The Force of Wind

by Elizabeth Hunter

  “Lorenzo said he had made promises to people. When he had me on the freighter, he said he had ‘made promises to people who were starting to doubt he could deliver.’ There’s obviously someone else involved. At least one other person, maybe more.”

  “And,” Stephen added, “if my contact is correct that Lorenzo was researching pharmaceutical labs in Eastern Europe—possibly to produce it—then he must have someone who can fund him. That wouldn’t be cheap, and B stole most of his money.”

  “You did?” Baojia turned to Beatrice with a look of amusement. “I always wondered why a college girl had that much cash. Ernesto never said. How clever of you.”

  “Thanks!” She smiled.

  Giovanni swallowed a growl, but he caught Baojia’s eye and threw an arm around the back of Beatrice’s chair.

  Tenzin crossed her arms over her chest. “So, killing the annoying one is not the ideal outcome. But, if it happens, it happens. If there’s a tie, Gio has to challenge Lorenzo; that is what’s done. And if he challenges him, he will kill him.”

  “He can’t just like… take him captive or something?”

  Tenzin shook her head. “Nope. All or nothing. Only one of them would be allowed to leave the island.”

  “Great.” Beatrice sighed.

  Giovanni was torn. He wanted to find his father’s books so badly he could taste it, but the prospect of killing Lorenzo was also rather alluring. Since it was out of his control, he chose not to torment himself. He would do what he needed to do. Soon after, the group split for the evening; Beatrice kissed him goodbye before leaving with Tenzin and Baojia for more training. He and Stephen went to the library and dove back into research again.

  A week and a half flew by, and the five of them stayed barricaded in Tenzin’s quarters except for one brief trip to the open ocean for Giovanni and Beatrice. She was ecstatic, ebullient in her joy and surrounded by her element. She dove under the surface, playing for hours. She wasn’t as strong as she might have been, and Giovanni suspected that, like her father, she would draw more elemental strength from fresh water, though she could easily manipulate both.

  Late on Friday night, Tenzin, Beatrice, Stephen and Baojia were playing a game of poker by the fire while Giovanni read a book. He saw Beatrice’s nostrils flare a second before a knock came at the door. She burst up from the table, rushing toward the door, but Stephen quickly caught her, holding her back from the human servant someone had foolishly sent.

  Giovanni walked over and took Beatrice’s arms, braceleting her wrists with one hand before he grabbed her around the waist and took her from her father, carrying her to the corner. She snarled at him, baring her teeth and whipping around in an attempt to get away and hunt the human. He waited patiently for Tenzin to send the servant away.

  “Order some blood, at least a liter,” he called over his shoulder to Stephen as Beatrice cursed at him in Spanish. Baojia stood behind him, ready for her to break away. Giovanni was reluctantly grateful. A newly turned vampire in the midst of bloodlust could be surprisingly strong. When he could hear the human’s steps receding, he shoved her into the corner, braced his legs around hers, and brought his wrist to her mouth. She tore at it, biting hard into the flesh as she glared at him with narrowed eyes.

  “Shhh,” he murmured. Soon, she was calmer, and he let go of her wrists, bringing his hand up to stroke her hair. “Drink what you need, my love. Your father is getting you more blood.”

  He could tell when reason grabbed hold of her again because her eyes cleared and bloody tears leaked from the corners. She let go of his wrist and wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning into him.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. That was the first time I’ve smelled a live one. Their blood—”

  “I know. Don’t apologize; it’s perfectly natural, and we were unprepared. It’s fine, Beatrice.” He still stroked her face as he heard Stephen enter the room and Baojia faded back. Giovanni could smell the warm blood from the corner. “Go, drink. You hadn’t fed tonight. We’ve been too casual about it, being isolated like this. You’ll need to be more prepared in the future.”

  “What about the trial?” She sniffed and wiped her eyes as she sat at the table. “There are usually humans in the hall. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

  Tenzin came to sit next to her, holding a folded piece of paper. “There won’t be any during the trial. It’s vampire only. If you were still human, you wouldn’t be allowed in.” Giovanni caught the quick gleam in Tenzin’s eye.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Lan’s back. They’re meeting tomorrow night.”

