"You can't let him near your neck," Julius warned. "He won't know it's you; he won't have any control of himself for at least several seconds."

Before anyone could give her any more advice, Gabi pressed a kiss onto Julius's blistering lips and grabbed hold of the rope.

Her hurried rappel down the rope was crazy. The walls of the hole were as smooth as gla.s.s and made from some kind of crystalline substance marbled with veins of high-quality silver. There was no way a Werewolf could withstand touching the surface. She made it to the bottom without breaking her neck and immediately fell to her knees beside Alexander.

There were no signs of life, which wasn't entirely unexpected, but didn't help the anxious knot in Gabi's chest. She clung to the fact that if he was already dead, he would've turned to dust. As she made a quick a.s.sessment of his condition, she recited the fact like a mantra to herself. "He's not dust, he's not dust. f.u.c.k, pull yourself together," she commanded.

He was as close to a corpse as she'd ever seen anyone get without actually dying. His skin was blistered to the point of turning black, his face entirely unrecognisable, his tendons tight enough to turn his hands to claws and fix him rigidly in position. She blew a sharp breath out her nose, trying to clear the burnt-flesh stench.

"The stake first," Gabi whispered to herself, praying that she could obey her own directions. She got a solid grip on the stake and gave a hard yank. It slipped from her grasp, and she fell backwards. It seemed to be made from the same material as the walls and was slick with Alexander's blood. She quickly repositioned herself, one foot on either side of the stake, and this time gripped the slick spike with both hands. It took several heart-stopping seconds of tugging, but it finally shifted a little. She caught her breath and tried again, this time twisting slightly as she pulled, and it flew free with a sickening squelch. A muted groan came from Alexander's blackened lips, and Gabi flung the crystal shard away, kneeling over him.

"Open a vein," she instructed herself. s.h.i.t, she didn't want to pull Nex out in these close quarters in case Alexander responded to the scent of the blood before she could resheath. She hadn't come down here to save him only to have him die by impaling himself on her sword. Her teeth would just make a mess of her own flesh. "Anyone got a pocketknife?" she called up to the anxious faces looking down on her.

"Incoming," warned Kyle a second before a small, multi-tool Swiss Army knife dropped towards her.

She caught it and flicked open a small blade. She drew in a deep breath, bracing herself, then jabbed the narrow blade into one of the veins of her inner wrist. The pain was sharp, and blood gushed immediately. Gabi quickly pressed the wound to Alexander's mouth. There was no response. His rigid body remained motionless, the blood dribbling from his ruined lips.

Desperate, Gabi used her free hand to shift him, tilting his body so that his mouth faced upward. His flesh was deteriorating with each pa.s.sing second. She managed to get some blood to stay in his mouth, and she worked his throat muscles, beseeching him to swallow. Faint movement, a gurgle and then a convulsive swallow. Gabi sagged in relief, forgetting Julius's cautioning words. Without warning, the blistered, charred thing that was Alexander lunged upward and slammed into her with the force of a speeding car.

They hit the solid wall hard enough that Gabi was surprised it didn't shatter. Her breath evacuated her chest, and black spots erupted in front of her eyes as her head connected.

"Gabi," Julius barked.

His warning suddenly clear in her mind, she gathered the remains of her addled wits and shoved her bleeding arm in between Alexander and her throat. He latched onto the offering with the ferocity of a hyena, and pain exploded as Gabi felt his fangs. .h.i.t bone. The world swam in front of her eyes, and it was only her suddenly rock-steady connection to Julius that kept her from the precipice of unconsciousness.

"Stay with me," he ordered from above, giving her the strength to fight the pain, the nausea and the encroaching blackness that swamped her. "He just needs a little more; then I'll stop him."

Gabi forced herself to breathe, drawing in air through her mouth and concentrating on expelling it again. Through the distortion in her vision she could already see Alexander's face begin to heal, the withered flesh plumping up and changing from crispy black to a dark, angry red and then to a harsh sunburn.

"Alexander, stop," Julius's voice resonated from above. The sharp bite of his power nipped at Gabi's skin and raised the hairs on her neck.

