Arielle Immortal Passion (18 page)

“Yes, of course, you’re right,” he said, but a dark light burned in his eyes.

“The second task is locating the secret passages,” Sebastian continued. “That shouldn’t take long, considering that there are nine of us here. Once we know where they are, we can follow them and see where they end up. Ian, I have to restore order in this house before I can leave for Brighton. If we aren’t done with this matter by Monday, you should feel free to go back with the girls so you can get back to school on time. The same goes for anyone else here who might have things they need to do.”

“We are not going anywhere until we finish what we are going to start here today,” Troy said.

“I don’t mind being late for classes,” Ian added, with a smile.

Sebastian smiled; he exhaled with relief, pleased to have the support of his friends. “Thanks,” he said pointedly, his voice husky with appreciation.

“Sebastian?” Antonius said, the harshness in his voice making Sebastian look up.

“I’ll do this your way. But when we find her, she is mine to do with as I please. Okay?”

“I think it’ll be our pleasure to let you deal with her,” Sebastian chuckled, and they all joined in.

Chapter 14

T
heir adrenaline pumped hard as they walked at an agonizingly slow pace down the long hallway towards the room, looking for Giovanna. The room was not located in a conspicuous place. Sebastian was sure it had been picked on purpose so that its inhabitants could go unnoticed for as long as they needed to achieve their dreadful results. And for a while it had worked. If it were not for Arielle’s desire to explore the house, nobody would have been aware of the unwanted visitors or the deadly plot that was being developed right inside Sebastian’s own home.

They moved quietly, like ghosts. Immortals are attuned to the dark. They have the incredible ability to sense exactly what is ahead of them or around them. Their senses consume their bodies, and it is as if they become part of the shadows. Sebastian kept Ian close to him, even though he seemed comfortable moving along with the others. They crept silently, stopping short of the door and listening. Then, they smiled. Voices were coming from inside the room.

Sebastian looked at Antonius, who couldn’t help clenching his teeth, fire spitting out of his eyes. Every feature on his face was alarmingly full of resentment. His fists were clenched against his body, and he looked ready to explode.

Sebastian was the first to burst into the room, followed by the others. Two very young men were standing in the middle of the room, and a woman was sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed in a nightgown. Their heads jerked around to face the door, looking completely startled. Antonius leaped to the side of the bed and stood right by the woman’s side, grinding his teeth. The other guys surrounded the two young men, who were completely taken aback, glancing fearfully between the men that had burst into the room. The woman sat unruffled on the bed.

A long, cold silence fell in the room. Eventually, everyone turned their attention to the woman. From the look on Antonius’s face, they were sure they were looking at Giovanna.

She was breathtakingly beautiful, with black hair and striking blue eyes. She spoke sixteenth century Italian in the strange, fashionable style. She was both serene and passionately seductive. Her features were perfect: her sensual mouth curved into a soft arc when she smiled. They all looked directly into her amazing eyes as she stood up slowly. Her silk negligée slid down over her shoulders, exposing her beautiful white skin.

“Well hello, Troy, hello, Antonius,” she said, a sexy smile on her face. “I’m delighted to see you.”

A wide, wry smile spread across Antonius face. “I’m sure the feeling is not mutual,” he said, spitting out the words.

At that, her expression became sober. “What can I do for you, Antonius?” she asked, in a tightly controlled tone of voice. Sebastian looked at her in dismay, unable to believe her unmitigated gall.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Sebastian interjected, moving closer.

She turned slowly to face him. “Who wants to know?”

Sebastian bit an oath back and pinched the tip of his nose. “I own this house,” he spit out angrily, “and you have not been invited here.”

She seemed taken aback for a short moment, but she recovered quickly. “Oh, really?” she said. “I was told that I
was
welcome here,” she said, her voice turning quiet, as she swallowed hard.

