The Scribe (33 page)

“We’re lucky.”

“You need a way out of the city. Damien has already called Vienna about the house, so they know some of what is happening. He was very closemouthed about your mate, though.”

For some reason, Malachi was relieved. He didn’t know why, but he felt like the less people knew about Ava, the better. “I’m not sure where we should go. Rhys said Scandinavia, but I need to speak to Damien about that.”

“You’re looking for Sari?”

“If she’ll allow us sanctuary.”

Maxim’s low whistle was all the response Malachi expected.

“I’d tread carefully there. Luckily, I have obtained new documents for both of you. British passports, so you’ll have no trouble traveling, but you’ll have to be quick about it. Tonight. The row of hotels by the Theodosius Cistern. Go there. I have a spare vehicle at the Antea Hotel, right across from the entrance. The cistern is closed for renovation, so that area is quiet. Your keys and documents should be waiting at the front desk by seven o’clock.”

“And if they’re not?”

“Find a room. I’m sure you two will be able to keep yourselves occupied.”

Malachi smiled when he saw Ava’s eyes flicker open. “You’d be correct.”

“You’re not nice when you gloat, brother. I have to go.”

“Wait, Maxim. Is Brage still in the city?”

“As far as I know.”

Malachi sat on the edge of the bed, and Ava leaned over his shoulder, her ear to the phone.

Maxim said, “Damien wounded him, but not seriously. He’ll be healed by tonight, if not sooner.”

“Does he still have the blade?”

“He does,” Maxim said. “Damn thing nearly hit one of my arms. I really have to go. Keep this phone with you. Tell Rhys to keep the fire burning. We’ll find him and Leo later.”

“I will.”

He hit the End Call button and tossed the phone on the bedside table, turning so that Ava was pressed against his chest. Then he lay back, taking her with him.

“You’ve got to stop wandering off after we have mind-blowing sex,” she said, snuggling into his chest.

“So… every morning then?”

She pinched his arm. “Cocky.”

“Yes.” Malachi pressed a kiss to her hair. “Did you hear Max?”

“Yes.” Her eyes widened. “Every word, actually. My hearing is super strong right now.”

“It’s super strong forever,
canım
.”

“And my eyes…” She looked around the dark room and frowned. “What did you do?”

He shrugged. “It’s part of the mating ritual. I gave you some of my magic. And you’ll give me yours. Eventually.”

“But until then?” Ava sat up, eyes racing over his chest. “What do you mean, you gave me your magic? Does that mean you’re not as strong?”

He reached for her cheek, but she pushed his hand away. “Ava—”

“No! Is that what it means?”

“I’m still very, very strong. We’ll be fine. Do you really doubt me?”

Her face fell, and her eyes took on a faraway look. “I can’t lose you, Mal.”

“You won’t.”

“Trusting you—trusting
us
—was it for me. If something happened to you—”

“Nothing will happen to me. I’m too greedy. I’ll never leave you.” He sat up and pulled her into his arms. “We’re almost there. Max has a car for us. Documents. We’ll leave the city tonight. Sleep today and leave tonight. We’ll be away before they can find us, and then we’ll be safe.” He brushed a hand over her curls, soothing her as she trembled in his arms. “Trust me, Ava. You’ll be safe.”

Chapter Twenty

The Antea Hotel sat on the corner of the Piyerloti Caddesi, just at the end of a quiet string of hotels. A few hundred meters from the tourist center, the old street was sheltered by tall trees and staid municipal buildings. A quiet street in the Sultanahmet, but still central enough to the main thoroughfare, it was the perfect place to store an emergency vehicle.

Malachi held Ava’s hand as they crossed the intersection, passing the empty cistern and the fountain in the center of the square. Pigeons startled from the sidewalk, but no other pedestrians interrupted them as they made their way into the lobby.