Alexander's eyes finally opened, and he stared at Gabi in horror and confusion as he quickly released his ravenous grip on her wrist.

"Gabi," he rasped, "I'm sorry. What the f.u.c.k?"

"Never mind that, explain later," she told him, cradling her wrist against her chest and grimacing. "You have to get out of the sun. Can you climb up on your own?"

Alexander blinked, backing away from her and glancing around the narrow confines of the pit and then up towards where the others waited. He was looking infinitely better than he had just minutes before, but still not the picture of Vampire health.

He looked back to Gabi and nodded. "I think so." Then he reached for her arm. "Let me heal you a little first. I'm...I'm sorry. Whatever happened."

"Don't be an idiot," she groused. "I didn't bring you back so you can die out here. Get moving. Julius can heal me later." She turned him and pushed him towards the dangling rope.

He gave her one more searching look, then grabbed hold and nimbly, though not at his usual speed, pulled himself upward.

"Julius, take him straight to your car and get back to the Estate. I'll follow with Kyle," she ordered, hoping that Alexander's plight was obvious enough for him to do as she said.

A strong wave of unhappiness clouded their connection, and she knew he'd accepted the reality of the situation. In the full onslaught of the midday sun, even a great Master Vampire had to know when to concede defeat.

The blanket disappeared, and the sun beat down on her head as Gabi used her one functioning hand to create a clumsy loop in the rope so the Werewolves could pull her up. She heard Julius bark out something to Kyle, and then he was gone.

By the time Gabi made it to the top of the pit, the blood loss was making her light-headed. Combined with the blow to her head and her savaged wrist, she was feeling pretty d.a.m.n awful. Kyle caught her by the arms and hauled her up onto the spa.r.s.ely gra.s.sed ground, forcing her to sit with her head between her knees while he opened a bottle of water.

"Butch," he growled to one of the other Werewolves, "there's an emergency kit under the pa.s.senger seat of my van."

Gabi remembered once doing a patrol with Butch. In fact, Butch had been driving when they chased some rogue Werewolves and his beloved car had been shot full of holes that night. She wondered if he'd forgiven her yet. Kyle pa.s.sed the water bottle to her, and she lifted her head long enough to take a drink.

"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l," Kyle finally exploded, plonking down next to her, and what else could Gabi add?

She nodded in mute but heartfelt agreement. Butch returned moments later and hunkered down next to them in the gra.s.s.

"Give me your arm," he said to Gabi, already scrabbling through the kit and pulling out swabs, antiseptic and bandages. Gabi raised her head again and eyed him suspiciously.

"He's okay, h.e.l.lcat," Kyle a.s.sured her. "He was a medic in the special forces back in his heyday."

"Hmph," Butch snorted, "I'm still in my heyday."

With the pain in her arm growing worse as the adrenalin wore off, Gabi capitulated without any further argument; she gingerly placed her mangled limb in Butch's care. She was beginning to shake in reaction. Butch tossed Kyle a bottle of pills before setting to work. Kyle shook several tablets into his palm and handed them to Gabi, who swallowed them along with another long swig from the water bottle.

"Can you even hazard a guess as to who or what would do that to Alex, or why?" Kyle asked her.

"Not the slightest clue to the who or the why," Gabi admitted, turning to look at Kyle rather than watch Butch's ministrations. "But I have my suspicions about what. This has a strange feel to it, and I seriously doubt another Vampire would've been able to make this pit." She bit back a hiss of pain as Butch began flushing the wounds.

"Geez, I thought only Werewolves did this kind of damage," Butch muttered, a tinge of grudging respect in his voice.

Gabi flashed him a withering look. "It certainly wasn't Werewolves," Gabi continued to Kyle. "Shifters and humans don't have the powers required to do this, which leaves only the Magi."

"Why would the Magi do this?" Kyle sounded outraged.

"Not our Magi, but the Dark ones," she clarified.

Kyle paused, thinking. "What would killing Alex accomplish?" He wore a puzzled expression. "Or why didn't they just kill him outright? Why go to this much trouble and leave him here to die?"

Gabi didn't have the answers. Her brain was fuzzy with pain and blood loss.

