CHAPTER 116: WHEN THE AIR CHANGES

Aria

The estate grew too quiet.

Aria had lived in this house long enough to recognize its rhythms. The hum of guards rotating posts. The faint crackle of radios down the hall. The soft clang of gates during shift changes. The rustle of leaves through the open courtyard windows.

But now, none of it sounded right.

Everything felt muted.

Distant.

As if the world had been wrapped in cloth.

Aria sat against the headboard, her hands folded over her belly, while the doctor busied himself with equipment he was pretending to adjust. Rosetta stayed glued to her side, fingers intertwined with hers, her eyes trained on Aria’s face more than the monitors.

Yet the silence pressed more heavily than either of them.

Aria’s breath trembled. She felt the shift, the same way she felt a storm before it broke in the sky. The air inside the room thickened, warm in patches, cold in others. A faint ringing echoed near the walls.

Rosetta felt it too. She shivered and rubbed her arms.

"It is colder," Rosetta murmured. "Do you feel that?"

Aria nodded slowly. "It feels like... something searching."

Rosetta swallowed hard. "For you."

The baby moved sharply, a small kick against Aria’s ribs. She winced.

"It is all right," Aria whispered, rubbing gently. "I am here."

But she felt the child respond again. Not from discomfort. From alertness.

Her child felt the presence too.

Aria closed her eyes, trying to calm the rush of pressure in her chest. But the moment her lashes lowered, another image flashed behind her eyelids.

A hand touching her belly.

Not Luca’s.

Older.

Colder.

Blood staining his fingertips.

Symbols carved around the room.

Torches flickering.

A voice whispering her name with reverence.

Aria gasped and jolted awake.

Rosetta jumped. "What did you see?"

Aria gripped her own arms. "Him."

Rosetta blanched. "The Patron."

Aria nodded, her voice barely a breath. "He knows where I am."

Before Rosetta could respond, footsteps echoed outside the door.

Luca.

Aria exhaled with relief the moment she heard the weight of his steps. Heavy. Purposeful. He pushed open the door without knocking.

His eyes found her instantly.

He crossed the room in three strides and knelt beside the bed, taking her hands in both of his.

"You are shaking," Luca murmured. "What happened?"

Aria’s breath broke. "I saw him again."

Luca’s jaw tightened. "The Patron."

"Yes," Aria whispered. "And he is close."

Luca brushed her cheek gently. "You are safe. As long as I breathe, you are safe."

Aria leaned into his touch, but she felt a new fear forming in her chest.

"You cannot protect me from something you cannot see," she whispered.

Luca’s eyes darkened. "Watch me."

The air tightened around them again.

Even Luca felt it.

He stood and looked toward the window. Nico burst into the room.

"Boss," Nico said. "The sensors are detecting shifts in temperature across the north perimeter. Nothing visible. But something is there."

Luca turned slowly. "Something."

Nico nodded. "Not animals. Not humans. Not mechanical. But something is disrupting the thermal grid."

Rosetta squeezed Aria’s hand.

Aria felt her skin prickle.

Her ancestor’s whisper echoed again in her mind, faint but sharp.

He is at the gate.

Aria jerked.

"Luca," she whispered. "He is here."

Nico and Rosetta froze.

Luca turned to her so fast the wind stirred.

"What did you say?"

Aria swallowed hard. "He is at the gate."

Nico’s radio exploded with static.

Voices shouted.

"Heat drop at the north wall."

"Something moved past us, no identification."

"Motion detectors failing."

"I repeat, motion sensors are down."

"Guard two is missing. I cannot find him."

"Boss, we need support. Now."

Luca grabbed the radio from Nico.

"Lock down all entrances," Luca commanded. "No one moves without my order. Track every shadow. If something touches the outer courtyard, I want to know."

Nico ran out of the room to execute the orders.

Luca turned to Rosetta. His voice dropped low, deadly.

"Stay with her. Do not leave this room."

Rosetta nodded, though fear flickered in her eyes.

Luca turned to Aria.

He cupped her face gently.

"You do not panic," he whispered. "Do you hear me? You breathe. You stay with Rosetta. I will be back before your next heartbeat."

