Return of the Real Italian Alphas (4 page)

“I think I slept a lot yesterday,” she admitted. “But I suppose I could use a bit more.”

Gabriel and Betsy went back to their room and curled up into each other’s arms, and soon they were fast asleep. They were unused to Rico calling all the shots, of course, but it did not seem like such a bad combination. The man had a plan and that’s exactly what was needed now. Hopefully, his research concerning the lance would prove as sound as the research he’d done on the stones.

They didn’t wake again until it was time for breakfast. They were served a hearty meal of the traditional breakfast foods in this land. Betsy enjoyed it very much. Gabriel, on the other hand, was too interested in getting on with the day to even notice what he was putting in his mouth. He and Rico exchanged a look as they finished their meals, and the two men disappeared together, leaving the others to wait for their return.

“Do you remember that while we were in the labyrinth we encountered a dampening field of sorts that kept up from transforming?” said Rico with a curious light in his eyes. “I believe these stones might just be a confirmation of that effect. They are a blend of the metal we found there and other minerals that can be readily found in the native soil here. Blended together, they seem to cause that outcome. But because of that, I’m not certain how much use they could be on the night of a full moon, considering they would prevent us from transforming then as well.”

“If we can’t transform, then wouldn’t they also prevent the Alphas from transforming while they were near us?” Gabriel pointed out. “They could be even more useful than you know.”

“There is that,” Rico agreed. “But the added effect is supposed to be that it prevents injury to the bearer. Perhaps that would be an advantage.”

“Against other wolves, yes,” agreed Gabriel. “But you know that not just wolves await us wherever the lance is to be found. Still, I expect these stone will be very useful either way.”

*

Gabriel was starting to grow tired of Jerusalem. The teams had examined so many sites within that city and its outlying areas, it made his head swim. Betsy seemed to be having fun though since she’d discovered a renewed interest in examining architectures. It was one thing to read about the old ruined castles built during the Crusades and quite another to get to see them all in person.

But as fun as a site-seeing trip might be, it was not bringing them any closer to their goals. Gabriel really felt that they should be concentrating on Rome. After all, the item they were looking for was known as Gordral’s lance, and that was predominantly where Gordral had resided for the greater part of his life.

Rico tended to agree with him but he felt it would be foolhardy to ignore the other temples and churches and castles on the list just because of impatience. They could very well miss something important and Rico was nothing if not committed to knowing all the details.

When they’d finally exhausted all the Jerusalem leads, Gabriel couldn’t say that he was sad to be leaving. It had been three weeks, and as far as he was concerned they had all been pointless. Just another month away from his growing children. Could their teeth be coming in now? Might one or both of them have rolled over, maybe even begun to crawl? Were they learning to speak, and if so in which language? It would totally crush him if they learned to speak in a language he didn’t know and he wouldn’t even know what they were saying to him.

“And now, before we hit Italy and begin our search there, we should check a few other places along the way,” Rico mentioned. “The one lead in Greece should be eliminated and a few ancient castles from ancient Byzantium as well.”

“Gordral was not an Ostrogoth, why do we need to look there?”

“Because he paid a visit there on his way back from Jerusalem before he went to Rome,” Rico pointed out. “He could have stashed the thing there before he went home since it was unlikely he’d continue to slay werewolves once he’d become more directly involved with the workings of the Church there.”

“How do you know?” Gabriel scoffed. “I thought you told me he got thrown out of the place for devirginizing nuns or something. He can’t have been an exemplary kind of a guy.”

Betsy returned from the table full of food with a plate for each of them. “You two look like you’re having quite a serious discussion over here.”

“Gabriel doesn’t see a point in visiting the Ostrogothic castles,” Rico informed her. “He may be correct, yet still it would weigh heavily on my mind if I didn’t make sure.”

“Gabriel, I know that you miss the children, and so do I, but it makes no sense to overlook a potential site for personal reasons,” Betsy pointed out. “We don’t even know yet if the lance will ever be found but we ought to exhaust every avenue trying, don’t you think?”

“I know you are right, ma bella,” he said as he took his plate. “It is just difficult to be away from them.”

“Why don’t we start in Rome and look elsewhere if we’re not successful?” Rico said. “Would that help to ease your mind?”

“I believe it would, since it’s my opinion that the artifact is likely to be there,” he replied. “If I had such a weapon I would have kept it close to hand, where it could be made use of should any unwanted creatures present themselves in my own territory.”

“Do you think the lance kills more than just werewolves, Gabriel?” asked Betsy curiously.

“Ma bella, I still think that werewolves are the only real supernatural creatures,” he said with a smirk. “I have never seen any evidence to the contrary.”

“What about the hell hounds?” Betsy smirked.

“It is just the same effect when applied to a dog,” he said. “I imagine if I infected a rabbit it would also transform into a larger and fiercer version of itself.”

