The Immortal Greek (18 page)

“Because when you’ve lived as long as I have, immortality becomes a burden.”

“Tommaso used to say that to me.” Ravenna felt a shiver run through her spine. Alberto had used her brother’s words verbatim.

“Tommaso grew to be the son I’d always wanted.” He paused a moment, his forehead wrinkled as he pressed his hand over his eyes.

Ravenna remembered how her brother and Alberto had become close soon before she and he developed the plague. They were still living in their paternal house, despite being both of marrying age—although in her case she was already considered a spinster. After her engagement had ended in such a public spectacle, Alberto had started frequenting the house more and more. Everyone in the family loved him. He was considerate, good spirited, and it was clear he had a sincere affection for the two siblings. When he had saved them from certain death and given them an eternal lease on life, Ravenna’s and Tommaso’s fondness for him had become love. Guilt had ridden Ravenna when she had distanced herself from him after Tommaso’s death.

Alberto’s eyes filled with tears, but he blinked them away, then passed the palm of his right hand over them to wipe off any that remained. “I couldn’t see him suffer and do nothing.”

“You killed my brother.” Ravenna’s intention was to scream the accusation at him, but she couldn’t muster the strength, and only a whisper came out of her mouth. Her arms fell to her sides, while the room outside the cage seemed to tilt on its axis.

“I would’ve never killed
him
. He was my son. Not in blood perhaps, but in any way that counted, I was his father, and he was suffering greatly. I eased his pain and gave him respite from an existence he hadn’t wanted in the first place. With Tommaso, I realized immortality was all wrong. I asked Athunè to gift both of you eternal life because I didn’t want to lose you, but it was selfish of me. Tommaso’s wretchedness was the proof of it.”

“You killed Tommaso.” Ravenna felt cold. The room hadn’t stopped spinning, and her vision was blurred. She still saw Alberto smiling at her in his paternal way.

“No, child. I didn’t. I was with him when he peacefully passed. I held his hand as he breathed his last breath and he thanked me.”

“If immortality is so horrible, why haven’t you killed yourself?” She felt bile on her tongue and had to repress the need to gag.

“It was my intention to kill myself soon after Tommaso died. I had already drunk the whole content of the flask, knowing I would soon be with Tommaso in the Tartaros. My wrists were already cut, my life essence dissipating into the warm water of the Mediterranean Sea, when I realized I was being selfish again. So many people needed me to help them with their suffering. I sacrificed myself for the greater good of our race and endured life. But I’m tired, my child.”

She saw the dark light in his eyes and the way his whole face was lit with a manic happiness. “
Why are we here now?
” This time, she managed to raise her voice high enough to convey her anger and hurt.

“Because she stands in the way of a plan I’ve been putting together for a while now. A plan that involves your happiness and can’t be delayed any longer.” He gave Malina an assessing look, then pressed his right hand over the armrest and pushed himself up.

“What are you going to do?” Ravenna tried to raise herself as well, but her legs didn’t want to cooperate. Dehydration and stress could do that to a human, but she wasn’t one. “What did you do to me?”

“I gave you enough Immortal Death to ensure everything goes according to plan. It was for your own good.” He regarded her with his most tender expression yet. “Regarding your former question, as my final act of love for my brethren, I will give them a way out of this wretched existence we call immortality. Then I’ll be finally free to reach Tommaso and you in the afterlife.”

Ravenna heard his last words and she pressed both hands over her stomach. Images of Alexander stormed in her mind and the beauty of them momentarily erased the ugliness of her condition. She saw kids looking like Alexander smiling at her and her heart was filled with love. “Alberto, please, let me and Malina out of here—”

“No, child, I can’t do that.” He walked closer to the cage, then crouched before Ravenna.

She looked as he pulled something out of the vest he was wearing, and recoiled at the sight of the small handgun dangling from his fingers. “Please, Alberto, don’t do it.”