"Sounds to me like they're trying to distract you," Butch put in as he placed a dressing pad on Gabi's arm and began to bandage it in place. "Keep you looking one place while they get up to mischief somewhere else."

"s.h.i.t," Gabi swore as Butch's words set her intuitive alarm bell ringing in agreement.

CHAPTER 11.

Gabi was hungry, sore and cranky as h.e.l.l on the trip back to the Estate. She'd barely registered where or how far they'd travelled to find Alexander earlier, she'd been so focused on finding him and in what state. The trap had been set in an abandoned quarry on the south-eastern side of the City, at least thirty miles from the outskirts of the urban border and, at normal car speed, more than half an hour's drive from the Estate. Julius had covered the distance in a little over ten minutes. But Kyle was driving his van at closer to the speed limit. He didn't have Julius's ability to mind-wipe any police who stopped them, and his van didn't have the Aston Martin's ability to outpace any police car in the City. The other Werewolves were going back to SMV HQ for a quick debriefing, and Gabi knew that she and Kyle should be doing the same, but first she needed to make sure Alexander was all right with her own eyes.

Her phone rang, and she muttered a curse when Athena's name flashed on the screen.

Kyle glanced over to see who it was. "Be nice," he said as Gabi pulled a face. "She was really worried about Alex and pulled all kinds of strings to get that Tracker to find him."

Gabi took a deep breath. Kyle was right; she had no reason to be irritable with the Magus, but Magi weren't high on her list of 'people I like right now'. Even if she was certain the City Magi weren't directly involved in Alexander's near demise, she was beginning to think that Magi politics was the root cause of all the current unpleasantness.

"Fine," she groused, hitting the answer icon. "Athena?" she said, putting as much polite query in her tone as she could muster.

When she ended the call, she'd somehow been talked into letting Athena join them at the Estate. Perhaps it was the catch in the Magus's tone, the discernible angst when Gabi had described Alexander's condition. Gabi was fairly sure Athena had been close to tears, a fact that astounded her. Having seen the Magus and Alexander together several times in the past few weeks, she'd a.s.sumed the relationship was one of s.e.xual gratification rather than affection or love. She hadn't thought it possible for anyone, let alone a Vampire, to have gotten that deep under the ice-witch's skin, but it seemed she'd been wrong.

Athena was waiting for them outside the gates to the Estate in her Toyota Prius. Gabi sighed at the woman's boring predictability. The Prius started up and followed them through the gates. Gabi okayed her with the Werewolf guards on duty, checking to make sure Julius and Alexander had made it back okay. She was a.s.sured they were at the mansion. Kyle drove to the front of the main house and cut the van's engine. Gabi got out rather gingerly, her savaged arm secured to her chest in a makeshift sling, blood beginning to seep through the bandages. The lump on the back of her head was the size of a tennis ball, and Roger Federer was batting that tennis ball against the inside of her skull. Repeatedly. G.o.ds, how had she managed before Julius came along, she wondered. It was a good thing they hadn't been called to any other emergencies; right now she was about as dangerous as a three-day-old kitten.

Athena gasped when she took in Gabi's appearance.

"Lord and Lady, what happened?" Athena asked, genuine concern in her voice. Their trip to the Princep's Court had certainly changed Athena's att.i.tude; it was as though she'd become more, for lack of a better word, human. Three months ago Gabi would've laid a heavy bet against Athena ever losing her pathological dislike of other races.

"Alex," Gabi said shortly.

Athena looked slightly sick.

"Don't worry; he's fine now. We'll explain inside," Kyle interjected, one arm behind Gabi's back as though he expected her to fall over at any moment.

She scowled and led the way inside. The interior of the mansion was devoid of natural light; specialised shutters covered every window. She could already sense Julius. He was downstairs, probably in the entertainment room, his anxiety at a much more normal level; Alexander must be okay.

"Lea," he breathed as she found him, at first relieved to see her, and then, as he took in her state of health, annoyance flashed through him.

