“Kind of both.”
Looking through the eyes of the masks, the room beyond was visible. In this case it was only the empty ballroom, but in other circumstances, it would be the perfect place to spy.
Tenzin left the room and walked toward what would be the center of the house. She was as happy as a kid in a candy store.
“You love this, don’t you?”
She turned and her eyes were dancing. “It’s very cool.” She beckoned him with a finger. “Come look.”
The pattern followed through the entryway. A wide hallway lined with sconces encircled the massive walls of the grand entrance, and narrow stairs led to higher and lower floors.
“This is a labyrinth,” Ben said. “You know what this reminds me of.”
“Yes.” Tenzin flew up a wall and into sheer darkness. “An immortal designed this.”
“Without a doubt.” It wasn’t only the lack of windows that gave it away. Ben spotted a few quirks he’d come to recognize in vampire homes.
There were no clocks on the walls, but there were many mirrors, mostly at the end of hallways and at junctions. Vampires didn’t like surprises, and they didn’t much care about time.
Ben had the feeling if the icon was in Gergo Farkas’s home, it was going to be in these passages.
“See anything like the icon?”
“Not yet, but I know we’re on the right track.”
“Unfortunately,” he muttered, “this place isn’t organized in any way.”
“That is very true.”
It was going to take much longer what with twice the number of walls to check.
Farkas’s private collection followed no rhyme or reason. The only common decorating theme was the masks, and all of which he’d checked so far had proved to be hiding peepholes into rooms.
The shadow rooms on either side of the ballroom connected via the entryway, branching off there to run down the center of the house between the entryway and the rooms on the north and south ends. On the north side, Ben found a large library and what looked like offices.
On the south side, connecting through the entryway, were private salons and game rooms designed for amusement. A room devoted entirely to jigsaw puzzles and model making. Another with a pool and snooker table.
Each shadow room reflected the use of the room beyond. Game rooms and private libraries with rare books. Ben spotted more than one edition that would make his aunt and uncle drool.
“Anything like an icon yet?”
“No.” Tenzin landed in front of him. “I have an idea.”
“What is it?”
“Most of these European palaces had a chapel attached. Usually tucked away. Very private.”
Ben looked around at the rare book library. “So if all the shadow rooms reflect the use of the rooms beyond…”
“Find the public chapel,” she said. “Then look for the private one.”
Ben and Tenzin exited the shadow rooms near the entry on the second floor.
“Where is the library?”
“Through here.”
Ben and Tenzin entered the wide and impressive room. Beatrice could have spent hours there, but Ben didn’t have that kind of time. “Look.” He pointed to a small, gilt-edged door between two massive built-in bookcases. “There.”
“Jampot.”
“That’s not a thing, Tenzin.”
Ben and Tenzin walked through the small door and under an archway, only to be immediately assaulted by the scent of incense.
Tenzin sniffed. “Yep. Definitely an Orthodox Christian living here.”
“Okay.” Ben spun in the middle of the intimate chapel, the floor tiled in an intricate mosaic and the ceiling painted with sacred art. “What are we looking for?”
Tenzin began gently pressing on walls. “We’re looking for the real chapel.”
Ben began to copy her movements, and within a few minutes he heard a quiet click behind him.
“Tenzin?” Ben looked over his shoulder, then turned to scan the room.
She was gone.
18
Tenzin waited a few minutes in the sacred silence of the private chapel. She turned in the center of the room, enjoying the scent of incense and wax. She spotted a familiar face in the far corner and walked over to greet her.
“Hello, Kali Ma.” Tenzin put her right hand over her heart and bowed. “It has been too long, mother.”
The painting hanging on the wall was a relatively modern depiction of the goddess, her skin the color of charcoal ash and her four arms round and fat with bounty. One of her right hands was up in a position of blessing and the other held a handful of pink flowers. In the left hands, she carried a curved sword and a bloody severed head.
Her long black hair fell down her naked body in a wild, untamed waterfall. Delicate fangs peeked from behind her lips, and a golden crown adorned her head. The painting was framed in gold and an altar had been built beneath it.
Mother and devourer. It wasn’t the first time Tenzin had encountered the goddess, and it wouldn’t be the last. Kali was beyond time. Some vampires believed she was time.
Tenzin looked at the Christian sister whose picture they had come for, resting patiently in her golden frame, her eyes only hinting at the sacred and ferocious feminine she represented to her devotees. As Tenzin surveyed the chapel, she recognized other familiar faces.
Parvati and Durga.
Dana.
Kybele.
Pele.
Ala and Ishtar.
Tenzin glanced back at Kali Ma before she went to fetch Benjamin. “I haven’t forgotten you, Kali Ma. But you haven’t caught me yet.”
She pushed on the panel leading out to the chapel and invited Ben inside.
“Hey.” His eyes widened when he poked his head inside the chapel. “Oh wow.”
“This is the place he truly worships.” Even as she said it, Tenzin knew it wasn’t true. This place wasn’t for Gergo Farkas. There was a profoundly feminine energy in the space, and it came from both the worshippers and the worshipped.
She gestured to the small icon hanging near Kali’s right hands. “I believe we’ve found your icon.”
