Hellcat: To Hell And Back Part 17

She took a deep breath and slapped herself mentally; wallowing in negative thoughts wasn't accomplishing anything. She'd done as much as she could for those she loved. Now it was time to concentrate on winning the war. She focused her attention back on the meeting.

"What size force is going with Julius and h.e.l.lcat?" another of the Alphas asked. "Do they need a Werewolf contingent?"

"The Oracles recommend a small force, but a mix of Werewolves and Vampires would be best," Athena said. "Julius, do you need extra Werewolves?"

"No," Julius said, his voice even. "Gabrielle and I have already selected our team. It will number thirteen, as the Oracles recommended. Fergus, Patrick, Kyle and Razor will be joined by several of my personal guard and some of my Werewolf staff. I have already requested their presence from their Alphas. I only ask for two extra Magi, preferably with some offensive magic and no qualms about using it."

"Razor?" the first Alpha spoke again. "h.e.l.lcat's cat is one of your team members?" His splutter seemed to indicate he was caught midway between amus.e.m.e.nt and consternation.

Julius's curt, "Yes," wiped the amus.e.m.e.nt from his face, but he, and several others, still looked bemused.

"The Oracles agree that the cat should be there," Athena put in, settling the matter.

They moved onto discussions of the main defence, which would be played out at the site of the Source. The Magi would have to reveal the exact location of the Source to all of them soon, but they were dragging their heels, waiting to divulge the information only once they knew with absolute certainty that the Dark Magi were on the way. Gabi thought that they might secretly be hoping the Dark Ones would simply pack up and move on. She knew it was a vain hope. Athena and Benedict led the meeting from there on. They, along with the contingent of SMV Hunters, would be leading the resistance, and were tasked with the unenviable job of taking on the Dark Elders and possibly Gemini as well. The Oracles couldn't tell where Gemini would be during the main a.s.sault; it seemed they were uncertain themselves.

The meeting dragged on, and Gabi wanted nothing more than to be home spending some quality time with her pets and Julius. She needed to drink in the serenity her pets exuded, to recharge and try not to think about saying goodbye. Julius brushed her mind, a gentle kiss of rea.s.surance, despite his own anxiety.

Perhaps it was the tiredness, perhaps the droning of strategic military planning, but her mind zoned out of the talk around the table, and in the almost meditative state, her intuition suddenly rang a gentle buzzing in the back of her mind. Not the usual clear alarm of warning, more of a nudge to pay attention. And then a memory of a man popped into her mind, a man who talked incessantly, the one they'd saved from the cavern under the warehouse. What was his name? Oh yes, Henry. She recalled that he was being housed at SMV HQ while they tried to decide what to do with him. How strange that he would come to mind. Was there something dangerous about him that she hadn't picked up on, was he special in some way? What was her subconscious trying to tell her? A word whispered through her mind just as a masculine voice speaking her name snapped her back to the meeting.

It was nearly two hours later that they finally broke for something to eat and drink. Gabi was in caffeine withdrawal and grumpy to boot. She enjoyed long-winded meetings like she enjoyed being hit in the face by a demon with a cudgel. It was a sombre group that filed out of the room, but the sight of food, tea, coffee and colas in the adjacent hall seemed to bolster spirits. Gabi caught Athena's arm as the blonde woman walked past. Benedict was on her other side and stopped as she did. Alexander was just behind them, along with Julius and the rest of his staff, his eyes glued to Athena's back.

"I need to ask you something," Gabi told the Magus. "Walk with me." She looked around at the rest of them. "Sorry, boys, girl talk," she told them, steering Athena away down the corridor and making shooing motions at them. "We'll catch up with you in a few minutes."

The men all looked uncertain, but no one tried to follow. d.a.m.n, they were well trained, she smirked to herself.

"Shield us," Gabi ordered the moment she'd ushered Athena into a ladies' bathroom and locked the door behind them.

