Page 75 of Obsidian Dream

Kade kicked something at her.Talik straightened as it went past.

An apple core.

“You have not had the pleasure of meeting the bastard.Tall and blond,” Talik muttered.He hoped Lucien drowned.“Do us a favor and shoot him when you see him.It will save us all time.Better yet, ask him for Rieka’s pendant.Then shoot him.”

Kade stared at him like he had two heads.

Talik looked at Khalida and then thought better of it.“I will explain it later.How do we get out of here?”

Khalida sighed as she walked toward him, standing close enough that they brushed up against each other.“Talik decided to see what happens when grenades are used in enclosed spaces.”

This time Kade stared at him as if he was born yesterday.Talik definitely didn’t like how the two of them were suddenly on the same side, even if it was only temporary.

“The aftershock of the explosion created a landslide in one of the main catacombs.It trapped ten tourists,” Kade answered casually, as if he was talking about the weather.“Lucky for them, Dante was able to provide a small team to support the rescue operation.”

Talik glanced at his watch and shook his head.They had only been gone less than seven hours.

As if reading his thought, Kade shook his head and repeated.“You both have been gone two days.”

“Two days?”Talik repeated slowly, racking his brain at how that was possible.Unless the Anki had fucked with their perception of time.Which was likely.

“Was there anything else down there?”Kade asked.He coiled the last of the rope and secured it to his torso.

“Yes.Interestingly, the serpopards and wayfarers are not the only minions belonging to the Anki.”Talik glanced at Khalida before continuing.“There was something else—demonic for lack of a better term.They can mimic voices, regenerate, and are damn hard to kill.”

Kade stopped.“The gallu?”

“They have a name?”Khalida asked in a dangerously low voice.

“Ninhursag’s children,” Kade explained, adding no further detail.“She must have enough power to create them, even within the catacombs.”

“You sound surprised.”Talik walked over to stand next to Khalida, close enough that he could feel her body warmth surround him.

“When the tunnels were first created, the walls were infused with liquid iron.Over the millennia, the tunnels were transformed into the Roman catacombs.It was originally designed as a prison for Ninhursag.That she could create the gallu indicates there is a crack somewhere.”

Khalida snickered.“How long has she been trapped down here?”

“For two millennia.We don’t know where she was before.”Kade walked without looking back.“If she has enough power to create the gallu, it means she can send more after you.Did you come across anything else?”

Talik nodded at Khalida.“Yes.”

This stopped Kade in his tracks.

Talik shrugged, pointing at Khalida’s backpack.“A carved wooden box.”

Kade nodded but didn’t ask any further questions.“We need to move.Stay on the path and follow me.The rest of the tunnels have been booby-trapped, and some may be a few thousand years old, but they will still work.”

Just fucking peachy.

Khalida slipped behind Kade, blending into the shadows just as effortlessly as the hunter.

Talik couldn’t get out of the catacombs fast enough.The hairs on the back of his neck rose.

Behind him, something big splashed in the water.

***

TALIK