Ben stepped inside the room, and his vibrant, masculine energy filled the space.
Tenzin glanced at Kali Ma, pleased that she felt no imbalance. Ben was the best kind of male, utterly confident in who he was while humble enough to respect the feminine.
Ben stood in front of Sara-la-Kali. The icon was modest next to the gilt-edged painting of Kali. The woman was depicted in the flat perspective common in Eastern European art. Her skin was medium brown and her eyes large, dark, and round. She wore a soft pink scarf around her hair, the base knotted at her nape, and her right hand was raised in a gentle blessing.
“There she is.” Ben’s voice was soft. “Damn.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It probably sounds strange, but I really hate to move her. She seems happy here.”
Tenzin smiled. It was good to see his reluctance. “She won’t mind.”
He glanced over his shoulder, amused. “I don’t think she’ll care one way or the other, but it’s obvious that Farkas holds this icon in enormous esteem.” He turned in a circle. “This is a very… deliberate collection.”
“It is.” Depictions of the sacred feminine from all parts of the world were everywhere. Creation and destruction. Life and death. Hindu, Christian, druidic, pagan, and more. Her eyes locked on a small triptych on the altar to the right of Kali. “Yes, it’s quite obvious that this isn’t simply… art.”
Could it be?
Oh, you clever vampire.
Tenzin smiled at the Renaissance painting. “Take the icon. Sara-la-Kali belongs to Radu and his people.”
“Are you sure?”
“Quite sure. You will not offend her.” She stepped forward to examine the triptych. The patroness who had commissioned it was pictured to the left of Mary, raising the same hand of blessing that Sara and the Kali offered.
Yes, sh
e was a very clever girl.
How had she concealed their relationship so well? Tenzin had studied Gergo Farkas, and not a hint of immortal connection had come to light.
Where was this leading?
Was that why her brother…?
“Oh!” Pieces of Radu’s plan started to fall into place, but there were still a number of holes. What an odd, roundabout way of—
“Tenzin?”
Oops. She’d forgotten about Ben.
Tenzin turned. “Hmm?”
“What’s going on?”
Would he see? Probably not. She gestured to the triptych. “I was just admiring this one.” If he noticed it, she’d fill him in. If not… he’d figure it out soon enough.
Ben shook his head. “We’re not taking any other pieces from this place. I feel bad enough taking the icon.”
“Oh no, it’s fine.” She waved a hand. “I’m not going to take anything else. Well, maybe…” She picked up a small pink posy that had been laid on the Kali’s altar. Kali Ma wouldn’t mind. Tenzin wanted to press an offering in Nima’s journal.
“A flower?” Ben asked. “I doubt Farkas is going to notice.”
He gently lifted the icon from the wall and placed it in the case he’d brought with them. It was only about a foot and a half long by a foot wide. He secured the icon, placed the protective layers over it, then strapped the case onto his back.
“Okay, we better go.”
He was focused now. All he was thinking about was securing the prize and returning it to the client. He wasn’t seeing the larger puzzle, but he would. Soon.
“Right.” Tenzin turned, pressed her hands together, and bowed toward Kali Ma. Then she reached into her pocket and took out the only offering she’d brought, a lime-flavored candy she’d grabbed from Gavin’s club the night before. She placed the candy on the altar, murmured a mantra, and bowed once more.
Ben was frowning. “What are you doing?”
“I’ll explain later.” She pushed the panel open and walked into the baroque chapel. “Come on. Radu is waiting.”
Ben sat in his room in Budapest, drinking a glass of blood-wine and staring at the icon he’d stolen from a human thief to give to a vampire one.
All’s fair in love and war.
And art theft. Ben was fine with that. Farkas was a well-known thief, and he’d left his house unprotected. He couldn’t be surprised that decades of privacy, layers of aliases, and dense Hungarian bureaucracy had not been enough to protect him.
Nope.
Something else was bugging him. It wasn’t only Tenzin’s odd reaction in Farkas’s chapel. It wasn’t the eclectic mix of deities in the worship space. It was the house itself.
Which vampire designed it? Was it a coincidence? Had Gergo Farkas happened to buy a house that had once belonged to a vampire? It was possible. He could have found the passages after he bought the property and decided the house had belonged to a criminal or a kinky aristocrat. It might even have been why he liked the mansion in the first place.
But that didn’t explain the mirrors.
The carefully placed mirrors were the thing that was bugging him. Paranoid human or cautious vampire?
I’ll explain later.
Tenzin said that a lot, but she didn’t always follow through. What had she been looking at in the chapel? What about the triptych had caught her eye when there were so many other, more valuable, pieces of art in the house?
Why had she been so quick to leave when this was their last job and she clearly didn’t want to cut ties with him?
Because once they were finished with this, the two of them were done. Going their separate ways.
Finished.
And she seemed totally fine with it.
Ben rose and walked to her room. Tenzin was hiding something, and he was going to find out what it was.
He knocked on the door.
Tenzin opened it, and her lips were pale.
Ben frowned. “Have you not been eating?”
She shrugged. “I forgot.”
“Tenzin—”
“I don’t get hungry like you do, Benjamin. It’s not the same for me.”
