The Immortal Greek (19 page)

She shook her head, pointed over his shoulder, and screamed, “Raul!”

Their exit was crowded by the gorilla-sized presence of the man he and Samuel hadn’t managed to fully incapacitate. Alexander launched himself at the thug and spent every ounce of energy he had left to overpower him. Centuries of training in the ancient art of Greco-Roman wrestling kicked in, and Alexander had him in a headlock after executing a suplex. He pressed on the man’s carotid artery with his locked arms and didn’t let it go until the assailant went pliant underneath him. With a scream, Alexander let him go, then reached for Ravenna and led her out of the cellar.

He didn’t stop until they were outside of the building, then he took Ravenna’s cuffed hands and fumbled with the keys. After a few attempts, he found the one that opened the restraints. Then, before all of Rome to see them, he took Ravenna in his arms and kissed her on the mouth. When, several seconds later, they both leaned out of the kiss, gasping for air, he lowered his forehead to hers. He placed his hands on both sides of her face, and brushed her eyelids with his lips, then her nose, finally he left a peck on her lips.

“I love you.” His arms roamed her back, then moved to her shoulders and arms where the panther had done the worst damage. Several cars honked at their show, and he was reminded that they were in a public place. He moved her to the wall to shield her with his body. He didn’t want passersby to see her at her most vulnerable. “Are you okay?”

“I am.” Shaking, she looked at him and raised one hand to caress his jaw.

“All this blood…” His hands were smeared red and he could barely stand the sight of all the slashes on her exposed flesh. Some of them were deep and she flinched when she lowered her hand to his waist. He reached for the bottom of his shirt and tore strips from it with which he made makeshift bandages. “I’ll try to be gentle.” As he started passing the strips around the bigger wounds on her arms, he leaned to give her a small kiss on her forehead.

She repressed a cry when he tied the extremities of the strip on the first wound.

“I’m sorry.” He gave her another kiss and finished bandaging the rest of the wounds he thought needed to be taken care of right away. “Better?” He pulled her to him, careful not to tighten his arms around her.

“You came for me.” Her eyes were dark and filled with tears.

“I’m sorry I assumed the worst without asking you first.” He caressed her hair away from her face. Blood and sweat had caked in several spots on her cheeks and jaws.

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You came for me.”

“I shouldn’t have left you.” He kissed her deep. “Scratch that. I should’ve chained you to my bed and never let you go.” He felt her shiver at his words, and a whole world of thoughts flooded his mind. “Ravenna Del Sarto, you made a mess of me in less than a week. How did you manage that?”

“Alexander Drako, I believe I’ve fallen for you so hard I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stand upright again.” She rested her head on his chest.

“I don’t think I want you to.” He had expected her to blush at his remark, and she pleased him with a healthy pink spreading across her pale face.

“Alexander…”

“Yes, Ravenna?” He took one of her hands in his and slowly caressed the bruise on her wrist where the cuff had chafed at her skin. He brought her wrist to his lips and brushed it until a moan escaped her half-closed mouth. Her reaction was affecting him greatly and he had to stop. “You broke my heart when you left my bed. Don’t you ever do it again.” He wanted nothing less than to flee the scene, spirit her away to his house, cradle her in his arms, and bathe her body under the jets of his shower. “You need a doctor to take a look at your injuries.”

She looked at him, then sighed. “I need to report to Samuel—”

“It can wait.” He leaned to take her mouth for a kiss.

She stopped him by raising one hand and pressing it against his lips. “No, it really can’t. Alberto is planning a mass-poisoning if I have understood his words correctly.”

“He’s planning what?” Samuel’s deep voice startled them away from each other. The angel, who had come out from behind the left corner, was staring at them, taking the whole scene in.

Alexander was dismayed at the realization anyone could have arrived from that side. Lost in the feelings Ravenna evoked in him, he would have never seen them coming, and it made him angry at himself. “
It can wait
.”

“Alexander, it’s okay. I must talk to Samuel now.” Ravenna raised her face to give him a small kiss on his chin.

Mollified by her willingness to declare her affection for him before the angel, he passed his arm over Ravenna’s shoulder and gave Samuel a loaded look. “While you two talk, I’ll call for an ambulance.”

