Blood Apprentice: An Elemental Legacy Novel

by Elizabeth Hunter

  “Ninth turn.” Ben swallowed hard. This was it. “Right.”

  He turned right and shined his headlamp into the darkness. The musty smell of earth was the only thing that greeted him. He grabbed his flashlight and traced it along the limestone walls of the cavern. In his enthusiasm, he nearly missed it.

  “There.” Giovanni grabbed Ben’s hand and pulled it back to the right. “Up.”

  He’d been looking along the floor and almost missed the natural shelf formed by the rocks. The canvas was covered in dust and mold, but it was definitely man-made. Ben and Giovanni walked forward, and Ben reached for the edge of the tarp.

  He pulled it off and it fell apart in his hands.

  “It’s molded,” Giovanni said. “The air is damp.”

  They peeled the molded cotton back in pieces, revealing three smooth wooden chests. Two were sturdy, made of teak with iron banding. They were a little over two feet long, nearly two feet in width, and maybe a foot and a half tall. The other was smaller, more of a document box than a chest. They were in near-perfect condition, though the metal locks and seals were corroded.

  “Boom.” Ben stared. “That’s what I call a treasure chest.”

  “Let’s see if we can’t find out what the fuss is about.” Giovanni bent over one of the larger chests and rubbed his hands together. “I think I can soften this metal a bit.”

  He heated his hands up and pressed them to the first lock. In seconds it fell apart, as did the plate holding the lock in place.

  “Score.” Ben let out a slow breath. “Tenzin is going to be so pissed we’re doing this without her.”

  Giovanni chuckled. “They’re quite heavy. We don’t want to move them without checking that it’s worth it.”

  “Exactly.”

  Giovanni lifted the wooden lid and the hinges in back cracked, but Ben wasn’t thinking about hinges. He was thinking—

  “Silver.” Though it was black with age, he could see the definition of the coins, and a few fine pieces had escaped corrosion. “Definitely silver.”

  The chest was filled with silver of all kinds. Coins filled half of it, but the rest was cups and teapots. Spoons and plates. Small pitchers and lots and lots of flatware. Miscellaneous parts gathered from ships across the Atlantic if Ben had to guess. None of it matched, except in tarnish. Ben picked up an intricately wrought cup shaped in the form of a nautilus shell and tried to brush some of the black away.

  “How much do you think this is worth?”

  Giovanni looked at it. “You could probably estimate better than me, but depending on the mark… one hundred to one hundred fifty thousand?”

  Ben smiled. “Pounds, not dollars.”

  Giovanni gave a slow whistle. “And it’s beautiful.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  The silver mostly appeared to be English, which fit with Enríquez’s pattern of attacking English ships. Ben couldn’t have been more pleased. English silver was highly collectible.

  “Okay.” He rubbed his hand together. “Next chest.”

  It was gold. Lots of it.

  Ben felt his heart pounding. “Oh my God.”

  Giovanni just stared at it, shaking his head.

  Though there were silver coins mixed in, the chest was over half full of gold coins. It was a fortune. A single gold guinea could reach five thousand dollars at auction, and there were hundreds of them. Hundreds. Other coins were mixed in. Spanish gold. Gold bars.

  “It was reported that he was the richest man of his time in the Caribbean,” Giovanni said. “Powerful. Influential. Ruthless in business and skilled on the water.”

  “It didn’t make sense that he died a pauper.”

  “He was too smart not to have some insurance.”

  “This is… some insurance plan.” Ben glanced over his shoulder. “She’s going crazy out there.”

  “Oh, she definitely is.” He closed the chest of gold. “Should we wait on the last one?”

  Ben shrugged. “We gotta leave her something. And this is gonna take at least two trips, even with you helping me.”

  They tried lifting the chests from the shelf with the metal handles, but the iron hoops were too corroded. They quickly fell apart. Instead, Ben looped the paracord around the chests with Giovanni’s help, creating handles that secured the bottom of the chest while fitting over their shoulders. They would dig in, but it would be the easiest way to move each chest through the narrow passageway.

