“But we have a better idea; though not immortal, even the Dhampir Eka knew was long-lived. And he wasn’t fed Vampire blood; in fact, his nutrition was abysmal. We know what Vampire blood does to humans…” Julius trailed off, and Alexander nodded, again following Julius silently down his train of thought.
“How have you lived with these two for so long without knocking their heads together?” Gabi turned to Fergus.
“Ye gie used tae it,” Fergus rumbled, “after a century ur two.”
“So she’s already different to the others?” Alexander spoke aloud.
“In Eka’s day their blood could enhance a Vampire’s abilities, but their blood was never powerful enough to turn a Vampire into a Master,” Julius told him.
“He knew about Alex,” Gabi blurted, suddenly remembering that snippet of the conversation. “How does he know about Alex?”
“Th’ test,” Fergus muttered. “Th’ Vampires at th’ hotel when Julius was awa’ at Coort. Alexander showed his hand then. Th’ Decurian has worked it out.”
Gabi’s mouth popped open. It was true; they’d never gotten to the bottom of that situation. Vampires had taken up residence in the City without permission, and when Alexander had gone to confront them, the leader had tried to mind roll him. He’d drawn on Clan strength to resist, and all six of the visitors had been killed or taken their own lives during the ensuing melee. They’d figured it was somehow related to the presence of the Lieutenant, the Vampire who had used blood and mind control over Murphy and Sasha to cause trouble in the City. The Lieutenant was one of the Centuria, so he’d been here on orders from the Decuria. Fergus was right.
“Well, at least we know what that was all about,” Gabi muttered. “I guess you can stop hiding your power upgrade now.”
Alexander had an unhappy expression on his face.
“It was bound to come to light eventually,” Julius said.
“But now they know Hellcat can create Masters…” Alexander looked worried; his fingers drummed along the arm of the sofa. “I don’t like this, Julius. If she wasn’t a target before, she will be now.”
“If they start coming after us, I’ll just start making more of the Clan Masters,” Gabi threatened. “I dare them to throw themselves at a Clan of two hundred Master Vampires.” Her tone was ominous, masking the thread of fear that was crawling up her spine. “We haven’t told you the best part yet,” Gabi said to break the sudden, uncomfortable silence.
“It gets worse?” Alexander looked pained.
“Only certain Vampires can ‘make’ Dhampirs. It’s a skill a Vampire either has or doesn’t have, and apparently they’re very rare,” she explained.
Alexander stared at her for several seconds, but she knew he wasn’t actually seeing her face, his mind was running this new fact against everything else they already knew. He blew out his cheeks at last and went back to his finger tapping.
“Talk about a double-edged sword. Great news that there’s little chance of the Vampire realm suddenly being inundated with Dhampirs, but—”
“Caspian,” Gabi finished his thought. “Even more reason to find him fast.”
“But it means the twins, the babies the Maleficus is carrying, will only be Magi, not Dhampirs,” Alexander theorised. “The Vampires that the Dark Magi sacrificed for their rituals wouldn’t be able to make Dhampirs, so the blood Mariska ingested shouldn’t have an effect.”
“If th’ Decurian is correct, ay coorse.” Fergus, the ever-present voice of reason.
“Well, once we find them, we’ll know for sure,” Gabi grumbled.
“Any news?” Gabi asked as she entered the war room a while later. She was carrying a tray of Chinese takeaways and a couple of energy drinks. Sadly, it was still too hot for coffee even in the early hours of the morning. Julius and Alexander had gone into a meeting with Liam about some business merger, and she’d promised to follow up with Murphy. According to Claudia, who’d brought Gabi the food a few minutes ago, Murphy had been locked in the computer hub since seven p.m.
Murphy looked up from his monitor with a scowl, but his expression brightened at the sight of the food containers. He sighed and stretched his neck, his leering tattoos winking at Gabi, before springing out of his chair and attacking the food as soon as she put the tray down. Watching him move reminded her that his passion had been Parkour before all the shit with the Lieutenant had gone down. He moved like a panther, self-assured and acutely aware of every movement. She hoped he still got time to practice.