Alexander reluctantly left Ravenna in the hands of the paramedics who arrived in record time to the scene. The three men assessed that Malina, still in panther form, needed immediate medical attention, but Ravenna also needed to have her wounds checked. “I’ll come later to the hospital.” He gave her one last kiss, then let her enter the ambulance.

She buckled up, then looked at him. “Alexander?”

“Yes?”

“I love you too.” She smiled as a paramedic closed the door of the black minivan.

Paranormals couldn’t attract any attention and tended to take care of their drama without being conspicuous. The car was equipped with anything she could have ever needed. Paranormals were in fact born inside those masked ambulances on a regular basis.

He watched as the car rolled away from the curb and entered the late-night traffic.

“There’s no one around at this hour. They’ll reach the hospital in no time. Don’t worry.” Samuel gave him a heavy pat on his shoulder. He had been deep in phone calls for the last fifteen minutes. He had asked for the closest enforcer to come and take away the two unconscious men in the cellar. They had arrived at the same time as the paramedics, and left in an equally non-descript vehicle with two prisoners. “So, what’s your opinion on what Ravenna found out?”

Alexander rubbed at the stubble on his jaw. “Tomorrow night is the Immortal Gala. Everyone will be there. If you want to kill as many immortals as you can, that would be the place to go.”

Samuel inhaled and exhaled slowly. “Yes, that’s my guess as well. But it seems an audacious plan to be carried on by only one man.”

Alexander was tired, in need of a shower, a double espresso, and maybe even some food, but mostly he was in need of a dark-haired enforcer in his arms. “Deranged people tend to be smarter than you give them credit for. They tend to find a way to work around obstacles and bring their plans to completion. That’s why mad people tend to be successful, because nobody would think the way they do.” While he was talking, the conversation he’d had with Lucius Seneca Quintilius came back to him. “A very wise man just recently told me to look at who would benefit the most from the immortal species’ demise.”

Samuel laughed. “Well, that’s going to be quite a list.”

“In any case, there you have your partner in crime. My first guess would be the Vampire Nation.” His mind elsewhere, he belatedly realized he had been walking back and forth before the spot where his car should have been and clearly wasn’t.

Samuel wasn’t fast at hiding the smirk that graced his face.

Alexander raised a finger. “Do. Not. Dare. Say. A. Word.” He then lowered himself to the sidewalk and sat on the pavement, hand brushing the blond stubble on his jaw. He let the moment pass, then looked up at the angel. “Could you please call the impound?”

“Sure.” Samuel punched a few numbers on his cell phone, then made two phone calls. Finally, he sat by Alexander, his black wings trailing behind and gathering dust and whatever had found its end on the pavement. He didn’t seem to care. “We missed your Mercedes by mere minutes. It hasn’t arrived at the impound yet. The Council is sending a car to take us there.” He gave Alexander a sideways look. “I’ve also taken the liberty to ask for a shirt and a pair of pants for you.”

Alexander looked at his torn shirt, smeared in blood. His pants weren’t faring any better. “Thanks.”

“You know this—” Samuel gestured at Alexander, encompassing him from head to toes. “This new look of yours is going to be in every gossip magazine by dawn.”

Alexander passed his right hand through his hair, and let out a suffering sigh. “I know.” He crossed his legs at his ankles and lowered his palms behind him to the pavement. He raised his face heavenward and closed his eyes. The breeze of the night cooled his skin.

“You don’t care a bit that your Mercedes was just impounded?” Samuel mimed Alexander’s stance and rolled his shoulders to shake his wings.

“Nope.” He could only think of Ravenna. Given the ordeal she had gone through, she looked fine, but until he was with her again, he couldn’t relax. “How long does it take for the courtesy car to arrive?”

Samuel yawned. “A matter of minutes.”

The angel was right. The car arrived a few minutes later, but for Alexander the whole night seemed to pass in slow motion. When they reached the impound, they discovered the place was closed until the next morning, and even pulling strings couldn’t help free Alexander’s car. From there, the courtesy car drove them to Castel Sant’ Angelo, where Samuel reported to his superiors in person what he had already said on the phone.