  Giovanni nodded. He had no sense of nervousness, only a grim kind of resolve. Whatever happened, he would be getting his way. Either the council could vote with him, or he could kill Lorenzo.

  Giovanni tried to ignore the pervasive sense of foreboding when he rose next to Beatrice the following afternoon. By nightfall, they were both fed and dressed in the formal clothing that Zhang provided them. They wore the soft blue-grey robes and pants that the scholars of the court wore. Their collars were adorned with a single jewel indicating their element, deep blue lapis lazuli for Beatrice and a blood-red jasper for Giovanni. Beatrice tied her hair back into a subdued knot at the nape of her neck.

  They met Tenzin, Stephen, and Baojia in the front room. Stephen also wore the grey scholar’s robes, but Tenzin wore a silver robe similar in style to her father’s formal white, which was decorated with an ornately jeweled Mandarin collar with dotted moonstones and pearls. Her hair, which she usually tied back, flowed around her shoulders in a long, black sweep. Baojia looked severe in the plain black robes worn by the palace guards. They were met and escorted by one of the green-clad administrators who worked for Zhang.

  “Gio?” He heard Beatrice speak softly as they crossed the gardens.

  “Yes?”

  “My dad was explaining all the color meanings to me. If yellow is supposed to be the most beautiful color, why do the servants wear it around here? Wouldn’t that be reserved for the Elders or something?”

  He smiled. Trust Beatrice to be curious instead of nervous on the way to meet an enemy. “Many of the servants here are monks, Beatrice, so they wear their yellow or saffron robes. Most of the other humans dress in brown. But the ones you have seen tending the gardens are almost all monks. It is considered a great honor to serve in the palace of the Eight Immortals.”

  “Oh, I guess that makes sense.”

  “The elders wear white because it is the symbol of death.”

  “That… doesn’t make much sense.”

  He smiled again. “But they are the masters of death, aren’t they?”

  They climbed the stone steps leading to the great hall, even Tenzin was oddly subdued as they made their way to the front of the room and took their place in front of Zhang’s leather throne.

  The elder was already seated, looking calm and fearsome, his hair loose and long as his daughter’s. At times, it was easy to forget that Tenzin and her father belonged to a far less civilized past than the one represented by most of the sophisticated vampires of the Chinese court. With his hair flowing around him, seated on his saddle-like throne, Elder Zhang Guo looked like the ancient warlord he was. Tenzin stood behind her father, playing the loyal daughter for appearance’s sake. Even the most powerful of immortals would tremble to challenge the pair.

  Giovanni glanced at Beatrice, who was taking in everything with her perceptive eyes, measuring each Elder and the people who scurried around them. Baojia stood behind her, watching, always watching, anyone that came too close. Once again, Giovanni found himself reluctantly grateful.

  “Baojia, will you be able to translate for Beatrice?” he asked quietly. “I’m sure this will all be in Mandarin, and I will have to speak at some point.”

  “Not if you want me to be able to concentrate on protecting her.”

  “I can translate,” Stephen whispered.

  “Anything you don’t want
overheard, say in Spanish,” Giovanni said. “It’s not widely spoken here and will be the most secure.”

  Stephen nodded as Zhongli’s guards entered the hall. The Elder was already at the front of the room, but the guards ushered Lorenzo between them. Giovanni scoffed when he saw his son wearing scholar’s robes like their own. Though the pursuit of knowledge was far from a priority with him, Lorenzo was nothing if not a master of appearances. In that way, Giovanni supposed Lorenzo truly had become Andros’s heir.

  Giovanni was curious about the company he was keeping. There were eight guards around Lorenzo, all wind vampires from the look of their robes, which bore the milky moonstone associated with the wind element. Eight. A lucky number, particularly when associated with business. He had a feeling that the selection was not without calculation. All the Elders were superstitious, but none more so than Lorenzo’s host, Zhongli Quan.

