Too late to second-guess himself.
Malachi watched the front of the hotel as two men exited. They looked up and down the street, then sauntered off in the direction of the Sultanahmet tram station. A few minutes later, a couple entered the hotel from the opposite side. Normal traffic on a quiet afternoon.
And still Ava sat, a silent knot of tension at his side.
“Tell me a story,” she finally said.
“What kind of story?”
“Something not serious. What’s your favorite childhood memory?”
He broke into a smile. “Swimming at the beach. We’d go to the North Sea in the summer when we lived in Germany.”
“Wasn’t that cold?”
“Freezing.” He put an arm around her, thankful for the distraction. “My father had a good friend with a cabin there. I think it’s still there, probably. It was quite old, but very nice. My mother and father and I would stay for two months in the summer. Living in a retreat can be very hectic sometimes. Families live in their own homes, but the children go to school together, the adults all work together. Even meals are communal. So my parents tried to make some time for only the three of us. That was our family time. I would play in the water even though it was frigid. My mother thought I was crazy.”
A tentative smile crossed her face. “You were.”
“We should go there,” he said. “When we have children, we’ll take them there.”
There was a smile on her face. “We should.” Ava took a deep breath. “We’ll really have children, Malachi?”
“Hopefully.” He squeezed her. “Irin don’t have many children. One is normal. Two is fortunate. But I hope we have two.”
The vision of children Jaron had sent her flashed in her mind again. A dark-haired boy with his father’s eyes. A golden-eyed girl laughing. It should have warmed her, but there was a dark side to the vision, as well. The animals had stood at attention, prowling around the girl and boy. Clearly guarding them, but from what?
“Do not fear the darkness.”
The memory of Jaron’s voice calmed her as she sat. Then she tensed again when she felt Malachi’s arm tighten.
“What is it?”
“Grigori,” he said, freezing as he watched two men enter the hotel lobby. “Two of them just walked in. Damn it.”
Ava looked around them. They were completely exposed in the center of the square. There were no barricades to hide behind, no buildings they could duck into without being conspicuous.
“I can’t kill them in the hotel lobby or out in the open here,” Malachi said. “We’ll have to wait for them to come out. Draw them somewhere isolated.”
“Is it just the two?” Ava’s eyes landed on the grated door of the Theodosius Cistern. Though it was locked, it was only with a simple padlock. No guards stood nearby. And the dark passageway had a view of the hotel.
“More coming this way,” he murmured, taking her hand. “From the direction of the mosque.”
Looking uphill, Ava spotted two attractive men strolling down the street toward them. They were looking toward the hotel, not at Ava and Malachi, but Ava knew as soon as they saw their friends leave the lobby, the Grigori would start looking for them.
“More from that street, too.” Malachi pulled out Ava’s phone and sent a quick text to someone. Somehow the drop location had been compromised.
“We have to get out of here,” he said.
“How?” Ava’s heart raced. Six streets converged at the cistern park, and from each direction, a group of men strolled toward them. There were two there. Three there. “Malachi, they’ve cornered us.”
“No,” he muttered. “There has to be a way…” His eyes landed on the locked grate leading to the cistern entry just as the call to prayer started and birds scattered in flight. The Grigori converging on the square turned their heads toward the mosque on Divan Yolu, and Malachi used the distraction to drag Ava toward the cistern. “This way.”
“That goes underground!” she hissed. It was one thing to stroll through the Basilica Cistern with its dramatic columns and modern walkways, but the Theodosius Cistern looked like nothing but a black cave. “Malachi…”
“We’ll watch and wait for now,” he said, twisting off the lock that held the grate closed. He opened the door, and Ava was grateful the calls of the muezzin hid the rusty groan. “We can see the entrance of the hotel from here. There are too many to fight alone while I’m not at full strength. If we run, they’ll catch us. Until Max and Damien get here, we need to hide.”
She knew that ritual had been a bad idea. The thought of a weakened Malachi sent her heart into overdrive. “Did you text them already?”
“Yes.” He shoved her farther into the shadowed passageway, and Ava almost tripped over the heavy rubber boots covered in mud that the workmen had left on the platform. “They should come soon. They’ll create a distraction, and we’ll grab the car. We can figure out documents later. Right now, I just want you out of this city.”
“Okay.”
Malachi sucked in his breath and darted back from the door. “Brage.”
Ava’s heart sank. From the darkness of the metal walkway, she could see the blond Grigori soldier walking out of the Antea Hotel and turning his head to look up and down the street. His eyes were narrowed with purpose.
The soldiers knew they were nearby.
Malachi shot off another text to Max, who had yet to respond. Where the hell was he? Annoyance and worry competed in his mind. What had happened to the documents? Had Maxim been set up? And further, how could Malachi get the car from the hotel while avoiding the dozen or more Grigori who had taken up residence at the intersection?
