Blood Apprentice: An Elemental Legacy Novel

by Elizabeth Hunter

  Jadzia’s head shot up. “What? The treasure is mine.”

  “No,” Valeria said, her voice tightly controlled. “The right of conquest must also be honored.”

  Jadzia’s face twisted. “Says who?”

  “Your coregent,” Valeria said. “Your sister.”

  Yahíma spoke. “Valeria is correct. You have known about your claim on this treasure for years, Jadzia. What have you done to search for it?”

  Jadzia clenched her jaw in anger. Everyone in the room knew exactly what she’d done to stake her claim. She’d killed an old man who had the proof of it, but she couldn’t say that, not without incriminating herself after she’d just killed another.

  Tenzin could tell both Yahíma and Valeria—Valeria especially—balked at rewarding Jadzia for murder. But she could also see they were unwilling to upset the balance of power.

  Yahíma spoke to Giovanni. “You present an interesting dispute to us. You have found the treasure and done the work at some considerable cost to yourself. Your client has paid you for your work, I presume.”

  “He has.”

  Well, that was true. Roberto Cofresí had already paid Giovanni a handsome sum to find the treasure map. The old pirate just couldn’t go after the treasure himself.

  Yahíma nodded. “Therefore Roberto also has a claim. Before we proceed, will you please show me what is in the box you have brought?”

  Giovanni lifted the document box, leaving the lid open. “As you can see, there is a sizable purse of various English silver coins—some of them highly collectible—and a smaller purse with a number of gold William and Mary guineas. The box also contains sterling silver flatware, along with various pieces of jewelry, all of considerable value.”

  “And in your experience, how would you value this treasure?”

  “My nephew is more skilled at valuation than I am, so please take this as a very rough estimate that would greatly depend on the sales channel. But if we found the right collectors, I would feel comfortable valuing this box of treasure at roughly three-quarters of a million dollars. The weapons would add value, possibly significant value, depending on how collectible they are. Based on what I know right now, the treasure of Miguel Enríquez would be valued at roughly 800,000 US dollars in today’s currency.”

  Yahíma nodded. “I see.”

  It was nothing compared to the real value of what they’d found, but as Ben and Tenzin had both said, No one knew what was in the cave but them.

  Perhaps if Jadzia wasn’t a murderer, Tenzin would have had more sympathy.

  But she was.

  So she didn’t.

  Tenzin couldn’t have been prouder of Giovanni. Her old friend didn’t often lie, but when he did, he was excellent at it. She never would have guessed the truth from his face.

  “It’s mine!” Jadzia said. “I am Enríquez’s daughter!”

  Valeria’s face hadn’t changed. “The right of conquest must be honored. After all, by what other right do we sit on our thrones… sister.”

  Yahíma turned to Jadzia. “You will have half.”

  “Unacceptable.”

  Yahíma pressed her bare foot to the ground, and Vasco’s head rolled to Jadzia’s feet. “You will have half,” she said again in a lower voice.

  Jadzia said nothing. There was nothing to say. Her throne was worth more than her treasure. “Very well. But I will pick the pieces I keep.”

  “Agreed,” Yahíma said.

  “Agreed,” Valeria said.

  Giovanni nodded at Yahíma. “We will leave you to divide your half. I’m sure one of your guards can meet us outside with the remainder of the treasure. We don’t want to take any more of your time.”

  Yahíma said, “We appreciate your honesty and trust in this matter, Señor Vecchio.”

  Tenzin spoke up for the first time. “And I look forward to telling the O’Briens that the tragic death of their friend and colleague has been accounted for.” Her eyes turned to Jadzia. “Though of course he will never be forgotten.”

  Jadzia’s eyes might have been burning with rage, but Tenzin had no doubt the message had been received.

  Giovanni let out a long breath as they drove down the mountain in the car loaned to them by Las Tres. They would drive it to the meeting point with Benjamin and leave it there. He had no doubt there were tracking devices and listening equipment in the car.

