he backed down, but Gabi could feel a strange mix of confusion and protectiveness whirling through him. His innate guarding instinct was telling him to put himself between her and danger, and he considered Kyle to be danger. Gabi felt as confused as the dog, but she continued to radiate peace and took him around the back and gave him a large meaty bone from the freezer in the garage. He obeyed her command to stay put, but didn’t take any notice of the bone.