When he realized who the blond Grigori outside the hotel was, thoughts of the car fled. He had to get Ava away. Eyes darting into the blackness, he racked his memories for everything he knew about the cistern where they were hiding. It was an old one, and he suspected it connected to the Valens Aqueduct, the ancient waterway the Romans had built to transport water throughout the city. Many of the cisterns still had tunnels leading between them. Was the Theodosius one of them?
Malachi tossed one last look toward the square. The sky was growing dim, and the street lights in front of the hotel had switched on. He could see Brage and the other Grigori milling in front of the hotel. He could wait for them to leave the square, or he could look for another way out.
He looked down to the boots at their feet, then bent down to slip on the biggest pair, handing another to Ava.
“Put these on.”
“Where are we going?”
“Down.” He saw a small flashlight near the edge of the platform. Flicking it on and hoping the light wouldn’t be seen from outside, he peered over the edge. “We’re going to see if there’s a tunnel.”
“What?” Ava squeaked. She might have protested, but she was already pulling on the boots. “We’re going farther down? Shouldn’t we wait here for Max and Damien?”
“And wait for Brage to notice the broken lock on the gate?” Standing in the boots, he tested them, finding himself not unbearably clumsy in the yellow rubber footwear. “There could be a tunnel out of here. There often are in these old places. And if they do find us in here, I want a wall to my back and you behind me. It’ll be easier to kill them if I don’t have to worry about them coming from all directions.”
He didn’t mention Brage wielding an angelic blade. That was the real problem.
“I knew you shouldn’t have given me a bunch of your magic,” she said, pulling on the second boot.
Malachi was doubly glad that he had. If she was injured in all this, improved healing could be the difference between life and death for her. And with Ava’s improved eyesight, they barely had to use the flashlight.
“Come on.” He took her hand and started down the creaking staircase.
“Are you sure this thing is safe?”
“Workmen have been climbing up and down on this for months, so I hope so.” He paused when o
ne of the steps wobbled under his feet. Then he started climbing at a slower pace. “We’re not that heavy. We’ll be fine.”
Once they’d safely reached the bottom, Malachi turned on the light. Sweeping it from side to side, he could see the soaring columns belted by steel bands for reinforcement, marching like grey soldiers into the black. The domes of the cistern towered over them, the ancient brick causing the slightest noise to echo. He could hear water dripping overhead and the splash of muddy water as Ava walked behind him.
“They’re renovating it right now,” he whispered, “but it used to have as much water as the Basilica Cistern.”
“Looks more like mud to me.” She almost tripped over a shovel leaning against the wall. “Holy cow, it stinks.”
“People throw all sorts of things down here. Try not to think about it.”
Malachi carefully led them around the periphery of the cavern, but he couldn’t spot a tunnel or other exit. If there had been one, it was closed off or under mud or brick. The water grew deeper the farther they went, and thick mud sucked at their feet.
“Anything from Max or Damien?” she whispered behind him.
He glanced at the phone. “I can’t get any reception down here. I told them where we were hiding. I just hope they get the message.”
“If they don’t… then what?”
Then what? He had no idea.
Ava’s sense of dread grew with every step they took into the dark cavern. The water sloshed at their feet, and the flashlight seemed unbearably bright in the pitch-black underground. She was certain anyone looking in from outside would see it.
“You know,” she whispered, glad her voice didn’t waver, “of all the sights for us to see, this is one I probably could have skipped.”
“I did promise to show you an authentic side of the city.” He scooped up a dead fish and tossed it to the side.
“Malachi?”
“Yes?”
“I love you, even though you’re dragging me through really stinky water and mud right now.”
He turned and she could see his smile even in the darkness. “I love you, too. I say we deserve a vacation after this is over. Didn’t you mention you were rich?”
“Extremely.”
“Know any places with better water and less dead fish?”
“I just might.”
She saw his shoulders shake with laughter as they continued working their way around the walls of the cistern. Despite careful inspection, no tunnel appeared. No alternate exit presented itself.
Finally, Ava sighed and said, “It’s been a while. Maybe they’re gone. Or some have left and we could sneak away. We should go check to see if they’re—”
The sound of the door creaking stopped her. All ease fled as she heard the whispered voices from the platform above.
It wasn’t Damien or Max.
Heart racing, Malachi traced over his talesm prim, activating the magic that remained. He was still strong. Still able. He would be able to defend her. He felt the creep of magic and took her hand, slowly moving behind one pillar and out of the line of sight from the door. He listened.
“—gate open.”
“Is this cistern linked through the tunnels?”
“I don’t think so.”
They were speaking German, the rough syllables echoing over the water as he and Ava stood as statues in the dark. Even a ripple in the water would give them away. She was pressed against him, her heart racing against his chest, but her breathing was deliberately slow. She was concentrating on not panicking.
Good girl.
If they could just remain silent enough…
“There are lights.”
Malachi heard a fumbling on the platform, and then the cistern was flooded with work lights hanging from various pillars.
Damn.
Another, heavier step sounded on the metal platform. The other Grigori fell silent.