  Ben and Giovanni lifted the gold chest first and started through the tunnel, following the line they’d set to guide them back to the main cavern.

  “How do you think Enríquez moved all these back here?” Ben asked. “He couldn’t have by himself. They’re too heavy. Who would he have trusted to know the location of the treasure?”

  “I have a feeling if we checked all those skeletons in the first room,” Giovanni said, “more than one would have a bullet hole. Miguel Enríquez wasn’t known for his charity to anyone other than the church.”

  It was a grim thought, but probably an accurate one.

  It took over an hour for them to make their way back to the main cavern. Ben had to stop for a few breaks. By the time they reached it, Tenzin was nearly out of her mind.

  “I knew it!” she crowed. “I knew it!”

  Ben couldn’t help but grin. He set down the chest, walked over to her, and grabbed both her cheeks. With a giant smile, he kissed her. Full on her shocked mouth.

  “Worth it.” He lifted her up by the waist and spun her around. “You brilliant pain in the ass!” Ben set her down by the chest and pointed at it. “Look. Go ahead and look.”

  Tenzin didn’t waste a second. She flipped open the lid and knelt before the glowing gold, digging her hands into the coins. “So beautiful.”

  Giovanni laughed. “Why don’t Ben and I leave you two alone while we go get the last two chests.”

  Her eyes went wide. “There’s more?”

  “A chest of miscellaneous silver and another one we haven’t opened yet,” Ben said. “We decided to wait for you.”

  She looked like she was going to cry. “You do love me. Both of you.”

  Ben and Giovanni laughed and checked their lights before they walked back toward the tunnel. This time Ben grabbed straps.

  “Guard it with your life, Tiny.”

  “You know I will.”

  The lethal tone of her voice made a shiver run down Ben’s spine.

  “That woman really loves gold.”

  A little over an hour later, they were sitting in front of the two chests with the document box sitting on top. It was designed for scrolls and maps, but that wasn’t what was in it. It was far too heavy to be carrying papers.

  With a slow breath, Tenzin lifted the lid.

  “Jewelry.” She sighed in contentment. “It’s very modern, but it’s beautiful.”

  Only Tenzin would declare three-hundred-year-old jewelry to be “very modern.”

  “Lots of gold chain.” Ben picked through it. “Some silver signets.” He handed one to Tenzin. “This is cool. Oh. Ruby.” He spotted it near the bottom and dug though some enameled brooches that would have been fashionable in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. “Nice color.”

  “We’ll have to take our time with these,” Tenzin said. “Some of it we’ll want to keep, but the majority of it would be better to sell.”

  “This sea monster is cool.” Ben picked up a gold necklace with a bright green enameled sea creature hanging from the base. It was decorated with pearls and small diamonds. A siren was riding its back.

  Giovanni held out his hand. “That’s beautiful.”

  “It might be the nicest piece in the box,” Tenzin said. “Though there are a few pearl pieces that aren’t bad.”

  Ben glanced at the waterfall and a night sky that was growing lighter every moment. “If we don’t move this to the Jeep soon, we’ll be stuck in here all day.”

  Tenzin’s eyes went wide. “You’re not transporting all this
by yourself.”

  “If I don’t, then I’m transporting it when the vampires are awake.”

  “The vampires aren’t the only risk here,” Tenzin said. “There’s no telling what could happen between here and San Juan.”

  Ben rose to his feet. “Are you saying you don’t trust me to drive these three chests a couple of hours from here?”

  Tenzin stood too. “I’m saying that you’re human and you’re vulnerable.”

  “I’m not vulnerable to sunlight. That’s your problem, not mine.”

  Giovanni said, “I think you should both calm down.”

  “I can’t believe you don’t trust me,” Ben said. “After all this?”

  “I trust you,” Tenzin said. “I don’t trust other humans.”

  “Once the sun goes down, the vampires come out. Did you forget that part?”