  Little by little, the hall filled, until eventually, every elder was on his or her throne and their entourages filled the room in front of them. Energy buzzed, the collision of electrical currents charging the air. The torches and lamps that lit the room flickered, and a soft wind brushed through the crowd. Everyone was there and waiting.

  Except for Elder Lan.

  Giovanni exchanged a look with Baojia, who only shrugged. “No one’s surprised, are they?”

  Suddenly, every head turned when a laugh rang from the back of the room, and a high-pitched voice called out, “Are you all waiting for me? How amusing!”

  The childlike elder tripped into the room with a huge smile adorning his or her face. Just as Lan passed them, Giovanni saw the elder pause for only a fraction of a second. Lan caught Beatrice’s eye as she stood next to Giovanni and gave her a playful wink.

  Giovanni looked down at Beatrice, then back to Lan, who had already moved up to the throne at the front of the room. Beatrice looked up at Giovanni with an expression of equal confusion.

  “What the hell did that mean?” she murmured in Spanish between clenched lips.

  “Tesoro… I have no idea.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Penglai Mountain, China

  November 2010

  “There’s still something I’m not getting about this,” Beatrice whispered to her father in Spanish as the formal greetings of the court began. Each elder was standing to greet the assembled vampires and most of them seemed highly impressed with their own voices.

  “There’s a lot about this that I don’t understand,” Stephan whispered back.

  “Why did he agree to this?”

  “Who?”

  “Lorenzo,” she said. “Why did he agree to this? Everyone seems to be sure that the Elders will either vote for Gio or tie, both of which leave Lorenzo at a disadvantage, so why did he ask for this trial?”

  Stephen shrugged. “Perhaps he didn’t plan for it. When he made the request, it was right after Lorenzo discovered he had no claim over me. Maybe it was not well thought out.”

  “I’m not buying it,” Beatrice whispered as the Immortal Woman began to speak. Like Lan Caihe, He Xiangu was not as long-winded as the rest of the council. Thinking about her own terse mate, Beatrice wondered if it was a characteristic of all fire vampires. “Lorenzo plans everything. He may be totally different from Gio in a lot of ways, but not that. They both plan for every contingency.”

  “Beatrice, I don’t know what to tell you.”

  “Shhh,” Giovanni turned to them and made a shushing motion as Tenzin’s father stood to speak.

  “Immortal brothers and sisters of the council, I would take this opportunity to introduce an immortal sired in my household these past weeks. Most of you know the dear friend of my only child, Tenzin, was turned by my daughter’s mate in my home. We welcome you to our honored company, Beatrice De Novo. Daughter of water, mated to fire. Kinswoman of Don Ernesto Alvarez of California. Honored friend of my house and learned scribe.”

  Though Beatrice had been briefed on the importance of her formal introduction, she still felt like blushing, even though she couldn’t. Her heart began to beat as she stepped forward, nodding deeply to Zhang, then turned to the rest of the room and gave a slight nod. She stepped back next to Giovanni, with her father standing behind her. Her eyes scanned the room, searching out Lorenzo to gauge his reaction.

  She finally spotted his blond curls in the middle of a group of Zhongli’s guards. Far from the anger she had expected, Lorenzo looked positively gleeful, and his eyes looked her over with clear interest and approval. She knew Giovanni had spotted him when she felt his hand brush hers. His amnis reached out and wrapped around her waist.

  Stephen leaned over once Zhang had stopped speaking. “Why do they call us scribes, B? It makes me feel old.”

  She snorted a little under her breath. “Because it sounds cooler than assistant professor and librarian?”

  “Laugh if you want,” she heard Baojia say as his eyes scanned the room, “but Zhang gave you that title deliberately. It is now part of who you are here, and it’s not something this court takes lightly.”

  “Come to think of it, B, I’ve never been named a scribe in any formal way,” Stephen said. “That is significant.”

  “And I was not informed of it,” Giovanni muttered. All four were speaking in Spanish, and Beatrice could see the curious looks from the few vampires around who could hear them.

  “I think we need to shut up now,” Beatrice said.

  “Quite right, Tesoro.”