“I can smell your fear, Scribe.”
Brage’s deep voice didn’t boom. It curled and twisted in the darkness, seeking them where they hid. Malachi felt Ava tremble.
“The scribe and the woman are here,” Brage said. “Spread out. Find them.”
As soon as he heard the splashes, Malachi moved. Carefully stepping in the shadows, he went farther into the cistern, toward the deeper water where the mud lay thick on the bottom of the floor.
The Grigori were as slow as Malachi and Ava were, their normal speed negated by the pulling mud. He wrapped an arm around Ava to still her so he could listen.
One.
Two. Three.
Four in the water.
Splash!
Five.
A louder splash as one jumped from the railing and into the water.
Six.
“Matteus. Alfred. Stand watch with Mikael by the fountain. If any of the others scribes approach, alert me.”
Brage. Three by the fountain. By Malachi’s calculations, that meant eight in the cistern. Two more splashes confirmed his estimate, then the water fell silent, save for the isolated curses as the Grigori tripped over each other and the detritus of the work site.
Ava’s hand squeezed his own, and he had to force her to release it so he could grab the silver daggers he wore under his shirt. He frowned. Weaponless. His mate was weaponless.
That is, she was weaponless until he saw her pick up the crowbar from a niche in the wall.
He smiled proudly.
“I think I saw some ripples in the water over there!” one said.
“Where?”
“Are there fish in this water? It could be fish.”
“Yes. I feel them.”
They moved deeper, Ava had sunk to the waist, but was still moving slowly, deliberately, behind him. He’d spotted a corner earlier where he thought she’d be best protected. A round, half dome carved into the wall. He suspected it had once been a walled-off exit, but nothing remained except a few steps. He didn’t have time to investigate more.
Once they got there, he drew up her arm and started writing with his finger. The low luminescent writing was hidden in the shadows.
He hoped.
Stay here. I’m going to even the odds.
She shook her head violently, but he kept writing.
Use the crowbar.
He had to wait for the letters to fade before he wrote again.
Swing for the neck and the groin. Don’t hesitate. If you can sink the clawed end into a neck, PULL. Do as much damage as possible and stay as quiet as you can. I’ll be back.
She shook her head again, tears at the corners of her eyes. Malachi bent down, kissing them away before he whispered, “Don’t worry. I told you, I’ll be back.”
Then he slipped into the darkness.
Ava wanted to scream. She felt helpless. Choked by silence, mysterious words whispered in her mind, teasing her as she waited in the darkness. The Old Language called her, the magic begging at her lips.
Powerless.
She was stronger. Faster. Healed more quickly. But she knew nothing about how to protect herself or make her mate stronger. She gripped the cold, gritty handle of the crowbar and lifted it against the dark, tensing when she heard the first sounds of struggle.
Chapter Twenty-One
Malachi slid through the shadows of the cistern, sneaking behind the first soldier and sliding a hand to cover his mouth as the dagger plunged into the monster’s spine. The Grigori stiffened, arched, then began to dissolve. The dust lifted in the darkness, pulled by an unseen wind. He spun and darted behind the next pillar, waiting for the other Grigori to react.
“I see dust!”
“He’s here.”
“Where?”
“In the cistern.”
“We already knew that, you idiot.”
They were speaking a mix of German, Turkish, and Danish, with muttered curses in at least two other languages. These Grigori were not from Istanbul. Who had sent them? Who was pulling Brage’s strings?
Malachi hid be
hind another pillar, darting out to grab another. He quickly dispatched him as the others scrambled in the water. Two down, six to go. His legs, long used to the strength of his immortal power, ached in the cold water, but pure adrenaline pushed him. He had to keep them away from his mate.
“Work along the walls,” Brage said. “You idiots! Forget him. We want the woman. Drive her to me.”
Eyes narrowing, Malachi stepped into the light, drawing their attention to him and away from Ava.
“There!”
Two Grigori rushed him, and Malachi was soon lost to the battle. Splashes sounded from overhead as more soldiers fell into the water, heading toward him. Then more shouting as he slashed and stabbed.
Another to dust. Another.
He ducked and twisted, using them against each other in the confusion of the dark water. Many ended up stabbing each other, their blades diverted from his skin by the spells that still protected him. The ones that did land hurt, but not enough to make him pause. It was their numbers that overwhelmed him. As more poured in, Malachi lost count of how many he fought. His only thought was to move toward the exit, drawing them away from Ava.
“One of her. Thousands of you, Scribe.”
Protect Ava.
He ducked under the water, crouching down, only to burst up, blades flying, catching two Grigori under the chin and throwing them back as their blood sprayed the slick pillars of the cistern.
He slashed again and again until the muddy water was black with spilled blood. And still the corner where Ava hid was silent.
She watched, lip clenched between her teeth, biting back the screams as she watched him battle. Four Grigori were on him, one slashing his back, another diving for his neck, only to trip over something in the water and fall down, taking out another who approached him.