Chapter 41
Rodrigo was awake, watching Giana sleep, as the pre-dawn light bled through the tall windows.
Her dark hair curled across his pillow, her breathing slow and even, one hand against his chest. The sheet had slipped down, revealing the elegant curve of her shoulder, the shadow of her collarbone. She looked so peaceful.
He could have stayed like this forever, he realized. Could have let the world burn outside those walls as long as she remained there, warm and whole in his arms.
Dangerous thinking, the strategist in him warned. Lying in bed won't keep her safe from her enemies.
Rodrigo pressed a kiss to her hair, breathing in the jasmine scent of her shampoo, the salt of her skin, the subtle musk of their lovemaking that still clung to the sheets.
His phone vibrated on the nightstand, breaking the peaceful moment. Rodrigo's hand shot out, snatching the device before the second vibration could wake her.
Leo's name flashed on the screen. A text, not a call: Perimeter breach detected. East sector. Multiple contacts. Ass up. This is it.
The words hit him like ice water. Rodrigo was out of bed in an instant, muscle memory and years of training overriding the warmth still lingering in his blood.
He pulled on cargo pants, a shirt, his bulletproof vest, and his shoulder holster, his movements automatic as his mind raced through defensive positions, chokepoints, and evacuation routes.
"Rodrigo?" Giana's voice was sleepy as she pushed herself up on one elbow, her dark eyes blinking in the dim light, her hair tousled and beautiful.
God, he didn't want to do this when she was in his bed so sleepy and sexy. He crossed to the bed and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"Get dressed. Something you can fight in. The perimeter's been breached and Vincenzo's finally making his move."
The softness of sleep in her face hardened into alertness, fear flickering beneath the surface before she suppressed it.
There she is, he thought. My perfect queen.
Rodrigo's jaw tightened as every instinct screamed to lock her in the safe room and throw away the key.
Lupo's words echoed in his mind. Trust that she is strong enough to stand beside you, not behind you.
"Go to Leo in the conference room. I should be there, but I might have to leave straight away. Stay safe for me," he begged. "I'm going to be needed all over the compound, and the others will protect you while you take down Vincenzo's comms for me."
Giana seemed to fight an internal struggle before she kissed him hard. "Go, but don't get killed or I will be so fucking mad at you."
"I'll do my best. Get dressed and catch up." He kissed her once more, and then he was out the door and running, his boots echoing through the stone corridors.
The conference room was already a storm of activity by the time he reached it.
Leo sat at the heart of it, surrounded by monitors showing camera feeds from every sector of the compound.
Iz worked beside him, coordinating communications, her voice a steady counterpoint to the chaos crackling through the speakers.
"What is happening, Leone?" Rodrigo asked, taking his position at the central tactical display.
"They are coming in as we expected," Leo replied without looking up. "They hit the east and west sectors simultaneously, exactly four minutes ago."
Red markers on the monitors showed enemy positions converging on the compound from multiple angles. At least forty hostiles, moving in disciplined fire teams, using cover and suppressive fire like they had trained for exactly this scenario.
"Dario's holding the east wing," Leo continued. "He's got the heavier fortifications, but they are throwing serious firepower at him. Mortars, maybe? Something's making the ground shake."
"Silas has the west," Iz added. "He's managing, but they're trying to push through the old stables. He's requesting to have backup ready."
"Kon and Athena?"
"Already in the thick of it." Leo pulled up a camera feed showing a section of the perimeter wall. Rodrigo watched as Athena dropped two attackers in rapid succession with a wide, peaceful smile on her face. Kon covered her flank with a short saber in one hand and a gun in the other.
"Where's Altun?" he asked.
"East terrace with Julian. She said…" Leo paused, his eyes darting to something on his screen. His face went pale. "Rodrigo, you need to see this."
He pulled up a camera feed from the outer perimeter fence line that marked the boundary of the compound's consecrated ground. Rodrigo's blood ran cold.
Figures moved in the shadows beyond the fence. Something was wrong with them. They shuffled with an unnatural gait, their movements jerky and disjointed, their eyes gleaming with a faint, sickly light in the pre-dawn gloom. Gūl.
"Fuck," Rodrigo breathed. He had seen them once in Istanbul, during the attack on Kon's warehouse. They were living corpses, animated by forbidden magic, hunger incarnate wrapped in rotting flesh. Their relentless advance, inhuman strength and immunity to pain still haunted his nightmares.
"They're not crossing the fence," Leo replied, voice strained. "They keep reaching for it, but something's stopping them. It's like there's an invisible wall."
"It's the consecration because this was originally a monastery. The old wards, renewed by generations of Colleoni priests, still hold."
"How can you be sure?" Leo demanded.
"Altun told me. Can you get her on comms?" Rodrigo asked him.
"One second."
A crackle of static, then Altun's voice came through a moment later, "I see them, Rodrigo, but they aren't advancing past the perimeter."
"How many?"
"Thirty. Perhaps more. They're positioning themselves to block any escape route. Anyone who tries to flee the compound…"
She didn't need to finish. Rodrigo understood. The gūl weren't attacking because they were cutting off a retreat. They wanted to turn the compound into a killing ground with no escape.
"Only one person I know has access to gūl on this scale," Altun continued, her voice heavy with grim certainty.
