Hellcat: To Hell And Back Part 6

He caught it and stuffed it into his mouth. "Hmm, can you b.u.t.ter the next piece? Thanks."

"Please excuse the children, Mr Maclary." Julius sighed like a long-suffering parent. "But Gabrielle is right. There's no need to censor your words; I'm not that easy to insult." He lifted his gla.s.s and breathed in the bouquet of the wine, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips as he continued. "And truly, she wouldn't let me eat you."

A startled huff, almost a guffaw left the older man, and much of the rigid tension of his shoulders eased.

"Well then, I guess, considering she's on my side of the table, I'll take my chances," Mac stated, with his first genuine amus.e.m.e.nt of the night.

By the end of the main course, it was apparent that neither of the two bodies at HQ was Mac's missing person; he was searching for a female Werewolf. But it was also apparent that the exsanguination cases in the City were not isolated instances. Mac knew of at least two cases of other Werewolves turning up dead from blood loss, each in separate towns but both less than two hours' drive from the City. His local Master had lost two of his Clan in the past two weeks, one of whom had been accounted for and the other not yet found. While the missing Vampire wasn't Mac's case, by the basic description and the state of the body, Mac was fairly confident that the body at HQ would be that of the Vampire not yet accounted for. She'd been a short, strawberry blonde and a Vampire for less than fifteen years.

Gabi absent-mindedly fed Razor a final chunk of rare steak off her fork as she considered the facts. The four of them were now more certain than ever that something sinister was going on, but only Julius seemed to have any formulated suspicions, and he wasn't sharing just yet.

"I'm waiting for an a.s.sociate to 'rise'," was all he'd tell them. "Once I've confirmed the possibility of my a.s.sumptions, I'll share. For now they're just a far-fetched theory."

"So what led you to believe that your missing person is here?" Kyle asked Mac. Gabi was chagrined she hadn't even thought to ask that question.

"There was a witness to the abduction," Mac said. "A s.e.x worker arriving at her post for the night saw my victim being pulled into a dark van. Luckily the lady in question has a suspicious mind and a photographic memory. The licence plate belongs to a rental van. From a car rental agency here in the City. It was rented just over two weeks ago. Unfortunately the employee at the agency wouldn't give me any other information over the phone. I made the trip to see what I can get out of him face to face."

They paused in their conversation as the waitress arrived to clear plates and take dessert orders. Gabi didn't need to see a menu to know what she'd be having as her final course of the evening. Shawn's chocolate mousse was the food of the G.o.ds as far as Gabi was concerned. She sat back, savouring the wine, relieved that both Kyle and Julius seemed to be in agreement with her about Mac's character. Any reticence to impart information had fallen away as the evening wore on, though Gabi noticed that Mac was very careful as to how much he asked, sticking to the concerns at hand rather than asking generalised questions. He was still treading warily.

Dessert arrived, with another bright smile and a blush as the waitress set a cheese platter down in front of Julius. Gabi noticed his face go tight as her hair fell away from one side of her neck, exposing a throbbing carotid artery just inches from his mouth. d.a.m.n, he was obviously hungry. She wondered when last he'd fed. Julius swallowed, releasing a breath as the waitress finally left.

"Good bouquet," he quipped, noticing Gabi's concern. The gold rings around the sapphire in his eyes were more prominent than normal, but he smirked at her with mischief glinting in his gaze. They were both still coming to terms with his need for blood donors; who he was and wasn't allowed to feed from had become a standing joke throughout the Clan.

As she turned her attention to the large, fluted wine gla.s.s filled with dark chocolate pudding and topped with cherries and curls of white chocolate in front of her, she temporarily shoved her worry over Julius's feeding schedule to the back of her mind and dug in. Before she had a second spoonful in her mouth, Kyle's phone rang. Gabi knew before he even answered that it would be bad news. Nothing good ever came from a phone call just as she was about to eat chocolate mousse.

One look at Kyle's face confirmed Gabi's a.s.sumption.

"What?" she demanded as Kyle disconnected and began to stand. By Julius's expression, he'd heard the other side of the conversation and didn't like the news one bit.