“Well, at least we’re no longer looking for a piece of straw in a haystack,” he mumbled around a mouthful of sweet and sour chicken. “Looking for a needle is so much easier.”
She cracked the tab on one of the energy drinks. “Oooh, Mr Sarcasm has come out to play,” she drawled before taking a long drink from the can.
He gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry,” he said out of the side of his mouth; he was still shovelling noodles into his mouth.
“Gods of Atlantis, when did you last eat?” she asked. It was virtually impossible to eat fast enough to shock her.
“Um…” He wiped his mouth with the back of one hand and glanced at the computer monitor to check the time. “I had some breakfast before I went to bed yesterday morning.”
Gabi suppressed a sigh and picked up a container of chicken chow mein. They were all stretched thin with everything going on, but they had to look after themselves. Humans couldn’t go without food and sleep, and the Vampires needed to feed; she made a mental note to speak to Julius about her concerns.
“Even with the distinctive description, it’s going to take some time.” Murphy indicated the monitor with his chopsticks. “The world is a big place. If we could just narrow down the search zone, it would make it easier. As it is, Trish has two extra people working on it on her side, and we’ve basically divided the world up into quarters. It still leaves us with thousands of airports to check, and we haven’t even begun to consider ports, train stations and car entry points.”
The sheer scale of the project was beginning to dawn on Gabi. She hopped onto the table and tucked into the chow mein, turning the problem over in her mind as she ate, cursing the fact that they’d been disturbed before they got all the information they could out of Eka. Maybe if they sent him a message through Astrid…but that could take days. Thinking of Astrid brought up a mental picture of Sicarius.
“The assassin,” she said, jumping off the table and almost knocking over the half-full energy drink. “He’s been in the thick of things from the beginning.”
CHAPTER 15
Pacing the length of the war room, Gabi pulled her phone out of her pocket and called up Nathan’s number. If anyone knew where the assassin was being held, Julius’s head of security would.
Ten minutes later Sicarius was escorted into the war room by Rat. Though a member of SID, in the last few weeks Gabi hadn’t seen much of the unassuming Vampire known more commonly by his initials than his first name. The non-essential members of the Dhampir Squad were rotated every month to give them some downtime and give more Clan members a chance to be part of the action. Rat, who could’ve been anyone’s favourite grumpy uncle, was currently off roster, and it was good to see his face.
“One assassin as ordered,” he said, shoving the man’s butt into one of the chairs near the main table. “Do you need me to hang around and take him back?”
“No, that’s okay, Reg.” Gabi loved the mock scowl his real name elicited. “I’ll take him from here.” It was almost sunrise; she didn’t want to keep him from his daysleep. Rat gave her a cheery salute and shut the door behind him on his way out. She jammed her hands on her hips and turned to face the assassin. He glared up at her through bleary, bloodshot eyes. His hair was mussed, stubble darkened his face, and he was wearing a rumpled white T-shirt and checked pyjama bottoms. He had several more cuts on his face from his race through the Mauritanian jungle.
“This couldn’t have waited until a human hour?” he grumbled.
“Bang goes the cool, calm and collected assassin mask. Are you always this grouchy when you get woken up?” she asked.
He made a disgruntled noise. “I haven’t got to kill anyone lately, that makes me tetchy, and this heat doesn’t help.” He yawned widely and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Coffee?” he asked hopefully.
She picked up one of the spare energy drinks and tossed it at him. He caught it three millimetres from his nose. “That’s as good as it gets for now. If you answer my questions though, maybe we can renegotiate.”
He inspected the can and pulled a disgusted face, but cracked the tab, putting his mouth over the top to catch the eruption of gas and liquid.
“What do you want to know?” he asked. “I’m not privy to much of interest.”
