His company found them sooner than Kendall expected. Several men rushed toward them. While Nathan and Jake fought them, two came around and grabbed Kendall, then dragged her off. She tried to dig in her heels, but it wasn’t working. She bit the finger of the man who had his hand over her mouth. He yelled and let go. She whirled and kicked him in the crotch, then smashed the second man in the head with her flashlight.
She heard a roar as she ran back toward Nathan and Jake, but it was hard to tell what was happening in the dark. Flashlights cut haphazardly through the darkness as the men fought. Two bright orbs turned toward her. Nathan.
There were only two men left. Nathan threw one against the wall while Jake took on the other one. Kendall was close enough now to clearly see what was happening. Jake pinned the man on the ground, facedown with his arm twisted behind his back. He pressed his blade against his throat. “Where’s the Reaper?”
The man laughed. “It doesn’t matter what you do to me. He’ll win.”
Jake raked the blade lightly across the man’s neck, and the laughter stopped. “I can cut your head off quick, or a little at a time. Where’s the Reaper?”
“In there. Behind the wall.”
“How do we get in?”
“You can’t. It’s those damned statues. He said to stay out here, keep everyone away. Except her. He wants her.”
“Kendall?” Jake asked.
Nathan moved up beside them so quickly, he appeared to be gliding. With his glowing eyes, Kendall could almost believe he was a vampire or werewolf.
“What the hell is that?” the man asked, looking at Nathan.
“I’ll let you find out if you don’t tell us what you know,” Jake said. “Why does the Reaper want Kendall?”
“He wants her gift. He needs to know if the chalice is the Holy Grail.”
Nathan moved beside Kendall and looked at her with those fiery eyes. She could feel some kind of energy coming from him. Slowly, she reached for his hand. He jerked, but he didn’t pull away.
“Don’t let him near me,” the man said.
Jake pressed the knife harder. “Don’t worry about him. Worry about my knife. How did the Reaper know Kendall would be here?”
“He knows things. He said she’d come.”
“How are you supposed to let him know she’s here?”
“He said bang on the wall three times and he’ll let her in, that she has a cross, whatever the hell that means.”
“You’d better start knocking,” Jake said, pulling the man to his feet. “One sound out of you to warn him and forget slitting your throat. I’ll turn Nathan loose on you.”
“The Reaper will kill me.”
“You’re already dead,” Jake said. “You’re just deciding whether it’s fast or slow.”
He shoved the man in the direction he pointed. The others were dead, lying behind them. They walked for a minute and the humming grew louder. “Hear that noise?” the man asked in a shaky voice. “The entrance is here somewhere. I have to look for a mark.”
“Is this it?” Kendall asked, pointing to the circle that looked like a wheel, like the one in Nathan’s journal and on his shoulder.
“Yeah. That’s it.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. It looks like a wheel.”
Jake did something really fast, and the man slumped to the floor.
Kendall jumped back. “Did you kill him?”
Jake didn’t answer. “Nathan, get her out of here.”
“No,” Nathan said. “You take her. I’ll go.”
“Damn you both.” Kendall picked up a rock and banged on the wall three times. “He wants me. He’s probably my father. You two stay back.”
There was a grinding noise, and a section of the wall began to open. A beautiful light emerged from the widening crack. A dark figure stood in the middle, shrouded by the glow.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
THE STATUES HUMMED louder as the shadow moved toward Kendall.
“You came.” His voice was smooth, sharp, quiet, forceful. It was everything. It was nothing.
She touched the cross around her neck and stepped through the opening in the wall. She glanced back and saw Jake step through, then take off his cross and toss it to Nathan, who followed.
“That’s not necessary,” the Reaper said. “As long as you’re touching someone who’s wearing a cross, you’re safe. Brandi came with Marco.”
Brandi and Marco were pinned against a wall, but no constraints were visible. Brandi struggled, glaring at the Reaper with hatred. Marco just watched everything. It was impossible to tell if he was cognizant or not.
“Come in, please.” He was still shadowed, with the compelling light behind him.
He turned, and Kendall saw his face for the first time. Maybe the second time, maybe the hundredth. She didn’t know. He didn’t look like her father or the man from the Italian inn or the historian he’d impersonated, but he did have on that red ring.
Kendall glanced quickly around the room. Nathan was right when he said it looked like a Roman temple. There were beautiful columns and a vaulted ceiling, beautifully painted as Nathan had described. The light in the room was warm. The source seemed to come from an opening in the floor. One statue stood a few feet away. Its presence might have been comforting if not for the Reaper standing in front of her. Obviously, he had found a way through the middle of the statues as Raphael feared he was trying to do. Where was Raphael? Had the Reaper killed him?
Nathan and Jake stood close beside Kendall. She could feel the tension radiating off them, but the Reaper seemed to be ignoring them for the moment. She knew from the power emanating from him that it was only an illusion. He was aware of everything happening in the room. She hoped he didn’t know about Nathan. She could feel that he hadn’t changed. Shocking, since even her adrenaline was surging, but she was glad he was controlling it, because she was certain it would be a very bad thing for the Reaper to see Nathan change.
“I’m sure you’re here for the same reason I am. The chalice and the fountain. With your remarkable gift, I imagine you’ve discovered what happens when I combine the two.”
“Eternal youth?” Kendall said.
“Yes.” The Reaper studied her, his eyes roving over her face.
What color were they? She couldn’t tell. She had been looking for some signs of her father, but she couldn’t get anything from him. Not even the glimpse of familiarity she had gotten before. He was like a holographic image, appearing one way, but different from another angle.
“You must think me greedy. Evil.”
“You’ve killed for this. What would you call it?” Kendall asked.
“Necessity,” the Reaper said. “Sometimes terrible things are necessary for the better good.”
“Whose better good? Not the men you’ve killed.” Kendall glanced at Brandi, still pinned, her eyes burning with hatred. “Or the families you’ve destroyed.”
The Reaper glanced at Brandi. “That is unfortunate. I wish I hadn’t taken Brandi’s father. I did not intend to destroy her family. I simply needed the relics he possessed.” He held up his finger, showing the ruby ring. “This ring is powerful. It gives me health and strength.”
“Why do you need them if it’s not for greed? What is so necessary?”
“I don’t know that I could explain my motives. You, of all people, might understand, but I won’t go into detail now. I will ask a favor of you. I would like for you to touch the chalice and tell me if it’s real.”
“Why?”
“There are consequences that I would prefer to avoid if it isn’t the Holy Grail.”
“Why would I do this?”
“For your friends. If you do this for me, I will let them live. If you don’t, I will kill them.”
“Where is the chalice?”