He shook his head. “I love you, daughter of mine. Soon, we’ll be together.” He flicked the gun by its trigger and slid it between the bars, handle to her. “Malina will soon become dangerous. Use the gun—”

“No!” She fought the urge to throw up. “I’d never kill her.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. Use it on yourself before she can tear you to pieces. Only a suicide will grant you entrance in the Tartaros.” He let the handgun fall by Ravenna’s feet, then reached his hand through the bars to caress her. “By tomorrow night, we’ll be dining and drinking ambrosia by the River Lethe and we’ll forget all about this.”

Ravenna looked horrified at the gun touching her skin and moved her feet aside. “What will happen tomorrow night?”

“I’ll serve the mortal nectar to our brothers and sisters in need.” He gave her a last caress, then straightened his legs, and walked to the door. “It will be over soon.”

****

Alexander broke all the speed limits, driving like a madman between the Appian Way and Trastevere. When he had seen Alberto Giudici’s apothecary on the list of places where the licorice sticks were sold, his heart had stopped beating.

“Thank the gods we’ve arrived.” Samuel, who had accompanied him for the ride, had already regretted out loud his decision. Several times and in several languages. “You do understand that there will be hell to pay when I have to explain all your infractions to the Council?”

Alexander answered with a series of expletives in ancient Greek, followed by an explanation of what he could do to the Council in ancient Aramaic. He stopped the Mercedes just an inch or two shy of being in the middle of the road, and aligned it before a car parked by the apothecary.

Samuel squeezed himself out of the passenger door too close to the parked car. “It will be impounded.”

Alexander walked straight to the apothecary’s door, but it was closed. His first instinct was to kick it down, but he restrained himself and walked the perimeter of the building, looking for another entry instead. Samuel followed him a step behind, keeping his mouth shut, for which Alexander was grateful. He was beyond himself with worry.

Samuel noticed the small entry under the arch connecting the apothecary to the next building. He looked around, then made a sign for Alexander to wait beside him, and forced the wooden door open with a single, well-assisted push of his shoulder. They lowered their heads and entered the building by the back of the apothecary’s storage room. None of them were familiar with the building’s geography past the first floor, but it was clear nobody was there. When they reached the staircase, they found it dark too.

The idea that Ravenna could be anywhere, crept through Alexander’s thoughts, poisoning his hope he would find her soon. Then a noise, no more than a squeak barely audible over the sounds of cars coming from outside, reached them from above. He sprinted up the stairs without thinking, ready to grab Alberto Giudici by his collar and shake him until he told him where Ravenna was. The man would have to explain the whys and the hows to the angel, because besides altering Giudici’s facial features, he didn’t care what happened to him. Unless the apothecary had dared touch her. Then Giudici would regret having done so. He only wanted Ravenna in his arms.

At every landing they encountered, they both walked through the small hallways connecting the older buildings in Rome. They glanced inside the rooms with open doors, and carefully pried open the ones that were locked. They went up four flights of stairs, but by the time they reached the last floor, Alexander had the sinking feeling the noise he had heard was just the house settling. They checked the fourth story, but it was deserted.

He entered a stuffy small room, and suddenly needing a breath of fresh air, he opened the window and looked between the bars at the peaceful sight of the terracotta roofs illuminated by the full moon. The clouds, pushed by the warm autumnal winds, played hide and seek with the silver globe in the sky. “She could be anywhere.” He turned to leave, when the nocturnal breeze entered the room and scattered the dust bunnies accumulated under a radiator. A long strand of glossy black hair was blown against his right shoe. He leaned to pick it up, knowing it was Ravenna’s. He looked at Samuel and the angel nodded. “She could still be here.”

Alexander ran back to the first floor, hoping that, like in his house, there were two separate sets of stairs leading up and down. He went back to the store, then out toward the storage, then back inside, opening doors as he ran through the place.

“Here.” Samuel turned left to the wing with the northern exposure, and was looking at an archway illuminated by a flickering halogen light. The lights were off everywhere else in the house.

Alexander lost his ability to form coherent thoughts once again and barreled through the narrow space, almost slipping down the steep, worn brick steps. A flicker of light could be seen at the end of the stairwell as if a door was ajar, but someone big moved toward him and darkness enveloped him a moment later. He encountered the man chest first. Warned by the noise he had made, the man had been running toward him when they collided against each other.