"Serapis," Rodrigo said, and Leo cursed under his breath.
"The magic signature I sensed on the van was softer than this. I could have believed it was an apprentice. But now? This is too much like him." Altun's voice carried a rare note of fear. "He somehow survived, Rodrigo, and now he's out for revenge."
Before Rodrigo could respond, the compound shook, and the lights flickered. A hot wind gusted through the villa, carrying the acrid stench of smoke.
"What the fuck was that?" Leo shouted.
The answer came seconds later, blazing across the monitor feeds. Fire erupted along the eastern wall. The flames burned an unnatural green, crawling across the stone like living things. Wind howled through the compound, concentrated and directed, powerful enough to knock defenders off their feet.
"Altun!" Rodrigo barked into the comms. "What the fuck is happening?"
"He can't send his gūl inside, so he's using something else." Altun's voice was tighter now, strained with effort. "This isn't necromancy, it's elemental. Fire, wind… He's drawing on different sources somehow."
Another blast rocked the compound. Through the window, Rodrigo saw shadows stretching and writhing, and they reached for defenders like grasping hands. Voices crackled through the comms, panicked reports of whispers that seemed to come from everywhere, disorienting, maddening.
"That's djinn magic," Altun said, and for the first time, Rodrigo heard genuine horror in her voice. "He's got to be using an artifact of some kind."
"What artifact? Can you stop it?" Rodrigo demanded. This was too far out of his realm of knowledge. He had no idea how to counteract it, and it scared the hell out of him.
When Altun spoke again, her voice was certain.
"There's a ring. The Seal of Suleiman's Servant, it used to be called, though I doubt Suleiman was involved in its creation.
It's a band of black iron set with a fire opal.
The legends tied Suleiman to it because they say it contains a bound djinn, forced to serve whoever wears it.
It was stolen decades ago from a private collection said to have contained the treasure of Abdülmecid II in Cairo.
If Serapis has that ring, then he's had over thirty years to master its power. "
"Can we counter it?" Leo asked, his voice small.
"Kon and I can try, but we need to get to the ring itself. As long as he wears it, he can sustain the assault."
Another explosion, closer this time. Through the monitors, Rodrigo watched as a section of the east wall crumbled, green fire licking at the breach. Dario's voice crackled through the comms, shouting orders, organizing a fighting retreat to secondary positions.
Frederica's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and distorted. "Wait, did you say the ring was black iron with a fire opal?"
"You know it?" Rodrigo demanded.
"I know sketches of it," Frederica replied through the sound of more gunfire. "I've looked at it my whole life in my father's study."
"What?" Dario's voice crackled through the comms, incredulous even amid the firefight. "What the fuck does your father have to do with a magical ring?"
"My father is a thief, arkoúdos. One of the best in the world. Give me a second! Don't let me get shot."
Through the feed from Dario's sector, Rodrigo watched Frederica duck behind cover, pulling out her phone as bullets chipped stone inches from her head.
"Frederica, what the fuck are you doing?" Dario shouted, firing over the barricade. "We're under attack! Get back here!"
Frederica ignored him, the phone pressed to her ear.
Her lips moved, but her words were lost in the cacophony of battle.
Whatever conversation she was having involved a lot of yelling and hand gestures.
It lasted barely a minute before she ended the call, her face hardening into something frustrated and pissed off.
"My father stole it," she announced over the comms. "Cairo, 1989. The buyer was a man named Lucius Foscari."
"Cazzo!" Rodrigo and Leo said at the same time. Lucius Foscari was the name Serapis had used while posing as their father's relative.
"Then he's had it all this time," Altun said grimly. "Long enough to master it completely."
"And my father handed it to him." Frederica's voice was bitter, the words sharp enough to cut. "Apparently, being the world's greatest thief doesn't come with a conscience about who you sell to."
"Frederica—" Dario started.
"Focus on the fight, asshole! We can discuss our family's collective sins later." The sound of her rifle firing punctuated the statement.
Altun's voice cut through the noise. "The bound djinn is powerful, but not unlimited. The ring requires enormous energy to control, and Serapis can't sustain this assault forever. We need to outlast him until he burns out."
"How long will that take?" Dante asked, voice coming through Leo's monitor.
"An hour. Maybe less, if Kon and I can apply pressure," Altun replied. "We're going to engage him directly, so keep the physical attackers off our backs."
"Done. Be careful," Rodrigo said.
The line went dead, and Rodrigo turned back to the monitors, his mind racing.
"I'm going to go and join her and Julian. I can't sit here, watching," Rodrigo said, turning to Leo. "Watch Giana when…"
"Giana doesn't need watching, but if you give me a comm, I'll make sure nothing jumps out behind you," she said, from the doorway, making him startle. She held out a hand expectantly.
Rodrigo took two comm pieces from beside Leo and slid one into his ear. He dropped the other into Giana's hand before folding her fingers over it and turning it to kiss her knuckles.
"Watch my back, anima mia?" he asked. "If you have time?"
"Always." Rodrigo was about to step away when she grabbed him by the front of his vest, pulled him down, and kissed him. "Be back soon."
"I'll try," he replied, kissing her once more before she let him go, and he hurried to find Altun.
They only needed to survive an hour against a military-grade assault supported by ancient djinn magic and walking corpses. Piece of cake.