Rico chuckled at this, remembering something from a movie he liked. “With big pointy teeth?”

Gabriel raised a brow. “Yes, of course.”

“Hey, that explains a lot,” Rico chuckled, leaving his companions to stare at him as he polished off every morsel on his plate and got up to get some more.

“At least the monks let us sleep on the floor in this place,” said Gabriel with a long-suffering sigh. “I was getting tired of sleeping in the back of the truck. Finally I can stretch my legs.”

“Wow, Gabriel, you are the whiniest crime lord I know,” she pointed out. “Now come over here and be my pillow.”

“Why should I do that, when you’d make a much better one?” he asked, surreptitiously testing out one of her breasts while glancing over his shoulder to see if any of the men were looking.

“Okay, fine, then I will be yours,” she conceded. The two of them settled onto a blanket on the floor and tried to get some sleep. They were well aware that it grew closer to the time of the full moon, which was only three days away. How was Rico going to contain all these men when that happened? Betsy wondered as she drifted off into slumber.

The journey into Italy by boat proved to be interesting. They had to hire a ferry and drive the truck right onto the platform. Rico had to pay extra for the ‘no questions asked’ nature of the ride. Also to be less noticeable, Rico had waited for the dark of night before attempting the crossing.

Gabriel felt it was a good idea to remind him that some of Lupo’s men had been pursuing them before they’d hopped a boat down to Libya. Although they were certainly not looking for a truck they were still likely to be in the area. Lupo was a very insistent boss, and if he had any idea that the two of them were somewhere nearby, it was certain that he had not yet called off the search.

Betsy began to pace about halfway across, unaccountably nervous. When Gabriel kissed her on top of the head he realized she was trembling a little. “What is it, ma bella?” he wanted to know.

“I’m not sure,” she explained. “I just got an overwhelming feeling like something was wrong. I have no idea why or what it is but something is terribly wrong.”

“Women’s intuition is heightened by the werewolf effect, especially right before the moon is full,” he replied. “Shall I tell Rico to increase the guard?”

“Perhaps you should,” she agreed.

But the trip was completely uneventful. They landed on Italian soil and drove out onto the road with no problems and Rico headed for the nearest destination on their map without even taking a break.

“I know that nothing has happened and all that, but I still can’t shake this feeling,” Betsy said worriedly. “Whatever it is, I don’t think it has anything to do with this mission at all. It’s almost like I should check on my mother or something.”

“Or a family member?” Gabriel asked, his face falling. “Betsy, think. I have been missing the children something fierce, and now you are feeling intuitively that a family member is in danger. What if Lupo has managed to discover the children? What if he knows where they are, or worse?”

“God, Gabriel, I couldn’t bear it if he hurt them,” she said as tears pricked at her eyes.

“I’ll see to it that you won’t have to,” he told her with an evil glint in his eye. “Lupo has done enough to the people I care for already. He’ll have no chance to do even more.”

“I hope that you are right,” she whispered, laying her head against the crook of his arm.

“I know that I am right,” he said , and wiped at her tears with tender care.

CHAPTER FIVE

They had exhausted all the old cathedrals and other houses of religion they could find in Rome proper except one. The very idea that such a powerful weapon would be hidden in the most obvious place seemed crazy at first until Betsy injected her own brand on logic to it.

“If Gordral was proven false by the Church, wouldn’t all of his possessions be forfeit?” she pointed out. “Of course we’re going to find it somewhere in the Vatican itself. There’s more stuff hidden in there than in all the tombs of Egypt.”

Rico got a speculative look for a moment, and then nodded appreciatively. “You’ve got a smart woman there, Gabriel. But there’s only one thing you’ve left out, Betsy. Something that dark they wouldn’t want inside the building itself. They’ve a special place for such dark and mysterious items. Bound by angelic magic somewhere beneath the Vatican itself, where they believe nothing can get in or out. There are even some who believe that within those caves is a gateway into hell, guarded by Cerberus himself.”

“Oh, come on you two,” Gabriel scoffed. “You still think that stupid dog is involved in all of this?”

“Don’t forget about the painting on the doorway that led to the stones,” Rico reminded him.

“So what?” Gabriel said. “That only proves the guy who put them there believed the story, not that the beast itself truly exists. Let’s at least try to keep a handhold on reality.”

“There are stranger things in heaven and earth,” Rico commented. “Most people don’t even believe in the existence of werewolves, boss, and yet here we stand, living proof that they are wrong.”

“Well, if they do exist, I doubt that we’re going to run into them while we are down there,” he insisted. “However, I do think that on this trip that all of us should go inside. There’s safety in numbers, or so I have been told.”

