An Evening in Roma
#41 of The Moonrise Chronicles
Edward felt a little bad for her.
She was judging all religious people by the cardinal. He knew that there were
plenty of well-intentioned priests and nuns out there trying to do good deeds.
He doubted any of them knew of the dark chambers deep below the Vatican, nor of
things like werewolves and "magic" rings. Bad things came in many forms,
including one shaped remarkably like himself. He had kept his death toll to
just one so far, and he hoped for it to remain that way. He didn't seem to have
the bloodlust she had survived on. But for now, they had their own lives to
think about.
With claws protruding, the two of
them slid down the pipe like beads on a string, slowing down from time to time
as they hit the braces holding it to the side of the structure. But they made
it without drawing attention to themselves. Edward draped the robe over his
head, while Maggie did her best to appear to be a young boy. If nothing else,
they looked like pilgrims from some poor land.
They weaved their way through and
around obstacles until hey made their way to the courtyard of St Peter's
Basilica. The massive church loomed above them, and soon after, it faded behind
their backs. They made their way out with a small knot of visitors, and due to
the robe, Edward and his small ward were very nearly ignored. Once they were in
Rome proper, they slid down the side streets until they were lost among the
winding ways.
"OK Maggie. We made it out. I don't
know how, but we made it out. But now what? We have no IDs, no money, and we're
carrying a bag of stolen priceless artifacts."
"Whine, whine, whine. The first thing we need to do is find the main
branch of Banca d'Italia. Once we get there, I need to convince them that a
recent transfer to the bank is mine. Then, I'll have money for us, and we can
get a hotel and buy some real clothing."
"Isn't that like the main Italian
Bank?"
"Sort of. Trust me."
"You're not planning on robbing it
are you?"
"No! I had Verona deposit money in
her several New York accounts. No point in traveling with that much cash. I
then had her create an account here to receive wire transfers. Now all I have to do is to convince them that
the newly created account is mine."
"Good luck with that!"
"Luck has nothing to do with it!"
He never asked. He didn't want to
know. But she came out of the prestigious bank with two credit cards with an
unlimited balance. One was in her name, and the other in his. "You see father,
this is a modern age. You can't still think like a medieval werewolf. You have
to think modern. Technology is a great thing. Look at Cardinal Shit-head. He's
likely still in bed dreaming of getting his hands on our property or of boning
some small boy's ass. Yet here we are
out of his little trap as easy as carving our way through jello."
"I think I would have felt better
bumping that guy off. He knows too much!"
"Not as much as he thinks he knows.
I say let him stew. When he finds his precious piece of paper is gone, and with
it four of his little treasures, he'll wish he was dead."
Their next stop was to the Hotel
Albergo Del Sole Al Pantheon. It had smaller rooms than their one in New York
City, but it was a fine place and likely the last spot anyone would look for
them. There was a little trouble getting booked in, with them not having the
proper IDs, but again, Maggie seemed to make that go away.The porter spoke only broken English. "Americans?" He asked with a smile."Yes. Why?"He smiled his best grin and went to the built in stereo system and with a friendly wink clicked it on. Edward nearly laughed out loud when the opening notes of Dean Martin's An Evening in Roma." filled the room. "See, see, we have American music here!" He backed out of the room and closed the doors.
Then it was a matter of getting a seamstress
and a tailor to the room, and after that baths and food. Maggie groaned a little
about that, but she was hungry. "I could stomach just about anything right
now!" Since they still didn't have clothing, they put on the bathrobes and
prepared to eat dressed like that. When the food came in Edward drooled just
from the smell. Maggie was even keenly interested for once.
"I guess nothing like an adventure
to build your appetite!"
She piled up a plate and stuck her
fork into it. She bit into the pasta and sauce and sucked it down like it was
dessert. Then she stopped. "This is weird."
"Why?"
"Because it tastes good to me. And
my stomach isn't feeling like shit."
Edward tasted his own food.
Thankfully, his was still sitting well as before. "Where's the ring?"
She grinned. "Were do you think?"
He had given it back to her during their shower.
"So maybe that's something else the
ring does."
Her eyes sparkled. "Can you
imagine! Not having to kill ever again?"
"It does have its upside."
"Upside! Good god father. Upside?!
I suppose you think I like killing people. Ok, I do, but only those I think deserve
it. You can't deny that there are a lot of jerks and crooks out there the world
would be better off without."
He was shoveling in food. "Yes, I
agree. I just don't like being stuck in the place of having to choose. It's not
my style."
"But you would have preferred to
kill Cardinal Medici?"
"Yes, I think so. On the other
hand, I'd like to know more about this guy. All of those years of hunting
werewolves. What's the point?"
"The ring for one." Then she
clamored over the sofa and grabbed the bag. She pulled out the three boxes and
the key. The rolled up document she set on the table. Taking the key she tried
each of the locks again. Each time nothing happened.
The inscription above the one said Clavem est in mente tua.
She read it out loud as best as she
was able. Edward mumbled around his food. "So what does that mean?"
She shrugged. Then she brightened. "I
can find a translator online!" The room had a computer connected to the net, so
she jumped over to it and started clacking away. In no time she hollered, "The
key is in your mind." She stopped and did a double take. "What key is in whose
mind?"
"Probably something that had
meaning to someone who's been long dead. Try another one."
