Chapter Forty-Three
KHALIDA
Khalida surveyed the Roman ruins and sighed at the odds stacked against them.
She rolled her shoulders, trying to loosen her muscles. They had been stationed covertly in the same spot since just after three a.m., waiting patiently for any sign of Ninhursag.
The city was quiet, deathly quiet, even with the rosy fingers of dawn lighting the sky. She tapped the blaster on her thigh. As Kade had promised, the iron rounds had been delivered.
Palatine Hill was a stunningly beautiful archaeological site that had thrived for almost three thousand years, and she hoped it would survive for a few thousand more. Within walking distance from the colosseum, it was surrounded by ancient Roman imperial palaces.
From her current position on Terrazza Belvedere del Palatino, she could maintain overwatch of her both its perfectly manicured open green lawn and its nearby ruins.
Numerous lookout points were scattered through the site.
There was one overlooking the field, and there was one at street level to the rest of the city.
But she had settled here because she was close to Talik.
There hadn’t been a peep about the god, except for a minor news story about an Italian shop keeper having been found deceased overnight—it had caught her attention because the woman had been described as having the body of a mummified corpse.
Dante’s reinforcements were scattered throughout the city and the underground tunnels.
Every so often, the edges of her senses brushed up against one of Dante’s people, the connection was always fleeting.
The thieves guild had been tasked with ensuring tourists stayed out of the way.
How they were going to accomplish this without alerting Ninhursag was a problem belonging to Damiano and his ilk.
She hadn’t sensed them yet. It was still slightly too early for the horde of tourists to descend.
Surrounding them, the ruins of Flavian Palace afforded them very little advantage against Ninhursag or the incoming horde of tourists if the thieves guild couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain.
Entirely open, with limited cover, the ruins could not withstand any sort of force—it was a great place for a kill zone.
Against them.
She pulled her black baseball cap down low over her forehead as she leaned against one of the half-broken pillars and stared out over the ruins.
Even this early in the morning, with a slight bite to the November air, the humans were filtering through.
Only a handful, but enough that Khalida and the others needed to stay inconspicuous and out of photos.
At least in Rome she was less likely to be recognized.
Talik and Kade were another story. They may be based in New York City, but House Mneseus, especially the Delacroix lineage, called Rome home.
Under the guise of counting tourists, she glanced toward Talik, looking for him in the shadows.
Positioned on the other side of the ruin, it took her a few seconds to find him.
He blended into the shadows a little too well and was far enough away they couldn’t talk without their earpieces.
That suited her. The conversation she’d had with Kade was on repeat, and every few seconds it would rear its head to the surface.
Talik’s scent had changed.
He looked up and smiled at her, a quick flash.
Her heart lurched in response. The mission had been about finding the Anki, but it wasn’t her priority anymore.
Finding out what had happened to Talik was.
She tapped the blasters, a reminder that she had a way to kill Ninhursag.
They just needed to draw her out into the open and attack when she was the most vulnerable and distracted.
Finding the ?a would be the opportune moment, at least according to Kade.
She hoped the hunter was not lying about the ?a draining the god’s power.
They were going to need all the help they could get.
Ninhursag would have expended a lot of energy and power to find the relic, and will likely have her guard down.
That was when they would strike. A round straight to the god’s heart.
Kade had surprised her by supplying frangible ammunition.
Each round was filled with hundreds of tiny fragments of iron, and as soon as it made contact with Ninhursag, it would explode.
Khalida just needed a clear sight picture.
She didn’t like blasters, but they had their merits. The iron-coated knives she’d brought with her were a bonus.
Afterward, she was going to cut out the god’s heart and burn it.
White clouds peppered the perfectly blue sky, casting the ruins in an ethereal glow. The smell of fresh rain lingered in the air. It was turning into a beautiful day. Her earpiece crackled as the other two came online.
“Are we going to ignore the tourists?” Talik asked, his voice distorted, as if he was underwater.
Khalida looked around. Nothing should have been able to jam their communications—not on the surface, in the middle of a city.
“It would be noticeable if we didn’t have some tourists,” Kade answered. “We just need to reduce the likelihood of collateral damage.”
Don’t aim near the tourists, Khalida mentally translated.
“And the rounds will slow down Ninhursag?”
She placed her hand on the pillar and waited for Kade to answer, searching for where he had positioned himself on the other side of the ruins.
A glimmer of auburn hair drew her attention, stationed behind the remnants of Domus Augusti, the large brick-faced concrete archway.
What if she was wrong about Talik and Ninhursag—that it was just wishful thinking, and she had somehow convinced Kade to play along.
Talik hadn’t changed but had decided that her original ultimatum, the stupid bet in Egypt, hadn’t been such a bad idea.
“Slow her down long enough to cage her,” Kade said. “Once she is surrounded by iron, she won’t have full use of her power, and in her weakened state we can transport her to her new prison.”