“You know more than you make out.” Gabi watched his face carefully. “Don’t play dumb with me.” She caught his gaze and narrowed her eyes warningly. He was in a den of Vampires; each of whom would be more than willing to torture him if she asked them to; he needed to understand that. He waited silently, giving nothing away. “We need to narrow down the search range for the Spaniard and the Maleficus. Eka knew something, but he only gave us a tiny scrap to follow. One that will take weeks, if not months, to fully investigate. We don’t have that kind of time. What do you know?”
“My employer doesn’t share that kind of information with me,” he began.
“I’m not asking what you were told,” Gabi interrupted. “I’m asking what you know. You’re an intelligent guy, one trained to observe everyone, to read into everything, to anticipate anything. You understand human and Vampire behaviour because you’re immersed in our world. Give me something to work with.”
Sicarius pursed his lips, his eyes never leaving hers. He crushed the drink can in his left hand before setting it on the table.
“Fine,” he said at last. “But I wasn’t lying earlier; Eka didn’t tell me anything. I’m pretty good at…overhearing conversations. I don’t have Vampire hearing, but, being human, I often get overlooked when they discuss things. They don’t see me as any kind of threat, even those who know what I am.” A tiny, self-mocking smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I’m also good at sneaking into places and remaining unobserved, even by Vampires and Werewolves.”
Gabi was suddenly struck by the thought that if this man was Turned, he might end up being like the Lieutenant: a chameleon, a vampire who could virtually disappear while standing right next to you. “Part of my job is investigating people and places. I’m good at that. You have your experts,” he nodded towards Murphy, “with their version of expertise, but much of what I need to find isn’t recorded on any computer database. It’s documented in journals and tomes and registers, in libraries, council offices, archives and military bases. I have many friends in places like these.”
“Get to the point,” Gabi growled.
“While a few people on the run will flee to a completely unfamiliar and unexpected place, the vast majority will go somewhere familiar, somewhere that they feel they have the upper hand. If you are searching for a Spaniard…” He left the sentence hanging.
Gabi chewed the inside of her lip while she assessed his words, reading his expression. Finally, she turned to Murphy with a nod. He tossed his food container in the nearest bin and sat back down in front of the computer.
“You know more than that.” She returned Sicarius’s gaze. “Spit it out.”
“There is a shipping company that bears the man’s surname; it is supposedly owned by a distant relative of the original merchant who founded the company in the mid-eighteenth century. This relative holds shares and receives dividends from a large portfolio in the Valencia region of Spain.”
The clicking of keys on Murphy’s keyboard sped up.
********************
Caspian pulled the cap a little lower over his face as he passed under a street camera. None of those dratted things had existed the last time he’d walked these streets. Little else had changed here in his village, except for the amount of clothing the females wore. The one he followed now wore next to nothing. A tiny scrap of black faux leather posing as a skirt and an even smaller blue sequined tank top that exposed more than it covered. Her jewellery probably weighed more than her clothing. She teetered a little on the three-inch heels she wore, but her stride was sure and confident. Caspian had initially thought tourist season would make for easy pickings when he needed to feed. He’d envisioned single youngsters heading out to nightclubs and restaurants, drunk females meandering back to their apartments after several drinks, the odd local heading home after finishing a late shift, but it hadn’t been as easy as he’d anticipated. The tourists rarely travelled alone, especially the women, and locals used cars or mopeds. Times had changed and people had become more alert to possible danger, keeping out of back alleys and dark streets and going around in groups of three and four, if not more.
This one, wafting strong perfume, sex and hairspray, must have missed her group and was hurrying to catch up. Caspian would redirect her into a dark nook that was coming up in about half a block. He lengthened his stride, beginning to close the distance between them, when his pocket began to vibrate. He suppressed the growl that surged from his chest; he had already been prowling the streets for hours, looking for a likely feeder, he didn’t want to resort to desperate measures. He pulled the phone out of his denim jacket and checked the screen. No name, just a number, one he recognised well enough. He couldn’t ignore it.
