CHAPTER 121: THE FOG THAT THINKS

Luca

The helicopter vanished into darkness.

Not night.

Not weather.

Something else.

A thinking fog.

A breathing fog.

A fog that closed around the aircraft like a fist.

The cabin dimmed instantly. The lights flickered. Wind howled against the windows even though the air outside had been calm moments before.

The pilot fought the controls, his voice shaking. "I am losing visibility. All sensors are dead. I cannot see a thing."

The doctor clutched the medical console to steady himself. Rosetta grabbed the overhead handle. Nico braced himself against the cockpit door.

Luca did not move.

He knelt beside Aria’s unconscious form, gripping her hand tighter as the fog swallowed every sense of direction they had.

Her chest rose.

Barely.

Too weak.

Every second her heartbeat grew fainter.

He kept his face close to hers. "Keep breathing, Aria. Come back to me."

The fog pressed against the windows. It swirled in unnatural patterns, thick and dark with streaks of silver. It moved with intention, smearing across the glass like a hand tracing symbols.

Rosetta yelled, "Luca, look."

Once again, spirals appeared.

The same symbol carved into the ground.

The same spiral in the basement.

The same pattern from the charm.

Drawn by the fog itself.

Luca’s blood burned with fury. "He is here."

The helicopter dropped several feet. Everyone inside lurched. The pilot cursed, grabbing the controls. "Something is interfering with the rotor."

Nico shouted, "Boss, we need to turn back."

Luca snapped his head toward him. "Back to the house that nearly killed her. No."

"But this fog is not natural," Nico shouted. "He is trying to crash us."

The fog thickened until the world outside vanished completely. The glass turned black with a veil of swirling white. The helicopter leaned violently to the right.

Rosetta screamed, "Luca, we are tipping."

The pilot fought the controls with both hands, muscles straining. "I do not know what is happening. It feels like something is pulling us sideways."

Luca forced himself to stand and grabbed the back of the pilot’s seat. "Straighten the craft."

"I am trying," the pilot shouted. "It is not responding."

The fog pressed harder.

The helicopter leaned more.

Aria slid slightly in her seat.

Luca rushed back to her, catching her head before she could fall. He sat down and pulled her into his lap, cradling her gently.

He pressed his lips to her ear. "You stay with me. No matter what happens. Stay with me."

Her lips trembled.

A faint breath escaped.

Her fingers twitched.

Then a whisper.

"Luca..."

He leaned down instantly. "I am here."

"It hurts..."

His heart broke. "Where."

"My chest... and her... she is scared..."

Luca tightened his hold around her. "I have you. I have both of you."

The fog responded.

It slammed against the helicopter.

The aircraft dropped again.

Nico and the guards yelled. Rosetta fell to her knees, grabbing Aria’s leg to keep her steady.

The doctor shouted, "Her heart rate is falling again. She needs stability."

Luca growled, "I am giving her that."

The doctor shook his head. "No. Something is attacking her system. Something external."

Luca looked into Aria’s face.

Her eyelids fluttered. Her face grew pale, almost translucent.

No.

No.

Not now.

He stroked her hair. "Aria. Listen to me. You breathe for me. I do not care about anything else. Just breathe."

But her chest rose slower.

Too slow.

The fog pounded harder.

Luca snapped his head toward the pilot. "Land. Anywhere. Now."

The pilot yelled, "I cannot see the ground."

Nico pointed ahead. "There. A break. A clearing."

The pilot forced the helicopter toward it.

But the fog moved with them.

It blocked the clearing.

It swallowed every patch of visible land.

It closed in again.

The doctor’s voice cracked. "Luca, she cannot handle this. If she goes into full shock, we will lose both of them."

Luca’s vision tunneled.

He pressed his forehead to Aria’s and whispered a plea he had never said before.

"Please. Do not leave me."

Aria’s lips parted.

A faint whisper escaped.

"He is inside..."

