A Cold Day in Hell (The Hellcat Series)

by Hannaford, Sharon

  "I have no desire to be a Princep," Julius said flatly. "I wouldn't accept the offer if one was made."

  Caspian's eyebrows shot skyward in a mixture of shock and surprise. "But Sire, that would be viewed as a serious insult to the Princeps' Court."

  "Then best we make sure I don't get considered for the role," Julius growled, his stance firm.

  Caspian lapsed into silence, his expression closed and blank. It made Gabi wonder what was going on in his head.

  "What other news have you got for us, Xavier?"

  "Lennert and Thibault are both, how do you say…on the fence…at the moment, though both of them have a tendency to vote with the majority."

  Lennert was German, Gabi had learnt, and though he didn't have any particularly strong power, he had a very strong Clan behind him, one that protected its own viciously. They were known to decimate entire Clans if one of their own was killed on purpose. Thibault was French and had amazing control over fire. Gabi wondered who would win in a contest between Thibault and her friend Lance, the fire-bender Magi who was affectionately known as Zippo.

  "Lennert tends to vote with Eliasz and Klara. He likes to think of himself as part of a triumvirate, though they don't see him quite the same way. Klara is just playing him," Xavier continued. "Akshita has not made her stance clear yet, but in private she's set against you. She thinks leaving any of you alive will upset the current peace, the, what do you say…status quo?"

  Julius nodded that they understood.

  "Santiago, of course, wants you both destroyed." Xavier's voice had gone flat at the name of the drop-dead gorgeous, Colombian Vampire's name.

  His obvious dislike of the Princep surprised Gabi. It made sense that Xavier wouldn't like someone who wanted Julius, his hero, dead, but he'd spoken quite calmly about some of the others wanting her and Julius dead.

  Fergus stirred restlessly at that exact moment, and Julius shot him a warning look as Xavier continued, "He doesn't like the idea of anyone else with power. He's secretly envious of those with offensive powers. Though he enjoys his own ability to create as many Vampires as he likes, he is desperately power-hungry, and jealousy makes him want to destroy anyone else with a better power than his."

  Gabi hadn't been aware that creating new Vampires was such a difficult task for most Vampires. On the flight here she'd learned that most Vampires, even Masters, only created one or two Vampires a year at the most, some Masters could manage a half dozen or so. And of those new Vampires, around twenty percent never made it past their first Vamp year. Santiago had the ability to create numerous Vampires, anything up to one a week, and so had built an enormous Clan very quickly. This didn't explain why no one seemed to like him. For some of the men, Gabi might have put it down to jealousy over the man's looks, but she knew Julius and Fergus better than that.

  "So," Kyle’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he began ticking off names on his fingers. “Of those who are going for a guilty verdict, Klara, Eliasz and Lennert want Gabi imprisoned and Julius and the rest of us mind-wiped. Santiago and Akshita would prefer us all dead." He looked around to make sure everyone agreed with him so far. "We might be able to convince Fianna over to a not-guilty vote, along with Benedict, Cassandra and Oleksandra, who are already there."

  "Faruq and Thibault are still on the fence or haven't let slip which way they are thinking of voting yet," Caspian inserted, apparently over his pique with Julius. "If we could convince both of them to vote not guilty, we'd have six on our side."

  "We're missing one," Gabi muttered, counting only eleven names mentioned. "What about the English one; what's her name? Helene? Wouldn't she think about supporting someone from her own country of birth?"

  Alexander and Xavier exchanged looks with Julius. Was Julius actually looking a little sheepish?

  "Uh," Alexander cleared his throat when no one else spoke. "It's unlikely Helene would vote to let us all go," he said, cryptically putting emphasis on the word 'all'.

  "What reason has she got to want us all dead or mind-wiped?" Gabi asked, confused.

  "It's only you she wants dead," Alexander said.

  And then she put Julius's obvious discomfort together with Alexander's suppressed amusement and Xavier's concern. "She's got the hots for Julius?" Gabi guessed.

