Melinda narrowed her eyes and came to them regardless of Gabi's a.s.surances. Gabi allowed the Magus to touch her head. After a second she pulled her hand away and gave Gabi a hint of a smile.

"For once, you're telling the truth," she said, then looked to Julius. "She's okay. More pain than she's letting on, but nothing that needs my immediate attention. Get food and water into her and keep her off the leg." Then she was gone, hurrying towards the Source and the more seriously injured.

"You can leave me here," Gabi said as he set her carefully on a cement bollard near one of the vans, "if you need to go and check what's happening. The Clan might need you."

He kissed the tip of her nose and went to rummage in one of the nearby vans for bottled water and a pair of narrow-bladed shears. With the healthy dose of blood he'd given her before the battle, it was too soon to give her any more. They still had no idea what a safe amount was, and he didn't want to take chances with altering her state of life.

"They're fine," he told her as he returned. "Alexander is there. He's got it under control. It'll be good for him and the Clan, to give him room to test out his leadership skills without me interfering."

He handed her the bottle before kneeling down in front of her. She grimaced as he began cutting away her trouser leg. He could've just torn it, but he would've jostled the injury more that way. Luckily the SMV medics carried surgical scissors sharp enough to cut Kevlar. He wondered if that required some kind of spell but was too tired to check for the telltale tingle of magic. Her knee was swelling beyond the confines of the pants leg, and the pressure would be making it worse. He hoped he was doing the right thing. The relieved sounds she made when he cut the leather away from her knee made him think it was.

Tyres crunched in the gravel as the surveillance van carrying Trish, Kyle and the rest of the Demon Gate crew arrived on the scene. Kyle was the first out of the van and spotted them immediately.

"Geesh, h.e.l.lcat," he said, approaching, "you look like you've been to h.e.l.l and back." Wolf himself was sporting several superficial injuries, but his wolf was calm, and Trish was at his side a second later, surrept.i.tiously touching as much of her body to his as she could.

"Yep." Gabi sighed her agreement, self-consciously trying to finger-comb her hair into some kind of order, tugging on the twigs and leaves entwined in the knotted strands. Julius pulled her hands away and set to the task himself after tossing the shears back in the van.

"Twice," Kyle pressed jokingly, his relief apparent to Julius.

"Okay, don't push it." Gabi scowled, but Julius knew she was glad to see Kyle as well. Then she glanced at the group and asked, "Where's Caspian?"

"I sent him back to the Estate, with Charlie and Tabari," Julius told her. "He'll remain under guard until I have time to figure out what to do with him."

Gabi nodded approvingly.

Julius had been worried that Caspian's saving her life may have changed her view on the Spaniard, but that didn't seem to be the case. He had a difficult decision to make where Caspian was concerned. He didn't really have enough official cause to kill him, no proof of his desire to end Julius's life, and the Princeps wouldn't sanction his demise with no proof.

"What's happening at the Source?" Kyle asked, interrupting his dark thoughts.

Before Julius could answer, Nathan came hurrying towards them. There were several lacerations and contusions on his face, head and arms, in various stages of healing, but nothing that was slowing him down. Julius knew by the set of his friend's mouth that he wasn't bringing good news.

Nathan didn't bother with pleasantries. "It's Maclary," he said the moment he was close enough. A muscle twitched in his jaw as he dropped his eyes to Gabi. "I'm sorry, h.e.l.lcat. He joined the fight right near the end; some demons tried to make a run for it."

Julius felt the emotional blow as it hit her. She stopped breathing, her face lost colour, and her mouth opened as though to speak, but nothing came out.

"He's...gone?" Julius quietly asked the words she couldn't.

"No, not yet. But not far from," Nathan replied.

One more blow, one more shock. The kind you cannot prepare yourself for. Not ever. Gabi gasped in a breath when her lungs began to scream from lack of oxygen. Pins and needles p.r.i.c.kled across her face and chest. This wasn't supposed to happen. Without thought she tried to stand; she needed to see him. Agony spiked up her leg, and it buckled under her. Julius caught her arm and steadied her, but his attention was on Fergus.

