She looked as he pulled something out of the vest he was wearing, and recoiled at the sight of the small handgun dangling from his fingers. “Please, Alberto, don’t do it.”
He shook his head. “I love you, daughter of mine. Soon, we’ll be together.” He flicked the gun by its trigger and slid it between the bars, handle to her. “Malina will soon become dangerous. Use the gun—”
“No!” She fought the urge to throw up. “I’d never kill her.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. Use it on yourself before she can tear you to pieces. Only a suicide will grant you entrance in the Tartaros.” He let the handgun fall by Ravenna’s feet, then reached his hand through the bars to caress her. “By tomorrow night, we’ll be dining and drinking ambrosia by the River Lethe and we’ll forget all about this.”
Ravenna looked horrified at the gun touching her skin and moved her feet aside. “What will happen tomorrow night?”
“I’ll serve the mortal nectar to our brothers and sisters in need.” He gave her a last caress, then straightened his legs, and walked to the door. “It will be over soon.”
****
Alexander broke all the speed limits, driving like a madman between the Appian Way and Trastevere. When he had seen Alberto Giudici’s apothecary on the list of places where the licorice sticks were sold, his heart had stopped beating.
“Thank the gods we’ve arrived.” Samuel, who had accompanied him for the ride, had already regretted out loud his decision. Several times and in several languages. “You do understand that there will be hell to pay when I have to explain all your infractions to the Council?”
Alexander answered with a series of expletives in ancient Greek, followed by an explanation of what he could do to the Council in ancient Aramaic. He stopped the Mercedes just an inch or two shy of being in the middle of the road, and aligned it before a car parked by the apothecary.
Samuel squeezed himself out of the passenger door too close to the parked car. “It will be impounded.”
Alexander walked straight to the apothecary’s door, but it was closed. His first instinct was to kick it down, but he restrained himself and walked the perimeter of the building, looking for another entry instead. Samuel followed him a step behind, keeping his mouth shut, for which Alexander was grateful. He was beyond himself with worry.
Samuel noticed the small entry under the arch connecting the apothecary to the next building. He looked around, then made a sign for Alexander to wait beside him, and forced the wooden door open with a single, well-assisted push of his shoulder. They lowered their heads and entered the building by the back of the apothecary’s storage room. None of them were familiar with the building’s geography past the first floor, but it was clear nobody was there. When they reached the staircase, they found it dark too.
The idea that Ravenna could be anywhere, crept through Alexander’s thoughts, poisoning his hope he would find her soon. Then a noise, no more than a squeak barely audible over the sounds of cars coming from outside, reached them from above. He sprinted up the stairs without thinking, ready to grab Alberto Giudici by his collar and shake him until he told him where Ravenna was. The man would have to explain the whys and the hows to the angel, because besides altering Giudici’s facial features, he didn’t care what happened to him. Unless the apothecary had dared touch her. Then Giudici would regret having done so. He only wanted Ravenna in his arms.
At every landing they encountered, they both walked through the small hallways connecting the older buildings in Rome. They glanced inside the rooms with open doors, and carefully pried open the ones that were locked. They went up four flights of stairs, but by the time they reached the last floor, Alexander had the sinking feeling the noise he had heard was just the house settling. They checked the fourth story, but it was deserted.
He entered a stuffy small room, and suddenly needing a breath of fresh air, he opened the window and looked between the bars at the peaceful sight of the terracotta roofs illuminated by the full moon. The clouds, pushed by the warm autumnal winds, played hide and seek with the silver globe in the sky. “She could be anywhere.” He turned to leave, when the nocturnal breeze entered the room and scattered the dust bunnies accumulated under a radiator. A long strand of glossy black hair was blown against his right shoe. He leaned to pick it up, knowing it was Ravenna’s. He looked at Samuel and the angel nodded. “She could still be here.”
Alexander ran back to the first floor, hoping that, like in his house, there were two separate sets of stairs leading up and down. He went back to the store, then out toward the storage, then back inside, opening doors as he ran through the place.