  His rueful look confirmed her suspicions.

  "That's not true." Caspian spoke up, sounding angry.

  "Yes, it is," Xavier confirmed adamantly. "She keeps her desires hidden in public, but she is quite vocal in private. She has plans for our Julius, and they do not include having a consort who is not her." He looked at Gabi. "You've got a powerful enemy in her," he warned. "You need to be careful."

  Caspian suddenly stood and paced away from them, his cane thudding against the floor. He seemed to be upset about something. Before anyone could ask him what it was, he marched off to his room.

  "But aren't we protected while we're here?" Kyle asked, distracting her from Caspian's behaviour. "Surely she wouldn't try anything during the proceedings."

  Xavier shrugged and put his hands up. "Passion makes people do stupid things, and Helene is a passionate woman. Just be careful is all I'm saying."

  "Your concern is noted," Julius said. "But I'm confident Helene wouldn't risk incurring the wrath of the other Princeps just because of me."

  "What is her ability?" Gabi cut into their conversation. "I don't remember anyone saying."

  There was a pregnant pause.

  "Will somebody just spit it out," she ground out between clenched teeth.

  "That wench is able te make any man come a crawlin' to her," Fergus rumbled from his position near the fire. "On their knees and beggin' fer it." His voice dripped disdain.

  Gabi hadn't thought she could be surprised one more time tonight, but she'd been wrong. "So she's what, a siren?" she asked in disbelief.

  "Maybe succubus would be more appropriate." Julius sounded as disgusted as Fergus.

  "So you've…" Gabi left the sentence hanging.

  "NO," Julius said sharply. "No, I can…resist…her call for some reason. Perhaps because of my telepathy and ability to create a mental block."

  "Making you the ultimate conquest," Gabi said, mostly to herself. Now the poisonous glares made sense. This woman wouldn't quit until she got what she wanted. This wasn't about attraction; it was about control and domination.

  Xavier glanced at his watch, making Gabi aware that it had to be close to sunrise. "One more thing before I must go," he said, a wry smile on his lips. "I have a message for you from Benedict." His revelation was met with more stunned silence.

  Julius finally broke it. "Benedict knows about our connection?" he asked warily.

  Xavier shook his head, still smiling. "No, he doesn't know about me exactly, but he does know you have someone who hears things they shouldn't and reports back to you," he explained. "He was doing some musing out loud earlier, and it was obviously meant as a message to you."

  "Well, what did he say?" Gabi demanded, her patience completely at an end.

  CHAPTER 13

  Xavier left the same way he'd come, shortly after delivering the message from Benedict. He left an internal phone number to contact him in case they needed anything. The Vampire-Magus Princep had an idea of what to offer as an alternative to either death or imprisonment, but he couldn't make the suggestion to the rest of the Princeps without tipping his hand. All they had to do was find an official way to introduce the alternative. If the alternative was accepted, it would give them a much greater chance of having the vote go their way. Caspian seemed confident he'd be able to dig something out of the legal archives that would help them, but sunrise was fast approaching, and the daysleep was calling to the Vampires.

  Frustrating as it was, they’d have to wait until sunset to finalise the details of their alternative suggestion. Gabi knew they were all so tired as to be almost brain-dead, so she, Kyle and Julius followed the rest of the Vampires and Athena to bed. Julius wanted to stay awake, but she knew he'd a
lready skipped his daysleep twice in the last few days, and he was heading for a total shutdown. She made him take blood from her before insisting that he sleep. It took less convincing than she'd anticipated: a clear sign of his exhaustion. He begged her not to go stirring trouble while he was asleep. Moments later he was out cold. She put out food and water for Razor and then joined the warm cat and Julius on the huge bed. She was asleep in seconds.

  Movement in the outer room woke her. She was immediately on high alert, Nex in her hand from under the pillow. It took her brain several seconds to catch up to her body. She blearily shook her head to clear the sleep and found Razor looking at her questioningly. The reality of where they were finally seeped back into her conscious mind. She checked on Julius, who was still deep in his daysleep, then checked the time on the bedside clock. It was mid-morning, and her stomach was already complaining about the lack of breakfast.