"Look in the van," he told the Scotsman. An instant later a pair of medical crutches appeared in front of her. She reached for them, but Julius took them and gave them to her to hold, then swept her into his arms. Kyle was already jogging down the path.

"I'll carry you to the entrance," he said. "It's a rugged, downhill path. Then you can go in under your own steam."

She nodded, grateful he understood her ridiculous need not to be babied or, perhaps more importantly, not to show weakness in front of others. Seconds later he set her down at the yawning maw of the cave that very few other people had ever seen, and waited as she shoved her arms into the crutches and gripped the handles. It had been a long while since she'd used crutches; it took a few tries to get going, the rocky ground underfoot making it harder. Nathan led the way, threading through crumpled forms on the ground. Some were covered by white sheets; others were being attended by medics. Pools of stinking black demon gore dotted the ground; someone had begun cordoning off those puddles with a circle of white bandage.

Melinda was with Mac when they got to him. Kyle knelt beside him. The sight of the tall, quietly confident man she'd come to love as a friend in such a short s.p.a.ce of time lying crumpled and bleeding from a terrible gash in his stomach nearly brought her to her knees. Julius touched her mind, the gentlest of brushes, akin to him running the back of one finger over her cheek. An understanding of her pain.

"Is there nothing you can do?" she asked Melinda in a tight voice, but she could already see the answer in the amount of blood on the ground around him.

"I'm sorry, Gabi," Melinda said with deep regret. "All I can do is ease his pa.s.sing. He is beyond my skills and probably even those of the best surgeons in the world."

Gabi felt a hot tear slide down her cheek. Julius moved to Mac's side and hunched down, putting out a hand to touch his forehead. Mac moaned a little but didn't open his eyes. He was slipping away fast.

"There is one other option," Julius said, turning to look at her with a penetrating gaze. "He has mostly bled out already; he might just be strong enough to survive the Turning."

Gabi closed her eyes and swayed, absorbing Julius's words, their implications. Her mind a churning maelstrom trying to process the idea.

"I...I don't know," she said, "if that's what he'd want. I..." She trailed off, glancing from Julius to Kyle to Trish and then to Melinda. "Can you get him conscious enough to ask him?" A tiny thread of hope flared to life inside her.

The set of Melinda's lips doused the tiny light.

"I could probably get him responsive," the Healer said. "But he wouldn't really be lucid. Any decision he made would be irrational. And it would be cruel to subject his conscious mind to the pain he's in right now."

"You must make the decision, Gabrielle. You know him best, care for him the most," Julius said, "and I know this is not the time or place for rushing, but we don't have more than a few minutes before it'll be too late to try."

Gabi threw her head back and closed her eyes, the tears flowing harder. She tried to put herself in Mac's shoes, tried to imagine what he would want. It was impossible. She knew she would choose life. She wasn't ready for the next step, not ready to let go of the love and pa.s.sion she'd only just found, but there was no way to know another person's mind. Mac had so much to give this life, but she'd seen the bone-deep sadness when he spoke of his lost love. Perhaps they would be together again if they simply let him go. Perhaps not. The seconds were ticking by, and thinking it through would not make the decision any easier. In the end she did what felt right in her heart, and prayed he would forgive her if she was wrong.

"Do it," she whispered. "Turn him." When she opened her eyes, Julius was in front of her. He bent and kissed her forehead.

In the end it wasn't Julius who did the Turning. Fergus stepped in and offered to do it in his stead. When Julius nodded agreement, Fergus cut his wrist, kneeling to hold it to Mac's mouth and gently rubbing his throat to encourage him to swallow. When he'd got enough blood down, Fergus picked him up and carried him away, holding the large man easily and like he was carrying his own child.

