Chapter 30
Florence, Italy
Michael, Jianjun, and Kira reached Florence the next afternoon.
They walked down the narrow cobblestone street to Michael’s apartment and had just turned onto the courtyard when out of the darkness appeared a black fox. A demon, Michael thought, like the one that had attacked him in Los Angeles. The same that had been watching him here in Florence ever since the priest had given him the pearl.
“Stay back,” he told Jianjun and Kira. The fox stood still and fixed its emerald eyes on Kira. The three backed to one side of the courtyard, inching towards Michael’s door.
“Get!” Michael shouted, but the fox stood its ground.
Michael and Jianjun attempted to scare it off with a short sprint towards it, but the fox darted around them and lunged at Kira. She flung her