"We'll join you," he said, pushing away from the table, several large bills already left under the cheese platter.

"Demons," Kyle said shortly.

Gabi glanced down mournfully at her barely touched dessert and realised it was missing. She looked around in confusion and then saw Mac also standing, ready to go with his jacket over his arm. With a conspiratorial grin, he peeled the jacket back an inch to show the gla.s.s of pudding hidden beneath it.

"You can bring the gla.s.s back," he said. "Grab a spoon."

Without a second thought Gabi slid a clean spoon into a pocket, grinning.

Despite the obvious seriousness of the phone call, Kyle shook his head as they prepared to leave the restaurant.

"You're good," he told Mac. "Just a few hours and you've already found her biggest weakness." Then he glanced shrewdly back at Julius. "Well, almost her biggest weakness."

Julius said nothing, but there was a sudden tension in the air.

"Where are we headed?" Gabi asked, pushing Kyle ahead of her to weave through the tables towards the exit, Razor at her heels.

"The City Cathedral," Kyle told her in an undertone as they made their excuses to Jorge and retrieved their coats.

Gabi knew the cathedral was one of several powerful ley line convergences in the City. She just hoped the cathedral didn't have anything special planned for the evening.

"Sorry to cut the evening short," Gabi said to Mac as they strode into the crisp night air and she retrieved the smuggled dessert from him.

"Can't I tag along?" he asked. "I've never actually seen a demon before."

Gabi paused with her spoon halfway to her mouth, surprised. "It's not a pretty sight," she said carefully and couldn't help a glance at his stiff shoulder.

Mac's lips thinned in uncharacteristic annoyance. "I won't get in your way," he growled.

"What Gabrielle means," Julius said, in a voice that made Mac back up a step, "is that you may come along for the ride, but you will not be joining in. Trying to protect a human in the middle of a fight with demons will put us all at risk."

Mac's head was bowed before Julius, once again avoiding the Master Vampire's gaze. "Of course," he agreed in a bland tone. "I wouldn't want to put anyone else at risk. I'll keep as far away as you deem safe for everyone."

"You'll be fine with the Magi," Gabi put in, slightly exasperated with Julius. "Why don't you travel with Kyle? Your truck will be safe enough here for the meanwhile."

Kyle glanced at his watch. "Need to get going," he said, pulling keys out of a pocket and loping towards his van.

Mac gave Gabi a quick nod and strode to catch up with Kyle.

"See you there?" Kyle threw over his shoulder.

"I just need to grab my kit from my car at the Estate," she told him. "Won't be far behind you. Save me one."

CHAPTER 9.

It seemed to have been too long since Gabi had been part of the SMV Hunters, but no one questioned her and Julius's presence as they joined the milieu gathered at the rear of the City Cathedral in the huge parklike gardens. It felt good to be back amongst her SMV peers, though there were a few unfamiliar faces. Doug, a tall Shape-shifter and the most senior Hunter, was coordinating the defence, but wasn't supposed to be on active duty yet. The gunshot that had nearly claimed his life was taking longer to heal than he'd hoped. Despite the best care, both human and magical, only time could really heal the damage done to his internal organs. At least Mac wouldn't be the only one expected to watch the fight from the sidelines of the parking area. He'd been put in charge of keeping an eye on Razor, who was grumpily agitated that Gabi was refusing to let him stay with her.

Mac's presence had caused a little more of a stir, but once Gabi confirmed he was there with her blessing, the rest of the crew either ignored him or treated him as one of the group. Kyle would take the lead once the fight began and was busy consulting with Doug. Lance, the fire-bender Magus, was leaning casually against the crumbling wall that separated the graveyard from the picturesque church grounds. A Werewolf named Callum paced up and down a stone pathway, using deep-breathing techniques to calm his inner wolf. Gabi didn't know him but a.s.sumed he was one of the new recruits. She doubted he'd ever seen a demon before, let alone fought one. She hoped he wouldn't be a liability once the fight began. Simon, one of the Vampires Julius had allowed to join the Hunter squad, approached and greeted both Julius and Gabi respectfully before ghosting back to his position near one of the clean-up vans. He had the natural Vampire tendency of standing in such absolute stillness that you forgot his existence.