  “We’re the only ones who know what is here!” Tenzin said. “We’re the only ones who know the extent of Enríquez’s treasure.”

  “Do you really think Los Tres is going to forget about us?” Ben replied. “Listen, Inés—Yahíma—has probably killed all her rivals by now, but she’s not going to forget us or this cave. We need to get this stuff out of here before she has a chance to regroup.”

  “I agree with Ben,” Giovanni said quietly. “We need to move the treasure out of here tonight before dawn.”

  “You would agree with him,” Tenzin hissed. “You’ve spent half his life putting him at risk.”

  Giovanni narrowed his eyes. “Are you really pointing fingers in that regard?”

  “Will you both stop talking about me like I’m not here?” Ben asked. “Tenzin, this is not as big a deal as you’re making it. I can move this gold safely to San Juan. I’ll start driving at the crack of dawn, and the biggest threat I’m going to face is rush hour traffic. I’ll keep everything at the house until tomorrow night. Then we can move it to Gio’s plane and we’re out of here.”

  “No good,” Giovanni said. “They know where the rental house is. They have people in San Juan, and if they’re smart, they’ll be there at dusk, before even Tenzin could fly back.”

  “They know where the Quebradillas house is too,” Tenzin said. “You can bet on that. They’re going to be suspicious we took off the way we did. They’re going to suspect there’s more. And let’s not even talk about the pirate Giovanni is working for.”

  “Worked! Past tense.”

  “Are you saying Cofresí isn’t going to try for the gold?” Tenzin asked. “Or are you saying I can kill him? Because I’m more than willing to do that, but you and Ben keep telling me not to be a sociopath, which I think is unfair. I looked that up and I do not fit all the criteria.”

  “We’re not killing my client.”

  “You said he’s not a client anymore. He’s a former client.”

  Giovanni wiped a hand across his face. “Do you even realize how bad for business that is?”

  “I don’t care.”

  “No, you don’t, do you?” He rose to his feet. “You take what you want and damned with the rest of us. Isn’t that your way?” Giovanni said. “Damn what others want. Damn what others plan. Damn their desires and their lives and their future!”

  “This isn’t about this treasure,” Tenzin said in a low voice.

  “You’re absolutely right.” Giovanni stared at her. “It’s about something much more important. You spend every waking moment walking on the edge of disaster, Tenzin, and you won’t be the only one who falls.”

  “Stop.” Ben swallowed the lump in his throat. “Just stop.”

  Silence fell across the cavern, and the echo of the waterfall filled the space between them.

  “We have one problem right now. Can we focus on that, please?” They were arguing about him, and he hated it on so many levels.

  Giovanni let out a slow breath. “Actually, we have four problems.”

  “Which are?”

  “Los Tres. August’s murder. Cofresí. And getting the gold off the island.”

  Tenzin said, “And keeping all of it.”

  Giovanni looked at Ben. “Tell the truth: Do you want to come back here? If you don’t, then we pack everything into my plane, we take off, and you never set foot in Puerto Rico again.”

  “That doesn’t get justice for Señor Camino,” Ben said.

  Giovanni said, “No, it doesn’t. But that’s not what I’m asking.”

  “It’s not all about me.” Ben racked his brain. Everyone wanted this treasure. Everyone was going to try for it. “We’re safe from Cofresí as long as we’re in Puerto Rico. But if we leave this island like thieves, we’re safe from no one. Everyone will assume we’ve stolen something. Some might assume Giovanni killed Señor Camino, which would hurt his reputation in the book world.”

  Giovanni asked, “So what do you suggest? We surrender the treasure to Los Tres?”

  “Absolutely not.” Ben wasn’t that generous. “But the only way we’re going to get what we want is to give them what they want.”

  Tenzin said, “That makes literally zero sense.”

  Giovanni frowned. “I’m listening.”

  “Tenzin is right.”

  She blinked and walked to the camp table, grabbed her tablet, and walked back to them. “Cara, activate voice recorder. Ben, could you repeat that?”

