Page 43 of Obsidian Dream
Chapter Eighteen
TALIK
Talik followed Khalidaup the stairs, ignoring the sway of her hips as she stalked toward the door.One, two...four knives he had counted so far on Khalida.If he turned his head slightly, he could see the telltale hint of small blades in her boots.
Five and six.There were more.He just had to find them.
They stood outside the faded green door of the Biblioteca Angelica.The plain building was camouflaged within the alleyway, but only a stone’s throw from the main piazzas of Rome—he could have strolled past the library a million times over the centuries with no awareness of its historical significance as one of Europe’s oldest libraries.Nor would he have cared.Ancient books and artifacts were not his preferred pastimes.He was far more interested in the region’s bars and eateries.
The door opened slowly as a woman with wine-colored hair walked out wearing dark business attire.She nodded politely to them, her eyes hidden by her tinted glasses as she passed them.“Ciao.”
A feeling of déjà vu surrounded him.As if he had met her centuries before.Despite her appearance, there was something not quite human or Atlantean to the edge of her scent.He glanced at Khalida, hoping to get some sort of recognition, but instead she glanced at him blankly, ignoring the stranger.Maybe adrenaline was starting to make him hallucinate.
The scent of old books and musty air hit him as they walked into the older part of the library.He scrunched up his nose, wishing for once he did not have heightened senses.
“The closed off entrance to the catacombs is within the main reading room of the old library,” Khalida said as she headed toward the brightly lit room at the end of the corridor.The well-worn strip of red carpet was a stark contrast to the plain blue-gray tiles next to it.
Entering the library, Talik was taken back to the days when he had been tutored in all things Atlantean, under the oversight of House Azaes’s most notable scholars.More than three levels of shelves of archaic dusty books surrounded them.In the center of the room, under the highest part of the ornate ceiling, were a handful of wooden tables and uncomfortable-looking chairs.On the far side, under the large window, stood Dante and a very animated Rieka.
He could sense her excitement from where he stood, almost contagious in its intensity.
No one else was left in the library.Talik was impressed at how quickly Dante could convince the Italian government to loan the building to them, but then money and connections talked, and Dante had an abundance of both.
As they neared, Rieka tapped the ground with her boot.The thin red carpet did not mute the sound, instead it made it louder.“The entrance to the catacombs is beneath the library.Beneath the thick concrete floor.”
Talik winced as the sound echoed through the room.
Dante didn’t even blink.“The library was built on top of the entrance.”
“Why?”Rieka asked.“What were they trying to keep out of the catacombs?”
“Or in?”Khalida finished as they approached.“From the records I have been able to access, the hunters sealed it before the Augustinian monastery built the library on the proviso.Nothing below ground was disturbed.”
Rieka straightened.“Why didn’t the hunters just buy the land?”
Khalida glanced back at the library entrance before she turned her attention to Rieka.“The hunter class may not own properties or accumulate wealth.”
“They likely didn’t want to draw attention to House Mneseus and instead helped set up the library as one of their early patronages,” Talik interjected.Few outside of the Atlantean aristocracy and the hunters themselves were aware of the archaic law.The aristocrats had implemented it to ensure the hunters could not rise up against them.They had not wanted a repeat of the praetorian guard and their uprising against the Roman Emperors.“How do you propose we access the entrance?”
Dante nodded at Khalida.
Underneath the windows, the sunlight filtered through, giving her a silver halo as her eyes sparkled with a hint of amusement.The sight almost knocked the breath out of him as a tinge of jealousy coiled itself within his stomach.He glanced at the bookshelf and reminded himself he needed to concentrate and remember why he was there.
“I called in some favors.Frankie’s family is more than happy to help us with this endeavor.”
“Which side of the family?”Talik asked, distracting himself from other non-helpful thoughts.
“The thieves guild.Although I do have some of her Interpol contacts.”
“And there isn’t any other way?”Rieka asked.
“No.From the schematics, all entrances were cordoned off and filled in when they began the construction of the library.Someone wanted to erase all existence of the tunnel from the history books.”Talik walked over to where Khalida was standing and kneeled before he tapped the floor, hoping there may already be a door or something they could leverage to use to enter the catacombs.Cutting a hole in concrete that would need to be fixed was not a quick turnaround.And he didn’t think Dante’s bargaining powers had extended to permanent, irreplaceable damage to the floor.“We need to follow the same route Dante and Idris took all those years ago if this is going to work.Otherwise, we risk spending precious hours looking in the wrong spot.”