This was a Code Gamma, just two steps away from a grab-granny-and-flee-the-city call. The entire crew had been called up tonight, and those who weren't at the cathedral had been sent to the old sports stadium as a precautionary measure. The Oracles, a trio of powerful Magi clairvoyants, were certain of a demon infiltration at the cathedral, but had insisted on an SMV presence at the stadium as well. They refused to go into details as to why, and Byron had acquiesced to their wishes. Gabi knew that Byron probably had more information than he was sharing, but Gabi also knew he wouldn't have sent Kyle, Doug and Lance to the place less likely to see action. Of Gabi's original Hunter squad only Matt, the Werewolf, had been sent to the stadium, obviously Byron wanted at least one experienced Hunter there. She wished Byron had sent Doug there too. It was going to be hard for him to stay out of the action, but she doubted a whole pride of lions could've kept him from the cathedral.

The full dark of a cloudy night blanketed the area, lit dimly by several distant streetlights, a few decorative garden lamps, and some subtle lighting set into the old, brick wall of the graveyard. Gabi was grateful for her acute night vision. While she'd always been able to see better at night than any human, since she'd begun taking blood from Julius, her night sight was almost as good as a Vampire's. The only sounds were those of traffic and a distant car alarm. There wasn't a peep from any wildlife that may normally live in the gardens. Gabi didn't know if it was their presence or some kind of sixth sense that had sent them to ground. She knew very well that animals were far better tuned to the supernatural than any human.

Julius's arm brushed hers. It was no longer strange for her to be fighting beside him; they'd done it several times now. She found she liked having his strong presence nearby, but she still worried that he may end up trying to protect her rather than accomplish the mission.

An icy cold chill brushed down Gabi's spine, and the tiny alarm bell in the back of her mind rang loud and clear. She gasped at the force of the sudden sensation, and Julius looked down at her sharply. Before he could phrase a question, a commotion erupted amongst a knot of Magi standing in a small tight circle in the graveyard itself. Gabi tensed, a shot of adrenalin replacing the warning shiver of dread she'd just felt. She tucked the warning into the back of her mind as she started forward, but was brought up short as another car screeched to a halt in the parking lot-Alexander's Ferrari. A few seconds later an unremarkable silver car pulled up beside the standout red one.

Alexander was out of the car in an instant and around to the driver's door of the other car. Once he had it open, Athena climbed out. She was dressed in dark pants, st.u.r.dy boots, a dark sweater, and had her hair tied back in a severe bun. Gabi had never seen her dressed like this before; she was obviously ready to join the fight. Alexander and the blonde Magus exchanged a quick, intense look, and then Athena hurried to join the group of agitated Magi, and Alexander veered off to join Gabi and Julius.

"The portal is opening," one of the female Magi warned in a piercing tone, and Razor's menacing growl from his position on the hood of Kyle's van confirmed her a.s.sessment.

"Non-essential personnel prepare to clear out," Doug yelled, and several vans' engines started.

"The others aren't far behind," Alexander told Julius, securing a broadsword to his waist. He was referring to Fergus and Charlie, who'd insisted on coming along as extra backup. Gabi thought it was overkill, but who was she to deny them some fun?

She rechecked her weapons as the Hunters began forming a loose line of defence. She had a dart gun in a small holster at her hip; it looked a little ridiculous to be fighting demons with, but a shot of Werewolf saliva was known to incapacitate, if not kill, most demons. She also wore a pair of b.u.t.terfly swords in a double sheath on each thigh, and the smaller throwing daggers she had strapped to each arm were from the a.s.sortment that Savannah had sent back with her and Julius, each was treated with the protective compound, and Gabi was eager to see how they stood up to the corrosive qualities of demon blood. Of course Nex, her magically protected sword, would always be her primary weapon, but if they could provide others with demon-proof weapons without the need for the exhaustive Magi spell of protection, it would be a good thing. In a back pocket she had a few of the leather offcuts Savannah had sent from her work on Razor's armour. If she had the chance, she'd be putting those to the test as well before the night was over.

