Life had turned tragic for her when, at age 10, her father had been killed by a Vampire. Her father and Byron, who had Magi parents, had co-founded the Societas Malus Venatori (Latin for Hunters of Evil); a secret organisation of Shapeshifters, Magi and humans that monitored supernatural activity and silently dealt out punishment to supernaturals who attacked others with apparent impunity. When a supernatural went rogue things could get unpleasant fast, so they needed to be dealt with quickly and quietly. The SMV routinely hunted down rogues and eliminated them, disposing of evidence of the kills and using Magi to erase the memories of any humans involved. Gabi’s father had been on a hunt for a particularly brutal Vampire when he was killed. The shock had been immense for her mom, and she’d sunk into a deep depression, leaving a young Gabi confused and adrift. Byron had helped as much as he could, sending her mother for counselling and winding up her father’s estate. There had been a large life insurance policy and share portfolio ensuring that Gabi and her mother would not have any financial worries, but that could never start to replace his presence in their lives.
Gabi had had to grow up fast, she’d assumed many of the responsibilities of running the household, as well as looking after her mother. Byron and his wife spent as much time as they could helping out, but many tasks still fell on Gabi’s slim shoulders. Between her duties at home, her mother’s erratic behaviour and her own feelings of abnormality, Gabi had no close friends and few casual friends. She comforted herself with animals, and amassed a small menagerie to keep herself sane.
By the time Kyle and Gabi met, her mother had recovered from her depression and had even begun seeing someone. Gabi detested him and spent every spare moment devising ways to make his life miserable. Kyle and Gabi had become firm friends after that first meeting, both finding immense relief in having someone they could be completely honest and open with. Kyle was the perfect foil for Gabi’s fiery temper, and the passionate loves and hates of her life. He was strong enough to not always give in to her, and resilient enough to put up with the explosions that followed when he didn’t. Gabi gave Kyle his first real friend and a goal to work towards once she told him of the existence of the SMV. He finally had someone he could push himself physically in front of without having to hold back. In truth, most kids at school assumed they were involved in more than a platonic relationship, and though they had actually given it a try, it hadn’t worked out. She was the closest thing he had to a sibling, he was the big brother she’d never had. The fact that they both had enhanced senses, speed and strength led to a constant testing of one another, Kyle always trying to be the gentleman and Gabi always taking advantage of that.
When Kyle left school he’d been accepted immediately into the SMV as a Hunter Trainee. But a few years later when Gabi left school Byron had dug his heels in and insisted that she take time to mature and to get a tertiary qualification, perhaps hoping she’d give up the idea in a couple of years.
Things had become very strained between her and Kyle after that, she’d felt hurt, betrayed and abandoned. It had changed something completely between them, and their relationship had never been as easy-going and as defined as it had been before. When they did meet up during her university days, she acted beaten and demoralised. She felt that she was letting down her father by not being a Hunter. It was Kyle who had convinced her to learn how to fight properly, saying that if she got her degree and proved capable of holding her own against an enemy, Byron would have no reason to keep her out. Kyle had underestimated how much she would take his advice to heart.
She’d thrown herself into her study of Animal Behaviour and Ethology and took up a variety of martial arts, studying both fighting styles and the history behind them. She became immersed in Korean, Japanese and Chinese fighting styles and weapons, as it was so difficult to use bullets to stop a supernatural, not to mention that it was also illegal to own or fire a handgun or rifle in the City. She picked four different styles of fighting to learn. Her main focus was Hapkido, a Korean art of self defence; it taught kicks, hits, pressure techniques and defence against sword attacks, a favourite weapon of present day Vampires. Her second choice was Taekwondo, which, although also essentially a self-defence styled martial art, also taught jumps, kicks, hand strikes and blocks perfect for close quarters fighting. She also studied a Japanese martial art called Chanbara, an in-depth study of sword fighting, and invaluable in a modern sword fight. Her final choice of martial art was a little heard of style called Capoeira which originated in Africa, and was perfected in Brazil by slaves brought across in the 17th century. Capoeira combines martial arts, music and dance to form an aggressive style of fighting including elbow thrusts, feints, parries, kicks and headbutts, anything to win the fight. Her training choices seem to have been the perfect education for a Hunter.
It took her four years of blood, sweat and tears – literally – before she decided she was ready to prove her point to Byron decisively. She insisted on taking on two of the best Hunters of the SMV at the same time, and had wiped the floor with them. Byron had been forced to admit she could handle herself and had finally welcomed her into the fold, inducting her as the first female Hunter ever. He had also incorporated much of her martial arts training into the training routines of the existing Hunters, and into initiation training for future Hunter hopefuls.