Gabi wondered if it was directed at her or the situation in general. An instant later she was in his arms, held close, his arms a protective cage around her as he mentally a.s.sessed the damage. The independent part of her psyche snarled, rejecting his cosseting att.i.tude, but a more reasonable part overpowered the first instinct, the part that understood Julius had just watched her put herself directly in harm's way. Again. That part knew he was perfectly justified in showing his concern, rea.s.suring himself she was still alive and kicking. Another, much tinier, generally ignored part of her soul actually rejoiced in the feeling of his strength bolstering hers, of his worry for her and his obvious protectiveness. It would never be the dominant part of her personality, but she was trying to nurture the little spark, encouraging it to grow into a tiny, heartwarming flame. Allowing herself to take comfort and solace from Julius made both of them a little more content.

"h.e.l.lcat, I'm so sorry." Alexander was suddenly near them, Gabi hadn't seen his approach at all, and concern was etched across his features. His skin was still red, with a dark, painful-looking sunburn, and his head was almost bald, just a faint shadow of new hair coming through. Dark black crescents marked the skin beneath his eyes. He was alive, but it had been a very near thing. Seeing him reminded Gabi that there was a good chance Mariska, and whatever new friends she'd recently acquired, were creating some kind of mischief somewhere in the City right now.

"I think we're even for grey hairs, Lex Boy, but I owe you some pain," she commented wryly, pulling away from Julius slightly. "There's someone else to see you," she told him, nodding back towards the doorway where Athena was hovering uncertainly.

In less than a blink Alexander was in front of her, taking her hands in his and pulling her towards him. Gabi squeezed her eyes shut. She must be more tired than she thought; she truly hadn't seen Alexander move. He disappeared from one spot and appeared in the next. He pressed a kiss to each of Athena's hands in turn, no words pa.s.sed, but the Magus blushed a pretty, rose pink.

"Wolf," Julius said to Kyle, who was behind the bar and rummaging in the fridge. "There's food on the way; it shouldn't be long. Gabrielle and I will be back with you shortly."

Kyle nodded, coming away from the fridge with a soda in his hand.

Julius took her up to his bedroom and sat her carefully on the bed. His emotions were a mixture of frustration, concern and l.u.s.t. If Gabi didn't feel like she'd just gone ten rounds with a Werewolf, she would've played on the l.u.s.t. As it was, all she felt like doing was curling into the blankets and pillows and sleeping for about a week. Julius finally smiled, sensing her desire to snuggle up and sleep.

"Not just yet, Lea," he told her, sitting down beside her and threading a hand into her tangled curls, tugging so her face lifted to his.

"Alex still doesn't look very well," she murmured, uncomfortable under his searching gaze.

"He needs more blood," Julius said. "The Feeders are still recovering after the needs of those who helped in the demon fight. And no, you aren't giving him any more," he put in as he saw the thought cross her face. "He'll be fine until we can bring in an extra Feeder; someone will find him one tonight." He still hadn't stopped scrutinising her face, and it was making her uneasy.

"What?" she finally demanded, unable to bear the tension any longer.

He leaned down and with exquisite tenderness kissed the side of her mouth. "There were those who doubted my choice of Consort," he said, admitting something she'd already known to be true, but which he'd never voiced. "But after what you did today, every one of them will be silenced. No one else in the entire Clan could've saved Alexander today, only you. The whole Clan is in your debt."

Now Gabi felt really uncomfortable. She pulled away from him a little.

"It wasn't anything spectacular," she said, shaking her head and then hissing as the movement made her headache worse. "I would've done the same for anyone in that predicament. Well, almost anyone," she amended.

Julius smiled, amused at her discomfort. "We'll discuss it later," he said. "First this." He slid his cool hand behind her head, careful to avoid the lump, and pulled her in for a deep, pa.s.sionate kiss, his tongue already seeping blood from two small wounds. The taste of his mouth and his blood chased away everything else, and for a few short moments Gabi forgot every niggling worry in her head.

