A Cat's Chance in Hell

by Sharon Hannaford

  There was slight movement from the group of four, as the female took another step forward.

  “I don’t think you’re precisely in a position to give orders,” the female spat in Gabi’s direction. Her accent seemed to have a touch of French in it, well that explained a few things.

  “Genevieve!” Deep Voice cautioned with an increased rumble in his voice. “We are not here to intimidate her.”

  “Angeli Morte – Phuh!” spat the female, with a sneer thrown in Gabi’s direction. “She is just a pitiful scrap of semi-humanity, what good can she do anybody?”

  Deep Voice drew himself up to his full height and turned towards the female with exasperation on his face, but Gabi simply ignored the female.

  “If you are not here to intimidate me then why did he send six of you?” She directed her question at Deep Voice and his brother, acting as though the female did not exist.

  Deep Voice threw one more threatening glance Genevieve’s way, and then visibly calmed himself before replying. “The Master simply wanted to get your attention without any bloodshed. He felt extra numbers would make you less likely to attack us on sight.”

  “Six against one?” she asked incredulously.

  Deep Voice inclined his head slightly, almost respectfully. “Your reputation precedes you, Miss Bradford.”

  Gabi raised one eyebrow. These Vampires were well informed. Members of the SMV tended to keep their identities as secret as possible. She was no longer holding a fighting crouch, but she hadn’t relaxed her defences; she still held swords in both hands, her wrists crossed loosely in front of her.

  “Perhaps it would be more civilised to introduce ourselves first.” Deep Voice used that odd formal cadence again. “I am Liam, and this is Nathan.” He inclined his head towards the Vampire next to him. He was purposefully making very few movements, Gabi noted, obviously trying not to startle her. “You have met Genevieve….”

  “Well, I heard a dog bark anyway!” Gabi interrupted.

  Genevieve shrieked and launched herself straight at Gabi in a fury of fangs and nails.

  When was she ever going to learn to keep her big mouth shut?

  “NO!” Liam growled, leaping forward. “Stop!”

  He was too late, by a fraction of a second. Genevieve blew past him and launched herself directly at Gabi. Gabi’s arms raised and her swords flashed outwards in a single fluid motion. The two of them flew backwards as Genevieve collided with Gabi and they landed in a tumbled heap against the far brick wall. The fight was over in seconds, both of them using every ounce of strength and speed to rip into the other. When they suddenly broke apart Genevieve was still shrieking, but this time in disbelief. She reared away from Gabi, her eyes wide and her hand clutching at the blade sunk deep into her chest. She stumbled several metres backwards, for once completely ungraceful. Her body suddenly stiffened as a single drop of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and she collapsed to the ground. Gabi was already picking herself up off the street, leaning on the wall assessing her own body, but there was no time to do more than make sure she could stand. The other Vamps, shocked into stillness for the briefest second, leapt into action. The blonde one from the bar broke from the pack and streaked towards Genevieve. Inhumanly fast.

  “No!” He roared hoarsely as he reached her. He watched in stark disbelief as her corpse began to mummify in front of him. Gaby hadn’t been formally introduced to this male yet, but he obviously cared about the very beautiful, but now very dead, Genevieve. Then he looked up at Gabi with rage twisting his pale features.

  “You bitch!” he screamed, baring his pale, glistening fangs viciously. He began to stalk towards her.

  Liam and Nathan threw themselves into the small space between the pissed off Vampire and Gabi, while the other two hung back, seeming bemused by the turn of events.

  Gabi pulled in a ragged breath and switched Nex to her left hand, her right arm wasn’t following orders and the butterfly sword was still sticking out of Genevieve’s decayed corpse. She could feel blood seeping down her right arm, not a good thing when surrounded by excited Vampires. Time for Elvis to leave the building she decided.

  “Stephan, No!” Liam ordered in a stern voice. “The Master has offered her his protection. To attack her means death.”

  “She hasn’t accepted his offer yet, has she?” Stephan bellowed back. “Get out of my way. I will avenge Genevieve’s death.”