  The noise that had woken her was repeated in the outer room. Now that she was awake, she realised it was voices—Kyle's and Athena's to be exact. Trust the two of them to be up already. They'd probably be all bright eyed and bushy tailed too after just four hours of sleep. She growled, cursing morning people as she rose from the bed and fumbled in one of her bags for a robe. Her need for coffee and food was overriding her need for more sleep. She and Razor joined Kyle and Athena in the sitting room.

  "Morning, sunshine." Kyle grinned at her appearance.

  "Oh, shut it," she groused with ill temper.

  Kyle was only in a pair of pyjama bottoms, but Athena was already neatly dressed in smart linen pants and a warm cashmere sweater.

  "Tell me there's coffee in this place."

  "Bad news on that front," Kyle said, far too cheerfully. "You'll have to go and fetch it from the great dining hall." He waved a piece of paper at her. It had some typing and a map on it.

  She snatched it from his fingers and studied it. Blowing out an annoyed breath, she saw it was a printed layout of the castle, along with instructions of how to find the great dining hall, where food was served for non-Vampire guests all day long. Without another word she retreated back to the bedroom to drag on some clothes; a shower would have to wait.

  Kyle opted to shower while she and Athena went to get breakfast. They intended to grab a couple of plates of food and some hot drinks and retreat back to their suite, but once they arrived in the hall, it was apparent that they'd have to place an order for food and wait for it to be freshly cooked. Gabi couldn't fault the service, but a room service option would've been nice.

  Despite the Princeps declaration of safety, her innate danger sensor was dinging with increasing urgency in the back of her mind. She couldn't shake the feeling that they were in danger. Razor pressed his body close to her leg, purring hard enough to make his whole body vibrate. Gabi made a conscious effort to relax, and reached down to pet him reassuringly. Five tables in the hall were occupied with a mixture of Magi, humans and Werewolves. Shape-shifters were conspicuously lacking here, and it made Gabi wonder why. Tea and coffee was on tap on a table near the main door, so they helped themselves while they waited.

  As she and Athena turned away from the table with steaming mugs, two men entered the hall. Gabi recognised them immediately from her brief encounter with them the previous evening. She’d warned Athena that they were here before retiring to bed. She sensed Athena go tense as she saw them.

  The twins headed straight towards them, cheerful smiles on their faces. It made them seem more unhinged than before.

  "Good morning,"

  "Dhampir," the two greeted them, again speaking as one entity with two voices.

  "And Defender." They inclined their heads towards Athena.

  "We hope you have,"

  "Settled in and are,"

  "Finding your way around."

  Gabi gritted her teeth, the twin-speak was her equivalent of experiencing thumbscrews first hand.

  "Oh, look, it's Fred and George," she drawled.

  Athena choked on her tea, turning quickly to set her mug down and grab a napkin off the table. Gabi raised an eyebrow; Athena knew Harry Potter? But apparently the twins didn't; they looked at her questioningly.

  "Those are not,"

  "Our names," they said in twin-speak.

  Gabi merely smiled coldly at them. A soft growl rose from the floor at Gabi's feet.

  "Nice cat,"

  "Is it yours?" Both pairs of almost black eyes settled on Razor, with an excited kind of hungriness.

  Gabi's smile vanished, and Athena moved to position herself on Razor’s other side. Dark Magi used animal sacrifice for some of their most potent magic.

  "Yes, he's mine," Gabi said, her voice flat and unfriendly. In turn she looked the two of them directly in the eyes as she spoke. "Touch him and I'll carve your hearts from your chests and feed them to him in tiny, tasty slivers." Her hand itched for Nex, but she didn't reach for the sword. Not yet.

  Surprise flickered in their eyes, but not fear. Gabi realised you had to be sane to understand fear. Perhaps it was enough that she'd surprised them, as they inclined their heads with a grudging respect.