“Here.” Samuel turned left to the wing with the northern exposure, and was looking at an archway illuminated by a flickering halogen light. The lights were off everywhere else in the house.
Alexander lost his ability to form coherent thoughts once again and barreled through the narrow space, almost slipping down the steep, worn brick steps. A flicker of light could be seen at the end of the stairwell as if a door was ajar, but someone big moved toward him and darkness enveloped him a moment later. He encountered the man chest first. Warned by the noise he had made, the man had been running toward him when they collided against each other.
A split second later, Alexander blindly hit the mountain of a man with all his strength, driving his punches in the close quarters. He couldn’t use his legs to drive his specialty kicks, and suffered for it when the man pushed him to the floor, revealing he wasn’t alone—a second man towered behind him.
Samuel, whose wings although broken, still filled the cramped staircase, had to descend sideways, making it impossible for him to lend any help. A roar came from behind his assailants, followed by a feminine cry, and Alexander’s blood froze. He pushed his right knee up with all the thrust he could muster from the ground and was rewarded by a choked sound. He landed a punch somewhere between the man’s guts and his lower abdomen, which led the man to lean backward long enough for him to push him out of the way with both knees. The man clumsily lost his balance and went down backward onto his friend. Another roar split the air, this time it sounder angrier and almost drowned the woman’s scream.
Alexander was down on the stairs one moment, up and pushing at the two men the next. Samuel was behind him, when his assailants attacked with new vigor.
“Duck.” Samuel’s right arm flew over Alexander’s lowering head and his open palm connected with the nose of the first man in line.
Alexander heard the sickening sound of breaking and caving bones as he saw the man collapsing, a dazed expression on his face and blood pouring from his smashed nasal cavities. From his lowered position, Alexander punched the second’s assailant’s groin. At the same time, Samuel head-butted him. The animal sounds from behind the door intensified and no other voice cut through. He walked over the two men, plastering their faces with his shoes, and pressed on them with his heels as they tried to trip him. Samuel kept them down as Alexander reached the last two steps and kicked the door open before landing on the threshold.
He only saw Ravenna.
She was inside a cage sitting in the middle of what looked like a cellar. Her hands were cuffed before her, limiting her ability to fend off the attacks from the black panther sharing the space with her. Alexander’s heart, already overtaxed by the fight, stopped beating for a few counts. The sight of her, bloodied and trapped against the bars of the big cage as the panther advanced toward her, sent him in another frenzy of activity. He banged at the closed lock in desperation, then ran back to the entry where Samuel was pummeling down the two men as they retaliated. He pushed the angel aside and took the first of the two thugs by his sleeve. He growled to give him the keys to the cage, but either his words didn’t make any sense or he was loyal to his employer.
“Give me the keys.” He blindly punched at the flesh beneath him. Then he reached for the visible pockets on the man’s clothes, but besides paper napkins and licorice stick wrappers, he didn
’t find what he was looking for. His rage was renewed by Ravenna screaming when the cage was rattled by the big animal crazily pouncing around. With a kick, he pushed away the man who must have been her kidnapper. Then he leaned over the second, who was faintly breathing from his mouth. A brief search on the front pockets revealed nothing. Alexander pushed the heavy man toward the entry, the steep angle of the steps helping him to turn the man so that his back was exposed. The bulge of keys showed in his right pocket. Alexander yanked them out, ripping the fabric, and ran back to the cage.
Ravenna was now standing, her clothes torn, exposing her marred flesh, blood flowing from several deep gashes on her arms and legs. She was clutching something in her hands he couldn’t see. “Hang on.” He didn’t know if she had heard him because the panther was snarling and hissing, circling the small perimeter, getting closer to Ravenna. Swearing out loud when the first two keys didn’t open the lock, he entered the third. “Come on. Come on.”
