Reunions

Italy, nowadays

When they got off the train, hours after getting on it, Levi allowed himself the luxury of inhaling the stale air of the station. The fumes of machinery, cigarettes and the smell of people passing by were mixed with a slight hint of salt, creating a fragrance that repeatedly forced his sister to wrinkle the nose and cover the face. Unlike him, Alexandria had to suffer that stench with much more force, but she tried in every way not to show it: appearances, after all, were what they had founded their entire existence on, and even in that last trip they should have created perfect, indestructible armor for people's hungry eyes. Of course, getting confused and going unnoticed would have been the wisest choice, but given their peculiar aspect, simply pretending to be a couple of crazy or victims of an eccentric fashion was the most practical solution.

The boy, slowing down his pace in a slice of light, allowed himself the luxury of raising his face towards the sun, enjoying for a few moments the morning warmth. To reach Venice they had taken no more than a handful of hours, but to remain locked up in a tin car, without heating, had been a torture for him. He had suffered the cold all the way, finding again cursing his condition as a half reptile and thus renouncing his longed for sleep; after all, snakes, like lizards, craved heat - and this prevented him from making up for the hours of rest he had lost in the previous weeks.

Almost stopped, he allowed himself to yawn lazily, stretching his muscles. In the last few days he had done nothing but debate with his sister on the plan to follow and listen to endless reports on sightings made by people of dubious trust, exactly as had happened to him only two nights before when, circumspect, they had had to rely on the words of one of the older informants that she has, and who, facing two middle-aged guys, had hesitated to believe that they were the same people who had hired him decades earlier. It had been a strange encounter, seasoned with a good dose of mistrust, but still useful for the intended purpose. Thanks to a potato-nosed man with an accent of Eastern Europe and the breath full of alcohol, they had grabbed the information necessary to continue on their bizarre adventure, landing in that wonderful city.

"I hope he's here. And don't reject us" snorted Alex passing by. Undaunted, as if she felt the urgency to put an end to that trip, she started to travel the path that led from the tracks to the Grand Canal, moving among the people exactly like a stray animal. She was quick, confident and Levi had to run after her so as not to lose her in the crowd. In the amount of tourists present at the Santa Lucia station, Z'ev could easily have been confused with the other dozens of little girls present there. Unfortunately for her, and as for many women of her time, the gift of a height that could distinguish her from the rest of the people had been denied: her abundant one hundred and sixtyfive centimeters did not make her an easy target even in the eyes of another predator. And he could not afford such a deprivation. There was something about finally seeing each other that made the thought of a new departure terrible.

"Why should he do it?" he asked innocently, trying to keep up.

Yes, Zenas had been brutally attacked by his brothers, but he would not have withdrawn in the face of such a proposal: no one would have done so in front of the possibility of seeing their King again - also, even a two thousand year old thug would not have opposed a direct command of the General of Israel, the right arm of the Sovereign and the first Chimera, known by them, to have set foot on earth.

Alexandria snorted again: "Do I have to remind you of the accusations of others? Or are you far-sighted enough to understand that certain words, spoken by your own family, dig unbridgeable furrows?"

"Did they do it with you?" From beyond the dark lenses, Levi tried to peer into her expression, but from that position all he could see was the tip of her nose.

She didn't seem to pay any attention to his question, too busy keeping the past away, so he pretended to never have asked. Perhaps, once again, he had dared to question something that didn't concern him.

"However, if I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about him. Our brother is old enough to understand the circumstances, he knows that what has been said was nothing more than the outburst of a group of people who are little... manageable."

Z'èv stopped suddenly and, ignoring the insults of those who had almost gone against her, turned to him: "Do you really think so, akh?"

Long before, all the members of that crazy family had pointed the finger at each other, relenting on Zenas because of his age: he was the oldest Chimera that had gone out with Solomon that day, it was his fault if Alexandria had lost the body of the King in the midst of the ocean waves. Still, Levi was sure, she had felt guilty even of that unjustified hatred. Was it possible that she has not yet understood that fate plays dirty, that by dint of defying the laws of the world one end up having to pay a very high price? Was it possible that she did not realize that she was just the umpteenth victim of the consequences of Solomon's choices and experiments?

Partly annoyed, the boy exhaled: "Don't misunderstand my words, Alex. I know it was not easy, that sometimes some terms are blades in the consistency of the soul, but I have known Zenas for much longer than you. He is a wise person."

Despite good intentions, Z'év did not seem to like her brother's words and, grasping the collar of his jacket, pulled him close. As only a few days before, their faces were again a breath away from each other and, although divided by the lenses of the sunglasses that the General still wore, their eyes were straight on that of those in front of them, almost challenging each other.

"But it doesn't change the fact that all those stabs should have hit me and me alone." It was a whisper, yet it appeared as an annoying screech against the eardrums. He hated hearing her say such phrases. He hated the idea that she still hadn't forgiven herself for something that she couldn't have changed - when perhaps, the only culprit was him.