“Yes,” he said after pressing the answer icon. A familiar rasp came from the phone, but he had already changed direction and was hurrying towards the apartment. It was difficult to make out what Molok said, but he understood enough. Excitement welled in his chest. He just barely managed to keep to human speed, as the need to get back immediately burned through him. Calming himself, he found the number for the médico. It was time. Soon…so soon he could taste it, they would be his.
********************
Cool hands slipped over Gabi’s shoulders, sure fingers massaging gently as the reassuring scent that was uniquely Julius wrapped around her. She leaned her head back to touch him and stretched; her muscles were tight from sitting hunched in the chair. Her eyes felt dry and crusty, and a glance at the time in the corner of her monitor told her she’d been painstakingly searching surveillance footage alongside Murphy and Sicarius for almost two hours. Trish was working on the money trail.
“I’ve brought reinforcements,” he said quietly into her ear. “Time for a break.” She’d brought him up to speed with their new search area before they began watching the hours of airport video footage on fast forward. He’d promised to be back at the Estate shortly after sunrise. She glanced around to see who Julius had brought with him and broke into a wide grin.
“Surprise,” all three female Werewolves chorused in sync. Clustered close together near the door stood three of Gabi’s friends, young Werewolves collectively known as the Unholy Trio, especially when pulling off mischief and causing shenanigans. Casey was in the front, her goth make-up less pronounced than usual, and she’d broken up her usual black-on-black ensemble with a chunky red necklace and a red bow in her ebony hair. Tall, willowy, white-blonde Jade was openly checking out Julius’s ass with a wicked glint in her eye, and cute, naughty-but-nice Adriana shook her head in mock exasperation.
Gabi jumped up from her chair, the stiffness and exhaustion temporarily forgotten. Giving each girl a hug, she dragged them closer to the action. Murphy turned to see what the excitement was. He began to smile, seeing the girls, but then his smile froze in place as he noticed Adriana, and the room went still.
Oh shit, Gabi hadn’t given any thought to the fact that Adriana might not yet be up to meeting Murphy after her ordeal at the hands of the Kresniks. It was only a couple of months since she’d been kidnapped and tortured by Dark Stalker and Lady Helsing on the orders of the Lieutenant. The young Werewolf probably knew that Murphy now worked for th
em, but she might not have expected to come face to face with him. Gabi also froze, entirely out of her depth in the situation. Give her demons, rogue Vampires and newly made Werewolves over this kind of thing any day. Relax, Julius whispered into her mind.
Adriana took a step forward away from the other two, her eyes locked on Murphy. Casey gave her hand a final reassuring squeeze and then let her go. She approached Murphy, who stood awkwardly glancing from Adriana to the floor and back.
“I’m…” His voice broke, his face a picture of remorse and embarrassment. “I’m really, really sorry…” He had hunched his shoulders a little, jamming his large hands in his jeans pockets, subconsciously trying to make himself smaller and less threatening.
Adriana held out her hand, interrupting his stammered apology. “Hi, I’m Adriana. There’s no need to apologise, though I do appreciate the sentiment. I know you were coerced into what you did. I don’t hold any grudge.” Her voice was quiet and sincere.
The tattooed man hesitated for a moment, just staring at her hand, and then he slowly took his hands from his pockets and reached out to shake hers.
“It’s very nice to meet you under different circumstances, Adriana,” he finally said. “I’m David Murphy, but everyone here calls me Murphy.”
Jade walked up and joined Adriana, closely followed by Casey. “We’re here to help,” Adriana told Murphy. “Put us to work.”
Julius drew Gabi against his side, wrapping an arm around her waist. “I think they have this under control. Time for bed, Lady Consort,” he purred. Mmmm, she wanted to rub herself all over him, like a cat who just found a fresh patch of catnip, but he wasn’t going to get what he wanted that easily.
She forced a huge yawn. “Sleep sounds like a wonderful plan,” she said, hamming it up by knuckling her eyes and stretching again. The gold in his eyes grew liquid, drowning out the blue.
There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) Page 20
