Ash sheltered behind the high base, eyes darting everywhere. A bare whisper of noise to his right made him dive for cover again, and another arrow whizzed past him. He scuttled to the side, still unsure of how many men were out there.
He hadn’t imagined it. Someone was here, waiting for him. Lamberti must be dead, and he must have talked before he died. That meant they might be waiting for Gabe and the others, too.
Gabe set Shadow down on the edge of Beneventi’s grounds. Lamberti had been right. It was a large place, surrounded by high walls and thick shrubbery.
In fact, on first impressions, Gabe was sure that it had once been a religious building. A nunnery perhaps, or monastery. The main residence was built of old, thick stone, and cloisters stood to the side, a large statue of an angel with outstretched wings dominating the central space.
Murano was an island, one of several on the Venetian Lagoon, the second largest after Venice itself, situated very close to the city, and barely one and a half kilometres in size. It had approximately 7,000 inhabitants, and compared to Burano, it was nowhere near as pretty, but it was famous for manufacturing Murano glass. Not that Gabe would be buying any anytime soon. Beneventi’s home was on the west side, bordering the lagoon. He wished he’d had more time to fly and explore. The lagoon was beautiful, serene, and he was able to take in the full scope of the area. It was also good to spend time with Shadow, alone, her curves pressed against him. He was determined that when this was all over, they would go away together, just the two of them.
Within moments, Niel landed next to them. “The roof is broad and shallow pitched. It will be a good place for one of us to hide.”
Gabe studied the building. Several chimneys were on the roof, but one to the far end, closest to the cloisters, was the biggest. There was also a single storey building that edged the rear of the cloisters. That could well be a good place to hide, too. He nodded in agreement. “Looks good. That’s presuming, of course, that they’ll meet outside under that damn statue. If they do, I’d like one of us to get closer. On the ground, perhaps.” He looked at Shadow, already almost invisible. “I couldn’t get as close as you could get, though.”
“But I won’t understand a word they say, if they talk in Italian,” she pointed out. “Let me enter the house, see if I can find the jewels in there. They will have stored them somewhere.”
Niel shrugged. “Great idea. I’ll circle overhead, and can drop down where I’m needed.”
Gabe nodded. “Okay, but you must be careful if you find any jewels, Shadow.”
“I’m not an idiot. Gabe, what exactly do we want to get out of this meeting?” Shadow asked him. “Names? Places?”
“I told you. I want to know where Jiri is, to get an idea of numbers involved, and to find their cache of jewels.”
“But you don’t want to kill them?”
“No.”
“Despite knowing the danger they pose? The fact that they sent six men to kill you?” She cast Niel a long, sideways glance of disbelief. “Why not? This is the perfect time to strike.” Shadow was beautiful and sexy, but she was also deadly. She had no compassion for those who had crossed her.
“They are enslaved by Belial. Not in their right mind. We might be able to save them.”
“That’s a big if, Gabe.”
He bit back his annoyance, knowing Niel thought the same thing. They had argued about it earlier, and now it seemed they would argue again. “I don’t care. If we’re attacked, then go ahead, kill. But try to escape first. It may count in our favour later.”
“And it may not. We should have killed Lamberti. He was weak and old, and whatever agreement he had with Beneventi before is gone now. They could torture him for information. They might know that we’re coming here!”
Death did not sit so easily with Gabe as it once had. “He helped us, and that deserves our compassion.”
“Beneventi will not agree. Six of his men are dead because of us.”
The purr of boat engines out on the water interrupted their conversation. Like Venice, there were no cars on the island, and a series of pedestrian bridges connected the seven small islands that made up Murano. They had arrived as soon as it was dark enough, and Gabe expected they would have to wait for hours, but maybe not.
“Then we must be wary of subterfuge.” Gabe nodded to the roof. “I‘ll find a spot to watch. Be careful, both of you.”
With a single flap of his enormous wings, he soared high, watching a couple of boats pull up to the small dock. They had made it only just in time. Gabe wondered if this meeting might move indoors after the deaths earlier that afternoon, or even be cancelled, perhaps out of fear for their safety, but a couple of men were already in the cloisters, and a few lights illuminated the area.
Then, suddenly, lights were everywhere. In the garden, lighting up the house, and illuminating paths. He hoped Shadow had found a way into the house.
Twenty-One
Estelle placed her pen and notepad down and rolled her shoulders to ease the kink in her neck.
“I don’t know about you, Olivia, but I feel useless.”
“You shouldn’t! At least you’re a witch and have magic. I have nothing, except some expertise with hunting occult treasures. That’s not exactly helping us now.”
“Care to appraise this place?”
“You can’t put a price on this!” Olivia brushed her long hair back from her face, her auburn highlights flaming as they caught the light from the many lanterns around them in the emerald cave. “I’ve given up trying.”
They were both seated on large floor cushions atop a Persian rug that was spread in the centre of a group of huge, square pillars. It felt exotic, as if they were in some kind of Arabian tent, or palace. The light ignited the emerald columns, revealing flaws in the columns, and casting shadows on the archaic script. In the dancing flames, the elegant swirls of text shimmered as if they were alive. The whole place was intoxicating and mesmerising. She wished she had the Nephilim’s skills with languages.
They were deep into the cave, the pillars running in all directions. Although Estelle couldn’t understand the words, it was easy to see there was some kind of pattern to their placement. The pillars were grouped in shapes. Clusters of square columns, then plain round ones, fluted, spirals, thin, broad, gilded, unadorned… They all denoted segments of knowledge. The four of them had first spent time in an area that listed the thousands of angels, but then moved to another. This area talked about magic. Spells, to be exact.
Barak and Nahum were high above, inspecting the endless text that was written, well, everywhere. Both she and Olivia had started to make basic notes about the information on the pillars, but the sheer enormity of it was overwhelming. Eventually, Barak and Nahum had stopped shouting down information and had fallen silent too, except for short conversations between each other.
“Just think,” Olivia continued, “what’s written in here could rewrite history.”
“And could destroy us all, too.”
Olivia frowned as she sat cross-legged. “Do you think so?”
“People far cleverer than us could unlock the very material of our world. I’m not sure we should.”
“Aren’t physicists doing that right now?”
“You know what I mean. This is so much!”
