"Heads!" he called, and a helmeted head sailed down to bounce on the floor. "Fuckers have snipers all over the roofs. Caught one climbing through my window."
"We go down. Spooky tunnel it is," Apollo said.
Valentine hurried down the stairs, his satchel over one shoulder. "Good thinking. We have maybe two minutes before they do something drastic to flush us out."
"What spooky tunnel?" Lachlan asked, sheathing his sword.
Valentine went to a cupboard under the stairs. Inside was a wooden panel. He tapped the top corner three times, and it swung out.
"These were built during the war. They lead into the catacombs. We found them when we were kids, and Mom almost had kittens when she found us playing in them. I'll go first." Valentine swung himself down into the dark hole. "Watch your step."
There was another crash upstairs, and Apollo followed his brother. Lachlan shut the door to the cupboard under the stairs and then the wooden paneling. He dropped down into the tunnel and switched on the small light attached to the strap of his duffle.
"Catacombs twice in one trip. Shit bloody luck," he groused.
The iron ladder under his hands felt crumbly, and he tried hard not to think about how old they were. No wonder their mother had lost it when she found the boys using it.
"I've hit the bottom. Be careful. Three rungs are missing, and there's a drop," Valentine called up.
A loud boom shook the building, and Lachlan hung onto the ladder for dear life as the world shook around him. He looked up as the top of the tunnel lit up with fire.
"Hurry up, Lachie!" Apollo shouted.
Lachlan unfroze and hurried down the ladder. It shook again. The bolts holding it to the wall loosened, and he began to fall back.
"Just drop, Lachlan! Trust me! Let go!" Valentine shouted.
Lachlan shut his eyes and let go. He dropped like a stone. Something warm wrapped around him, and he hit the bottom of the tunnel with a bounce. He opened his eyes and saw Apollo's pale face as he pulled him to his feet.
"What the fuck was that, Val?" Lachlan asked, shaking a little as he took Apollo's hand.
"Something I've been working on, like a slow descent spell. A hand cloud? I don't know how to explain it. Good to know it works. This was the first time I tested it on something living," Valentine said, and Lachlan's knees wobbled.
Apollo squeezed his hand, and he knew he couldn't have a meltdown just yet.
"Why do you even need a spell like that?" Lachlan said, trying to take some deep breaths.
"I don't know. Maybe because my father and brothers are turning slowly into dragons, but we don't know how tobedragons, so we could accidentally shift mid-air when we are trying to learn to fly, and I don't want them to fall to their deaths?" Valentine replied angrily.
Lachlan couldn't see his face properly in the darkness but could hear the genuine worry in his voice. Valentine always pretended he didn't care, but the more Lachlan hung around him, the more he saw how much he used that callousness as a mask. He pulled Valentine into a quick hug.
"Thank you, Valentine. It was terrifying, but it saved me, so thank you," Lachlan replied. They couldn't afford to stand about bitching at each other.
Valentine patted him once on the back before pushing him off. "You're welcome."
"They have bombed the apartment. Dad is going to be so pissed," Apollo said in a small voice. "Where do we go now?"
"Hunter hotel. We can check in under some of the Ironwood aliases, and the Sanguis Vitae will have a harder time tracking us down," Lachlan said, taking out his phone. "Layla put a digital catacomb map on here so I could find Apollo. Let's use it and stay underground as much as possible. I think the mages have a way into the city's CCTV."
"My wards should have picked them up, but I didn't make the perimeter wide enough," Valentine muttered.
Apollo patted his brother on the back. "It's not your fault, Val. The apartment was probably registered under the Greatdrakes' name for decades. It wouldn't have taken long for them to find that information. They probably knew it would be where we would go if we stayed in France."
"We can't assume they don't know the hotel is friendly for hunters, but hopefully, they won't risk attacking it because it would create too many other enemies," Lachlan said, adjustinghis duffle and sword. "Let's get moving. We need to be far from here when they search the rubble and find the hole."
Lachlan took the lead, and Apollo refused to let go of his hand as they headed further into the darkness.
26