  Tenzin and Giovanni were both silent as they drove northeast, through the dark mountain roads, and down toward the ranger station where Ben was meeting them.

  When they finally arrived in Camuy, they got out of the car, grabbed the much lighter document box between them, and wordlessly got in the back seat of Ben’s Jeep, dropping the truck keys in the mail slot of the ranger’s cabin.

  They’d been driving for miles before any of them spoke.

  “How did it go?” Ben asked, glancing at the document box.

  “Is everything safe?” Tenzin asked.

  Ben held up his phone with the camera app open. “Everything is quiet. How did it go?”

  “Two problems down,” Giovanni said. “Two to go.”

  The surf shack was anything but light safe. They could only stay there long enough to exchange treasure chests and lock up again before they drove to San Juan. Ben called Giovanni’s pilot on the way there, gave him the airport name near San Juan, and instructed him on what time to arrive.

  “You’ll stick with your original plan,” Giovanni said. “It’s possible that Cofresí already has your boat and contacts identified.”

  “And the house?”

  “Possible, but like I said before, he’s not going to step on land here. Too dangerous for him.” Giovanni glanced behind them at the two heavy chests. “He won’t expect me to get involved. He knows I usually let you do your own thing.”

  Tenzin said, “What are you going to want in return for all this?”

  Ben smiled at Giovanni’s offended expression. “You expect me to ask for a cut of your pirate treasure?”

  Tenzin and Ben said, “Yes.”

  “You’re absolutely correct. Twenty percent.”

  Tenzin nearly choked. “Twenty? It’s our gold!”

  “It was my map.”

  “It was your client’s map,” Ben said. “You didn’t even believe the treasure was real. Five percent.”

  Tenzin said, “To be fair, Ben, neither did you.”

  Ben shrugged. “But I went along with it, didn’t I?”

  “Fifteen percent,” Giovanni said. “I’m the only one with a plane.”

  “Ten percent,” Ben said. “Tenzin and I found the treasure. I came up with a plan to make everyone happy. You just helped carry it out.”

  Tenzin pouted.

  “Fine,” Giovanni said. “I can’t argue with that.”

  “Settled.” Ben reached a hand over the back seat. “Ten percent.”

  They shook on it.

  “Of the whole treasure,” Tenzin said. “Not ten percent from each of us.”

  “Oh, good catch,” Ben said.

  The wicked laugh Giovanni gave them told Ben he would have absolutely tried to weasel ten percent from both of them. “Fine,” he said. “Ten percent of the total treasure. You two greedy monsters can split the other ninety.”

  Ben and Tenzin exchanged a smile before Tenzin turned to shake hands.

  “Done.” She situated herself back in the front seat. “Now, how are we going to keep Cofresí from taking his share?”

  “Dammit, Tenzin, stick to the plan!”

  The plane that took off from the private airport in Miramar was a retired Russian cargo plane that had been retrofitted for vampire use. It had a reinforced cargo chamber to protect the plane’s electronics from vampires like Giovanni and multiple storage compartments and sleeping quarters for the discriminating vampire guest.

  Since the one who had designed it was Giovanni’s thankfully dead criminal offspring, there were lots of places to smuggle two small chests.

  Tenzin a
nd Ben loaded the gold and silver onto the plane while Giovanni spoke to his pilot and gave him a flight plan. They would go to New York first to pick up Beatrice, then head back to Los Angeles where Tenzin had her warehouse and storage facilities. All three of them had deemed Los Angeles the safest place to keep the gold until they could hide it more thoroughly.

  “Besides,” Tenzin said, “I like Cormac, but we’re guests in his city. We don’t have any standing there. At least Ben doesn’t.”

  “And you do?” Ben asked.

  Tenzin sat on the low couch in the belly of the cargo plane. “Cormac likes me.”

  “Cormac is afraid of you.”

  “Don’t they call that splitting hairs?” she muttered.

  “I agree with taking it back to Los Angeles,” Giovanni said. “Our agreement with Ernesto means even if by some chance rumors about the gold get out, we’ll still be safe in his territory. He won’t risk his relationship with Beatrice.”

