All Hell Breaks Loose

by Sharon Hannaford

  “That’s enough,” Jonathon said firmly, but the rest of his words became a garbled buzz.

  Alexander chipped something in, Gabi only caught the words ‘deaf’ and ‘blast’, so he must have been talking to the doc. Fergus moved then, and Julius’s eyes blinked open. His gaze was uncomprehending and distant, dark with bloodlust.

  “Enough, Sire,” Fergus rumbled.

  Gabi let out a small groan as the fangs sank deeper into her flesh for a moment. In a flash of movement, Fergus jammed his fingers into Julius’s mouth, forcing his jaws apart, and Jonathon pulled Gabi’s wrist free. As Julius lunged, snakelike, to grab hold of her again, Fergus forced his own wrist into Julius’s mouth. Gabi curled her arm protectively into her stomach but didn’t move as she watched Julius with concern. Jonathon pulled at her shoulder.

  “It’s okay, Gabi,” he said loudly enough for her to hear him. “Fergus’s blood will shock him out of the bloodlust. He’ll be fine in a few minutes. Come and let me look at your injuries.”

  She wriggled back from the sofa, allowing Fergus to take her place, and hauled herself to her feet. She was aiming for the chair at the little kitchen table, but her feet just couldn’t seem to get her there. The distance stretched out, and the room suddenly filled with sparkly dots of glitter.

  “Whoa,” she said, trying to steady herself.

  Someone caught her and lifted her up. She struggled half-heartedly, she’d had enough of being carried around for one day. Her butt hit a chair, and firm hands pushed her head down between her knees.

  “Breathe, Gabi, deep as you can, in and out,” Jonathon’s calm voice instructed.

  She tried, but she ended up in another coughing fit. For once, she wished she could pass out at will. There wasn’t a part of her that didn’t hurt, and a week-long coma sounded like an attractive proposition. There was a flurry of movement at the sofa, and she looked up, alarmed.

  “Julius—” “Sire, calmly—” “It’s okay—” Too many voices were shouting at once.

  “Gabrielle, where is Gabrielle?” Julius roared over them all.

  Ah, he was conscious. The tight knot of anxiety in Gabi’s chest finally vanished, and she felt tears in her eyes. Proper, stupid, heartfelt tears.

  “She’s fine, she’s fine,” Alexander repeated. “Jonathon is taking care of her now. Don’t try to move yet.”

  “I’m here, Julius,” she croaked, once the coughing subsided. She wiped at her face, grateful that her tears could be explained away as smoke induced.

  Then Fergus moved out of the way so that Julius could see her. His face ran through a gamut of emotions: anger, relief, concern.

  “Lea,” he said finally.

  She couldn’t hear it, but she could see the word leave his lips. He glanced at Alexander, then back to her with narrow-eyed concern. Gabi smiled and relaxed back against the chair, her eyes not leaving Julius’s as he rose slowly, uncharacteristically unsteadily, and came over to her.

  The wave of bloodlust receded from his mind, leaving Julius swaying with exhaustion. Dizzy and confused. It took him several seconds to recall what had happened. The explosion. Gabi falling. Grabbing at her with his power, desperate to cushion her impact with the concrete floor. He barely remembered his own plunge, the pain of the fall had been nowhere near as severe as the pain exploding in his head from the mental overload. Fergus grunted and removed his wrist from Julius’s mouth. His men reassured him, tried to calm him, but only actually seeing her in the chair across the room quieted the angst coursing through him. Alexander warned him that she was mostly deaf from the explosion. As he took her in, he realised it wasn’t just her eardrums that had been damaged. The men finally got out of his way and let him up off the couch to go to her.

  Jonathon was pressing a large swab to the right side of her head. Blood matted her hair and soaked her shirt, which was charred and torn in several places. Her face was cut and bruised, a thin trail of blood trickled from one ear, and Liam was holding an ice pack to her wrist. Only one of the pieces of tape strapping her fractured finger was intact. And still she turned her face up to him and smiled through the tears and the blood and the soot.

  “Hey, Superman,” she whispered hoarsely, “thanks for the catch.”