Curvis
via ducit ad salute. She came up
with "The winding road leads to salvation?"
"Sounds like religious mumbo jumbo.
But they must have some meaning. How
about contestant number three?"
She grabbed the sole remaining box
and read off the inscription.
In luce
Lunae.
That one sounded easy enough, and
the compute agreed. "In the light of the moon. So what then? You can only open
it in the light of the moon? That's sort of corny. Sounds like something Tolkien
would have written."
Edward wiped his mouth and leaned
back. "The inscription on our box was a hint. So these must be too. I think
that Leonardo meant for them to be able to be opened over the ages, and in case
someone forgot how, he put instructions on each box. That each one opens
differently meant that no single person could easily obtain whatever was
inside. But if this key fits but doesn't work in any of the boxes, does that
mean there is another box out there somewhere?"
"Maybe father. Does this key look
just like yours?"
He took it and held it up. It did
look just like his. He was expecting a different shape, one unique to each box.
But maybe nothing quite so extreme. Keys got lost. No point in making opening
the boxes impossible. "It looks identical."
She ignored her food and
concentrated on the boxes. She put the
one away that mentioned the moon. It was daylight. The winding road. What did
that mean?
"Father, what do you suppose it
means by that? A winding road."
"Religiously speaking, it probably
means that you never live on a straight path. You must follow life as it
proceeds, and that is often down a curved route that takes you past all sorts
of distractions. Once you're past those distractions, you achieve heaven."
"Riiiiiiight. No wonder people are
so fucked up."
She sat and stared at the box for a
while. She stuck the key in and turned it. But she noticed something odd. When
it should have clicked open, it went pas t the mark a little. She applied
pressure to it. It resisted and Edward yelled at her. "Don't break it!"
"I don't think I am." She continued
to apply pressure, and with a sudden click, the key moved again. She proceeded
to push, eventually turning it and making it back to the starting point, and
then again. She hopped up excitedly. "Winding! You have to wind the damn thing
up!"
One more turn rewarded her persistence
with a click. The lid popped up. Edward jerked in his seat. "Hot damn Maggie,
you're good at this stuff!"
She used her thumb to open the top
the rest of the way. There was nothing inside. "Shit! Now I need to figure out
how to open the bottom compartment."
From all appearances, it would seem
that there was no false bottom, but as this box was the same as the other back
home, that meant it most likely did. Maggie tried to turn the key again, but it
was finally stuck. She could move it neither forwards nor backwards.
"Well shit! Now look. It won't budge.
Maybe I did break it."
Edward took the box. "No, I don't think
so. Each one must be very different from each of the others. He went to a lot of work to make
these all very different. So you got the lid open by turning it several times.
Now it's stuck..." He tried to pull the key out, but it wouldn't move. Maggie
snorted. Then he pushed in on it. The lock snapped and the key spun under the
force of the ancient spring until it was back to the start position. The bottom
popped up.
"Son of a bitch!" She cried. "I
wish I had had a chance of meeting this guy. I think that calling him a genius
is faint praise indeed!"
Inside was a small leather envelope.
She dumped it out and opened it up. It was another ring. She was so excited she
did a back flip and landed on the floor. "Hot damn! I'll just bet priesty-pants
never figured it out! We've got another ring, one for you and one for me!"
She tossed the ring to him. He
deftly grabbed it and looked at it. It was identical to the other. He would
have compared them, but he figured her present hiding place was suitable. It
could stay there for now. Later he might go after it.
She grabbed the first box. "Let's
see what we can do about this one!" But try as she might, it failed to open.
She finally got frustrated and sat down to finish her cold food. "You know, I
think we should hide these other boxes. I mean, if we can't get them open that
is. And hide the key somewhere too. Make him go back to square one."
"I suppose so. If we each have a
ring, then we're pretty much invulnerable now. I don't think wearing more than
one does us any good."
"That would make sense. Why have
more than one at a time. But then again, we don't know that. So keep track of
anything different you feel or experience. Maybe we can wear both at times too.
Maybe there is something that multiples do that a single doesn't."
He was going to say how far-fetched
that sounded and shut his mouth. Here he was, a new werewolf discussing the
properties of rings that essentially operated on magic. In Rome. With a little
werewolf girl he regularly had sex with. That was technically his daughter. He was so going to need a good shrink when
this was all over.
She finished eating and room
service came and cleared away the remains. Their clothing came a little while
later, but only pre-made, store bought stuff. It was all good Italian brands and
soon the two of them were dressed to kill. The rest would come later.
But they decided for the moment to
stay inside. By now the cardinal was probably onto them and their escape, and
while he could track them in his werewolf form, the chances were good he wasn't
going to be doing anything until nightfall. That gave them a few hours. They
were tired, but since they didn't think that they had time for a full night's
sleep, one stayed awake while the other slept. Edward went first. Maggie
clicked away on the online translator, deciphering the papal bull document she
had stolen. It took a long time, but she was able to finally figure out the
whole thing. She painstakingly transferred the translated text over to a word document
for later. She uploaded a copy of it onto the cloud in case there was ever
going to be a need for it. The original; well she stared at it for a while.
Something was going to have to be done with it. She had ideas, but for now she
would wait. Besides, it was her turn to get some shuteye.
And she had just the way of waking
him up!