Anger blazed in his eyes, but Belial had no power outside of the man’s body, and no tokens to draw strength from. The man’s skin became mottled, his breathing laboured as his body failed to cope with Belial’s assault. Ash saved him from a painful death and cut his throat. Blood splashed into the cool, damp earth, and his head fell back as the light faded from his eyes.
Another death, among many. And there would be more.
Twenty-Two
Shadow crept through Armand Beneventi’s house, finding little to interest her.
He was rich, that was obvious; the furnishings were luxurious in a tasteless, overstated way, and the whole place felt claustrophobic. That was compounded by the men who guarded the exterior exits and patrolled the corridors, all armed with guns. She had successfully evaded all of them, her fey glamour and stealth concealing her. Frustratingly, she found nothing of use. No maps, no central area of command, only endless angelic and religious iconography. Neither could she detect any sign of power that would suggest there were more of Belial’s jewels nearby.
Eventually, she left the house through an open window on the first floor, scaled a sturdy drainpipe, and made her way to the roof, where she spotted Gabe on the level below, atop the roof of the single storey building by the cloisters.
Keeping to the darkness, she dropped like a cat and edged towards him, trying to catch his eye before he tried to kill her. When he did see her, he edged back until both were at the rear of the building, well away from the gathered group. Gabe looked angry, his eyes sharp flints of obsidian.
“Something wrong?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
“Yes. We need to kill them all.”
“So, I’m right?” She smirked. “Of course I am.”
“Not the time, Shadow. They know who we are, who our friends are, and we need to kill them now while we have the chance. They have even set a trap for Ash, but I daren’t warn him. Have you found anything?”
“Nothing of use. The jewels are either very well hidden, or elsewhere. But I agree with you. Let’s tell Niel the new plan.” Shadow looked overhead, hoping he was still up there. Her phone buzzed silently in her pocket, and she grinned when she saw his name. “Maybe he heard me.”
“Spotted us, more likely.”
He wanted an update, and she texted him Gabe’s news succinctly, ending with, We need to kill them.
How many in the house? he asked.
Half a dozen. Maybe ten.
So, about thirty, maybe thirty-five in total. Nothing to worry about, then.
She rolled her eyes at Gabe. “He’s cockier than I am.”
“You’re both too bloody cocky for your own good.”
She texted Niel again. Especially with JD’s bombs.
You’ve brought them?
Shadow sniggered, as Gabe looked over her shoulder at her message. Of course! I’m not an idiot.
I wish you’d have bloody given me some!
She turned to Gabe. “But that would deprive me of all the fun!”
“Tell him to wait until he sees us act, then he can, too. Where will he start?”
Niel’s response to her typed question was swift. At the dock, and then the gate. But there are many men on the perimeter, too.
Gabe nodded. “We need to find where Jiri is first. Tell him I’ll grab Armand out of the cloisters, and we can question him up there.” He pointed upwards. “I reckon that will make him talk.”
“Let’s kill a few first, Gabe. He can see we mean business. Then you take him, and I’ll clean up. Sound good?”
“Are you sure there’s nothing in the house?”
“As much as I can be.”
Gabe waited while she finished messaging Niel, eyes on the cloister again. Their angry voices carried to them.
Shadow pocketed her phone and checked her backpack. “I have ten bombs. Should be enough.”
Gabe rolled his eyes. “You could take out half of Murano with that many. Let’s not go mad, Shadow. A couple on the house, and maybe one in the grounds should do it.”
“Fine. Spoilsport.”
“All the more for later.” He cracked his neck. “A few minutes just to listen to their discussion, and then we act. Ready?”
“Ready.”
Niel watched Gabe and Shadow listen to the conversation in the cloisters for at least another ten minutes, and he hoped they had heard useful information. Then Shadow dropped to the ground with her usual grace, and Gabe leapt down with outstretched wings.
Niel flew down over the dock, coming in low and fast, and struck quickly. The two men guarding the dock were dead within seconds, neither of them even able to fire their guns.
He then flew again, but not for long. A couple of men patrolled inside the grounds, just beyond the gated entrance. He killed one, but the second spotted him, and a spatter of bullets broke the night’s silence, one catching his wing and splintering the tips of his primary feathers, but Niel covered the distance between them, killing him as swiftly as he’d killed the others.
He had hoped the sight of his wings would intimidate the men, but it didn’t seem to. Perhaps they were used to seeing Jiri, and maybe other Nephilim. The gunfire set off a series of shouts across the grounds, and more men came running.