Gabi watched them go, a mix of anxiety and sadness heavy in her chest. Later she would be glad she didn't know at that moment what else the Turning entailed. Right then her attention was redirected to a low keening that had begun on the far side of the huge cave. She blinked, finally taking in her surroundings. The cavern was vastly different to the one the Dark Ones had set the trap for Julius and Benedict in. This one was large and open, reminding her of being inside the City Cathedral, the ceiling of the cave arching to a central point. Intricate symbols and glyphs adorned the pale rock where Mage-light radiated from within the very essence of the cavern walls. The light seemed to pulse with a life of its own; the entire place felt like an ent.i.ty to Gabi's senses. It was...Amazing. The sense of power was strongest at a large altar-shaped rock at the furthermost point of the cave. Behind the altar a curtain of glistening liquid flowed, appearing from nowhere and disappearing just as mysteriously. Gabi forced her mouth closed with a snap. Several Magi were gathered around one form near the altar. It was from this gathering that the keening was coming.

"What's happening?" she whispered, and suddenly Athena was rushing by them, towards the tight knot of Magi.

Benedict veered away from her and joined their group. "It's Irene," he said in a low voice. "She poured too much into the protection spell. Her heart is failing."

Gabi was too numb to feel any more grief.

Benedict continued, "I think we should go now. They won't want us here any longer than necessary."

Julius nodded. "The Elders?" he checked, obviously wanting to be sure the Magi had everything under control.

"One is dead; the other is severely weakened," Benedict a.s.sured him. "He's being taken back to a secure location, but he's not expected to make the morning."

"All right," Julius said. "Let's round up everyone not Magi and get out of here." Before he'd finished speaking, Alexander was at his side. He too looked pale and tired, and he was looking anxiously towards the group where Athena stood, head bowed, her shaky keening joining the others.

Gabi let Julius take her and Razor back to the Estate's medical unit, where Ian was on standby to treat the injured. He X-rayed her knee and ankle, p.r.o.nouncing her ankle fractured and her knee dislocated with tears to the surrounding tendons and cartilage. She would be in a cast for at least two weeks and on crutches for another week after that. Vampire blood was good, but even that had its limits. Soft-tissue damage healed much quicker and easier than bone and cartilage. Painkillers administered, her other cuts and bruises cleaned and treated, Ian insisted on putting her on a drip to bring her electrolytes back to normal levels. Then he helped her remove Razor's armour and treated a few minor burns on the cat's tail and ears; he was otherwise unharmed. Julius left her to find a Feeder, refusing to take from her even if Ian would've allowed it. Ian put a temporary cast on her leg, promising a more modern version if she went to see him at the hospital the next day, took the empty drip bag away and removed the drip needle before leaving her to go and take care of some of the wounded Werewolves.

Gabi simply lay in the quiet, collecting herself for a few minutes. Wrapping her head around the fact that they'd overcome the Dark Ones. The cost had been terribly high, though. She didn't know the final tally of dead and seriously injured, but those she knew of were bad enough. Soon it wasn't possible for her to rest quietly any longer. She grabbed her crutches and hobbled from the medical wing.

The second Vampire she'd stopped had been able to direct her to where she wanted to go. On the far side of the Estate, set away from the rest of the cottages and apartments, was a squat, unadorned building. Inside that building was an underground bunker that Gabi had known nothing about. The underground vault was secured by foot-thick metal doors and contained four small rooms, each complete with a bed secured to the floor, a small washbasin, and a viewing window of steel-reinforced, bulletproof gla.s.s.

If Gabi had had the slightest inkling of how harrowing the first few days of the Turning were, she might have made a different choice for her friend. Mac hadn't been Mac at all. The sight of the raging monster inside the tiny room had brought tears to her eyes as surely as seeing him at death's door. Wild, unshaven, his clothes torn and streaked with blood and grime, Gabi hadn't quite been able to believe that this crazed creature could ever have any visage left of her friend. He'd screamed and ranted, her presence on the other side of the steel walls, the scent of her blood, sending him into a mindless frenzy of bloodl.u.s.t. Fergus had bodily removed her, carrying her up the stairs when she'd been unable to tear herself away, appalled at what she'd done to him.