Athena narrowed her eyes, searching Gabi's face. Something in her expression must have convinced her that Gabi was on to something. Gabi was sure she hadn't kept all the hope off her face, hard as she tried. Gabi felt it as the shield popped into place.

"No one can intrude?" Gabi checked.

Athena raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, okay. You remember the man we brought out of the caves with us? He's some kind of anti-Magus, isn't he? He deadens magic around him, right?"

"What are you thinking, Gabrielle?" Athena asked, but Gabi could see the wheels turning in her head already. "Nulls deaden all magic, not just Dark Magic, though."

"Yes, but while they may be almost entirely reliant on magic for power, we aren't," Gabi pointed out. "The Magi aren't alone in this war."

Athena's mouth suddenly popped open, and her eyes grew wide. "It will be complicated. I'll need to check some facts, test his strength, but any advantage..." She trailed off.

Gabi nodded silently; the less said and the fewer people involved, the better. Athena returned her nod with intensity. Henry was about to land himself a pivotal role in the defence of the Source. As Athena broke the shield, Gabi wondered if they'd need to duct tape the man's mouth shut.

It took Caspian a frustratingly long time to find a stray Werewolf to take control of. He was camped out in a motel on the very edge of the City, hoping to get a better feel for what was happening before allowing the Clan to call him in. And, to his immense satisfaction, there definitely was something happening in the City. Something serious enough to keep Julius from sending guards to find him. Something that dire could only count in Caspian's favour. Right now, as more often than not, conflict was his friend. When something large and calamitous was drawing people's attention, they forgot to worry about what a single, una.s.suming Vampire was possibly getting up to.

The news his tame Werewolf brought back to him was exactly what he wanted to hear. His timing was perfect.

"Hey, Mom," Gabi injected as much light and cheerful as she could into her voice. Any lack shouldn't be noticed, as her mother didn't really expect bubbly and happy from her daughter. She knew better.

Julius had gone to the bathroom and turned on the shower, giving her as much privacy as he could. The sun had already risen, and they were just getting ready to turn in to get as much rest as they could before gathering at the Estate just before sunset.

She hadn't wanted to make the call, didn't want to alert her mother to something being dreadfully wrong, but also needed to hear her mother's voice and find a way to say the thousand things she hadn't had the chance to yet. They chatted about mundane life for a while: her mother's dishwasher that kept breaking down despite it being almost brand new, her stepfather's big idea to buy a motorbike and take her mother touring the country on it, the earthquake that had shaken the City a few days ago. Her mother waited until she was over her fit of 'coughing' before changing tack completely.

"Are you happy, honey?" her mother asked. "I know it can't have been easy giving up doing what you did for your dad's group."

Gabi could hear the tiniest thread of sadness in her mother's tone as she spoke of her late husband. They say you never got over your first love. Gabi realised that she wasn't going to get away with fobbing her mother off with ba.n.a.lities this time. Her mother had always hated her putting herself in harm's way for the SMV, but now she sounded as though she understood what it would cost Gabi to give it up.

"Mom, I haven't walked away," she said. "I'm still there when they need me. I'll be Dad's daughter as long as I breathe-you know that, right?"

"Yes, dearest." Her mother gave a sad chuckle. "I know that, but I also want to know that you're happy. You're my daughter too, and if I gave you anything, I hope it's that you deserve to be happy."

Oh G.o.ds, Gabi felt tears p.r.i.c.kling behind her eyes. She swallowed, blinking them back.

"I am happy, Mom," she said quietly, looking down at the beautiful ring on her finger and regretting that she hadn't had the guts to tell her mother about Julius yet. "I have some things to work out, you know my life can be complicated sometimes, but I promise you I'm happy." She dabbed at her nose with her sleeve. She wasn't going to let her mother hear her sniff; she could be scarily intuitive at times. "And I think maybe you should let Sam get that motorbike. You deserve your happiness too; a tour around the country would be a blast."