  Zhongli was speaking. “It is my guest, Lorenzo, who has brought this petition to us. He claims the right of ownership on a certain book that is in the possession of Elder Lu Dongbin’s monks.” Zhongli nodded toward Lorenzo, who stepped forward.

  “The book in question belonged to the sire of my own father, Giovanni di Spada of Florence, Giovanni Vecchio to the company here. Though it was intended for my father, the great library of Nikolaos Andreas was scattered five hundred years ago. It is only with great care and much time and expense that I have managed to find a few valued pieces from my grand-sire’s collection.”

  “Liar,” Beatrice whispered.

  Giovanni shot her a look. “Shh.”

  “Imagine my dismay when those same books were stolen by my own son when he ran from my home. He took this manuscript, along with several others that were worth a considerable amount of money. I’m sure he has sold many of them.” Lorenzo shook his head sadly. “But this one in particular was very dear to Andreas and it is my hope that it may be returned to my rightful ownership.”

  Royal Uncle Cao, the earth vampire, leaned forward. “But if it was intended for your sire, then why do you have a claim on it?”

  It was Zhongli that responded. “Surely the Elder must recognize that my guest is the one who found the book. If Giovanni Vecchio wanted it, surely he would have been the one to find it.”

  “Perhaps he would have,” the Immortal Woman spoke, “if he had known it had survived the destruction of Andreas’s library.”

  “Indeed,” Elder Lu added. “It seems to me that the original intentions of the owner, the scholar, Nikolaos Andreas, should be honored in this matter. He intended it for his only son; it should belong to his son. I’m sure Giovanni Vecchio would reimburse his child for any expense he incurred while searching for the book.”

  “Indeed,” Giovanni spoke up, “I would be happy to reimburse Lorenzo for any expenses, though I sent him into the world with wealth, as is the custom.”

  “I was wondering,” Elder Zhang spoke, “why your son took these books, Lorenzo. You imply that it was for money. Did he not have an allowance from his sire?”

  “Why would you?” Beatrice whispered.

  All eyes turned to Stephen as he spoke to the hall. “Sadly, my father did not send me into the world with anything, Elder Zhang. I had to fend for myself.”

  A low murmur of disapproval filled the room. Beatrice looked at Giovanni. “What? What’s the big deal? I mean, not every vampire is turned by their choice, right? It’s n
ot always friendly. Why would Lorenzo give my father anything?”

  “Even in cases where the vampire is unwilling, Beatrice, it is still customary after a certain number of years to send a child into the world with some degree of independence if they want to leave. Since I was Andros’s only child, he would have given at least a quarter of his wealth to me if he had sent me away.”

  “What? Really?”

  “Yes, I wouldn’t have gone—he had far too much influence over me—but when I sent Lorenzo out on his own, I sent a third of my wealth with him.”

  “It is the custom among our kind,” Baojia whispered. “If you send a child away from your care, out of your aegis, it is considered very shameful to send them away with nothing.”

  “But Dad escaped.”

  The room was still milling, and Beatrice could see a sour expression on Lorenzo’s face.

  “My son,” Lorenzo spoke over the crowd, “Stephen, ran away from my aegis. If he had told me his desire to leave, I would surely have given him gold, as is proper.”

  A few vampires on Zhongli’s side nodded, as if that explanation was satisfactory, but Beatrice could tell by the subtle frowns and veiled expressions of the vampires in the hall that the mood of the room had shifted against Lorenzo.

  “Perhaps he took these books out of spite,” Elder Han, the water vampire, said. “Why should we honor the actions of a spiteful child?”

  “Why should we deliberate at all?” Elder Lan finally spoke, and the attention of the room swung toward the previously silent vampire. “Why shouldn’t it remain with Lu’s monks? I’m sure they are taking good care of it.”

  More nods were seen among the Elders, and Lorenzo pursed his lips.

  Beatrice didn’t like the idea. They needed to find out more about the book, and currently, it was being held at a monastery of unknown location, and they couldn’t even examine it. If they were ever going to find out what the secret of Geber’s elixir was, they needed the manuscript.