  A snort of surprised amusement escaped him. A look sent Liam moving out of the way as Jonathon applied a small tube of superglue to the gash in her head. Julius felt the sense of unease run through the room as he took over supporting her wrist. He glanced around at his men; none of them would meet his gaze. It took him a second to work out what had sparked the discomfort, and then he peeled the ice pack away to reveal her swollen, bruised wrist complete with two raw, ragged-edged fang marks.

  “You allowed her to feed me? In that condition?” He struggled to keep the roar from his voice as he spun to glare at his second in command.

  Alexander dropped his gaze but stood his ground. “The feeders were off the property for a party, Sire. They are on their way, but will still be several minutes,” he explained.

  “Jules, babe,” Gabi drew his attention, knowing full well that the nickname and her tone would irk him, “it was my choice, not theirs. Your men don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do.” She was deliberately trying to draw his anger away from his men and onto her.

  He was caught between wanting to strangle her and wanting to kiss her into submission. He allowed the anger to drain from him.

  “Julius, you need to sit,” Jonathon told him. “You haven’t had enough blood, and it would be better if you were conscious to help us deal with the police and fire brigade.”

  The doctor made sense, but what they didn’t realise was how potent Gabi’s blood was. As he crouched there, he could feel the strength seeping back into his body as it consumed her blood. He would take blood from a feeder when they arrived, but only to keep up appearances. What he did need was to have Gabi in his arms. He couldn’t quite banish from his mind the terrible vision of her plunging towards the ground.

  “Come and treat her over here, Doc,” he said, scooping her up and going back to the sofa with her. He settled the two of them so that she was pressed close to him, but accessible to Jonathon. The doctor followed with a syringe.

  “Do you think we can risk giving her some of my blood yet?” he asked the doctor.

  His blood would heal most of her wounds within minutes, but they’d been extremely cautious about giving her anything more than a small taste after Danté had tried to drain her and turn her into one of his. With so little factual information on Dhampirs, no one knew if it was easier or more difficult to Turn them. Even with a normal human it wasn’t an exact science, so he had no idea what was safe for her.

  “I’m fine, Julius,” Gabi told him, taking the pressure off Jonathon. She held her arm out for the doctor to inject the morphine. “It’s only cuts and bruises. I’ll be good as new in a day or two.”

  With a little sigh she settled the uninjured side of her head against his chest and closed her eyes. Jonathon finished his ministrations and left her to Julius. Julius lifted her damaged wrist to his mouth, gently running his tongue over the ugly wounds. It would at least numb the pain a little and stop the punctures seeping blood. He sent Liam a mental command to find some food and something with sugar in it for Gabi to drink, knowing if it just arrived she’d take it with less fuss. Liam ghosted from the room.

  “You sure know how to scare a girl,” she told him suddenly.

  Alexander broke into a sarcastic chuckle. “That’s rich, coming from you, Hellcat,” he said. “I would’ve thought it was impossible for a Vampire to get grey hairs until I met you!”

  “What’s wrong, Lex Boy?” Gabi drawled, cracking one eyelid open. “Did you find a grey hair today?”

  As amusing as their childish banter was, there were bigger problems to be dealt with.

  “Someone explain to me what the hell just happened,” he demanded.

  Gabi heard a commotion at the door, and then Nathan and Kyle strode into t
he cottage. Nathan was Liam’s brother and Julius’s fiercely loyal head of security. She lifted her head so she could hear what he had to report.

  “Car bomb,” Nathan said in a grim voice.

  “Gabi’s car,” Kyle added, his voice bleak and angry.

  “What?” Gabi wheezed, jerking upright in shock and trying to suppress another coughing fit.

  “You’re sure?” Julius asked. “It wasn’t a mechanical malfunction, gas leak?”

  “No, Sire.” Nathan shook his head. “Wolf found the remains of a remote detonation device and accelerant.”

  “But that doesn’t make any sense.” Gabi’s voice was still hoarse. “Why wait until I wasn’t in the car, why blow it up now?”

  By the looks on the faces of the other men, she had a point.

  “I’m guessing it was sent in like a Trojan horse,” Nathan replied. “They weren’t just after you. They wanted to take as many lives as possible. Whoever placed the bomb probably didn’t know the layout of the Estate. It’s possible they thought we’d all be together in one place, and they hoped the car would be close enough to take, if not all, then a good portion of us out.”