  The don of Los Angeles was Beatrice’s great-grandfather many times removed, and the immortal had a special regard for Ben’s aunt even though they often didn’t see eye to eye.

  “Los Angeles,” Ben said. “Which means it’ll be a few weeks until you can roll around like Scrooge in your new pile of money, Tiny.”

  “Weeks?” Her eyes went wide. “How long do you expect me to stay on this boat with you?”

  “All the way to the mainland, my friend. All the way.”

  She fell back into the sofa. “We’ll see.”

  “Don’t piss me off, Tenzin.”

  “Why not?” Giovanni said. “It’s pretty much her favorite pastime.”

  “You know, you encourage her when you get like this.” Benjamin rose and walked to the door. “Not helpful. Now get going, Señor Vecchio. Or the night will be over before we get home.”

  Giovanni stood and embraced Ben. “Be careful,” he said quietly. “Cofresí isn’t usually violent but—”

  “I know.”

  “And be careful”—Giovanni glanced at Tenzin—“with everything.”

  Ben looked him right in the eye. “I will.”

  26

  Ben and Tenzin were silent when they pulled into the garage near the house in San Juan. They were silent when they went inside and silent when Ben pulled a pot of stew from the refrigerator.

  How long had it been since he cooked it? Three days? Was that all it had been since he’d left the lovebirds with Liza and taken off west to search for the rest of Enríquez’s treasure?

  Ben put the pot of chicken stew on the stove and turned on the flame. He was hungry. He’d been forgetting to eat too often. He’d eaten a full lunch with the nice family on the beach today and forgotten to eat dinner afterward because he was anticipating the night’s activities with Tenzin and Giovanni.

  He reached a hand up to feel the bruises on his neck. They were still visible, though they didn’t hurt as much, reminders of the last time he and Tenzin had truly been alone.

  She walked into the kitchen and peeked at the stew. “That looks good. I think it’s been two days since I’ve had anything in my stomach.”

  Because you’re flush with all my blood in your system.

  He didn’t say it, but he thought it.

  Tell her you remember.

  Nope. No, no, no. That would be…

  What? What would it be?

  What was it that he’d texted Liza?

  Complicated.

  His phone buzzed. It was that damn bird at the surf shack again. “I’m going to have to go west tomorrow,” he said. “Get all our stuff from Quebradillas and close up the house. Then we’ll come back here and close this place up before we head to the beach.”

  “Sounds good.” She gave him a searching look. “Are you really not going to see your grandmother before we leave here?”

  He stirred the stew. “What am I supposed to do? Catch her up on my life? She’d call me crazy or have a heart attack.”

  “You don’t have to tell her who you are. You didn’t tell your cousin.”

  “She might recognize me,” Ben said. “I don’t know… probably. I wasn’t a baby the last time I saw her. I was ten, and even with a beard, I haven’t changed that much. She’s not senile; she would probably recognize me.”

  Tenzin got an odd look on her face. “She wouldn’t. Not unless you told her.”

  “I know you didn’t know me when I was that young, but have you seen pictures of me around Gio and B’s house? I don’t look that—”

  “She wouldn’t recognize you, Ben. She’s legally blind.”

  Ben turned to stare at Tenzin. “What?”

  “She only told me because I asked. I doubt most of her neighbors even realize because she’s so functional. But she’s nearly blind. That’s why she stays in her house even though it’s in the country and more room than she really needs. She knows every corner of it. She can work in the garden and walk around and live mostly on her own. Liza knows. That’s why she moved back in with her three years ago.”

  Ben tried to wrap his mind around the idea. The agent he’d sent never mentioned it, but then maybe he didn’t know. Maybe he thought Ben already knew.

  He pulled out his phone and scrolled through the pictures his cousin had sent him of Abuela with the birds. There was no way of knowing from the expression on her face. She looked at the camera, but then that camera was being held by Liza, and she knew her own granddaughter’s voice. She looked at the birds, but the birds were probably chirping.