Her eyes opened.

Not gold.

Not white.

Black.

Like void.

Like the world beyond the fog.

Rosetta gasped. "Holy God."

Aria’s voice echoed with a second tone. Not hers. Something older.

You cannot run.

Luca’s blood went cold.

"Get out of her," he snarled.

Aria’s head tilted unnaturally. Her pupils expanded like ink spreading through water.

She belongs to the blood.

You do not.

Nico raised his gun. "Boss. What do we do."

Luca stepped between Nico’s gun and Aria. "No one points a weapon at her."

The fog pressed again.

The helicopter shook violently.

Alarms blared inside the cabin. The pilot shouted, "We are going down. Hold on."

Luca clutched Aria’s body against him. Rosetta threw her arms around the doctor. Nico braced for impact.

But then...

Everything froze.

The helicopter stopped shaking.

The fog stilled.

The alarms went silent.

A complete unnatural stillness filled the cabin.

Aria’s head lay against Luca’s chest.

Her eyes closed.

But the blackness remained beneath her lashes.

The voice filled the helicopter.

You cannot escape what you carry.

Luca’s heart pounded.

"She is not carrying you," Luca growled. "She is carrying my child."

The fog swirled around the cabin windows.

The voice answered.

She carries the last heir.

And I will take what is mine.

Luca’s rage broke through his fear.

He grabbed Aria’s shoulders, pulled her into his arms, and shouted into the fog.

"She is mine. She is my wife. She is not yours."

The fog hissed.

Your blood is borrowed.

Hers is ancient.

The child is promised.

Luca roared. "To who."

The fog grew darker.

To me.

Aria’s body jerked violently.

The doctor screamed, "She is seizing."

Rosetta prayed louder. The helicopter rocked again.

Luca held Aria’s head, tears burning his eyes. She convulsed in his arms, her hand gripping his shirt with unnatural strength.

"Aria," Luca cried. "Let go of him. Come back to me."

Her voice came out layered again.

I cannot...

Luca kissed her forehead. "Yes, you can. Fight."

I am trying...

The helicopter jolted downward again.

The pilot yelled, "Hold on."

Luca’s heart pounded. "Aria. Stay."

Her convulsions slowed.

Her breathing stilled.

Her hand went limp.

"No," Luca whispered.

Rosetta screamed. "Luca, her pulse."

The doctor shouted, "She is crashing again."

Luca lowered his forehead to hers, voice raw.

"Do not leave me."

The fog pressed against the helicopter once more.

Then Aria’s eyes opened.

The black had vanished.

A faint white glow flickered instead.

Her voice was soft. "Luca..."

He exhaled shakily. "Yes. Yes, I am here."

Her fingers curled weakly around his.

"I heard her again."

Luca swallowed. "Who."

"The first Morrelli mother."

"What did she say," Luca whispered.

Aria blinked slowly.

"She said... she said the child chose you."

Luca froze.

Rosetta gasped. "Chosen him."

Aria nodded faintly.

Her voice trembled.

"She said... the child is not his. The child is yours. That is why he wants her."

The fog thinned.

An angry shriek reverberated through the cabin.

Luca held Aria closer, shielding her body.

You cannot keep her from me.

Luca’s voice broke into a snarl. "Watch me."

The helicopter burst through the fog.

Sunlight flooded the cabin.

The pilot gasped, "Clear skies. I can see. I can land."

Aria collapsed against Luca’s chest.

He held her tightly.

Her eyelids fluttered. She exhaled weakly.

Then she whispered one sentence that froze every soul in the cabin.

"He is coming in the flesh."

The doctor shouted, "We need to get her to a medical center."

Luca shook his head, voice shaking with fury and devotion.

"No. We are going to war."

He looked down at Aria, limp in his arms, her breathing thin but steady.

And Luca knew exactly one thing.

The Patron was no longer hunting them as a shadow.

He was coming as a man.