  “Well, that just sucks,” Gabi huffed. “I loved that car.”

  “Could be interesting filling in the insurance claim form,” Kyle teased, coming over and pulling off his track suit top to hand to her. Gabi was confused until she looked down at herself and realised that there wasn’t much left of her shirt, or bra for that matter. Julius helped her into a sitting position and must have sent a pointed look around the room, as every other male in the room, including Jonathon and Kyle, who’d both seen her in a lot less, suddenly found other things to look at. He gently helped her pull the remains of her shirt off, carefully peeling bits away from drying scabs and running his tongue over a few spots that were still bleeding. Kyle’s top felt good and warm once it was on, and she realised she felt chilled all over.

  “What are you doing here, anyway?” Gabi asked Kyle as she resettled herself against Julius.

  “I, uh, came to check on Trish,” Kyle replied. “I got here a couple of minutes after the explosion. I felt the shockwave in the van.”

  “Sire,” Liam said as he returned with a plate of sandwiches and a steaming mug of hot tea, “a fire engine and an ambulance are at the front gate. Do you want us to let them in?” He set the plate and mug down on a table near them.

  Gabi sat up in interest to investigate the offering. She needed caffeine in a bad way.

  “Yes, let them in,” Julius said. “Let them put out the blaze, but keep the Werewolves away from them. Tell them the house was empty, and we suspect a gas explosion. We can deal with the fire inspector later. Be sure not to let any of them wander unattended around the Estate.”

  Liam gave a sharp nod, and he and Nathan left. Gabi wrinkled her nose at the mug of tea.

  “Drink it,” Julius ordered. “Once that’s finished, you can have coffee.”

  She levelled a narrow-eyed glare at him. He ignored her and leaned forward to pick it up and place it in her uninjured hand. As much as she would never admit it out loud, the tea smelled appealing, and the heat from the cup warmed her a little. Julius must have felt the small shiver run through her, as Fergus suddenly disappeared in the direction of the bedrooms. He returned swiftly with a blanket and draped it over her shoulders.

  “Wolf,” he rumbled at Kyle, “any chance ye can identify who else touched Gabrielle’s car tonight?”

  Kyle shook his head, concern and regret on his face. “No, the scene of the explosion is just too saturated with the smell of chemicals and fire. Besides that, it’d take me hours just to find the pieces of her car. It was lucky the car was almost in the centre of the building, or the shrapnel may well have taken out other buildings, too.”

  “Who had access to the car recently?” Alexander asked, looking from Gabi to Kyle. “Did either of you notice anyone unusual hanging around it?”

  “The last person to touch it was Maximilian,” Marcello announced grimly as he entered the cottage.

  Gabi felt Julius freeze under her. Damn. Julius didn’t need to deal with another traitor in his Clan. She knew how much the last betrayal had shaken him. She sent up a silent prayer that it wasn’t the case this time, but if it was, she’d shred Maximilian into a thousand tiny pieces.

  “It stood on the street for a couple of hours in the eastern suburbs while we were on patrol tonight. Anyone would’ve had access to it there,” Gabi croaked. “Then it was in the parking garage at HQ, which isn’t secure. We don’t need to jump to any hasty conclusions.”

  “It’s an easy one to check,” Julius said. His voice was hard and cold. A sudden torrent of power poured off of him, stinging Gabi’s senses. “Has anyone looked for him?”

  “He’s in his quarters, Sire,” Marcello said quietly. “Charlie is ensuring he stays put until we sort this out.”

  Julius pressed a kiss to Gabi’s temple and lifted her off his lap. He used overly gentle hands to settle her comfortably and wrap the blanket around her with the plate of sandwiches on her lap, but Gabi could feel the leashed fury radiating from him.

  “Stay,” he told her. “I’ll be back soon.” Then he was gone.