Julius took the phone from her fingers. She'd ended the call to her mother, but sat unmoving on the bed, staring at her ring. Happy. She'd told her mother she was happy, saying the words her mother wanted to hear, but as she spoke them she knew that they were the truth. She was happy. She smiled with a tiny snort, looking up at her very first love. Yes, she was her mother's daughter in one respect at least; she'd never get over her first love.

She pulled him down towards her and wrapped her arms around his neck, breathing him in, pressing close to the coolness of his naked body.

"I'm happy too," he whispered into her ear. And they made love. Not hot, sweaty, panting s.e.x, but slow, sensuous love.

CHAPTER 22.

Half an hour after full sunset Julius waited with Gabi, Kyle, Razor and their small group of a.s.sorted supernaturals in the shadows of the main grandstand at the abandoned sports stadium. He was maintaining the shield over them and praying it was good enough to keep the defenders of the Demon Gate from sensing them too soon.

Trish, Derek and an apprentice Healer were outside in one of the SMV vans, waiting to pa.s.s information on from the battle at the Source. Getting all the information from the main battle would be too distracting; Trish and Derek would be filtering it and feeding them the vital bits, trying to keep the commlink as quiet as possible. Derek wasn't happy, but that was nothing new. The man hated being left out of the action almost as much as he hated seeing Julius and Gabrielle together. He put the other man's problem firmly out of his mind; they were a minor problem at the moment.

He rechecked the structure of the shield; this particular one was a combined effort between himself and another Magus. While a shield was something anyone with magical ability could do, with varying degrees of success, usually the learning part took weeks, if not months, of hard work. His apprenticeship hadn't just been fast-tracked, it had been speed-trained. He was sustaining this shield more as a final lesson than because the other Magus needed his help. Once they got the call to move from Trish, he'd have to build a separate shield around himself, Gabi, Charlie, Razor and Butch, the Werewolf. He was also under strict instructions not to overuse his power until the real fight went down. The last few days had given him an even greater understanding of Gabi's dislike of being ordered around; it had been a long time since anyone besides the Princeps had told him what he could and couldn't do.

Gabi shifted impatiently beside him, bouncing lightly on the b.a.l.l.s of her feet, her adrenalin level so high he could taste it in the air. She already had Nex drawn, and the blade was making a barely perceptible tapping against her leather-clad thigh. She was Angeli Morte once more, so different to the pa.s.sionate, energetic, impetuous woman he thought of as his Lea. This side of her was still alien to him.

Razor lifted his head to stare at Julius. He was sitting calmly in his fitted armour, but his gaze conveyed readiness, and something more. Julius couldn't help but think, for the hundredth time, that there was something different about the cat since he'd brought him back from the brink of death with a dose of his own blood. Or perhaps the cat always had been different, more intelligent, more aware, something on the very far side of ordinary.

Another restless movement drew his eye. Kyle blew out breath; his wolf was very near the surface, close enough that Julius could sense him. Kyle and Trish had argued briefly before he left the van. Kyle didn't want to wear the protective clothing Savannah had sent, maintaining it would be too hard to shrug off if he needed to Change to wolf form; Trish didn't want him going in unprotected. Gabi had provided the compromise; Kyle wore his own dark, standard SMV-issue pants, which would rip at the seams if necessary, along with a Kevlar-reinforced shirt and one of Savannah's treated jackets, unzipped. Fergus and the rest all wore variants of Gabi's combat gear. All of them, except the Magi, were armed to the teeth, and even the Magi carried MacDarts.

"The Oracles better know what they're talking about," Gabi growled under her breath.

Julius couldn't help but agree; if the Oracles were wrong and the Dark Ones had concealed how many would be left behind to guard the Demon Gate, they could be in serious trouble. Help was at least fifteen minutes away, if they could spare any at all. The commlink at his ear hissed to life.

"It's a go," Trish's voice said in a rough whisper. "Good luck." The last word didn't come out clearly, her voice lost to emotion.

"Hang in there for us, babe," Kyle said, his voice calm and confident despite the anxious proximity of his wolf.

