There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) by Sharon Hannaford Page A

had found them, and tried to
bluff her way out of her involvement. The severed finger had been
the proof Gabi needed to convince the rest of the Princeps of
Helene’s ill intentions. The man in the photo had been part of her
posse. “I don’t know what would’ve happened to him after Helene
ran. I was more concerned with the Werewolves and the
finger.”
    Julius, Fergus
and Alexander now finally seemed to understand who she was talking
about. Murphy was too new to the circle to know what she was
referring to, and she didn’t care to fill him in just yet. Kyle was
the only one, besides Caspian the traitor, who’d been at the
showdown. She held up the print. “Wolf, you saw him too. He was
bruised, bloodied and only semi-conscious when you arrived, but
don’t you recognise him?”
    Kyle took the
paper from her and studied it, holding it out at arm’s length, his
eyes narrowed. Then he nodded. “I’d be more sure if I could scent
him, but it does look like him.”
    There was a
moment of stunned silence, and then everyone began speaking at
once.
    As the
conversation heated up around the table, Gabi broke open another
pie for Razor and popped the sausage roll in her own mouth; either
the Coke or the break in the case had settled her stomach.
    “ Benedict said that Helene was one of the Centuria,” Alexander
put in. “High up and trying to make herself eligible for ascension
to the Decuria when the time came.”
    “ Which means if this man was helping Helene and he’s involved
in Gabi’s mom’s kidnapping…” Kyle said slowly, as though testing
his reasoning even as he spoke the words.
    “ Then it’s th’ Decuria at wark here,” Fergus finished the
sentence, and silence once more engulfed the room.
    Gabi didn’t
know how to feel; she wasn’t sure if this was better news or worse
news than when they were completely in the dark. The sausage roll
she’d just eaten turned into a ball of lead in her stomach.
    “ Gabrielle, tell us everything you know about this man,” Julius
pressed her, his urgency cloaked in a soothing tone.
    She tried to
speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. She downed the last of the
Coke.
    “ He, uh, he was human,” she finally managed to say, pulling up
her memories of their time at Court. It had been a bleak few days
punctuated by more than one attempt on her life and topped off with
her and Fergus secretly assassinating one of the Princeps, a vile
excuse for a man who’d taken pleasure in Turning and abusing young
girls.
    “ He arrived after the other two thugs had tried to subdue me.
He was carrying a Sig Sauer P226, so he had the upper hand despite
being human. I’d killed one of the other two human men. They were
both hyped up on Vamp blood, and he claimed it was their first
time. He seemed disdainful of them. When he realised I’d only
knocked the second man unconscious, he killed the man without a
second thought and made me throw him down the stairwell so it would
look as though the two men had been fighting and killed each other.
His utter disregard for their lives chilled me at the time.” She
still felt cold when she revisited the memory of the human running
a long-bladed knife through the unconscious man. “His attitude and
bearing hinted at some kind of military special forces training. He
was good at reading body language; he picked up when I considered
diving down the stairs and turned the gun on Razor instead of me.
And he told me that even though he was only human, he never missed
a target.”
    “ That sounds very much like Sicarius.”
    Every one of
them jumped to attention as the door to the war room swung open
once again and Benedict, the teenage-looking Vampire Princep,
lounged in the doorway, his jaw working lazily on a piece of
chewing gum, a grin creasing the corners of his baby blue eyes. “I
come bearing gifts.” He had his hands up defensively as Fergus and
Alexander lunged towards the door, blades drawn.
    “ It’s alright,” Julius said,