“Yeah, boss, I agree,” Rico said. “Everyone with a stone should go inside. The other three men I’ll have to send back to base and hope they make it there in one piece. It’s a fair bet if the thing is down there that whoever is guarding it has become well aware of our search by now. We will have to tread very carefully if we don’t want to get ourselves imprisoned or killed.”

“I thought you said with these stones we can’t be killed,” Gabriel said.

“Yeah, but I never said they couldn’t take them out of our hands somehow and then kill us,” Rico pointed out.

Gabriel nodded his understanding of this statement and grasped his stone harder than ever. “Let’s go,” he said with grim determination, and that’s exactly what they all did.

The entrance to the caves was hidden inside one of the neighboring structures but Rico seemed to have an unerring idea which one. But getting inside was a bit more difficult than locating the way. Gabriel wouldn't even have realized the odd markings were some kind of puzzle if Rico hadn't told him so.

“It’s a good thing we don’t need torches to see down here,” said Gabriel a long while later. “If we did, they would most assuredly have burned out by now. I begin to wonder if we are even still in Rome, we’ve come so far.”

“These catacombs spiral downward, my friend,” said Rico with a smirk. “Presumably, the further down we go, the more dangerous the toys we’re likely to find. Since the lance was allegedly created to kill hell spawn, it’s highly likely to be a whole lot closer to hell.”

“If you believe in such things,” Gabriel added with a roll of his eyes.

“All right, Gabriel, I think we all get it now,” Betsy told him. “You don’t believe in hell. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to be any less prepared just in case.”

“Same here,” Rico agreed. The other ten men who had come along mostly agreed, though two others seemed to be in agreement with Gabriel.

This far beneath the surface, as had been the case in the labyrinth, the heat became more intense. There was a lake of fire that spanned a far greater distance than the one they’d had to deal with before, and it took a long time to try to skirt it. Days might have passed before they managed to find the other side for all they knew. The only reason for doubt was that if more than a day had gone by they probably would have become wolves by now or at least they would have been capable of it.

“But what if this place is lined with more Riconite?” Betsy pointed out. “It would make sense if they used it down here since they are trying to contain unnatural energies.”

“Yeah, you may have a point,” Rico said. “I just wish I knew how much longer this was going to take. The team working on the armor told me they’d try to have a prototype finished within the next two weeks and I was really looking forward to having a look.”

“I’m sure it can’t be too much longer now,” Gabriel said. “You can’t get too much deeper than a lake of fire. Any deeper than this, the lance would have melted and become useless.”

“Gabriel, my friend, when did you become such a cynic?”

“I don’t know, I just can’t seem to shake the mood,” he admitted. “I have a bad feeling we’re coming down here half-cocked and we’re not going to be ready when it’s time to fire.”

“You’re right to be worried,” Rico told him. “I have no idea what we’re about to find down here, and for all we know the lance may play no part in whatever it is whatsoever.”

“Well, we seem to have reached the end of this lake, so whatever it is we’re about to find out,” he said.

At his words, the large group stopped short and looked cautiously around. If there was going to be any sort of trouble, it was likely to happen here, at the ending and the beginning. Strangely, a light wind kicked up and blew across the expanse of cave ahead of them, trailing dust and steam across the walkway.

“What is that up ahead?” asked Betsy as she pointed to a long, tall wall if rock with a clearly unnaturally made opening carved out and barred by a wrought-iron gate.

“Well, I’m pretty sure it isn’t the gateway to the North Pole,” Rico commented with a smirk.

“Okay, then why don’t you go and see if Cerberus is taking a snooze on the other side?” she suggested with a slight smirk.

“Ladies first,” he said. “Besides, if he does happen to be there he’ll just ignore us, right?”

“Theoretically, yes,” she agreed. “But I don’t know if I could say the same thing for any other demonic types who might be holed up in there along with him.”

“Would you two just get moving already?” Gabriel complained. “Whoever we find in there is probably taking a nap while they wait for us to even get there.”

Laughing, they moved forward again. Betsy took Gabriel’s hand in her own and gave it a squeeze. After a moment in which he rolled his eyes at her, he chuckled and squeezed hers back. The group reached the gate and Rico stepped forward to peer through the bars.

“How anti-climactic,” he said. “There doesn’t appear to be anyone waiting on the other side at all. In fact, the gate isn’t even locked. What are the odds of that?”

“Can you say ‘set up’?” Gabriel asked him.

“Most likely,” he agreed. “But we’re not going to find out from out here, are we?”

“Well then, by all means, send those guys in to lead the way.”

The three of them laughed, but the others seemed a bit less mirthful after the joke.

“Men, if you will?” said Rico, and the ten of them stepped forward. One by one, they filed inside the gates and when everyone had gone inside Betsy shut the gates behind her, then immediately rattled them to see if they would open again.

“Locked,” she announced then.