A random tourist dressed in white sweats and a matching white sweatshirt with an oversized black belt bag at his waist, walked past her with an exaggerated swagger, his long, curling dark blond hair hidden under a pale-blue baseball cap. An expensive watch flashed in the sunlight.
Damiano.
He was leading four people in matching outfits.
She smiled softly. “Thieves guild are here.”
In public spaces, she rarely let herself use the full extent of her senses, since the heightened awareness could often lead to a hyperactive bombardment that left her in a less-than-ideal fighting state, but she wanted to identify potential allies within the area.
The drying grass, lightly sprinkled with the remnants of frost, took on a neon glow as she breathed in the fresh scent.
The humans, still just a handful this early in the day, walked only a hundred feet away from her, but all she could scent were cheap colognes and traces of alcohol crowding out the scent of the outdoors and nature.
Everything was brighter and louder. The humans’ voices grew into a crescendo that easily reached a fever pitch, echoing throughout the region until the silence that followed was only a whisper against the landscape.
She counted the heartbeats, effortlessly placing them within groups that surrounded her.
Except for the three farthest from her. There was almost no hint of their existence.
It was a skill very few Atlanteans had. They moved like the assassins of the old days, when the Houses negotiated in blood rather than coins, like shadows, but there was a darkness that tinged their presence and their absent scent.
Hunters.
Khalida stiffened, automatically searching for Kade. She found him hidden in the shadows.
She tapped her earpiece. Twice. Loud enough that it would cause a bang in Kade’s ear. Ignoring Talik’s glare, she smiled in Kade’s general direction, ensuring that he would see her.
“You brought some friends.”
Kade smiled back. Sharp canines glistened in the sun.
***
TALIK
Talik pinched the bridge of his nose, ready to interrupt the two of them and remind them they needed all the help they could get if Ninhursag made an appearance.
From his position, he could see Khalida, braced and ready for an argument.
And he knew Kade well enough to know that he wouldn’t back down.
He kicked the ground, his boot skimming a soft object that hadn’t been there a few minutes before.
He bent down and looked at the offending apple core. The red skin was dewy, half eaten—it had been carelessly thrown to the ground. Just what they needed. “We may have another issue.”
“And that is?” Khalida asked.
“Three guesses. He is blond and annoying and has a thing for apples.”
“Lucien.” Khalida’s indignation was almost tangible through the earpiece. “Are your people in place, Kade?”
“Yes.”
“Just a reminder, if they do anything out of line, they will not walk out alive.”
It wasn’t an idle threat.
“I would expect no less,” Kade curtly said. “They will maintain overwatch on the eastern side of the hill.”
“We really are waiting until the Anki shows up?” Talik leaned against the building, the edge of one of the stones sticking into his shoulder uncomfortably.
Trying to form the name Ninhursag was getting worse.
Her control over him was growing. Thinking about her caused him pain.
Her scratches had migrated from his arms to his torso—the gouges were longer and deeper and took twice as long to heal.
Before he’d had to dig through his mind to find her, but now she was just beneath the surface, and it was getting far harder to work out what were his thoughts and what were hers.
In the beginning Ninhursag’s voice had been distinct and feminine, but now, it was sounding like his own voice, with his own mannerisms and access to his memories. And he was starting to forget entire minutes or find himself doing something he hadn’t intended.
As if she was slipping into his body and using it as a vessel.
When Kade had explained the plan, he had tried to separate what he was hearing and Ninhursag, trying not to let her know.
But now, in the light of day, he realized how useless it was—Ninhursag would have stopped them if she didn’t want them there.
The damn god knew that he physically couldn’t reveal her secret.
And even if by some miracle he could, Khalida would face the wrath of the god. Ninhursag must need them alive.
He needed to work out why and use it to his advantage. “We could be here for days.”
Khalida snorted through the earpiece, loud and clear. “I don’t take Ninhursag as the patient type.”
“And the gallu?” Talik continued as he was prompted by the god.
“With Dante’s reinforcements, we have enough firepower to see how fast they regenerate,” Khalida said.
Talik dryly chuckled involuntarily as Ninhursag’s laughter wrapped itself around him. Neither Kade nor Khalida responded. There was movement in the shadow. A hunter if he wasn’t mistaken, carrying what looked like a net.
This time, the laughter came from him. “Well, when in Rome, as the humans say. I always wanted to see a retiarius gladiator in action.”
“The hunters will contain Ninhursag. You will both need to ensure she doesn’t leave,” Kade softly reminded them.
“Or start a killing spree,” Khalida added. “Your hunters will be held accountable for any collateral damage. Your kind can lose reason when under the spell of bloodlust.”
A slight breeze passed through him, the chill a stark contrast to the sunny day. It was quietly followed by the crunch of sharp teeth into the crisp flesh of an apple. He flicked the earpiece to mute as he turned.
Lucien smirked. “Looks like someone has been keeping a secret.”