He gently pushed her hand away, putting his long fingers around her wrist. The warmth of her skin made him shiver, sweet and tempting exactly like the rays of the sun he had had to abandon only a few minutes before: "Wolves do not swim, akoth, and exactly like me you are nothing but the victim of an unjust fate. Solomon has challenged the Ars' clemency too many times, for this he has been punished. You could not have done anything more than what you have done and are doing now" Levi's voice turned into a velvety hiss, a sort of threatening reproach. There were some moments when the Nakhaš of the past, the one who led the soldiers in bloody battles, still took over him; fleeting moments that were however able to shake the soul of anyone, even a wild animal. He had learned to make his presence subjugating, to hoist himself above the stubbornness and irreverence of his subordinates and so he would have done with her too - so as not to lose her in a limbo of faults without real sense.

Going back straight, and without giving her time to reply, he resumed the march by closing that speech before it could end somewhere bad. If his brothers had accused her of being an inept woman, and in part the executioner of their lives, he would never have blamed her for being the architect of such a disaster, certain that not even Solomon would have done so. He knew him well enough to know that he was not a fool, who understood his faults better than anyone else - and Levi shared all his thoughts and guilt, while forgiving them every day. The two of them were twins without being brothers, they were inextricably united without having the same blood; more trivially, they were ẖbrym. And even when the views were mixed, they accepted each other's ideas without imposing themselves. About Z'év, for example, over time they had had much to discuss and just as much to agree on.

Moving away into the chaos, Levi could clearly perceive her gaze scratching his back. His sister's pupils were burning flames, embers abandoned on bare skin. He felt them with such clarity that for a moment he wondered if he had not been too severe with her, if to remind her that she was powerless in front of what has happened and who had given her life had been an annoying truth to hear, albeit undeniable - and yet he didn't even turn for a moment, certain that eventually Z'év would accept those words too.

**********

After the annoying exchange that took place at the station, the two brothers wandered silently through the Venetian calle, uttering words only when necessary. Levi was trying in every way to remember the intricate maze of streets and canals that would lead them to the Certosa area, while Alex sharpened her senses to identify anything that seemed out of place: a look, a bearing, an ambiguous figure - all what could have indicated the presence of some Cultus attacker, even if for years now she had not seen anyone on her trail.

Lost in looking around, Z'év did not notice the sudden arrest of her brother, ending up bumping into him and bouncing back a few steps.

"Here we are" she heard him whisper in a loudly reasoning to himself.

For better or worse, according to the indications they had received from her Slavic informant, they must have arrived in the correct area, so, encouraged by the General's affirmation, she started looking for the number three next to the small and rare doors present in the very narrow street, taking small steps up and down the calla.

It was he who stopped first, identifying the object of their interest and pulling a strange smile.

"Is he here, are you sure?" Raising an eyebrow and scrutinizing the wooden door, so old as to appear to be from her own time, Alexandria came close. There was nothing reassuring in that vision of abandonment and wear and tear, yet the number three hung alongside that entrance with undeniable evidence.

It was strange to think that Zenas, their Zenas, could take refuge behind such a derelict in a narrow street so as to appear suffocating even for her: how could a man of his size pass there? His shoulders were so wide that they seemed infinite and, considering the depth of the road, he certainly must have rubbed them several times against the plastered walls.

Z'év pursed her lips, confused.

"So your informant said..." said the other staring at the building from top to bottom, perhaps suddenly caught by her own doubts.

Certainly, of the elegance that their brother had so flaunted over the years, that place had nothing, anyone who knew him could say so.

"He must have tricked us then..."

"But didn't you say you trusted him? Years and years of collaboration!" He taunted her, giving her a wonderful smile, so natural that she too could not hold back one.

"There's always a first time when it comes to cheating."

Alex was still skeptical. Something, perhaps the sixth sense or the experience, reminded her that the informants were no longer what they once were and that, in all probability, beyond that threshold nothing would have awaited them - and certainly she would have to punish that old swindler for make them go there.

Nakhaš stretched out an arm, the tense muscles under the sleeve of his jacket witnessed the sensations of which, at that moment, he was succubus. It certainly did not seem possible to him that Zenas was inside those walls, exactly as it did not seem to her, but there was more besides that, even if Z'év could not understand what. It could not be the simple suggestion due to that battered entrance, he was not the type to be influenced in this way - there was more to give him anxiety, but what?

The boy took a deep breath and, before grasping the door squeezed between the jaws of a rusty brass lion, he gave his sister a long understanding glance, even if with dark lenses in the middle Alex only had to assume that it was that kind of look.

"In the worst case, nobody is in there, right?" Although suddenly the agitation had started to move her security, the Chimera-Wolf tried to encourage both and then he struck the door twice. The silence that followed seemed the worst of the answers to their questions.

But what if the Cultus had arrived before them?