  "Even we have heard of your,"

  "Father's prowess in killing,"

  "Supernaturals," they conceded.

  "We have heard you are,"

  "Becoming the apple to his,"

  "Tree." They looked at her appraisingly.

  Gabi narrowed her eyes to a glare. She wasn't getting into a conversation about her or her father's fighting prowess with these two.

  "We mean the animal,"

  "No harm," they said, looking at Razor again. The word 'yet' seemed to hang in the air between them.

  "It has a certain,"

  "Air of power,"

  "Which we find,"

  "Intriguing."

  Gabi was suddenly reminded of the warning the Oracle had given. "Don't give away your ability to interact with animal species," he'd said. Did that warning have something to do with these two?

  "In fact," they continued, "we find,"

  "Much about all of you,"

  "Intriguing." They had turned their scrutiny to Athena and were inspecting her with the sort of attention a butcher might give a cow at a livestock auction.

  "So many powerful Magi,"

  "And power in species,"

  "Not known for their supernatural,"

  "Abilities." For the first time they turned to look at each other. "Perhaps,"

  "It would be a good idea to,"

  "Visit this City, and see,"

  "What other wonders we can,

  "Find." There was fervour in their eyes and cunning in their smiles.

  Athena took a step forward, once again garnering their full attention. "Dark Magi are not welcome in the City." She enunciated each word carefully. "I suggest you think twice before testing the patience of the Magi Council. The use of Blood Magic would see you declared Maleficus. Your lives would be forfeit."

  "It is such a pity,"

  "That the rest of you,"

  "Cannot see the virtues,"

  "Of Blood Magic." They both smiled beatifically, Athena's warning going unacknowledged.

  "Stay away from us, my cat and the City or you're going to be finding out whether the fires of Hell burn hot or cold," Gabi said, her voice jocular but her undertone darkly threatening.

  "We are most surprised,"

  "That the young Maleficus,"

  "Is so set on wanting,"

  "You all dead. She really,"

  "Does hate you."

  "Perhaps she is,"

  "Jealous?"

  Just then a woman came towards them. Well, perhaps 'marched' was a better word to describe her approach. There was purpose and determination in her stride as she made a beeline for the four of them. Some may have referred to her build as matronly, but Gabi was reminded of Rose's wonderful womanly endowment. The similarity between the two women stopped there, however. The steely glint in this woman's eyes would give anyone, including Gabi, pause. A
hairnet and apron announced her as belonging to the kitchen in some way, but Gabi doubted she was simply one of the cooking or waiting staff.

  "Wha' are you two doing bothering these ladies?" she demanded in an English accent not far removed from Alexander's. Her hands on her hips, she glared at the twins. She was utterly unaffected by their unnervingly emotionless faces as they looked at her. Astoundingly both their expressions became contrite, and they glanced at each other like naughty schoolboys caught smoking behind the gym.

  "Get gone with ye both," the woman said in a hard voice, taking a kitchen towel from the band of her apron and flicking it at them like she was shooing off an annoying dog. Her 'th' sounds tended to become 'f's but that didn't dilute the sternness in her one bit.

  Gemini dropped their gazes and gave Gabi and Athena stiff, formal nods.

  "Yes, Mistress Sally," one said meekly.

  "We were just talking."

  "We meant no harm."

  Sally cleared her throat, and the two turned and walked smartly away with a last lingering look at Razor, who stared back at them, undaunted. Gabi knew the amazement was clear on her face, but she couldn't believe what she'd just seen. A waitress with a food trolley passing near the twins kept her gaze carefully averted and made an unnecessarily wide arc to avoid getting close to them.

  "Those boys," Mistress Sally said in an exasperated tone. "I'm sorry. I know they freak people out. I 'ope they didn't disturb you. I'm Sally, head of kitchens 'ere at court." She nodded back towards the large swinging doors that Gabi surmised led into the kitchens.