The panther jumped at Ravenna. She disappeared under the black, bulky form. The key clicked. A shot was fired. He threw himself at the panther, and they rolled on the floor. Samuel grabbed Alexander by his elbow and threw him to the other side of the cage, then proceeded to tackle the panther.
“Get her out.” Samuel sat on the animal that seemed to have lost courage and was bleeding from one of its hind legs.
Alexander stood and grabbed Ravenna’s hand, pulling her outside of the cage. “Are you okay?” He could see she wasn’t, but needed to talk to her, to hear her voice, to know that she was fine despite the way she looked. “Ravenna?” While keeping an eye on Samuel and the panther on their back, he dragged her to the stairs, but she squeezed his hand and stopped him in his track. “We must hurry.” He turned sideways to look at her.
She shook her head, pointed over his shoulder, and screamed, “Raul!”
Their exit was crowded by the gorilla-sized presence of the man he and Samuel hadn’t managed to fully incapacitate. Alexander launched himself at the thug and spent every ounce of energy he had left to overpower him. Centuries of training in the ancient art of Greco-Roman wrestling kicked in, and Alexander had him in a headlock after executing a suplex. He pressed on the man’s carotid artery with his locked arms and didn’t let it go until the assailant went pliant underneath him. With a scream, Alexander let him go, then reached for Ravenna and led her out of the cellar.
He didn’t stop until they were outside of the building, then he took Ravenna’s cuffed hands and fumbled with the keys. After a few attempts, he found the one that opened the restraints. Then, before all of Rome to see them, he took Ravenna in his arms and kissed her on the mouth. When, several seconds later, they both leaned out of the kiss, gasping for air, he lowered his forehead to hers. He placed his hands on both sides of her face, and brushed her eyelids with his lips, then her nose, finally he left a peck on her lips.
“I love you.” His arms roamed her back, then moved to her shoulders and arms where the panther had done the worst damage. Several cars honked at their show, and he was reminded that they were in a public place. He moved her to the wall to shield her with his body. He didn’t want passersby to see her at her most vulnerable. “Are you okay?”
“I am.” Shaking, she looked at him and raised one hand to caress his jaw.
“All this blood…” His hands were smeared red and he could barely stand the sight of all the slashes on her exposed flesh. Some of them were deep and she flinched when she lowered her hand to his waist. He reached for the bottom of his shirt and tore strips from it with which he made makeshift bandages. “I’ll try to be gentle.” As he started passing the strips around the bigger wounds on her arms, he leaned to give her a small kiss on her forehead.
She repressed a cry when he tied the extremities of the strip on the first wound.
“I’m sorry.” He gave her another kiss and finished bandaging the rest of the wounds he thought needed to be taken care of right away. “Better?” He pulled her to him, careful not to tighten his arms around her.
“You came for me.” Her eyes were dark and filled with tears.
“I’m sorry I assumed the worst without asking you first.” He caressed her hair away from her face. Blood and sweat had caked in several spots on her cheeks and jaws.
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You came for me.”
“I shouldn’t have left you.” He kissed her deep. “Scratch that. I should’ve chained you to my bed and never let you go.” He felt her shiver at his words, and a whole world of thoughts flooded his mind. “Ravenna Del Sarto, you made a mess of me in less than a week. How did you manage that?”
“Alexander Drako, I believe I’ve fallen for you so hard I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stand upright again.” She rested her head on his chest.
“I don’t think I want you to.” He had expected her to blush at his remark, and she pleased him with a healthy pink spreading across her pale face.
“Alexander…”
“Yes, Ravenna?” He took one of her hands in his and slowly caressed the bruise on her wrist where the cuff had chafed at her skin. He brought her wrist to his lips and brushed it until a moan escaped her half-closed mouth. Her reaction was affecting him greatly and he had to stop. “You broke my heart when you left my bed. Don’t you ever do it again.” He wanted nothing less than to flee the scene, spirit her away to his house, cradle her in his arms, and bathe her body under the jets of his shower. “You need a doctor to take a look at your injuries.”