“When was the last time you drank anything fresh? There’s a pub two floors below this with donors.”
Her eyebrow went up. “Are you my mother?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. Forget I said anything.”
“Okay.” She started to close the door, and he stopped it with his foot. It was so easy to fall into familiar bickering patterns with her, he’d almost forgotten why he came.
“I didn’t come to nag you about eating regularly.”
“Good.” She tried to close the door again, but he didn’t move. “Why did you come?”
To seduce you, strip off your clothes, and make you drink from my neck.
Nope. Bad idea. That was not why he was there.
He cleared his throat. “It’s later.”
“And?”
“There was something going on at the house earlier when we found the icon. You said you’d explain later.”
She frowned; then her eyes lit in awareness. “Ah. Yes. I have been reflecting on that.”
“Thinking instead of reacting?”
“Yes.” She raised a finger. “Exactly. Thinking instead of reacting. And I think…”
He waited for longer than he usually would. “Yes?”
“I think I’m not going to tell you after all.” She pursed her lips and nodded. “Yes.”
And just like that, she’d pissed him off again. “So there’s definitely something else going on? Something I’m not seeing?”
She nodded again. “Yes.”
“Possibly the thing about this job that was throwing you off to begin with?”
“Yes! That’s probably what it was. Good catch.”
“But you’re not going to tell me.”
“No.”
“Even though we’re partners.”
She pointed down the hall toward his room. “You have Radu’s icon, so we’re not partners anymore.”
Ben blinked in surprise and felt his heart give a quiet thunk.
“…we’re not partners anymore.”
“We’re not partners anymore.” He forced the words out. “Just like that?”
“That was what you wanted.” She closed her eyes. “You said, ‘This is a temporary thing, Tenzin.’ You were very clear.”
It was the fact that she seemed totally unperturbed by it that set him off. “I also said that you should go when I asked you to go, not before we were finished.”
“Ah.” She gave him a rueful smile. “I see.”
“What? You see what?” He leaned against the door to keep it open.
“You want me around, but you don’t want to be my partner. Not really my partner. You just want me to… hang around, waiting for you to decide what you want.”
It was exactly what he’d accused her of doing countless times. “Seems fair for you to have a turn,” he said sharply. “Besides, you’re the one withholding information.”
“It may seem fair, but it’s not. I never sent you away.”
“No, you just ran away instead of talking.”
“And then you ran away.” She spread her arms. “An eye for an eye. I’m here now. Do you want to talk about what happened in Puerto Rico? Or what happened in Penglai? Or why I guarantee neither of us has had sex since we went our separate ways?”
Ben felt cold and hot all at the same time. “I didn’t come here to talk about that.”
“Fine.” She tried to close the door but couldn’t because his foot was in the way. She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t make me, Benjamin.”
“I’m amnis resistant now, remember? And according to Zhang, I’m probably just as strong as you are.” He leaned closer. “You can’t make me do anything.”
She took his movement a step further and leaned into his space.
Ben’s body roared to life. His amnis leapt toward her. He could feel
the air whisper in the space between them, and every cell in his body begged him to reach out.
Step closer. Consume her. Take everything. She is yours.
“That instinct you’re feeling right now? You think I don’t feel it too?” Her voice was low and quiet, barely over a murmur. “I have not let another being take my vein for over four thousand years. I have killed any who tried. My blood and my instincts are shouting at me that you are mine in every way, yet for two years now, you have kept me at a distance. You have no idea what this is costing me.”
He stared at the fine strands that grew along her hairline. The pores of her pale skin. The minute creases next to her eyes. He looked at her and saw everything in a way his human eyes never could. And he still wanted to be closer.
He drank her scent and felt like drowning. “You took my blood too.”
Tenzin looked up and boldly met his eyes. “Yes, I did.”
“Why?”
Fine lines appeared between her eyebrows. “Why do you think?”
His chest felt like it was cracked open. “Just tell me.”
Tenzin floated up his body, and Ben forced himself to remain frozen. He felt her lips an inch away, running along his jawline and down his neck, pausing where his vein lay shallow beneath the skin. If she opened her mouth, her fangs would draw blood.
“Why would I tell you what you already know?” She warmed her breath before it touched his skin, sending pinpricks of pleasure in a wave down his body.
“I told you everything that night,” he whispered. “I bared my soul.”
“Yes,” Tenzin said simply. “You offered your love to me, then you demanded that I watch you die.”
Ben’s breath stopped; he couldn’t speak.
Tenzin’s voice held pain. “I knew you had cruelty in you, Benjamin. I didn’t think you would use it on me. Not like that.”
“That’s not what I did.”
“That” —she pulled away and there were tears in her eyes— “is exactly what you did.”
She put a hand on his chest and pushed him away. Ben didn’t resist. He couldn’t. He backed into the hallway, his arms still crossed over his chest while his blood screamed at him to reach out and take her, hold her, keep her close.
“I’m leaving tomorrow at nightfall.” Tenzin stared over his shoulder, the tears still visible in her eyes. “Goodbye, Ben.”
Dawn Caravan: Elemental Legacy Book Four (Elemental Legacy Novels 4) Page 14