Julius slid one hand around the back of Gabi's neck and drew her face up to his. He kissed her, quick and hard, tasting her, revelling in the scent of her, drawing on her strength and determination. A smile lifted the corner of her mouth.

"Let's go kick some bad-guy b.u.t.t," she growled as he and the other Magus collapsed the first shield. She and Kyle knocked fists, a million unsaid things pa.s.sing between them in a split-second glance.

With no more fuss they split into three groups. Kyle's group was tasked with creating a diversion and covering the most obvious escape route while Patrick and Tabari's team, which included a multi-skilled Magus, would be their safeguard, protecting the way back out for the rest of them and watching their backs for a.s.sault from outside the stadium. Julius paused before building the second shield around his small force: Gabi, Razor, Fergus, Charlie and Butch. The remaining Dark ones would already know they were here; the shield from now on would be to keep them safe from magic a.s.sault. But first he wanted to see if he could get a read on exactly where the Demon Gate itself was located; the Oracles had only been able to give a vague description, which matched what Kyle knew of the underground training gymnasium. As soon as he pushed out his senses, he felt it. The Demon Gate. Like he was a bloodhound and it was a putrefying corpse, the scent of it strong enough to turn his stomach. It was underground, and he knew he could find it now, with or without the shield in place. Now just to destroy it.

He centred himself with a deep breath and closed his eyes as he quickly built the magical bubble of protection. It was easy once he pushed his barely controllable need to protect Gabi towards it. It rose and solidified, clear in his mind's eye even though it would be invisible to human sight. It was strong and unwavering; it was a good one.

"Let's go," Julius said. His voice was low and steady, but the power around him whipped Gabi's skin like a tornado of thumbtacks, p.r.i.c.kling painfully. She barely suppressed an involuntary flinch away from him.

They broke into a steady jog across the weedy, unkempt playing field lit only by the nearly full moon in the sky above, the weight of Julius's shield settling around them as they ran. Julius took the lead, clearly knowing the way. Swift as he was, Gabi stayed one step behind him, Razor on her heels, Butch and the Vampires bringing up the rear. As they moved, she scanned the rest of the field, the dark, empty seating and the yawning maws of crumbling corporate boxes. She felt very exposed. This place had just too many places an enemy could be lurking. She'd barely thought the words when she heard the first sounds of a fight. Kyle's group had run into something. She had to remind herself that it was all part of the plan. Kyle's job was to draw the defenders out; theirs was to get inside and bring down the Gate. She hated trusting a plan; way too many things could go wrong with a plan.

They reached the far side of the field and followed Julius down the cement ramp into the underground level, to the players' areas, where the public rarely got the chance to visit. Leaves and other debris covered the ground, crunching underfoot. At a T-junction Julius unerringly turned right. The pa.s.sageway was wide enough for four people to walk abreast, graffiti covered the walls, grime caked the once-tiled floor, and rats and mice scurried away from their hurried footfalls. They pa.s.sed doors to change rooms, toilets and catering facilities. Then saunas and a medical centre. Her boots and Butch's made soft thuds on the old tiles; Razor and the Vampires were utterly silent. They came to another split in the pa.s.sage, and Julius again kept right.

When the attack came, it too was silent. Things fell from the ceiling. Creepy things with hard exoskeletons and far too many legs. The size of large turtles with flat, multifaceted eyes and pincered jaws dripping clear acidic ooze. Nex speared the first one as it fell towards Gabi's unprotected head. Julius's shield protected against magical attack, but not the physical. If the c.o.c.kroach creatures could breach it, then they weren't magical constructs, they were from the Etherworld.