A familiar, nose-burning stench began filling the air, and a shimmering distortion of the night air became noticeable in a clearing just to the north of the graveyard under the wide-spread arms of an ancient oak tree.

"There," one of the Magi called unnecessarily, and the Hunters moved as one towards the portal, gathering close, shoulder to shoulder, as the backup crew and other witnesses scrambled to their a.s.signed defensive positions. The entire area needed to be covered in case any of the demons had ideas of escaping into the City. They all knew their jobs, and Gabi was trusting Doug to keep Mac and Razor out of the way.

Shoving all other concerns from her mind, she breathed in deep of Julius's solid presence on one side of her, Kyle's on the other, knowing Alexander was covering Julius's other flank, and focused on the billowing cloud of acrid smoke that had begun rising from the ground before them. Gabi waited for the crushing, depressive miasma that normally preceded the demons' crossing of the Veil.

It never came, but the demons did.

In a terrific rush and without pause. There was no time to a.s.sess what tumbled out of the portal or how many. There wasn't even enough time to spread out. For several manic seconds Gabi was too scared to swing Nex in case she took Kyle or Julius down by accident. Frustrated, she thrust Nex back into her sheath and yanked out a dagger and the dart gun. Thick, oily smoke burned her eyes and seared her nostrils, making it hard to pinpoint any enemy. She began firing darts at anything that looked like an eye or ear or armpit, the soft parts she knew to be the most susceptible to darts. The defenders desperately needed to slow down the frantic pace of the a.s.sault, give them time to regroup and organise.

Limbs and tentacles armed with cudgels, flails, maces and spears laid into the Hunters and Vampires alike. Helmeted heads-some with horns or tusks, protective scales or grotesque rotting flesh-spewed fire, toxic gases or putrid drool.

Gabi ducked and spun, aiming to get out of the central fight to rea.s.sess the situation. Narrowly avoiding a spiked flail, she threw herself into a dive, tucked and rolled, coming up and sprinting for the far side of the big oak tree. Out of the central throng of demons and Hunters, she quickly wiped her streaming eyes, trying to push back the shouts, screams, grunts and yells as she concentrated on what was around her. The ground shook beneath her, and she dropped into a crouch to steady herself. That was when she realised the tree trunks a short distance from her weren't tree trunks at all. Bearing down on her was a demon several feet taller than Julius and Kyle; its legs as thick as a full-grown elephant's; its arms thick, slimy tentacles each gripping a vicious-looking weapon; and its tiny red eyes intent with murderous rage.

"Holy Lord and Lady," she swore, frozen for an instant as she tried to make sense of the thing. She'd never heard of a demon this size. It was monstrous. Then it was on her, plunging a spiked mace down towards her. She leapt out of the way, diving into a left roundoff, then a backward handspring, landing ready just behind the giant demon. She threw the empty dart gun to one side and drew Nex, desperately searching for a weak spot. She lashed at the back of the demon's legs, hoping to find some kind of hamstring to cut, but Nex barely managed to scratch the tough hide. The giant moved deceptively fast for its size, lashing out sideways with a foot, aiming for Gabi. Her world narrowed, the sounds of the struggle disappearing, the toxic air no longer worrying her as she danced the age-old dance of defender and foe.

Frustrated at not being able to hit her with the mace or club in its grasp, the giant made another attempt to kick her. As she ducked the ma.s.sive clodhopper, she noticed the creature was barefoot. The tough grey leathery hide covered the top of its feet, but not the soles. She vowed to pack a second dart gun next time as she pivoted to stay just out of its direct line of sight. A quick look around and she found Kyle back to back with Julius, surrounded by at least five G.o.dzilla-like demons. f.u.c.k, they couldn't spare her a dart gun. Another flash of motion and she wasn't quick enough. A well-placed kick from a foot the size of a car tyre caught her left hip and sent her crashing to the ground with a groan.

"La.s.s, watch out," a deep male voice yelled.