Antonius and the others fully understood that when a person lives for centuries like they all had, you get smarter along the way. This allows people to either perfect themselves over time or turn out as bad as a person can be. That is exactly what had happened with Giovanna. She was not fooling anyone in that room with her act.

She turned to face Antonius, ignoring Sebastian completely. Her voice was low and husky, full of revulsion that had been lying dormant for centuries, waiting for a moment like this. She felt a mix of bitterness, exhaustion, and anguish for Antonius.

He pierced through her eyes with his own, and with a harsh laugh, he said, “Well, well. Here we are now, and no place for you to go. You do know that you are going to pay, and pay hard, for my brother’s death.” There was a sharp edge of fury emanating from his voice. “Consider this your swan song before you leave this earth, and be thankful that I’m going to rid the world of your worthless existence.”

Her eyes darted wildly around the room. “I wasn’t responsible for Paolo’s de…” she started to say, and Antonius raised his hand to stop her from talking.

“No more lies,” he said, disgusted. “Mauritsio told me all the ghastly details. You do remember Mauritsio, don’t you? He was the lucky guy to escape your wicked punishment. So just stop talking. Nothing is going to help you at this point.”

Giovanna tensed, and looked around for an escape route, but she was surrounded. She launched toward Antonius, who, in a quick move, wrapped his hands around her throat and tried to tear her flesh apart. His eyes were wild with loathing and desire to avenge his brother’s death. She was choking and clawing the empty air, desperately trying to reach with her free arm to strike Antonius between the eyes, but he was faster than she was. He tightened his grip around her neck and, lifting her off the floor he flipped her over his shoulder, and slammed her face down onto the stone floor. Giovanna growled with pain and stopped moving for a short moment, stunned by the assault. Then, gathering her strength she crawled until she reached the wall and hauled herself into a sitting position. Opening her eyes she saw everyone staring at her with a mocking expression on their faces, except for her two young companions, who were watching the events unfolding in front of their eyes in complete shock.

She sat there for a short minute, stunned, then shook herself and stood up.

She pulled away from the wall, then suddenly threw herself against Antonius, catching him by surprise. She threw her leg up and kicked him hard in the stomach. Then, as he bent forward she socked him between the eyes with every ounce of strength she possessed. He staggered backward and roared an explicit oath.

“Don’t touch her!” he called out to his friends. “She’s mine!” Their eyebrows shot up, but they all backed off and let Antonius deal with Giovanna. She used the moment of hesitation while Antonius was trying to recover to move behind him, ready to strike again. But he darted forward, avoiding the blow. He spun around to face Giovanna, and his eyes went wide.

Ian had staggered forward and found himself in a very dangerous place. Giovanna was coming for Antonius and Ian was frozen in place right in her path. He heard Sebastian’s growl and suddenly Ian was seized by the back of his shirt. He found himself hauled behind Sebastian to a safe place.

When Giovanna reached Antonius, he was ready for her. He raised his hands and grabbed her by the throat as if his hand was a pair of pliers, and threw her against the wall. This time the sound of broken bones made the hair on the back of Ian’s neck rise.

It was an unbelievable sight, but she pushed away from the wall and came toward him, with fire in her eyes. She threw a hard blow to his face and he jerked back, gasping. Blood spurt out of his nose and he found himself in the same fog as before. A loud shriek of satisfaction escaped her lips and she got ready to go after Antonius, to finish what she had started.

But she was shocked to find herself flying back and hitting the same wall a second time with such force that she screamed from agony and pain.

She had absolutely no idea what had hit her. Opening her eyes she saw Troy standing between her and Antonius. Smoke rose from her body, she was angry beyond belief, consumed with evil. Still trying to shake off the pain she was in, trying to understand how many people she had to deal with, knowing there was no help, she felt desperate.

It was at that moment that Sebastian’s voice came out clear and hard.

“What are you doing in my house, and how are you getting in?” he demanded. Giovanna didn’t reply. She was still staring between Troy and Antonius with hatred in her eyes.