“That figures,” Gabriel said with a roll of his eyes. “I suppose forward is the only way.”

*

The gateway led into a large courtyard and further in to a castle that was part of the rocks, jutting upward among the stalactites. The stalactites themselves were huge enough they could easily have been mistaken for spires themselves if their points were not facing downward. There were no answering stalagmites anywhere, suggesting that they’d all been cleared away by whoever had built this place.

The heated air that had been swirling around before they’d come in here was more pronounced now, and after a short search for curiosity’s sake, Rico found a vent allowing the air inside. “It’s very likely that somehow this vent is being fed air from all the way up on the surface. Who knows what kind of network of holes and openings it must have taken to bring it all the way down here.”

“Do you suppose that’s why they chose this spot to put this castle?” Gabriel asked curiously.

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” he said. “But the real question is, does anyone occupy the place now?”

“Well, let’s go inside and see what we find,” Betsy said excitedly. She may have missed out on visiting all the other castles but that didn’t mean she couldn’t use this one as a substitute. After all, nobody else had any idea this one was even here.

“You’re loving this, aren’t you?” Gabriel whispered astutely into her ear. “Maybe if the place is actually abandoned we could find somewhere to take a nap. I feel like I’ve been walking for a month.”

“Probably not as long as all that,” Betsy said. “But I know just what you mean.”

“The men have reported that no one seems to be inside,” Rico told them. “It may be safe enough to rest here before we continue.”

“Continue where?” Gabriel asked. “We’re at the bottom of the caves and we’re locked inside this area. Where did you plan on continuing to?”

“There is that,” Rico agreed. “But a good rest may be just what I need to be able to think of something. Who knows, maybe there’s a key to the gate in here somewhere.”

“Wouldn’t that be convenient?” said Gabriel tiredly. “Andare, I am too tired to care just now.”

“It’s strange that we’ve all become so tired, don’t you think?” asked Betsy with a yawn.

“We have been walking for a very long time.”

“No, something is not right about this,” she predicted. “We should set a guard at the very least.”

“Of course,” said Rico. “That goes without saying.”

“Maybe two guards so they can keep each other awake,” Gabriel said. “Sleeping guards won’t do anybody much good.”

“Great idea,” said Rico with a smirk.

Everyone went inside the castle and found a place to sleep. It didn’t take very long for all of them to pass out on the floor. It was no great surprise when they woke later to find that the two guards had also passed out, leaving the party to be easily captured by the twenty knights who were now rousing them from their slumber.

“Are they Templars?” asked Betsy uncertainly.

“They can’t be,” said Rico. “They don’t have a cross on either side of their armor.”

“Former Templars, then,” she said.

“You are not far from wrong, fair one,” said one of them in perfect English. “We were once Templars in the service of our leader, but in order to guard that which we have been charged to protect, we were forced to become the very thing we were once taught to abhor. Now we are apostates in service only to God Himself.”

Shrewdly, Rico asked, “Are you werewolves?”

“Indeed we are, just as you are,” he replied. “There can be only one reason such as you came all this way, but I wonder if your reason for seeking Gordral’s lance is one worthy of us helping you.”

“An Alpha wolf has become drunk with power and thinks to command us against our wills,” Rico explained. “This couple has been forced to abandon their babies in order to keep them safe from him. It is our hope that by ending this man’s tyranny, we would then be able to reunite the parents with their children.”

“You have two babies?” asked another knight curiously. “I can see them in my mind’s eye. I fear they are not as safe as you believe, but the vision is cloudy. It is difficult to see the living sometimes. I am much more used to viewing the dead.”

“You mean ghosts?” asked Gabriel, trying to keep his smirk to himself.

“You do not believe in ghosts?” he queried. “Well, most ghosts do not believe in you, so you are even.”

“So you mean you’ve actually seen ghosts?” Gabriel wanted to know.

“Every day,” he assured him. “But come along, it isn’t any of us you need to convince if you hope to win the use of the lance. You’ll have to convince Gordral himself.”

“Gordral?” Gabriel gasped. “But I thought he was dead.”

“How can Gordral be here?” Rico wanted to know. “He was put to death centuries ago.”

“Perhaps he is one of the ghosts of which he speaks?” Betsy pointed out.

“No, he is not,” said the knight firmly. “He was the first to be turned once he realized the truth of what he had wrought. Only the true maker of the lance could possibly know how to keep his creation out of the wrong hands. There are many who seek to use the lance for purposes of evil, and it is our job to make certain that they do not.”

“If Gordral must see us in order for us to accomplish what we came for, then by all means lead the way,” said Gabriel.

“It’s not that easy,” he said. “First you must earn the right to speak to him.”

“How do you mean?” Betsy asked, grabbing her husband’s arm possessively.

“The man who hopes to wield the lance must prove himself worthy,” the knight insisted.