Alexander, who had been politely and quite formally asked to remain, had stayed silent the whole time Samuel recounted the events of the night. When it was clear he wasn’t free to go visit Ravenna at the hospital any time soon, he had been as angry at the Council as Marcus. The angel’s deposition took several hours in which he explained in detail anything that had happened since the first Immortal Death’s victim was found at Alexander’s house.

Alexander was never asked to intervene, but somehow he knew he was acting as Samuel’s guarantor. Paranormals were racists at heart. The angel worked as a liaison between species, but he wasn’t an immortal, and the fact that he was also fallen put him in a delicate situation among the paranormal society. When Samuel had asked him to drive him back to the Immortal Council’s headquarters, he had accepted. He hadn’t been thrilled about it, but Ravenna was alive thanks to Samuel, and he owed him. So, he endured the waste of time, half listening to the angel’s droning dialogue and the useless questions his superiors threw at him as if he were the perpetrator.

Meanwhile, the two thugs had been interrogated. Thoroughly. They had eventually confirmed what Alexander and Samuel had suspected. Alberto Giudici had planned to slip Immortal Death in the food being prepared for the gathering the following night. Some of the most radical fringes among the Vampire Nation felt Claudius had been greatly wronged by the decision of the Council to help Marcus one year before. So they had aligned with him. Once the poisoned food was served, the vampires would wait an hour or two, then carry out the death sentence to any of the immortals participating at the Gala. In his madness, the apothecary had taken on himself to wipe his own race from the planet. Very few of them would have survived.

When Samuel was finally dismissed by his superiors, it was almost morning. Alexander hadn’t slept in a bed in the last two days, he had yet to shower and eat, and he was still wearing his torn and bloodied garments despite the fact he was carrying around the plastic bag with the new clothes the courtesy car driver had brought for him.

“You better pull your act together before you go visit Ravenna.” Samuel walked him to the bathrooms before he could escape through the rear doors.

Once before a mirror though, he had to admit Samuel was right. He looked way worse than he had imagined.

“You should catch some sleep as well.” The angel had entered the bathroom with him and was washing his face with cold water.

“Sleep can wait.” He opened his mangled shirt and threw it in the garbage bin, then unbuckled his belt, removed his pants and sent them the same way as the shirt. He leaned over one of the empty sinks and let the water run until it was cold, then tried to remove all the grime and blood left behind on his skin, but it proved difficult. Finally, he contented himself to look halfway decent. He waited a moment to let his skin dry, then donned the new shirt and pants.

“Do you need a ride to the impound?” Samuel asked at the door.

Alexander had forgotten he was without a car. “The impound can wait.”

Samuel called in a favor and had another courtesy car pick them up down at the garage.

“Where to?” The driver, a young immortal who had been turned in his twenties, opened the passenger door for them.

“To the hospital, then to this address.” Samuel gave the young man Ravenna’s address where he had left his car.

At the first red light, Alexander told them he could walk to the hospital from there. The paranormal hospital was on the Tiberina Island, a short walk from there and he could use the exercise to calm his nerves before visiting Ravenna. While waiting for Samuel to finish his deposition, he had made a decision, and he couldn’t wait to tell Ravenna, but at the same time, he was terrified to tell her.

“Say hi to her for me.” As the car left, Samuel brought two fingers to his forehead and saluted him.

Alexander started walking, but was soon jogging, and finally running the last few meters. He entered the hospital and went straight to the welcome desk. He must have looked a fright because the girl behind the mahogany table raised her eyes from the screen she was looking at and couldn’t repress a gasp.

“I’m here for Ravenna Del Sarto.”

“And you are…?” She gave him a double look, then her eyes lit in realization. “Mister Drako.”

“Yes. Can you tell me where her room is? Please?”

The girl seemed startled, but immediately smiled at him. “Third floor, room thirty-five.” She indicated where the elevators were with the point of a pen she was holding.

Without thanking her, he darted toward the stairs.

****

Ravenna had been resting when Alexander burst into her room. Nurses followed him, calling him back, but, much to their dismay, he closed the door in their faces. He hadn’t reached her bed when the door opened a second time and a peeved nurse in her mid-fifties peeked inside.