“You do understand that this is the end of the line for you. So tell me, what are you doing here?” Sebastian asked, more calmly. He was walking towards her, along with Antonius and Troy. She backed up against the wall and remained silent. Her eyes were fixed on Antonius, and she saw the venom that was present in his eyes. The naked evil and wickedness that consumed her was exposed. She looked shocked for a split second; her eyes were full of terror. Sebastian grabbed her hands, holding them still as Antonius put his hands around her throat and started squeezing with all the immortal power he possessed.

She desperately tried to get her hands loose from Sebastian’s steel grip, but it was to no avail. It was but a second before they heard a clear snap and her head became separated from her body. Then, her body became the center of a lightning storm. The lights went out for a few seconds, and it felt as if a huge electrical storm hit the room.

Ian gasped in horror, not being familiar with the phenomenon of an immortal Quickening.

“What was that?” he whispered, close to Sebastian’s ear, eyes wide open.

“It’s the immortal Quickening,” Sebastian murmured. “Antonius will now receive all the power and knowledge Giovanna processed by taking her life. That’s the immortal way.”

The two young men who had been in the room with Giovanna were in shock. Silence fell in the room like a death curtain. The two young men looked at Antonius. He walked over to them and they backed off, eyes filled with terror.

His voice was very clear. “I have nothing against you,” he said. “However, you need to provide us with some information if you don’t want to meet the same fate as Giovanna. There are nine of us and two of you. I’m sure you can do the math and understand the predicament you are in.”

They both nodded gravely without saying a word, and backed away slowly until their backs hit the armoire. They glanced around fearfully, and winced when they saw a row of hard expressions facing them. One of the boy’s lips moved but no words came out.

Sebastian’s face was rigid. “How did you get in here, and what are you doing here?”

“I’m Gaillard and this is my friend Caius,” one of them said, his voice quivery. “We were asked to come here and party with Giovanna and her friends—Annabel, Julia, and Paola.”

At the sound of the names, Sebastian gasped, and an explicit oath escaped his lips. “Do you know why Giovanna was here? I need the truth,” he said, his voice icy cold. Fear coursed through Gaillard and Caius, and they braced themselves against what was to come. Sebastian’s next statement took them by surprise.

“Tell us what is going on, and you can leave and go back to Italy. If not, you are not going anywhere.”

Caius and Gaillard stiffened at his words and swallowed hard. Caius cleared his throat, took a deep breath and said, “We heard Annabel and Giovanna talking about luring some girl to the cemetery and burying her alive. We don’t know who the girl is or her name, but she has some kind of power where she can’t be touched by immortals, so they needed to have her trapped and buried at the old cemetery.” He looked around uncomfortably and noticed fury emanating from every single face in front of him. His throat went dry, but he continued. “Giovanna was good at killing people without being caught, so she was the one planning the whole thing for Annabel,” he concluded.

“Where is the passage into this room?”

Gaillard pushed away from the dresser and walking over to the wall by the fireplace he pushed against a spot with his finger. The fireplace opened, creating a door to a dark passage.

Ian let out a long whistle, his eyes squinting hard to see the spot on the wall, but there was nothing there that would appear to be a pin or secret button. The guys remained still, watching Gaius and Gaillard, while Ian moved closer and ran his fingers over the spot that Gaillard had pushed. It was smooth as silk, but when he peered closer he saw a very light gray dot. You really had to be right on top of it to be able to see it.
Very clever!
he thought.

“Do you know where Annabel is?” he heard Sebastian’s hard voice asking, and he moved away from the wall.

“She’s in Spain with Paola and Julia for a couple of days. They will be coming back on Monday,” Gaius offered.

Sebastian was quiet for a long time. The two young men looked desperately around at all the others, quite obviously wondering what would happen next.

“Do you know of any other passages in this house? Have you used any other passages?” Sebastian insisted.

“No, this is the only one we’ve ever used.”

“How long have you been here?”