Outside, in the cool crisp air of impending sunrise, Fergus had explained the process, promising her that Mac would become more himself as time went on. Never exactly the same but, with patience and mentoring, a close facsimile.

She was more than a little angry with Julius for not explaining the harshness of the Turning to her, even though she knew there simply hadn't been time. She collected herself enough to thank Fergus for what he'd done, both for Mac and for her. Then she puffed out a breath and planted her crutches in the gra.s.s, heading determinedly back towards the mansion. She had to push her anxiety about Mac to the back of her mind; there was something she really needed to discuss with a few people, and it could only be with a very select group.

The sun was already fully in the sky, too late for any other Vampires to still be conscious, when Gabi led the way to Julius's office. She was getting more nimble on her crutches and had even managed the stairs without stumbling.

"Alex, are you sure you're okay?" she checked as the men found seats. Julius at his desk, Kyle fell into a chaise longue near the window, and Alexander took one of the other office chairs.

"I'm fine, h.e.l.lcat," Alexander a.s.sured her, "even though it's a pretty novel experience." His ascension to Master level brought several advantages, not least of which was the ability to stay awake during daylight if he so chose. "Now what's with the secret meeting?"

Gabi hadn't taken a seat, the cast on her leg made sitting uncomfortable, and she needed to pace anyway. The men waited while she collected her thoughts, listening to the tap of her crutches on the carpet.

"Mariska is only just pregnant," Gabi finally said into the tense silence. "We know that the babies are probably Gemini's, and Athena suspects they were conceived during dark s.e.x rites to add to the power pool they were all drawing from," she explained, regurgitating what Athena and Benedict had been discussing before Julius and the others had arrived at the Source. "We also know that they used Vampire blood as part of those rituals." She drew in a deep breath; there was a slight hitch in it. "Have you considered that Mariska may well have consumed Vampire blood after the time that she conceived?" She fell silent, letting the revelation sink in. Before anyone could answer her, all three men turned their heads towards the closed door.

After a second Julius said, "It's all right. It's just one of the Werewolf staff, a cleaner, walking past. Even if she overheard, it wouldn't mean anything to her. She's moved away now."

"Holy mother of G.o.d," Alexander finally whispered. "Those babies could be Dhampirs."

"Magus Dhampirs," Kyle inserted, his voice strained.

"One light, one dark," Gabi confirmed. "And what exactly will a Dark Magus Dhampir be capable of?"

No one spoke; only fate and the G.o.ds would know the answer to that question.

EPILOGUE.

Caspian could barely contain the excitement that rippled through him. The inexorable pull of daysleep dragged at him. He wouldn't be able to resist it for much longer, but now he didn't need to.

With a sigh of relief and renewed expectation, he released his hold on the Werewolf female. His gamble had paid off spectacularly. He no longer needed to kowtow to Julius. He didn't need Gabrielle; she was a lost cause anyway, so good riddance. He was already fixated on his new ticket to Master level. What were a few more years to a Vampire?

He just wished he could be in two places at once, be a fly on the wall to witness their faces, hear their cries of anger when they found that the Maleficus had made her escape. She was good at escaping, and he was good at disappearing. He didn't think it would be hard to persuade her to leave with him. They had a common enemy, after all, and where else did she have to go? He allowed himself to drift into the daysleep truly happy for the first time in many, many years.

I hope you have enjoyed this fourth instalment of the h.e.l.lcat Series.

Other books by Sharon Hannaford:.

A Cat's Chance in h.e.l.l (h.e.l.lcat Series Book 1).

All h.e.l.l Breaks Loose (h.e.l.lcat Series Book 2).

A Cold Day in h.e.l.l (h.e.l.lcat Series Book 3).

end.