Dark goop dripped from the thrashing creature on the end of Nex's blade, and Gabi jerked her head aside to avoid the splash. Some fell on her right shoulder, sizzling as it made contact with the leather, but she felt no pain. She sent Savannah a mental high five. She slammed the demonic insect towards the floor. It hit with a sharp crack, and more of the carapace shattered as she tugged Nex free. She flipped it over with one boot as its legs waved wildly, trying to grab hold of her, its vicious mouth parts ejecting outward snapping at her. She shoved Nex back into its body between two hard plates and into the vulnerable innards. Razor growled, and she whirled as another one lunged towards her, latching onto her leg, the pincers crushing, but not penetrating through the pants. She howled in fury and brought Nex's hilt down onto its head, right between the insect-like eyes, again and again. The pincers bit down harder; Gabi didn't think it would be long before it snapped the bone. Razor leapt on the creature's back, but his teeth and claws were having no effect on the tough outer sh.e.l.l. She reached into her weapons belt and pulled out the MacSpike.

The creature never knew what hit it. It took her just half a second to press the weapon between its eyes and pull the trigger. The thing collapsed instantly, its weight sagging downward. Unfortunately its grip on her lower leg hadn't relaxed at all; if anything, the pincers were tightening in its death throes.

"Use the MacSpike between the eyes," she yelled at the others, hissing in pain as she fought to loosen the dying creature's mouth parts. Then Julius was beside her; he bent and grasped one pincer, crushing it in his hand. Another creature detached from the ceiling and launched itself towards Julius's exposed back. Gabi swung her arm, knocking it aside to crunch into one wall before thudding to the floor. Butch put a foot on it before administering a dose of MacSpike to its tiny brain.

Several more applications of the MacSpike and the pa.s.sageway fell eerily silent once more. The small group took stock. They were all standing. Gabi had some bruises on her leg and arm; Butch had a bleeding ear, which was already healing; Charlie was repositioning his Stetson on his head. Julius and Fergus looked nonplussed. Eleven of the bug-like things lay dead; any others had fled.

By silent agreement they continued onward. A large double doorway loomed in front of them. The faded sign beside it read 'Workout Room-team members only'. Julius paused at the door. Gabi stepped up next to him, Nex in her right hand, a MacDart in the left. They looked at each other briefly, he gave her a grim smile, she nodded, and they shoved the door open together.

Gabi couldn't possibly have prepared herself for the sight that met them. Or the smell. Death lingered in the air like a physical miasma. None of them had any words for the horror that lay before them. The gym equipment had been pushed up against the walls. Black and red candles dotted the large room, set on the floor; a few of them were lit. The tiny flames did little to illuminate the room, but it was enough to show the blood splatters on the walls, the puddles of gore on the floor, the leather straps that had been used along with the gym equipment to form makeshift torture frames.

Gabi swallowed, trying to make her stomach stop climbing out of her throat; the sound of Butch's dry-retching wasn't helping. She concentrated on scanning the shadows, breathing through her mouth. Unmoving heaps lay stacked up against the walls; ragged bits of clothing and a few limbs p.r.o.nounced them human bodies. There were no signs of life, and nothing in the room was moving. She glanced at Julius. He too was surveying the mess, but he was searching for something beyond the physical. He closed his eyes and turned his head. When he opened his eyes, he pointed a finger towards the far side of the left wall.

"There," he said, in a low voice.

Gabi squinted into the gloom and finally made out an opening in the far wall. It wasn't a doorway; it was a hole in the wall. It looked like it had been knocked through by a wrecking ball. Grimly they started across the gore-strewn floor, but before they could reach the other side, three dark forms stepped through to meet them. The centre form was that of the Seeker. Its ghostly form with glowing eyes and dark, hooded cape still haunted her nightmares. To either side of it stood a large demon, both vaguely human-looking. The one on the left had thick, curling horns on either side of its head and a solid bony ridge across its forehead. Oh, and Satanesque cloven hooves peeking out at the bottom of its coa.r.s.ely made, hide pants. Its chest was bare of clothing, muscular and thickly furred with dark hair; it was also flat, leading Gabi to a.s.sume it was a male. Unlike the demon on the other side of the Wraith. This one was most a.s.suredly female, and quite shapely, if you like your women curvy, nude and delicately scaled with the slitted eyes of a snake and a tongue long enough to strangle you. And her hair...well, could anyone say Medusa? Apparently the authors of Greek mythology had some kind of window into the Etherworld.