Gabi had never been more elated to hear the booming Scottish voice as she instinctively rolled out of the way of the stomping foot, narrowly missing being pancaked. She shook off the throbbing of her hip and leapt to her feet, backing up as Fergus and Charlie materialised out of the dark a few feet from her.

"Charlie," she barked, "Julius needs help over there." She indicated to her right, where the ma.s.s of lizard things could still be seen, though there appeared to only be four of them left. A wall of flames erupted somewhere in the centre of the fracas, and Gabi hoped it was Lance.

"'Ere, la.s.s," Fergus rumbled, tossing her another dart gun before rushing the giant, swinging his ma.s.sive broadsword at the demon's tentacle arms. The two of them roared in battle fury as they struck at each other; then there was a resounding thud, and a grey, hand-like appendage tumbled to the ground, still holding a spiked mace. The demon's roar was deafening as it turned its full attention to Fergus, forgetting about the tiny annoyance that was Gabi.

"Get close enough to make him kick at you," Gabi screamed at Fergus, leaping to his side, trying to avoid the demon blood raining down from the arm that had lost its hand.

Fergus grunted in surprise but didn't ask questions. There were many reasons Gabi loved the stoutly built Scot with a huge scar across his face; his trust in her was most certainly one of them.

They both rushed back towards the demon, Gabi staying in Fergus's shadow. She hissed in pain as a glob of demon blood landed on her shoulder and instantly ate through her toughened leather jacket and into her skin. There was no time to wipe the corrosive gunk from her as the creature's ma.s.sive foot lashed out towards them. Gabi aimed the dart gun and fired into the sole. She was intensely glad that the tech geeks had spent time working on the darts and had found a way to add a small mechanical to the darts, giving them a bigger punch than before. That combined with a tungsten-based, super-sharp point drove the darts straight into even the toughest Kevlar. Though the skin on the giant's sole wasn't as tough as the rest of it, it was still tougher than anything the average human was likely to come across. Her darts found their mark but barely penetrated. The giant bellowed its rage and stomped downward, driving the darts directly into its body, Werewolf saliva and all.

Without pause, Fergus engaged it again, swinging his huge broadsword at its ma.s.sive torso. Gabi took a second to pull one of the sc.r.a.ps of leather from a pocket and use it to sc.r.a.pe the remnants of the demon blood off her left arm and shoulder; it felt like she was being eaten alive by fire ants. She gritted her teeth and checked on Fergus. The giant was already slowing, its movements more clumsy, its intensity diminished. Fergus caught her eye and gave a nod; he'd finish this one. She hurried back to the main fight.

With Charlie's help, Kyle and Julius were still trying to dispatch the lizard creatures. Their alligator-like hides were making it a tough job, and two smaller winged demons were hara.s.sing them from the air. Then Gabi remembered that Lance had done a superb job of slow roasting the last G.o.dzilla demon they'd encountered. She quickly scanned the melee. Lance's blond head was just visible in the thick smog. He was standing stationary with his hands raised, pointing at a large demon with a s.h.a.ggy doglike head, several smoking piles of black goo were dotted around his position. Flinging a dagger at a small batlike demon with unimaginably large fangs and what appeared to be a dislocatable jaw, Gabi plunged back into the fight, aiming for Lance. The bat demon dropped to the ground behind her, and she already had Nex in her hand.

She hacked at a putrid-looking brown arm that reached for her in the dark, and then stumbled as she stood on something large and soft on the ground. She hit the ground hard, the jarring setting her shoulder on fire again, and rolled, expecting whatever she fell over to attack; demons didn't stop coming until they were puddles of goo. But the lump on the ground just groaned. She leaned in cautiously and realised with a start that it was Callum, the new Werewolf Hunter. He was still in human form, which meant he was knocked mostly senseless, far enough to unconscious that even his wolf couldn't a.s.sume control and force his Change.

s.h.i.t, she had too many things she was trying to do at once. Prioritise, she screamed at herself, praying for a moment's clarity in the mayhem. Her intuition kicked in, and she knew Callum had to be her first concern. The others were holding their own; she would sense if Julius was in trouble. Quickly she leaned over Callum, trying to a.s.sess his condition. His eyes were open but not focusing on her face. A vicious trio of gashes marred the entire left side of his head. Gabi grimaced. It looked like he'd caught a spiked flail to the face.