Aria grabbed his hand. "Luca. This man... he does not fear you."

Luca leaned close until his forehead touched hers.

"He will."

He stood.

She pulled his hand again, forcing him to look at her.

"Luca," she whispered. "I saw him touching the symbols. He wants her. He wants my child."

Luca’s breath stilled.

"I will kill him," he said quietly.

Then he walked out the door.

The moment he left, the air grew colder.

Luca

Luca’s steps hit the marble with sharp, controlled force.

Nico met him at the top of the stairs. "Boss, the north wall is compromised. Something disabled Guard Two’s radio. The dogs refuse to go near the courtyard entrance."

Luca descended the stairs in silence, his mind calculating. "And the cameras."

"Glitching again," Nico said. "We are trying to override it manually."

"Thermal."

"Dead."

Luca’s jaw clenched. "Show me."

They entered the monitoring room. Screens flickered with static. A few displayed blurred images of the courtyard. One showed a guard shouting into a radio with no audio.

But two screens were completely black.

The north gate.

And the southern wall near the gardens.

Luca stepped closer.

The black screen flickered.

Just once.

A shape moved.

Small.

Not human.

Larger.

Longer.

Almost serpentine.

Luca’s blood chilled.

"What was that?" Nico whispered.

"I do not know," Luca said. "But it does not enter this house."

A guard rushed into the room.

"Boss. You need to see this."

Luca followed him through the hallway, through the courtyard doors, and into the open air.

Cold hit his skin like knives.

The fog had thickened around the estate. The security lights flickered.

Then Luca saw it.

Symbols burned into the grass.

The same spiral pattern as the charm.

Carved in perfect lines.

Fresh.

Still steaming.

Luca walked closer.

Nico grabbed his arm. "Careful. We do not know what it does."

Luca stepped inside the circle anyway.

Something in his chest constricted. His vision blurred for a heartbeat. The air shifted. The fog around him thickened as if drawn toward him.

Nico hissed. "Luca. Get out of there."

Luca did not move.

Because he felt something.

A presence.

Watching him.

Waiting.

"Where are you?" Luca whispered.

The fog rippled.

Something moved behind it.

The faint outline of a tall figure...

Standing still...

Staring directly at him.

Luca’s heart turned to stone.

The outline drifted forward but never fully took shape.

A deep voice, impossible to place by age or country, whispered into the fog.

She carries what belongs to me.

Luca’s teeth clenched.

"You cannot have her," Luca said, voice low.

The shape tilted its head.

And the voice replied.

The child will return the blood.

Luca’s hand went to his gun.

"I will end you," he said.

A faint laugh rolled through the fog.

You cannot kill what time has forgotten.

Luca lifted his gun and fired.

The bullet passed through fog.

The figure dissolved.

The circle’s glow faded.

The fog rushed outward, dispersing in a violent wave.

Nico shielded his face. The guards stumbled back.

When the air cleared, the figure was gone.

Nico turned to Luca, horrified.

"What the hell was that?"

Luca stared at the ground.

At the spiral.

At the message carved at its edge, the letters were glowing faintly before fading:

She returns to the blood.

Luca’s eyes hardened to steel.

"Get everyone inside," Luca ordered. "Seal the gates. Double the guards. Bring every weapon we have. And get me that prisoner."

Nico nodded and sprinted away.

Luca turned toward the house.

Adrenaline surged through him, cold and sharp. A new war had begun. Not one of guns or money or territory.

Something older.

Darker.

Hidden in shadows.

He walked inside.

His steps were heavy but steady.

Aria sat upright in bed as he approached. Rosetta stood beside her.

Aria looked at him with wide, terrified eyes.

"You saw him," she whispered.

Luca nodded once.

Aria’s breath caught. "What did he say?"

Luca sat beside her and took her hand.

"He said the child returns the blood."

Aria’s hand trembled in his.

"So it is true," she whispered. "Someone wants her for something."

Luca leaned close, his forehead pressing against hers.

"I will not let them touch you. Or her."

Aria closed her eyes.

But her voice trembled.

"He is not coming for you, Luca. He is coming for me."

Luca gripped her hand tighter.

"Then he will die trying."