When she came back to earth a couple of minutes later, the pain in her arm and head had her fighting back a moan. Julius held her against his chest, his arms tense, as his blood began the painful healing process. It would be a few minutes before the pain became more manageable, and then the recovery would begin. In the meantime Gabi had no options but to grit her teeth and bear it. She was now doubly glad he'd taken her upstairs rather than allow the others to see her so vulnerable. They'd all seen her in pain before, all of them had been in Dante's dungeon when she'd been found tortured and bleeding out, but Alexander didn't need to see the pain of her recovery, and Gabi hated Athena to see her in any state other than calm and collected.

When the pain finally lessened, she consciously calmed her ragged breathing and uncurled herself from Julius's embrace. He helped her unwind the b.l.o.o.d.y bandages from her arm. The scent of her blood had turned his eyes golden, but he showed no other signs of his hunger. His control was remarkable, she thought for the thousandth time. The bite marks were still raw and not completely healed, but the bleeding had stopped, and Gabi knew that by nightfall her arm would be functioning normally. Her headache was gone, and the tennis ball on her scalp was more the size of a bad mosquito bite. The myriad of other smaller nicks and bruises were all but gone, and her energy levels were back to normal. She didn't even feel tired anymore. As Julius carried her to the shower, somehow already shirtless, she was mentally tallying how much time they had before their absence would seem suspicious.

As Gabi pulled the McLaren to a halt near the small but tidy motel room Mac was staying at, she was still getting over the shock of what she and Julius had walked in on when they returned to the entertainment room. The last thing she'd expected to see was Alexander taking blood from Athena. With Athena's blessing, apparently. Athena's embarra.s.sment had been immediate and intense, pulling away with a gasp and turning scarlet when Alexander pulled her back so that he could lick the small wounds on her neck to hurry the healing process. Gabi gave her ten points for holding her head high despite her discomposure as the two of them parted for the second time. Julius seemed as shocked and incredulous as Gabi felt, but Alexander, a smug little grin on his face, looked far better than he had when Gabi and Julius had left half an hour earlier. Luckily Kyle had arrived moments later with several boxes of pizza and his usual air of nonchalance, and once the attention shifted to the food, they were all able to pretend nothing untoward had happened.

As the door of her car lifted to allow her out, Mac was already locking up the door to his room, so she stayed with the car. While this wasn't exactly a bad area of the City, she was still a little apprehensive about leaving the McLaren unattended. It was already drawing unwanted attention.

"Nice wheels," Mac drawled as he sauntered over. He had a small backpack slung over one shoulder and was dressed back in his faded denims and scuffed boots but had put on a fresh black T-shirt. It showed off a build contradictory to his age; it was obvious that he put effort into keeping in shape. He gave the car an appreciative inspection as he approached. "I've never seen one of these up close and personal. Angeli Morte has expensive taste."

Gabi smiled. "Actually she has a Consort with expensive taste and the income to back it up," she countered with a tilt of her eyebrow. "Get in, and I'll show you what she can do."

Mac had to share the pa.s.senger seat with Razor, as the sports car only had two seats. She hadn't had time to go home yet, so Razor was still along for the ride. Mac didn't seem to mind, but Gabi was sure his legs had to be numb by the time they arrived at SMV HQ.

Their first stop was Byron's office. Gabi had explained to Mac on the drive over that Byron's involvement with the SMV was kept on a need-to-know basis, but Gabi already knew that Mac was adept at keeping secrets. Byron's secretary waved them straight through; Gabi had called earlier, and the older man was expecting them. He rose as they entered and gave Gabi a customary hug and peck on the cheek.

"Byron, this is Joshua Maclary," she told him, taking in his appearance critically as she stepped back to introduce Mac. Byron wasn't looking overly tired, but the worry on his face was clear. "Mac, this is my very close friend Byron, also co-founder of the SMV."

The two men shook hands politely, no posturing or p.i.s.sing contest, just the cordial meeting of two strangers.

"It's very nice to meet you, Mr Maclary. I'm sorry it's under such strained circ.u.mstances," Byron said, indicating to Gabi and Mac to take seats while he returned to his chair behind the large, paper-strewn desk.

"Please call me Mac," the other man said predictably. "It's an honour to meet you. I've followed the development of your organisation with great interest over the years. You may not know this, but your model is being replicated in several other cities around the globe. Not the size and scope of yours, of course, but the same principle and modus operandi."