  “She’s blind?”

  “It’s macular degeneration. She has some peripheral vision,” Tenzin said. “She can see light and dark. It didn’t happen all at once.” She bit her lip.

  Ben didn’t know how to feel. Clearly his grandmother was living a happy, safe life. And Tenzin was right. This disease meant he could probably go see her without endangering her or Liza. She wouldn’t have to know who he was.

  “But she’s okay, right?”

  “It’s progressive. And can be genetic. Liza is already getting regular eye checks even though her vision is perfect. Just to be safe. But yes, other than that, she’s in perfect health. It’s not related to any other sickness.”

  Ben nodded. Was he relieved? Excited? Relieved that his own grandmother was blind? What kind of person was he?

  He stirred the chicken stew and reached for the bowls on the shelf above the stove. “I need to think about it.”

  “Think fast,” Tenzin said. “We only have a few more days.”

  “I know.”

  He drove to Quebradillas the next morning with his shirt off and his windows down. He blasted cumbias and reggaeton on the speakers. He drove slowly and didn’t complain about the traffic. The usual annoyances of the human world—rude drivers, waiting in lines at the lunch counter, burning his tongue because he ate too fast—none of it bothered him. Heat. Flies. Honking trucks. He wanted to feel everything in this place. He wanted to absorb it. Wanted it to become part of his DNA.

  It is.

  For the first time, Ben allowed himself to think about his history here. His ancestors had come to this place, paddling in on wooden canoes, sailing in on merchant ships, dragged here against their will on slave ships. They had come here, and they had survived. Part of them survived in him.

  People had gone to war for this place. Nations had fought to control this small island. His father had run away. His grandmother and his cousin were continually drawn back.

  “Three elements. Three peoples. We boriqueños are all of them, are we not? Native and Spanish and African. Made of the ocean and the mountains and yes, even the hurricanes that test us.”

  Camino’s words haunted him. Why was this place any more or less special than another? What did blood really matter? Why did it matter where your people came from?

  Ben didn’t have a home. Not here. Not anywhere.

  But something in his blood tugged on him in this place. Some instinct told him to dig down to find more.

  Impossible.


  The little voice at the back of his mind spoke up again. The human things of this life are not for you. You made your choice when you lied to the vampire. When you chose the monsters.

  Enough.

  He had made his choice. Maybe it was time to say goodbye.

  Ben pulled out his phone and texted Liza.

  Dinner tomorrow night? I have to leave the next day.

  A few minutes later, she texted back. Let me check if I can switch at work.

  Part of him hoped she wouldn’t be able to manage it. It would give him an easy out. He could always promise to text her the next time he was on the island and just never come—

  My friend can switch with me. Liza added a thumbs-up emoji. Grandma = excited. She wants to know all about the adventurer from New York who gave her birds. Is the girlfriend coming?

  Ben squeezed his eyes shut. Complicated =/= girlfriend.

  Yes, absolutely. I totally believe you.

  Ben checked the sunset time for the next day. She’s not free until 6:30. It’s okay. We don’t have to wait for her.

  He whispered, “Please don’t want to meet her. Please.”

  6:30 is perfect. See you then.

  “Shit.”

  Now he had to call Tenzin.

  Ben left San Juan well before sunset the next night, giving himself enough time to drive most of the way to Río Grande from Old San Juan. Evening traffic was in full force, and it took him an hour and a half to get there, even using the shortcuts Liza recommended. He drove from the city into the country, using mostly back roads, until he came to the place he’d agreed to meet Tenzin.

  Sadly, she’d been more than enthusiastic about going to his grandmother’s for dinner.

  “She’s an amazing cook. I smelled it.”

  “How much time did you spend at her house?”

  “It didn’t take long to smell what she was cooking. It was delicious.”

  “That did not answer my question, Tenzin.”

  Ben pulled over at the service station and waited for her; she was flying in from the rental house. Would she actually meet him? No telling. Luckily, he’d already told Liza his friend was flaky, so should she not show up—