"Come on," she hissed, putting her burning left shoulder under his and hefting him to his feet. She gritted her teeth, bracing against her own pain, but kept Nex tight and steady in her right hand as they began a stumbling shuffle towards the parking area. She was grateful that Callum at least wasn't too many inches taller than her, carrying someone the height of Julius or Kyle like this would've been close to impossible.

Another look around and Gabi saw that Lance was moving towards them. She shook her head and pointed with Nex in the direction of the lizard demons. He nodded his understanding and changed course.

A skinny winged demon flew at them from the right, knife-sharp talons and clawed wing tips raking at Gabi's face. She batted it away with Nex, watching it collapse in a crumpled heap on the ground as she kept putting one foot in front of the other in the direction of the backup crew. But the demon hadn't given up; it shook itself, realigning its wings, and relaunched its attack, propelled like a rocket. Gabi hunched her shoulder and threw up her arm, taking the brunt of the a.s.sault on her right forearm. s.h.i.t, she was caught with Callum on one arm and the demon on the other. The vicious creature dug its talons through the protective leather and into her flesh and then began trying to gnaw on her with its vulturine beaked mouth. She had no choice but to drop Callum; if she didn't, they'd both be eaten alive. But as she began to tug her shoulder out from under the Werewolf, his weight suddenly vanished. She grabbed blindly for him, unable to spare a glance to see what had him, but then a voice reached her.

"We've got him, girl. Let go."

Gabi almost sagged in relief at Mac's order. With her left arm free, she pulled a b.u.t.terfly sword from her thigh and shish-kebabbed the flying demon. As it flopped into deadweight, she gingerly pried its beak from her flesh and flung it to the ground before finishing it off with an angry stroke of Nex's blade.

The tight knot in Julius's chest eased as he saw that Mac and the clean-up crew had taken the new Werewolf off Gabi's hands and she could defend herself unenc.u.mbered now. He'd been a hair's breadth from going to help her, and he knew that would've caused tension between them. It still took a monumental effort on his part to leave her to fight monsters on her own terms. He knew it would never work any other way, but no one else, especially Gabi, could understand the depth and intensity of his need to protect her. How he felt every wound on her body as if it were his own; how it offended his innate masculine compulsion to never let anything harm what he loved. How Fate must be laughing at the irony of him, Julius, the big, bad Master Vampire, falling in love with a mortal woman who would never let him protect her, and would always be putting herself directly in danger's very maw.

He continued to hack at the tough leathery plates covering the demon's throat. Each blow was chipping away at the protection; layer by tiny layer it was giving way. Just a few more blows and Julius would be able to get at the creature's soft inner core. He launched back into the attack, blow after blow on exactly the same place, even as the creature spewed poisonous froth at him, snapping at him with a jaw full of shark-like teeth and swinging its thick armour-plated tail at him hard enough to break every bone in his body. The demon next to the one he was focused on suddenly began careening around, its useless little arms waving almost comically. Julius could smell it burning, the stench enough to overpower the rest of the stink layering the gardens. He stopped breathing, the smell too much for his senses.

"Julius," Kyle yelled, "leave that one for Lance. We need to check the perimeter."

He gave Kyle a sharp nod, but instead of breaking away, hacked one more time at the c.h.i.n.k he'd made in the demon's neck. He was finally rewarded with the sensation of his sword finding soft, vulnerable flesh. Changing his grip on the sword in an instant, he drove the tip of it into the gaping wound and plunged the blade downward. The demon collapsed forward, thick, black ooze pouring from its mangled chest. Julius jumped back, grimacing in pain and disgust as the revolting ooze coated his right hand and the hilt of the sword. He dropped the sword and quickly wiped his hand on the gra.s.s as he took in the rest of the scene.

Charlie and Fergus were dealing with a couple of smaller horned demons, and Lance was standing not far from him, still concentrating on the one remaining lizard demon; he was looking tired, though. Kyle was running for the far side of the garden, Simon on his heels, and Alexander was ghosting to the south side of the garden. Finally he spotted Gabi; she was yelling at one of the groups of Magi and pointing at something in a huge elm in the centre of the graveyard.