Her choice of weapons was as considered and unusual as her choice of martial arts training. Her weapon of choice being her sword, Nex, appropriately meaning Death in Latin. Nex was a Kris, an Indonesian dagger with a cruel and distinctive appearance. The Kris being renowned for its curved, wave-shaped blade, designed specifically for stabbing and sliding easily between ribs. Perfect for hitting the heart of any target. There was another more mystical aspect to a Kris. These blades are considered to have an essence or life-force of their own, and the makers of these blades firmly believe that the blade has to choose the wielder, not the other way around. If you choose to own one of these blades you are required to first sleep with it under your pillow, so that the spirit of the blade may communicate with the potential owner. If the blade sends a good dream, perhaps of victory and conquests, then the match is considered harmonious and the owner may keep the dagger. If the dream is bad and shows portents of doom and failure then the blade is sent back to the maker to await the next potential owner. After Gabi had been matched with Nex she’d had the maker remodel the hilt of the dagger and had several gems, including the stone from her father’s signet ring, embedded in the end of the hilt. She was rarely without the blade, and it did indeed seem to have magical qualities in her hands, Nex had tasted heart’s blood many, many times.
Her back-up blades were Butterfly swords. Kyle himself liked to carry these as back-up weapons. They are perfect in close quarters fighting. They are short, single edged blades originally from China, roughly as long as a human forearm, and easy to conceal. They have a D shaped hilt, allowing the wielders hand some measure of protection, and are generally wielded in pairs. They were designed to be carried two to a sheath, the two blades fitting together back to back, sharpened edge facing out on each knife, the hilts looking like the wings of a butterfly. This makes it possible to easily carry eight of them in four sheaths on your legs, and you could add more if you were heading into a really bad situation. It wasn’t often you ran out of butterfly swords in a fight.
Gabi’s degree in zoology had paid dividends too, and she had built a small but thriving business for herself, helping people with problem animals (or animals with people problems, as she liked to put it), and managing animals for TV and Film shoots. She also served a doubly useful function of liaising with police on apparent animal attacks, often picking up Werewolf activity from these cases. Working for herself left her plenty of free time to dedicate to the SMV while still maintaining the all-important illusion of a normal life for the rest of the world.
“Have you suddenly become a doddering old man?” Gabi’s voice broke into his reverie. “Are you getting those blades strapped on or
are you just going to sit the whole thing out tonight?” Her words were slightly slurred as she sucked on a lollipop while bitching at him. The lollipop was one of the special ones that Byron had made up for her by a pharmacist friend. She had some strange vitamin and mineral deficiency which no one had been able to explain, it was assumed it was part and parcel of the Vampire blood thing, but no one knew for sure. She was so bad at remembering to take tablets that Byron had resorted to having the supplements put into lollipops to get them into her; Gabi’s sweet tooth was another thing legendary about her.
He mentally shook himself, and snapped back to reality. “Hmm, I thought maybe I should just sit out and see how you cope on your own for a change,” he teased. She glowered at him, knowing better than to rise to his bait, and settled for throwing her lollipop stick at him.
“What did the geeks send? They better have tested whatever it is properly this time!”
Kyle leaned into the van and picked up a pair of vaguely gun-shaped weapons. He threw one at Gabi, who caught it easily and stared at it with astonishment. “What the hell is this supposed to do?” He threw a strap at her. “But wait…… it even comes with its own solidly constructed holster,” Kyle mimicked the overly enthusiastic voice of someone on one of those idiotic TV infomercials.
“I could just test it out by shooting you with it,” she threatened, turning it over and pointing the barrel straight at him, her finger on the trigger. “Stop messing with me Wolf, I’m not in the mood.”
“Chill Hellcat, I’m just trying to lighten the mood before we all go off to be eaten or ripped apart by Demons.” They had gained a small audience by this stage, and a small, nervous chuckle rippled through them. Many of them had never seen the aggressive banter that sparked between Kyle and Gabi before a fight; those that knew them well just ignored them.
“You’re going to be ripped apart before the Demons get a chance at you, if you don’t tell me the point of this absurd weapon,” she growled. Literally. There was a reason he’d nicknamed her Hellcat. He’d seen her face down full grow lions and win the pissing contest.
“You’re no fun when you’re psyched up for a fight.” He presented his own weapon with a flourish. “This is the newly patented Werewolf Saliva Dart Gun. It’s pre-loaded with five saliva filled ampoules and is like having five mini Werewolves on your side. One dart should be sufficient to slow down a Demon enough to finish him off, or to kill him once he returns home. Two should kill him in minutes.” Kyle pulled the gun apart to show the tiny ampoules inside. “Needless to say, it is best to avoid shooting anyone on our side with one of these, as they will have the same effect as a real Werewolf bite – death or turning furry at full moon.” He drew in a breath to continue when a shout went up from a group near the edge of the stadium.
“Heads up,” a male voice yelled. “Here they come.”
The air between the parking lot and the stadium began to turn hazy and everyone began scrambling into position. Kyle and Gabi strapped on their new Dart guns and ran for the fence line to scramble through with the other Hunters.
Chapter 3
Gabi felt the air around them grow bitingly cold as a thick, throat-clogging mist roiled up out of the ground. The five Hunters stopped just on the other side of the fence, fanning out into a defensive line, the five offensive Magi hovering slightly behind them. Even though they were standing over a hundred metres from the place where the roiling mist was bubbling out of the earth, the cold was seeping into their bones, their breath turning white, and a gag-inducing stench was threatening to choke them.