"The Seeker is mine," Julius growled. "Stay out of its reach."

Gabi wasn't going to argue with that, but she sincerely hoped he knew what he was doing.

"We meet again, Baron," the Seeker hissed, the orbs floating in its hood where its eyes should be glowed a little brighter. As at their previous meeting with the ghostly demon, its words seemed to fill the air around them rather than issue from the figure itself. "I ssseeee you have learnt sssomething of your true nature. I would like to tell you more, but I am currently compelled to defend my puppet ma.s.sster."

"I'll be sure to free you of those shackles," Julius replied, his implications clear.

A ghostly chuckle vibrated around them, giving Gabi a chill down her spine.

"Enough talk," she spat, "we need to get past you. This is your first and only warning."

In reply, the two other demons rushed them. At the same moment Julius dropped his shield, and Gabi lifted her MacDart. She had no intention of fighting fair tonight. Four Were-saliva darts struck the soft facial skin of the male demon, burying so deeply that the creature would have to dig into his flesh to remove them. Shock registered on his face, but he kept going forward. Gabi danced back, keeping his attention focused on her and away from Julius. She felt Fergus at her side and glanced over to see that Butch and Charlie had engaged the female, they were dodging her marauding tongue, but she too had darts embedded in her head and neck. Both demons were done for; it was now just a matter of wearing them down and staying out of their way until the darts did their work.

As Julius faced off with the Seeker, power crackled through the air, sizzling over Gabi's exposed skin and raising gooseb.u.mps. She leapt easily out of the path of the horned demon as it charged her, head down, like a raging bull. As it skimmed by her, she dropped into a crouch and slashed Nex across the back of its legs, slicing through skin, muscle and tendon. It roared in fury, trying to spin back to her, but one leg gave out, and it collapsed to the ground as Fergus moved in to finish it. A commotion to her left made her spin. Three more demons spilled from the gaping hole in the wall.

She spared a quick glance Julius's way. His jaw was set, his mouth in a grim line, tendons in his neck straining, his blazing gaze locked on the Seeker. His hands held out from his body, fingers splayed as a silent, invisible battle raged. He was holding his own, and he looked magnificent. Razor's urgent yowl yanked her back to her own battle as a thickset, troll-like demon rushed them swinging a spiked ball on a chain around its head.

Curses streamed through Mariska's mind as she felt her grip on the Seeker failing. She reached into herself as the old fools had shown her, drawing on the well of power she'd fed earlier after another blood ritual, the well Gemini was supposed to keep filled. Shock hit her like a physical slap as she realised the well was nearly dry. There was nothing left to draw on. She needed more power to strengthen her hold on the Seeker and to call more servants of dark from the other side of the gate.

"I need more," she screamed at the Magi on either side of her.

"We have no,"

"more to give." The two spoke over the noise of nearby fighting and the discordant hum of the Demon Gate. Their gazes were focused on the doorway through which she'd sent the Seeker and its sidekicks to waylay the b.i.t.c.h Dhampir and her traitorous lover.

"What the f.u.c.k do you mean, you have no more?" she shrieked. That was their job; they could draw power from any living thing and feed on it themselves or pa.s.s it to another Magus. "I can't hold all of these beasts without more power. Something is trying to break my control."

"You are the PuppetMaster," one started.

"you must control them," the other continued seamlessly.

"We must conserve enough power to protect ourselves."

"But if I lose control of them, they'll kill us all," she yelled, wondering if they'd somehow lost what little remained of their tenuous grasp on reality.

"No, they will be more likely,"

"to kill only you and then go hunting for fresh, easy prey," Gemini told her emotionlessly.