  The rest of the night passed in a blur for Gabi. Julius sent word that Maximilian was in the clear, but he was tangled up in the chaos outside. Police, neighbours and journalists had all arrived outside, and it was turning into a circus. Julius wanted to avoid altering memories as far as possible. One look at her would have negated all the careful story-telling that had been fed to the police and emergency staff, Marcello explained when he, somewhat nervously, relayed the message that she was to stay indoors. Fergus never left the cottage, standing silent sentinel near the front door. Kyle came and went from the house, checking in on her regularly and updating her. He told her Trish was very concerned about her, but the Werewolves (with the exception of Kyle) were also under strict orders to stay indoors until the ‘norms’ had all left. She’d sent a thermos of coffee and a bar of chocolate for Gabi. Kyle took back the message that Gabi was eternally in her debt.

  Once the coffee and chocolate took effect, Gabi dragged herself to the bathroom and took a shower, carefully rinsing the blood from her hair. Kyle brought her a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt from his van. Clean, warm and fed, she felt less like something a Ghoul had vomited up. Confined to quarters, but unable to relax, she found the pad of paper Alexander had used and began making notes of all the strange and inexplicable events that had occurred recently. The picture that emerged still seemed disjointed and random. There were no common threads between many of the events, but Gabi’s intuition was practically screaming at her that everything was connected. Somehow. They were missing some vital piece of information, some person or motive that would tie everything together. Eventually she growled in frustration and swept all the pieces of paper onto the floor in a childish fit of temper.

  “Easy, lass,” Fergus rumbled.

  She’d forgotten about him standing quietly in the shadows, watching the proceedings out the cottage window. She scowled at him; she wasn’t in the mood to be pacified.

  “Sometimes taking a step back is what ye need in order to see the full picture. Ye’re too close to it right now. Some rest will do ye good.” He nodded towards the bedroom, but Gabi stubbornly stood her ground. “One thing ye can be sure of; whoever did this just made a serious error in judgement. Our Sire will not take a threat to ye or the Clan lightly.” He looked directly into her eyes suddenly, his lethal expression could’ve been etched from granite as he continued. “And the Clan will not take a threat to our Sire lightly.”

  She fell back on the sofa, still agitated, churning Fergus’s words over in her mind. The remote for the TV was lying on the table in front of her, and for a lack of anything else to do, she clicked the on button. It blinked to life on a late-night news programme. The pretty blonde news presenter had a sombre, professional expression on her face as she introduced the next st
ory.

  “In other news tonight,” she said primly, “there has been a mysterious fire at the home of one of the City’s most reclusive billionaires. Yes, the home of Julian Edwards was engulfed in fire just a few hours ago.”

  Gabi nearly choked, glancing to Fergus for confirmation. His nonchalant shrug told her that Julius was indeed the enigmatic Julian Edwards. The man no one could ever get a picture of. The news presenter continued as pictures flashed onto the screen. It was footage from outside Julius’s estate.

  “Our reporter at the scene says that, although it is the main house on the large estate that was affected by the fire, miraculously there seem to be no casualties,” the news presenter read. “At this stage, the fire is under control, and authorities have said that it is most likely the result of a gas leak, as an explosion was heard just prior to the building catching alight. Gas has been shut off to the area, and residents are being encouraged to stay away from the scene until this issue has been resolved. No one has seen Mr Edwards himself, and it is reported that he was not at home at the time of the fire. Several of his staff are assisting authorities with their investigations, but are refusing to speak to any members of the press.”

  Oh, the human world was so naïve.

  Dawn was less than an hour away when Julius finally returned to the cottage. Gabi had eventually taken Fergus’s advice and curled up on the sofa, slipping into a fitful doze once the fire engines and ambulances packed up and left. She felt him lift her carefully off the couch and heard him murmur something to Fergus.

  “We can go back to my place,” she whispered drowsily. “I had special blinds fitted so you can stay over.”

  “Of course you did,” he said with wry amusement. “It’s almost dawn, you’re exhausted and the cottage is all ours. I’ve called in extra Werewolf guards, so we’re safe for now. Tomorrow we can discuss sleeping arrangements.”

  “I’ll hold you to that,” she warned as he settled her into a bed not quite as large as his own and covered her with blankets. After a brief shower, he slipped in behind her, covering her body with his own and breathing in the scent of her hair. Before her body had time to respond to the feel of him against her, exhaustion claimed her.