A split second later, Alexander blindly hit the mountain of a man with all his strength, driving his punches in the close quarters. He couldn’t use his legs to drive his specialty kicks, and suffered for it when the man pushed him to the floor, revealing he wasn’t alone—a second man towered behind him.

Samuel, whose wings although broken, still filled the cramped staircase, had to descend sideways, making it impossible for him to lend any help. A roar came from behind his assailants, followed by a feminine cry, and Alexander’s blood froze. He pushed his right knee up with all the thrust he could muster from the ground and was rewarded by a choked sound. He landed a punch somewhere between the man’s guts and his lower abdomen, which led the man to lean backward long enough for him to push him out of the way with both knees. The man clumsily lost his balance and went down backward onto his friend. Another roar split the air, this time it sounder angrier and almost drowned the woman’s scream.

Alexander was down on the stairs one moment, up and pushing at the two men the next. Samuel was behind him, when his assailants attacked with new vigor.

“Duck.” Samuel’s right arm flew over Alexander’s lowering head and his open palm connected with the nose of the first man in line.

Alexander heard the sickening sound of breaking and caving bones as he saw the man collapsing, a dazed expression on his face and blood pouring from his smashed nasal cavities. From his lowered position, Alexander punched the second’s assailant’s groin. At the same time, Samuel head-butted him. The animal sounds from behind the door intensified and no other voice cut through. He walked over the two men, plastering their faces with his shoes, and pressed on them with his heels as they tried to trip him. Samuel kept them down as Alexander reached the last two steps and kicked the door open before landing on the threshold.

He only saw Ravenna.

She was inside a cage sitting in the middle of what looked like a cellar. Her hands were cuffed before her, limiting her ability to fend off the attacks from the black panther sharing the space with her. Alexander’s heart, already overtaxed by the fight, stopped beating for a few counts. The sight of her, bloodied and trapped against the bars of the big cage as the panther advanced toward her, sent him in another frenzy of activity. He banged at the closed lock in desperation, then ran back to the entry where Samuel was pummeling down the two men as they retaliated. He pushed the angel aside and took the first of the two thugs by his sleeve. He growled to give him the keys to the cage, but either his words didn’t make any sense or he was loyal to his employer.

“Give me the keys.” He blindly punched at the flesh beneath him. Then he reached for the visible pockets on the man’s clothes, but besides paper napkins and licorice stick wrappers, he didn’t find what he was looking for. His rage was renewed by Ravenna screaming when the cage was rattled by the big animal crazily pouncing around. With a kick, he pushed away the man who must have been her kidnapper. Then he leaned over the second, who was faintly breathing from his mouth. A brief search on the front pockets revealed nothing. Alexander pushed the heavy man toward the entry, the steep angle of the steps helping him to turn the man so that his back was exposed. The bulge of keys showed in his right pocket. Alexander yanked them out, ripping the fabric, and ran back to the cage.

Ravenna was now standing, her clothes torn, exposing her marred flesh, blood flowing from several deep gashes on her arms and legs. She was clutching something in her hands he couldn’t see. “Hang on.” He didn’t know if she had heard him because the panther was snarling and hissing, circling the small perimeter, getting closer to Ravenna. Swearing out loud when the first two keys didn’t open the lock, he entered the third. “Come on. Come on.”

The panther jumped at Ravenna. She disappeared under the black, bulky form. The key clicked. A shot was fired. He threw himself at the panther, and they rolled on the floor. Samuel grabbed Alexander by his elbow and threw him to the other side of the cage, then proceeded to tackle the panther.

“Get her out.” Samuel sat on the animal that seemed to have lost courage and was bleeding from one of its hind legs.

Alexander stood and grabbed Ravenna’s hand, pulling her outside of the cage. “Are you okay?” He could see she wasn’t, but needed to talk to her, to hear her voice, to know that she was fine despite the way she looked. “Ravenna?” While keeping an eye on Samuel and the panther on their back, he dragged her to the stairs, but she squeezed his hand and stopped him in his track. “We must hurry.” He turned sideways to look at her.