The young woman at the front desk eyed Malachi, causing an unexpected flair of possessiveness in Ava that caught her by surprise. Since the night before, she’d been on edge, bristling with borrowed energy and heightened senses. The passing cars distracted her. The lights were too bright. But her voices, thankfully, had become easier to ignore. The only one she heard clearly was Malachi.

“Good afternoon, sir,” the woman said in perfect British English. “How may I help you?”

Malachi lowered his voice and switched to Turkish as Ava took in the gold-accented lobby. It wasn’t the fanciest hotel she’d seen, but it was clean and bright. The ground floor was quiet.

Almost too quiet.

Instincts pricked when Malachi took her hand and led her out toward the sidewalk.

“The car is here, but she said our package hasn’t arrived yet. She suggested waiting in their restaurant, but I’d rather be out here.”

“Me too.” Ava looked around at the peaceful street that suddenly seemed ominous. “I don’t like it here.”

He frowned and smoothed a hand over her cheek. “What do you hear?”

“Nothing specific.”

“Then we have to—”

“Not enough,” she said in a low voice. “It’s too quiet. Where are the other guests? There aren’t even any tourists around here.”

“It’s the middle of the week,
canım
. I think you may be overreacting.” He raised a hand when she opened her mouth. “Which is completely normal considering your new senses.”

She shook her head but couldn’t find anything to argue with in his reasoning. He was probably right.

Since the mating ritual, Ava had been flooded with power. She was stronger. Quicker. She healed faster. She’d deliberately taken a knife to her forearm that afternoon while Malachi had been napping, just to see what would happen. The cut she’d made on her forearm had healed within minutes.

He was stroking her hair, leading them to the bench by the locked cistern. Ava looked at the sign announcing the renovations. It was in Turkish, but she could see the future plans for the new tourist attraction around the historic site.

“Did you get the car keys?” she asked when they’d sat.

“Yes. She said the messenger already called to say he’d be late. She said he’d probably arrive in the next half an hour.”

“And Damien? Max?”

“Headed over to the rug shop right now. We’ll call them once we get on the highway.”

Ava nodded, a sense of unease still heavy in her belly.

“It’s fine,
reshon
. Everything will be fine.”

Malachi watched her, wondering what had happened to the confident, fearless woman he loved. Since the night before, she was jumpy. A cloud seemed to hang over her shoulders. Was she truly that worried, or was their new intimacy making him more aware of her moods?

It wasn’t uncommon for Irin mated for years to be almost telepathic with each other. Though they couldn’t speak to each other’s minds, the awareness of mood was hard to ignore. He’d know when she was angry or happy. Upset. Worried. He felt them all now as her emotions flooded the magic he’d given her. It was both intoxicating and distracting, and for the first time, he wondered whether the ritual had been the right thing to do.

Too late to second-guess himself.

Malachi watched the front of the hotel as two men exited. They looked up and down the street, then sauntered off in the direction of the Sultanahmet tram station. A few minutes later, a couple entered the hotel from the opposite side. Normal traffic on a quiet afternoon.

And still Ava sat, a silent knot of tension at his side.

“Tell me a story,” she finally said.

“What kind of story?”

“Something not serious. What’s your favorite childhood memory?”

He broke into a smile. “Swimming at the beach. We’d go to the North Sea in the summer when we lived in Germany.”

“Wasn’t that cold?”

“Freezing.” He put an arm around her, thankful for the distraction. “My father had a good friend with a cabin there. I think it’s still there, probably. It was quite old, but very nice. My mother and father and I would stay for two months in the summer. Living in a retreat can be very hectic sometimes. Families live in their own homes, but the children go to school together, the adults all work together. Even meals are communal. So my parents tried to make some time for only the three of us. That was our family time. I would play in the water even though it was frigid. My mother thought I was crazy.”

A tentative smile crossed her face. “You were.”

“We should go there,” he said. “When we have children, we’ll take them there.”

There was a smile on her face. “We should.” Ava took a deep breath. “We’ll really have children, Malachi?”