She looked at him, then sighed. “I need to report to Samuel—”
“It can wait.” He leaned to take her mouth for a kiss.
She stopped him by raising one hand and pressing it against his lips. “No, it really can’t. Alberto is planning a mass-poisoning if I have understood his words correctly.”
“He’s planning what?” Samuel’s deep voice startled them away from each other. The angel, who had come out from behind the left corner, was staring at them, taking the whole scene in.
Alexander was dismayed at the realization anyone could have arrived from that side. Lost in the feelings Ravenna evoked in him, he would have never seen them coming, and it made him angry at himself. “It can wait.”
“Alexander, it’s okay. I must talk to Samuel now.” Ravenna raised her face to give him a small kiss on his chin.
Mollified by her willingness to declare her affection for him before the angel, he passed his arm over Ravenna’s shoulder and gave Samuel a loaded look. “While you two talk, I’ll call for an ambulance.”
Chapter Eleven
Alexander reluctantly left Ravenna in the hands of the paramedics who arrived in record time to the scene. The three men assessed that Malina, still in panther form, needed immediate medical attention, but Ravenna also needed to have her wounds checked. “I’ll come later to the hospital.” He gave her one last kiss, then let her enter the ambulance.
She buckled up, then looked at him. “Alexander?”
“Yes?”
“I love you too.” She smiled as a paramedic closed the door of the black minivan.
Paranormals couldn’t attract any attention and tended to take care of their drama without being conspicuous. The car was equipped with anything she could have ever needed. Paranormals were in fact born inside those masked ambulances on a regular basis.
He watched as the car rolled away from the curb and entered the late-night traffic.
“There’s no one around at this hour. They’ll reach the hospital in no time. Don’t worry.” Samuel gave him a heavy pat on his shoulder. He had been deep in phone calls for the last fifteen minutes. He had asked for the closest enforcer to come and take away the two unconscious men in the cellar. They had arrived at the same time as the paramedics, and left in an equally non-descript vehicle with two prisoners. “So, what’s your opinion on what Ravenna found out?”
Alexander rubbed at the stubble on his jaw. “Tomorrow night is the Immortal Gala. Everyone will be there. If you
want to kill as many immortals as you can, that would be the place to go.”
Samuel inhaled and exhaled slowly. “Yes, that’s my guess as well. But it seems an audacious plan to be carried on by only one man.”
Alexander was tired, in need of a shower, a double espresso, and maybe even some food, but mostly he was in need of a dark-haired enforcer in his arms. “Deranged people tend to be smarter than you give them credit for. They tend to find a way to work around obstacles and bring their plans to completion. That’s why mad people tend to be successful, because nobody would think the way they do.” While he was talking, the conversation he’d had with Lucius Seneca Quintilius came back to him. “A very wise man just recently told me to look at who would benefit the most from the immortal species’ demise.”
Samuel laughed. “Well, that’s going to be quite a list.”
“In any case, there you have your partner in crime. My first guess would be the Vampire Nation.” His mind elsewhere, he belatedly realized he had been walking back and forth before the spot where his car should have been and clearly wasn’t.
Samuel wasn’t fast at hiding the smirk that graced his face.
Alexander raised a finger. “Do. Not. Dare. Say. A. Word.” He then lowered himself to the sidewalk and sat on the pavement, hand brushing the blond stubble on his jaw. He let the moment pass, then looked up at the angel. “Could you please call the impound?”
“Sure.” Samuel punched a few numbers on his cell phone, then made two phone calls. Finally, he sat by Alexander, his black wings trailing behind and gathering dust and whatever had found its end on the pavement. He didn’t seem to care. “We missed your Mercedes by mere minutes. It hasn’t arrived at the impound yet. The Council is sending a car to take us there.” He gave Alexander a sideways look. “I’ve also taken the liberty to ask for a shirt and a pair of pants for you.”
Alexander looked at his torn shirt, smeared in blood. His pants weren’t faring any better. “Thanks.”
The Immortal Greek Page 18