  “Genevieve attacked first. There is nothing to avenge. Angeli Morte had the right to defend herself.” Liam moved towards Stephan, apparently trying to force him to step back. Stephan suddenly cowered down slightly, appearing to acquiesce. Liam relaxed minutely, and then Stephan leapt into the air and soared over their heads, somersaulting before landing inches from Gabi in an aggressive crouch. He didn’t pause for so much as half a second before diving straight towards her. Time almost stood still as Gabi took one quick step to the right, spinning herself away from the enraged Vampire like a matador, changing the grip on her sword so that she held it pointed downward in her fist in the same instant. She noticed the other Vampires rushing forward, but they would be an instant too late. She continued her spin like a dancer, and brought the short sword up in a backwards thrust. She used all the force of her weight and spin to drive the sword deep into Stephan’s back.

  She didn’t wait to check that she had hit his heart, she yanked Nex out of his body, hissing as pain lanced through her right side, and took off in a dead sprint back down the alley.

  She could sense them following as she raced through the dark, empty streets. Only four, so Stephan was either dead or severely injured. Her breath was coming in ragged gasps and the pain in her arm and chest was sharpening with every stride. Two of them suddenly streaked ahead slightly to the right of her. So they thought they could ambush her again, fortunately she knew this part of the city well. She made an abrupt left turn into another side street, there was a well hidden fire escape just a few hundred metres down, this would get her onto the rooftops. Hopefully it would take the Vampires a couple of minutes to realise she was no longer on street level.

  She stopped at the ladder to catch her breath, and to steel herself for the climb up the ladder. Her right arm still wasn’t working right, she was guessing at dislocation, and she had definitely heard something crack when she had been crushed between Genevieve and the brick wall. Arm? Collar bone? Probably a few ribs too. She took one more shallow breath, slipped Nex back into her sheath and grabbed hold of the ladder, hoping she’d have time to pull her phone and call Kyle once she got to the top. She scanned for the Vampires, and felt a huge surge of adrenaline as she realised two of them were at the entrance to the side street, she didn’t bother trying to find the other two, she just threw all her concentration into the cumbersome task of climbing the ladder one handed.

  She reached the top and rolled onto the flat roof, biting back a groan as she stood up. She could now sense the other two Vampires coming from the right at roof level, the first two almost at the ladder. Gabi crouched down and ran for the nearest shadows, there was another building with a flat roof about three metres jump from this one, she angled for a spot that she knew was the easiest to jump from. Normally this would be an easy jump for her, but she wasn’t feeling particularly confident right now. She was out of options, however, so she left the shadows and started towards the edge of the roof, resisting the urge to let out a groan. She stopped dead in her tracks as she became aware of two Vampires appearing on the roof of the adjoining building. Then, a very masculine voice spoke from the dark behind her.

  “Good evening Miss Bradford,” the husky male voice said, strangely polite. “Or may I call you Gabrielle?”

  She turned around very slowly, realising she was once again surrounded. A tall man stepped out of the shadows and walked with noiseless grace towards her.

  “Oh, shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!” Gaby thought desperately. Her inbuilt ‘Vamp-meter’ was telling her this Vampire was enormously powerful.


  As he stepped into the light cast from a taller building she could see more of the newcomer. He was very tall, well over the 6 ft mark, his broad shoulders were emphasized by a full length leather coat, that she couldn’t help thinking must have been tailor-made to fit him. His hair was slightly longer than fashionable, in varying shades of dark blonde and brown and curling softly into his collar. His face could easily have been on the cover of any one of a dozen fashion magazines. He was the epitome of maleness in the hard angles of his cheek bones and jaw, and his dark eyebrows; offset by a sensual pair of lips and eyes framed by thick dark eyelashes that most women would give their first born child for. He was, quite simply, the most strikingly attractive man Gabi had ever seen in her life. Her heart felt like it stuttered a few beats while she took him in, before she forced her usual mask of haughty, nonchalance back into place.

  “You have me at a disadvantage Mr….” She left it hanging. She purposefully stared straight into his eyes, though she was by no means sure she would be immune to such an immensely powerful Vampire.