“Hopefully.” He squeezed her. “Irin don’t have many children. One is normal. Two is fortunate. But I hope we have two.”

The vision of children Jaron had sent her flashed in her mind again. A dark-haired boy with his father’s eyes. A golden-eyed girl laughing. It should have warmed her, but there was a dark side to the vision, as well. The animals had stood at attention, prowling around the girl and boy. Clearly guarding them, but from what?

“Do not fear the darkness.”

The memory of Jaron’s voice calmed her as she sat. Then she tensed again when she felt Malachi’s arm tighten.

“What is it?”

“Grigori,” he said, freezing as he watched two men enter the hotel lobby. “Two of them just walked in. Damn it.”

Ava looked around them. They were completely exposed in the center of the square. There were no barricades to hide behind, no buildings they could duck into without being conspicuous.

“I can’t kill them in the hotel lobby or out in the open here,” Malachi said. “We’ll have to wait for them to come out. Draw them somewhere isolated.”

“Is it just the two?” Ava’s eyes landed on the grated door of the Theodosius Cistern. Though it was locked, it was only with a simple padlock. No guards stood nearby. And the dark passageway had a view of the hotel.

“More coming this way,” he murmured, taking her hand. “From the direction of the mosque.”

Looking uphill, Ava spotted two attractive men strolling down the street toward them. They were looking toward the hotel, not at Ava and Malachi, but Ava knew as soon as they saw their friends leave the lobby, the Grigori would start looking for them.

“More from that street, too.” Malachi pulled out Ava’s phone and sent a quick text to someone. Somehow the drop location had been compromised.

“We have to get out of here,” he said.

“How?” Ava’s heart raced. Six streets converged at the cistern park, and from each direction, a group of men strolled toward them. There were two there. Three there. “Malachi, they’ve cornered us.”

“No,” he muttered. “There has to be a way…” His eyes landed on the locked grate leading to the cistern entry just as the call to prayer started and birds scattered in flight. The Grigori converging on the square turned their heads toward the mosque on Divan Yolu, and Malachi used the distraction to drag Ava toward the cistern. “This way.”

“That goes underground!” she hissed. It was one thing to stroll through the Basilica Cistern with its dramatic columns and modern walkways, but the Theodosius Cistern looked like nothing but a black cave. “Malachi…”

“We’ll watch and wait for now,” he said, twisting off the lock that held the grate closed. He opened the door, and Ava was grateful the calls of the muezzin hid the rusty groan. “We can see the entrance of the hotel from here. There are too many to fight alone while I’m not at full strength. If we run, they’ll catch us. Until Max and Damien get here, we need to hide.”

She knew that ritual had been a bad idea. The thought of a weakened Malachi sent her heart into overdrive. “Did you text them already?”

“Yes.” He shoved her farther into the shadowed passageway, and Ava almost tripped over the heavy rubber boots covered in mud that the workmen had left on the platform. “They should come soon. They’ll create a distraction, and we’ll grab the car. We can figure out documents later. Right now, I just want you out of this city.”

“Okay.”

Malachi sucked in his breath and darted back from the door. “Brage.”

Ava’s heart sank. From the darkness of the metal walkway, she could see the blond Grigori soldier walking out of the Antea Hotel and turning his head to look up and down the street. His eyes were narrowed with purpose.

The soldiers knew they were nearby.

Malachi shot off another text to Max, who had yet to respond. Where the hell was he? Annoyance and worry competed in his mind. What had happened to the documents? Had Maxim been set up? And further, how could Malachi get the car from the hotel while avoiding the dozen or more Grigori who had taken up residence at the intersection?

When he realized who the blond Grigori outside the hotel was, thoughts of the car fled. He had to get Ava away. Eyes darting into the blackness, he
racked his memories for everything he knew about the cistern where they were hiding. It was an old one, and he suspected it connected to the Valens Aqueduct, the ancient waterway the Romans had built to transport water throughout the city. Many of the cisterns still had tunnels leading between them. Was the Theodosius one of them?