He left his sword where it was on the ground, the blade was still intact but the hilt had begun to dissolve, and ran towards her.

"Some of the winged ones are in a tree over there," she told him as he reached her. She was sweaty and dishevelled, her hair falling out of the tight braid she'd tied it back in. There was a b.l.o.o.d.y smear down the side of her face, though it wasn't her blood, several nasty scratches marred one cheek, and more than half of her left shoulder was exposed, showing a serious acid burn. But her eyes were alight, her whole being alive, and she was glorious.

"Leave the Magi to send them back," he told her, pulling her to him for a quick, fierce kiss. "Kyle wants us to check the perimeter. With so many of them, who knows how many have tried to escape into the City."

She returned his kiss with a savage one of her own, and he quickly pierced his tongue with a fang, gifting her a few drops of blood. She pulled back, licking her lip and grinning.

"Let's go," she said, quickly scanning where everyone else was before choosing the east boundary.

Gabi surveyed the scene; it was one you'd expect to see on a movie set, maybe one where aliens attacked earth, almost cataclysmic. The foul-smelling fog was finally beginning to dissipate, and the pale grey of coming dawn was just beginning to light the garden, further highlighting the havoc. The clean-up crew was moving through the garden, sucking up the disgusting puddles of goo into special containers. Gabi had no idea what the containers were lined with, and right now she was too exhausted to care. She was perched on a piece of wall that had collapsed sometime during the fight, while Harry, the SMV human medic, tended to the worst of her injuries. Next to her on the ground were a small pile of weapons and the remnants of the leather patches Savannah had asked her to test against demon blood. They'd fared surprisingly well, not perfect, but far better than Gabi had expected.

Julius was striding back towards her; he'd just overseen the evacuation of the other Vampires back to the Estate before the sun rose. He'd have to leave soon too. He'd called Patrick, the Werewolf in charge of his daytime security, to bring reinforcements to a.s.sist in the clean-up and escort exhausted Magi back to HQ. The rest of the clean-up crews and Hunters who'd been stationed at the stadium had arrived a few minutes ago, so Gabi finally allowed herself a breather.

They'd chased escaped demons for more than two hours after the main battle had been won. The Magi had done all they could to send back the escapees, but there were simply too many. Luckily Byron had been able to send them a Tracker Magus who was able to focus on demons; he'd helped the Hunters find every one of the five escapees. It was a miracle no humans had been bitten, and only a handful had needed to have their memories wiped.

A sharp sting brought her back to the present with a hiss of pain.

"Geesh, Harry," she snapped at the medic as he began to clean the deep laceration on her right arm. Julius folded himself elegantly onto a rock near hers and took her other hand.

"Sorry, h.e.l.lcat," Harry apologised, "but it's deep, and I don't want to leave anything toxic in there."

She gritted her teeth. It wasn't Harry's fault she was tired and grumpy now that the adrenalin had worn off. "Just do what you have to," she said, trying to sound less testy. "Just warn me next time."

Julius didn't move, but a sense of warm amus.e.m.e.nt trickled through their mental link. Movement caught her eye, and she looked up to find Mac and Razor picking their way through charred demon remains and blackened patches of gra.s.s. Mac had a takeaway cup of coffee in each hand.

"You're d.a.m.n lucky you're not entirely human," Harry told Gabi as he pulled out a needle and sutures from his bag, oblivious to Mac's approach. "If you were, you'd be on your way to solitary to see if you went ghoul on us."

Gabi's gaze flew to Mac's, and she knew immediately that he'd heard. His step faltered a moment, and his face registered surprise before he quickly covered it with a blank mask.

"s.h.i.t," she whispered.

"Don't worry," Julius whispered in her ear. "He's human. It's not a problem."

Gabi let out a breath in relief as Julius stated the obvious. Human minds were easy to manipulate. Then Razor was on her lap, purring loudly and head-b.u.t.ting her face, clearly overjoyed to see her in one piece.