  “You didn’t say please.” He smiled. “You said we’re the only ones who know what is in these chests. You were right. But I’m also right. The only way we get what we want is to give them what they want.”

  A smile slowly grew on Giovanni’s face. “I like the way you think.”

  23

  Giovanni and Tenzin loaded the two chests in the back of Ben’s Jeep before they hid in the cavern before dawn.

  “Do you think this is going to work?” she asked.

  “Yes. It’s a good plan. He’s very bright.”

  “You trained him well.”

  Giovanni looked at her. “Some of it is me. A little of it is you. A lot of it is just him.”

  “He also learned things from his horrible mother, but he’ll never admit it.”

  Giovanni shook his head. “To this day, she is a very convincing con artist. But she has no conscience whatsoever. That is all his own.”

  “And his grandmother here, I think.”

  “Perhaps.”

  Tenzin heard the Jeep’s engine start in the distance. “You keep track of the mother?”

  “Always.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Currently she’s in Texas. Married to a very old man and planning to slowly poison him.”

  “Have you ever considered killing her?”

  “Many times.” He looked at the waterfall. “But I am not her. And I’ve already taken her most precious possession. One day the human authorities will catch on to her. Hopefully.”

  Tenzin watched the play of emotion over her friend’s face. “You saved him.”

  “He has saved himself,” Giovanni said. “Many times over.” He rose and walked to Ben’s tent. “I’m going to sleep in here today.”

  “I’ll keep watch and start cleaning up.”

  “Don’t forget the bags.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Are you sure you’ll be stable in the tunnel?”

  “It’s dry?”

  “Completely.”

  She nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

  While the sun rose and Giovanni took shelter in Ben’s tent, Tenzin went to work. Not many people knew she didn’t sleep. It was one of her greatest weapons. Vampires assumed that time stopped when the sun came up and they didn’t often question what happened during the day. Insignificant human life pattered on. The important work went on at night.

  Vampires could be really stupid sometimes.

  She quieted her nerves and followed the cord through the tunnel. She kept her eyes focused on the cord slipping between her fingers and the scent of Ben and Giovanni heavy along the path. Ben had been perspiring when they moved the treas
ure, and the familiar scent of him steadied her.

  Of course, the same markers that steadied her could also lead others to find their trail, so Tenzin gathered the dirty laundry and scraps of coveralls that she’d torn from Ben’s clothing and randomly tossed them down paths they didn’t take. If she did her job right, the whole maze of passages would smell like Ben, causing nothing but confusion should any vampire try to follow his scent.

  She reached the end of the cord and entered the chamber where the remains of the canvas tarp lay in a heap. She blocked out the musty smell and bundled up the fabric. Giovanni would burn it at nightfall.

  Then she slowly made her way back out of the tunnels, dragging the canvas behind her to obscure her footprints, tossing bits of molded canvas along different corridors as she walked. She pulled out Ben’s carefully set pitons and wound up the cord. If someone was looking very, very carefully, they might notice the piton scars, but Tenzin was betting that any vampire trying to find their path would depend on vampire senses and not human tracking.

  She stopped in the cavern where the first chest was found and tossed the rope on the ground. Then she dragged the canvas out to the main cavern.

  Inés and Vasco already knew about the first cavern. It was pointless to try to hide it. What Tenzin wanted to do was make them believe there was something else there. Some other treasure they’d missed the first time through. That would be believable. Or at least believable enough to give them time to get away.

  She walked back to the cavern with Ben’s shovel and found a spot where the earth was malleable. She dug a hole big enough for the document box they’d found, then she took the mostly empty box, rolled it around in the dirt, and pulled it back out.

  Again, it wouldn’t hold up to serious scrutiny, but she was counting on the natural excitement about treasure clouding more suspicious natures.

  Tenzin refilled the hole and patted the earth down. Then she went searching among the skeletons.

  Most of the fabric was too molded to use, but there were two cloaks belonging to wealthier victims that would work. She bundled the two cloaks out of the cave, grabbed the shovel and the box, and headed to the main cavern.