Byron looked startled, and Gabi's interest was piqued. She'd always a.s.sumed other cities had found similar ways of dealing with their supernatural population, but hadn't thought of the group her father and Byron founded as one that others might base themselves on.

"I would be fascinated to hear more," Byron told him, "but I believe there is some haste to our current situation, and right now that must sadly take precedence. I've arranged to take you straight down to the morgue." He turned to Gabi then. "Another body was brought in this morning. I think it may well be the missing person Mr-Mac is looking for."

Byron led the way, the scent of death and antiseptic chemicals mixing in the air as he pushed a door open and waited for Gabi and Mac to precede him inside. Gabi couldn't help the slight wrinkling of her nose; she doubted she'd ever get used to the scent of death. There was no one else in the pair of adjoining rooms. An office desk and credenza, with several chairs in one room, were walled off by a large pane of gla.s.s from the larger second room. Double steel doors separated the dead from the living, and kept the bodies cool until they could be disposed of safely and secretly. Byron quickly checked something on a board in a Perspex holder next to the steel doors before pushing through them. Inside, he checked the clipboards on a row of gurneys positioned side by side against one wall; each held a sheet-covered body. Finding the one he was looking for, he pulled the gurney out of the row and rolled it into the bright light of the medical examination area. Dej vu, Gabi thought darkly.

Mac had pulled the backpack off his shoulder. Rummaging in the bag, he withdrew a file and flipped it open to reveal a photo atop a stack of paperwork. The picture was one of a girl looking over her shoulder at whoever was taking the photo. She had a carefree smile that hinted at mischief. She couldn't have been much older than twenty. Joining them to look at the picture, Byron nodded sadly and then went to peel back the crisp, white sheet from the face of the body on the gurney. It was the same girl, now lifeless, staring, never to smile again. The waste of this girl's life stabbed at Gabi, made her angry, and a cold fire jumped to life in her chest.

"This has got to end," she vowed, her voice almost a snarl. "We will put a stop to this."

It was less than an hour before dawn when Caspian used the secret tunnel to re-enter the castle. Most other Vampires would be heading back to their quarters, and the night staff would be preparing to hand over duties to the day shift, so it was the perfect time to slip inside unnoticed. He knew now that he wasn't the only one with knowledge of the secret tunnel system of the castle. He'd never bothered to fully explore the pathways but, once he'd accidentally stumbled across one of them, had explored just enough to find two different exits from the castle in case he needed them one day. That day had come sooner than expected, but he was grateful he'd had the good fortune and presence of mind to utilise them.

He was hoping that the furore over Julius's trial and Helene's betrayal, and her death before execution, had now had enough time to die down. He'd stayed away as long as he could, but he desperately wanted to find out if anyone suspected her death wasn't what it appeared to be, or if anyone knew of the conspiracy between the two of them. Everyone at Court believed Helene had betrayed the Princeps, but she'd betrayed him worst of all, gone against their agreement and tried to kill the Dhampir instead of Julius.

Gabrielle. His Dhampir. He'd created her. Rage filled him again, as it had so many times in the past few months. Every time he thought of Julius and the power he now wielded. While hiding in one of the secret pa.s.sages and looking through a peephole cleverly disguised by a painting, he'd seen Julius control and turn back an entire regiment of Vampire soldiers. None of the Vampire soldiers had been able to speak about Julius's group escaping after lockdown had occurred. Caspian had stayed just long enough to find out the reason for the lockdown. Once he heard of Santiago's demise, he knew that Julius and Gabrielle had something to do with it. He hadn't waited around to see what was made of Helene's accelerated meeting with her maker; he could only hope they'd think she found a way to take her own life.

He'd planned to stay away for an extended period of time. Give everyone a chance to forget about him. He'd planned to bide his time, for years if necessary, before coming back to claim what was rightfully his. But he simply couldn't stay away from her. The pull to be near her, make her submit to his will, to taste her blood was far too strong for him to ignore. It ate at him night after night; he was like a man slowly starving to death. There was only one cure for his hunger. He had to be near her again.