“Miss Del Sarto, we apologize. We told him you weren’t to be disturbed, but he clearly wouldn’t listen.” She gave Alexander a venomous look he ignored.

Alexander hadn’t stopped staring at Ravenna since the moment he had entered the room.

Ravenna smiled at the woman. “It’s okay.”

“We can call security—” The nurse looked from her to Alexander and back.

Ravenna raised one hand. “Thank you for your concern, but it won’t be necessary. I asked Mister Drako to come.”

The woman harrumphed, but closed the door, finally leaving them alone.

“Are you okay?” She reached out her hand for him to take.

“I am now.” He closed the gap and kneeled by the bed, then lowered his head on her hand, urging her to caress him. “Ravenna…” he purred.

She leaned to kiss his forehead. “I love the way you say my name, without shortening, without creating a nickname out of it.”

“I love your name. It’s so you. Strong. Sensual. Elegant. It makes me think of ravens flying in the sky.” He tilted his head and looked up at her.

She felt a tingling, warm sensation starting from her stomach that spread through her body and reached her heart. She smiled down at him. “My father gave me my name. He told me once that when I was born my hair was so dark and my eyes so black he immediately had a vision of ravens storming into the room. He didn’t like the Italian name Corvina and thought to borrow from the English language to christen me. At my baptism, the priest wasn’t happy my parents had given me a name that didn’t have a saint in the calendar.” She laughed at the memory Alexander had evoked with his comment.

“Ravenna…” He turned and kissed her palm.

“Yes?” She lowered herself to his level.

“I love you.” He kissed her lips.

“And I love you.” She helped him on the bed. He arranged his body along hers and she noticed he was shaking.

He opened his mouth twice before he finally said, “I want to spend the rest of eternity with you.”

She heard when he stopped breathing.

He gently cupped her face. “Ravenna Del Sarto, would you do me the honor to be my companion?”

Ravenna nodded, and whispered a choked “yes.”

He exhaled and lowered his forehead to hers. “You just made me the happiest man in the whole world.”

She backed up an inch to look him in the eyes. “You just made
me
the happiest woman alive.” She caressed his face. “Now, my love, you should really take a nap. You look… horrible.”

He laughed and rolled on his back, one hand behind her head to lower her to his chest. “Don’t go anywhere.”

She adjusted herself so that they would be both comfortable. “I’ll be here when you wake.”

“Later.” Alexander’s eyes were already closing.

“Later.” She caressed his chest in circular motions, listening to his breath slow until he was peacefully asleep. “My companion.” She liked the title. She loved this man in a way that defied rationality. For the first time in her life, she was happy with whatever decision another person would make for her. She instinctively trusted that Alexander would always act in her best interest. She didn’t need to be in a position of power with him. He murmured something she couldn’t understand, then smiled. She watched as his chest rose and fell, and she realized she wanted to protect this man and feel protected by him.

Sometime in the middle of the morning, one of the nurses came to check on her before the doctor arrived for the daily visit. The younger nurse’s eyes had been on Alexander’s sleeping form since the moment she had entered the room. “Did you sleep well?” She finally looked at Ravenna and gave her a wink.

Ravenna rested her palm on Alexander’s chest. “Like an angel.”

The nurse sighed, then smiled. “The doctor will be here in a minute.”

She straightened her back against the headboard, but was careful not to disturb Alexander who had been gently snoring for the better part of the morning. “When may I go home?”

“Soon.” The nurse removed the breakfast tray Ravenna had nibbled at. “Feeling bored already?”

“Yeah, a bit.”

The nurse smiled again. “Would you care for something to read?”

“Yes, please.” She had never realized how much she depended on her cell phone and all the apps she had installed on it until she had been without for more than an hour.

The nurse left the room and reentered a moment later, carrying a stack of glossy publications. Ravenna thanked her and told her if she could please leave them on the nightstand. She wasn’t found of gossip magazines, but the doctor took more than the promised minute to arrive and Alexander didn’t look he would ever wake again, so deep was he in his slumber. She took the first magazine on top of the stack and distractedly leafed through its pages, but the doctor arrived before she could read the words accompanying a series of pictures that made her heart sink.