“Alright,” Doug called in his deep urgent baritone. He was the most seasoned Hunter among them so the others deferred to him. “Let’s see what comes out of that, then we’ll split them up amongst ourselves.” Then he turned back to the Magi. “Banishers and Trackers, you can pick up any that get away from us, but stay behind us as much as possible. We’re relying on you to send back any we can’t kill outright. Give us a chance to strike a deathblow first, but the priority is to keep them from leaving the area. The Clean-up teams have orders to follow any that do escape us, at a safe distance, and we’ll catch them once the rest are destroyed. Don’t be tempted to attack any that escape on your own, don’t forget how easily these things can poison you, wait for back-up and do not engage one alone. Am I clear on that?” he roared like an army sergeant.
Gabi had to bite her lip to stop herself saluting and yelling back, “Yes, Staff Sergeant!” Doug would not be amused.
The Magi murmured agreement and moved apart into a loose line, their expressions calm and resolute as they began their own internal preparations for the battle. Gabi was quietly cursing the fact that she had run out of sweets, and took to pacing in a small circle as she tugged on a pair of fingerless gloves. Lance was playing idly with a small ball of fire, tossing it casually from one hand to the other, while Kyle was rechecking his weapons and Matt was stretching out muscles, a grin of anticipation on his rough, unshaven face.
Gabi suddenly became aware of another change in the air, an electric charge seemed to crackle angrily across her skin, and a thick, oily darkness descended into her brain. She looked quickly around at Kyle and the others, they were looking uncomfortable too, and she heard a quick, hissed intake of breath from the group behind her. The Demons had made it across the void.
“Buckle up boys,” Gabi drawled loudly. “Time to kick some fucking Demon ass!” Her last words came out as a scream of defiance. A snarl broke from deep in her throat as she ripped Nex from her sheath, a look of vicious determination on her face. The darkness swamping her brain immediately dissipated, and her outcry seemed to have the same effect on everyone around her as they all drew weapons and issued war cries of their own.
The Demons emerged from the mist; a motley group of repulsive aberrations from the darkest depths of hell. Four grotesque creatures lumbered into sight, and the group collectively breathed a sigh of relief. The relief was short-lived as another smaller Demon flew out of the fog and hovered a few feet above the others, and then another wraithlike being floated out and to the right of the gathered hoard. The Hunters froze in tense expectation, wondering what exactly they were pitting themselves against, and how many more were coming.
“That’s all of them,” a small, hushed female voice said from just behind Gabi. “The portal has closed. No more can cross tonight.”
“You’re sure?” Doug demanded from the slightly built Magus.
“Positive,” “Trinity knows what she’s talking about when it comes to portals,” one of male Magi quickly backed her up.
“OK then,” Doug continued quickly, “let’s see what we have to deal with.”
The Demons had started to get their bearings and the wraithlike one raised a tattered sleeve and pointed towards the group of Hunters standing ready and waiting. The Wraith was wearing a heavy, dark cloak that covered its entire body, if it even had a body. Nothing could be seen except for glowing, yellow-green orbs floating around in the depths of the cowl.
Matt, the tall, heavily muscled Werewolf, was the first to stake his claim. “I’ll take the skinny green giant.” The tallest of the Demons, it was over eight feet tall and covered in bits of leather armour which sprouted vicious metal spikes. Its skeletal arms and legs were covered in flaky pea-green skin and its hands ended in three inch, dagger-like claws; dripping with a dark, oily substance that hissed and spattered when it came into contact with the grass at its feet. It turned its human-shaped head to look at them and Gabi realised it had no discernable mouth and only holes for nostrils. Three large eyes, completely black, were situated just below a ridged brow of dark green spikes protruding from its forehead.
“You’re welcome to that one,” countered Lance, “I think I’ll take Godzilla over there. Weapons aren’t going to pierce its armoured skin easily, so let’s see how it takes to being slow roasted inside its shell,” he finished with an evil smirk. This Demon was also tall and hulking, though not as tall as the first one. Straight
out of a B-grade monster movie, it was mostly reptilian in appearance, though standing upright on thickly muscled legs. It was covered in large, metallic scales all the way down to its massive tail, which was easily as long as Gabi was tall. Its gaping jaws were more like those of a crocodile, and were filled with thousands of razor sharp teeth which oozed with slimy, black saliva.
Doug interrupted quickly as Gabi and Kyle started to claim their targets. “I’ll take the birdman,” he said, jerking his head upwards towards the stick thin, avian Demon hovering in mid-air. It had motley yellow and brown skin and no feathers, but leathery bat-like wings that were far bigger than the rest of its emaciated body. It had scrawny human arms and legs, but instead of a mouth it sported a vicious looking hooked beak sprouting from its humanoid face. It was carrying a crudely fashioned crossbow. “I can change to something with wings to chase it down if it tries to run.”
“You’ll need to watch out for that crossbow,” Lance cautioned. “If I get the chance I’ll try to set fire to it.”
“OK, but don’t lose your concentration on Godzilla.” Then Doug steeled himself, Gabi wasn’t going to like what he was about to decree. He drew in a deep breath. “Hellcat--”
A Cat's Chance in Hell Page 3