  He flashed a brilliant smile, clearly displaying his pearl-white fangs, his expression taking on a sardonic edge. “Of course, I am being rude. Forgive me, as I am not often in the company of one with such an esteemed reputation.”

  Gaby raised her eyebrows but decided to keep her mouth shut for once.

  He continued, “My name is Julius, and I would very much like to make your acquaintance.” He was still smiling mildly at her, keeping very still, and watching her reactions closely.

  “I take it then that you are the uh, Master, that Liam was referring to,” Gaby asked, trying to keep her voice steady. “The one who wanted to meet with me?” She tried to keep her voice even, and not show any sign of her injuries. She resisted the urge to cradle her injured arm to her body. Openly displaying weakness in front of an aggressive Vampire was courting a short trip to hell.

  “Yes, indeed,” he replied. “I hope my envoys were clear and polite in their extension of my invitation.” He spoke slowly, with measured words, his voice low and husky.

  She wondered if he knew how utterly mesmerising his voice was. She mentally shook herself, scanning again and realising that the Vampire numbers had now grown to over a dozen, her heart jolted with a new surge of adrenaline, and she suddenly became highly aware of the blood seeping down from her shoulder. The Vampire in front of her suddenly stiffened and her left hand flashed to Nex’s hilt.

  “No.” He said in a flat, dead voice. “It would seem they were anything but friendly.” He was now radiating fury, but oddly it didn’t seem directed at Gabi. He didn’t even seem to notice when she slipped Nex free of her sheath. He looked over her head and bit out the words, “Why is she bleeding?”

  Gabi knew instantly why this Vampire was deemed Master of the City. The power rolled off of him in waves. It was like standing too close to a bonfire. A male Vampire stepped out of the shadows to her right, he had his head bowed deeply, but Gabi recognised Liam’s voice as he spoke.

  “Sire,” he began in a rough voice. “My deepest apologies. Genevieve’s temper got the better of her, and the rest of us were not quick enough to intervene in time.”

  The cold fury on The Master’s face did not change as he demanded. “Where is Genevieve?” His eyes scanned the roof quickly.

  Liam’s head did not lift as he answered. “Miss Bradford defended herself against Genevieve’s attack Sire.”

  “So she is gone?” Julius demanded.

  Liam gave a quick nod of his head.

  Gabi tightened her grip on Nex, no way was she getting out of this one alive if the Master considered Genevieve’s death malicious, but she would take a couple more with her, she thought fiercely.

  “And Stephan?” Julius demanded again, coldly but seeming completely under control.

  “Stephan tried to avenge Genevieve’s death. Nathan and I tried to talk sense into him, but he was incensed, out of his mind.” Liam shook his head sadly.

  “You and Nathan took him down?” Julius asked, sounding completely matter of fact, as though it was a normal occurrence

  “No Sire.” Liam seemed to hang his head a little more. “He managed to get past us. Miss Bradford took him down too.”

  Julius’s eyes flashed with something that seemed a little like surprise as his concentration flicked back to Gaby. A muscle twitched in his jaw as he spoke through slightly clenched teeth. “I should never have given in to Stephan’s suggestion that Genevieve join the operation. I will speak to you and Nathan later. I expect a full debriefing.” The threat in his voice was implicit, and Gaby could almost feel sorry for Liam, if she wasn’t feeling so utterly exposed herself.

  Gaby felt her body beginning to shake and knew that the adrenaline high was about to wear off. She closed her eyes for a brief second while she tried to collect herself, and when she opened them again he was standing mere inches from her. She flinched back automatically, but held her ground, tipping her head back to see his face. He looked to be assessing her, probably noting her hammering heart and quivering body. He seemed oblivious to Nex held tight in her left hand. He reached for her right arm, he could obviously smell the blood seeping down from the bite Genevieve had inflicted on her shoulder. As he brought her arm up, as if to inspect it, pain slammed into her. She pulled back from him, letting out a gasp and collapsing to her knees, her head reeling and nausea threatening to overwhelm her. She dropped Nex and wrapped her left arm protectively over the right; cradling it. She closed her eyes and fought the nausea down, trying to breathe evenly, feeling a cold sweat pop out on her forehead. Too late to hide the extent of her weakness now. If she had been in any less pain she would’ve been very surprised to hear his voice sounding apologetic as he crouched down in front of her.