Wait, what did they just say? Had she heard them right? What was going on? This wasn't happening at all like the Elders had said it would. The old b.a.s.t.a.r.ds had a.s.sured them this was the only way the war could be won. If the three of them defended the Gate while the rest attacked the Casti at the Source. As questions overrode the anger, several things clicked together in her mind, and the picture that emerged left her reeling.

The Elders never meant for her and Gemini to survive this; the Elders had figured out they were too strong, too powerful, too ambitious to be left alive. They'd engineered everything to make sure that when the dust settled, any rivals to their dominance were dead. How could she have been so blind? So stupid? To be taken in by them, to be convinced she'd found her rightful place in the world. Rage seethed through her. They would not get away with this. There was one thing the old b.a.s.t.a.r.ds hadn't counted on, her innate ability to escape death and capture. And Gemini? They didn't care one iota for her, despite everything. They, too, would pay for betraying her. If she could just get out of this, she'd make it to the Source, and once she was close enough to draw on the power herself, well, they'd all just see what she was capable of after that. And she wouldn't leave anything that could aid their cause.

With one last effort of will, she dredged up the very last sc.r.a.ps of power from the well and threw a command into the Etherworld, spreading the net wide, calling, demanding obedience. There weren't many demons left in the area near the Gate, but the six that were, she dragged inexorably towards herself. She could feel her strength waning, her control fragmenting. As they tumbled through, she quickly wove the spell compelling them to fight off the invaders, trusting their lack of complex thinking to keep them on course even after she ran out of strength to support the spell. With a painful lash, she felt the chain binding the Seeker to her shatter, and behind her the air vibrated with energy as her hold on the Demon Gate faltered. A maniacal laugh burst from her lips as she broke the spell holding the gate open; then she dived for cover.

Gabi could hear a woman's voice shrieking in the other room. She sounded enraged and demanding. It had to be Mariska. Gabi dodged a blow from the troll and slammed Nex into its sternum, kicking its legs out from under it and jamming the MacSpike against its forehead before pulling the trigger. The fanatical look went out of its eyes, and its body went limp. Gabi risked a glance through the gaping hole in the brick wall. Another pair of demons were running their way, but behind them in a semicircle stood three people in long, dark robes. Gemini with their pale skin and hair stood on either side of a plain-looking woman with long, brown hair and angry eyes. The sight of the woman who'd helped Dante torture her brought an unbidden growl from deep in Gabi's throat.

Several feet behind them rose a semi-transparent arch glimmering in the partial light of numerous candles. It touched the ceiling and spread out wider than the three Dark Magi protecting it. The Demon Gate was startlingly unimpressive to Gabi's eyes. That was until it disgorged another handful of demons. She checked on her comrades. Butch was holding his own against a hunched-up demon with a piggy face and long, curling tusks. Charlie had just finished one off, and Fergus was beheading another with his MacChopper. Razor had caught a small, flying, batlike demon and was shaking it viciously. She actually heard its neck snap, and the cat immediately dropped it, distaste clear on his face.

"Watch it, more on the way," she called to them. Just then Julius swayed forward, almost losing his balance. Gabi reached for him even though she was metres away. It was a moment before she realised he wasn't hurt.

"We'll hafff to finishhhh thisss another time, Baron," the Seeker hissed. "I am now free. I hafff other mattersss to attend to." An instant later it was gone.

"What the...?" Gabi started, but a sudden change in air pressure cut her off. Something was going on in the room with the Demon Gate.

"Get down," Julius roared, crossing the distance between them in a fraction of a second and hitting her like a freight train just as an explosion ripped through the room. Her head hit the floor, and pain zinged through her skull, but as the shock wave buckled the ground under them, she understood his actions.

"What in h.e.l.l's name was that?" she groaned as Julius rolled off of her, springing lightly to his feet and dragging her with him.

"h.e.l.lcat, take the Magi. We'll handle the demons." Butch's voice rang through the dust and smoke. She turned her head towards his voice and saw both him and the Vampires picking themselves up off the ground and facing the already charging demons.