AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her fingers were black from the charcoal an hour later when her cell phone rang.
Father Kavanaugh.
She declined the call.
A few seconds later, he called again.
She declined the call.
He called again.
With a huff, she tossed her charcoal aside, wiped her hands on a cloth, and answered the phone. “Yes?”
“Raven, where are you?” Father’s tone was anything but casual.
“I’m in Florence.”
“Where in Florence?”
“I’m not going to tell you that. Where are you? Where’s Cara?”
“You need to leave Florence at once. It’s very dangerous. There are—”
“I’m fine,” she interrupted. “Tell me about Cara.”
The priest paused, and Raven heard something muffled in the background.
“I’m back in Italy. Cara is in Miami with your mother.”
“How could you?” Raven reproached him. “You just deliver her to our mother, after everything?”
“Cara needed a place to stay until she’s ready to return to the house she shared with her fiancé.” Father cleared his throat. “Raven, you have to leave Florence. Things are falling apart, and I won’t be able to protect you.”
“I don’t need your protection.”
“Don’t hang up!” Father shouted.
Again, Raven could hear something muffled in the background, as if the priest was in a moving car.
“I heard what you said. I’m not leaving the city. Call me when you want to talk about Cara.” Raven tapped her screen to end the call.
Father called again.
She declined.
He called again, and she let it ring.
She picked up her charcoal and returned to her drawing. Art had always provided a solace for her, as well as an occupation. She was glad to forget her strife with Father Kavanaugh and her anxiety over her sister, and lose herself in her sketch.
Fifteen minutes later, a loud, shrieking alarm sounded.
Raven covered her ears. She couldn’t tell if it was a fire alarm or a burglar alarm, but the sound was deafening.
She picked up her cane and had begun to walk toward the door when Lucia stormed in, bolting it behind her.
“There’s been a security breach. Someone has come over the fence.” Lucia took her arm and hurried her toward one of the bookshelves. “You need to evacuate.”
“Evacuate?” Raven looked around the room. “Can’t we call the police?”
“This is the protocol. His lordship will be notified, but he’s unreachable at the moment.” Lucia opened a drawer and withdrew a flashlight, a cell phone, and a piece of paper, all of which she thrust into Raven’s hands. She touched a volume on the bookshelf, and the entire bookcase swung inward.
Lucia escorted Raven to the secret entrance. “Go down the staircase. Turn right. Go to the end of the corridor. Enter the number written on that piece of paper in the keypad next to the door. It will open to reveal a passage that runs beneath the city. Make sure you close the door behind you.”
“Wait.” Raven planted her feet. “What about you? What about Ambrogio?”
“We’re following his lordship’s orders.”
“Forget about that! You need to come with me.”
Lucia stared at her impassively. “His lordship’s orders are always obeyed. Once you enter the passage, you’ll find a network of tunnels. His lordship will find you, but you must go now. The intruders are armed.”
Lucia pushed her through the door as the sound of heavy, booted footsteps echoed from outside the library.
Someone began rattling the door handle.
“Hurry.” Lucia pushed her again and retreated, closing the secret door.
Raven was left standing in total darkness.
She fumbled with the flashlight, and a beam of light shone down the spiral staircase.
The stairs were familiar, but Raven couldn’t remember when she’d seen them. Perhaps the night William had taken her to see her stepfather.
Her stomach rolled.
She limped awkwardly down the stairs, breathing shallowly against the damp air. It smelled musty and ancient.
A long corridor lay at the foot of the staircase, punctuated by a series of wooden doors.
Raven heard noises from above—loud footfalls and raised voices.
She quickened her pace, walking with as much speed as she could muster toward the door at the far end of the corridor.
She heard more footfalls above. Something began to thud loudly and repeatedly.
As she approached the door at the end of the corridor, she saw a numbered keypad.
She put her cane aside, fumbling for the piece of paper Lucia had thrust at her. She shone the flashlight on it so she could see the numbers.
Someone shouted above her, and she heard the clatter of things being thrown to the library floor.
With shaking fingers, she punched in the code. The keypad beeped at her and…
Nothing.
She tried the door and was surprised to find it opened easily.
Blocking out the sounds from the library upstairs, she grabbed her cane and passed through the door. She closed it quickly and leaned against it, taking a deep breath.
Something slithered across her foot. Without thinking of the consequences, she screamed.
Chapter Forty-Two
“WE COULD BLOW THE DOOR.” The commander of the Curia’s special forces unit banged his fist against the secret door he’d uncovered. “But the local police are probably on their way. We don’t have much time.”
Father Kavanaugh stood next to him in the Prince’s library, holding Raven’s cell phone. “She left her phone. I have no way of tracking her now.”
“We came prepared to storm Palazzo Riccardi.” Commander Sullivan’s tone was testy, his New York accent more pronounced. “You didn’t provide schematics for this building.”
“Our sources told us there was a secondary residence, but no one believed it could be this one. There are relics here.”
The commander shrugged. “You’re the Padre.”
“Nothing at the seminary prepared me for this,” Father muttered.
“We agreed to a simple extraction, Padre, off book. I can give you until an hour before sunset and then me and my guys are packing up and getting out, with or without the girl.”
Father stared at the soldier incredulously. “We can’t leave her.”
“I’m not getting hemmed in here after dark with only nine guys.”
Father tugged at his beard. “What do you suggest?”
“We traced the SIM card in her cell phone. She was in this room until we came over the wall. Behind the door there could be a safe room or access to a tunnel. We can enter the tunnel system outside and do a sweep. But we aren’t armed for a large-scale engagement.”
“Do you have time to locate the relics?”
“Negative. We need to vacate before hostiles get the drop on us.”
The priest glanced around the room. It was in chaos. Papers and books had been flung on the floor as the soldiers searched for a hidden exit. They’d succeeded in antagonizing the Prince without securing Raven.
He’d failed his mission and was probably about to be ousted from the Curia, if not defrocked.
But he wasn’t going to give up.
“Let’s find the tunnels,” he told the commander, who ordered his team to retreat.
Father took one last look around before pocketing Raven’s cell phone.
Chapter Forty-Three
AOIBHE TOUCHED HER SHORN LOCKS, comparing them with the longer strands of her hair. She’d been stripped of her position in the Consilium and barred from her usual seat of honor near the throne. She’d been forced to stand by t
he wall, guarded by two soldiers, while the Prince attended to the business of state.
Ibarra hadn’t informed her of his plan to kill a policeman and hang his body for the world to see.
She had to admit, it was a devious and ingenious way to destabilize the principality. She should have gone into hiding to see how it played out.
Now she was the Prince’s prisoner and assured of death, since she’d been unable to lead him to Ibarra.
She cursed him. If she ever set eyes on Ibarra again, she’d destroy him herself.
Her poor hair.
A vampyre’s nails and hair grew terribly slowly. It had taken decades for her to grow the long, lustrous locks that were her crowning glory. Now her hair was horribly asymmetrical. She wanted to weep.
“My Lord?” A hesitant voice came from the door to the council chamber.
The Prince gestured to Theodore, one of his servants from Palazzo Riccardi, to come forward. “What is it?”
“An urgent message from the villa, my Lord.” As he approached the throne, Theodore glanced at Aoibhe.
