Page 20 of Aleko
“She wants her talisman—a gold symbol of Isis—so she can…” Lia struggled for the right English word. “Put her body back together.” That wasn’t quite right, but it would have to do. “These are the spells of Adda,” she added, gesturing to the box of clay fragments. “So she thinks it should be here.”
Alekos came nearer to her—close enough that she could feel the heat of his body and smell salt water and sweat. He stepped between her and the creature in its body suit, and behind his back, he held out a hand toward her. This time she took a step toward him.
Her fingertips brushed his, but the woman snarled and stepped toward them. He dropped his hand and kept moving. Lia felt her eyes well up. She wanted him to stay, but the woman relaxed when he moved away. Alekos made eye contact with the fully clothed man, who Lia could now see looked a little younger than Alekos, maybe in his mid-twenties, and had shaggy dark brown hair and a beard. That man shrugged.
“We only bought the sarcophagus,” said Alekos, shaking his head. “There was no talisman.”
“They did not find it,” said Lia translating back into Latin. “Only your sarcophagus.”
“What of the spells? Maybe it was with the spells?” The woman picked up the shattered remains of one of the crates and looked underneath. It was such a prosaic gesture in a hellish scene that Lia nearly laughed.
“That was a different man,” said Lia, trying to keep frombreaking down in hysterics.
The woman looked around as if counting the bodies. “Yessssss,” she hissed. “The one who left. I will ask him.”
“Uh, no,” said Lia, realizing her error. “We can—” But it was too late. There was a brilliant flash of light, and Lia felt like she’d been hit by a truck, and everything went black.
Episode 14
Sergio’s Villa
Alex
Alex picked himself up off the ground and shook his head.
“Alekos!” Pellos was yelling.
“In here,” called Alex, staggering to his feet and looking around for his girl.
Pellos slithered into the room, an AK-47 leading the way. Luca came behind him, his pistol in one hand, and his other held a glowing ball of prepared magic. Alex assumed that Sebastian had commandeered his rifle from Luca.
“What the hell happened?” asked Pellos, looking at the carnage.
“Where’s the Polly?” asked Trevor, shoving a piece of crate off himself.
“The what?” asked Alex, trying to make sense of Trevor’s words. He needed to find the girl, not whatever Trevor was yammering about. She had touched him this time. Barely a fingertip—a whisper of touch—but she had wanted to stay with him.
“The polyglot,” said Trevor. “The girl. She was the translator from the jail.”
Alex blinked at him, trying to rearrange his thinking. He’d spent the last six months thinking the pretty girl on the side of the road was a hooker. No one was ever actually what their cardboard sign said they were. He thought of the times he’d seen her coming out of Sergio’s office or warehouse with groups of men. He’d been annoyed that she was the only woman present and that Sergio couldn’t hire a few more girls. It now seemed like Alex was the one who was an asshole.
“I don’t see her,” said Colin. “Or the… I don’t know what to call the thing from the sarcophagus.”
“Did she take the girl?” demanded Trevor, looking pale. “We have to get her back.”
“We’ll find her,” said Alex, trying to shake the last of the fog from his brain. He was trying to decide if he liked that Trevor was worried about her or not. Trevor had wanted her. He’d made a comment earlier about the translator’s knickers.
“I talked her into translating,” said Trevor, panic coloring his voice. “She didn’t want to. And now…”
“I will get her back,” yelled Alex.
“We don’t even know where she went!” Trevor yelled back.
“She went this way,” said Sebastian pointing toward the back of the warehouse as he sniffed the air. “I can smell the girl and the dead body.”
“OK,” said Trevor, taking a breath. “No worries. We’ll just go and kill that thing again and get her back.”
No,theywouldn’t. That’s what Alex would do. That washisjob. The girl was his.