  “I am sorry,” he said, sounding almost contrite. “I was not aware you were that badly injured. You hide pain well, too well for your own good it seems.” He sounded like he was musing to himself now. Then he suddenly became businesslike. “It seems my original plan for our meeting has gone completely awry, we must see to your injuries first, most pressingly the dislocation of your shoulder.”

  Shit, how did he know it was dislocated? Gaby wondered disjointedly, he had hardly touched her. She brushed the thought away, trying instead to concentrate on getting to her feet and finding a way out of this mess. She briefly considered trying to bring in some bats to create enough confusion for her to escape, but quickly banished the thought, realising that these Vamps weren’t going to be put off by a handful of flapping mammals.

  As she started to try and rise, Julius put a cool, strong hand under her left elbow. She felt herself flinch and had to work hard not to rip her arm out of his grip. She steadied herself and allowed him to help her upright, Nex once again in her left hand. Then she moved purposefully a few feet back from him. He watched her move back, with a brooding, pensive look on his face.

  “I’m guessing you’re not going to want to come back to our headquarters with me, so that we can get your injuries attended to and then continue with our meeting.” He made it a statement of fact, rather than an actual question.

  Gabi quirked one eyebrow upward. “That would be a safe assumption to make.” She was trying for polite, shooting her mouth off earlier had got her hurt, but it was her natural defence when she felt cornered. “How about we all go home, and think about things, and we can try this again another night?” She tried to smile winningly. A girl could always live in hope. If she got out of this one alive, she vowed she would never, never, never run off alone after a Vampire again. Well, at least not for the next few weeks anyway.

  “Hmm.” Julius mused. “I thought you might feel that way. Fortunately I brought this with me. It will make the whole thing much more painless. For all of us.” And when he brought his hand up in front of him, there was a small black device in it.

  Gabi heard a sharp whistling noise and as she tried to spin herself out of the way she felt a sharp sting in her uninjured
shoulder. She looked down in surprise at the small dart and realisation hit home too late for her to do anything about it.

  Her limbs began turning to jelly as she ground out the words “You BASTARD!” through clenched teeth. She felt him take the curved sword from her numb fingers. The adrenaline and the fury coursing through her couldn’t hold back the darkness crashing down on her. She expected to feel the impact with the ground as she collapsed, but instead she felt cool, hard arms catch her and lift her up. The last thing she heard as she slipped from consciousness was his deep, sexy voice saying, “It is the easiest way, trust me.”

  Chapter 6

  Julius sighed and threw down the pen onto his paper strewn desk. It was pointless trying to even pretend to get any work done while she was lying unconscious on the chaise lounge across the room from him. He was confident she would start to come around in the next few minutes anyway, so he needed to be ready when she did. They’d needed to give her another dose of tranquilizer on the trip, as she had started to come around too quickly. She was going to be like a cornered lioness when she woke up, cagey, mistrustful and more likely to attack him than listen to him. He had deliberately put her in his office rather than one of his many spare bedrooms, hoping she would feel less threatened in the businesslike surroundings.

  He was relieved that Jonathon, his resident doctor, had been at the estate when they came in with her. Jonathon had been able to put her shoulder back into place with relative ease while she was still unconscious. They had bound her ribs, which Jonathon suspected were broken, and stitched up the bite wound. The doctor was reasonably certain that she had a fractured collarbone too, but it didn’t need resetting, so they had strapped her arm into place against her chest to prevent further injury. It was up to Julius to keep her calm and still when she came around, but he wasn’t sure how successful he was going to be. It was obvious that she didn’t heal as fast as a Vampire, but rumour was that she healed faster than the average human; she had never been off street patrol for longer than two weeks as far as his informants knew.