She said nothing. She leaned against the door of the trailer, blocking the entrance.
Ben asked, “Will you come to my caravan tomorrow night so Sadia can say hello to both of us?”
“Of course I will.”
“Okay.” Ben didn’t know what else he wanted to say, he just knew he didn’t want to say goodbye.
Brigid was right.
When you’d been wounded, you held on to the things that gave you light. Even if they weren’t good for you. Even if they hurt.
“I don’t know how to not be angry with you,” he said quietly.
“I know.” She opened her mouth. Closed it.
“New Year’s resolutions?”
“I told Chloe I might need to pause them, but I don’t think I have to,” Tenzin said. “At least not with you.” She stared over his shoulder at the horizon. “I told you I would wait.”
“It’s been two years.”
“And?” Her eyes drifted to his. “I have waited longer for things I want.”
Desire twisted in Ben’s belly, and Tenzin smiled.
He couldn’t hide his irritation. “Do you always know when I’m horny?”
“Yes, I always have.”
“Yeah? Well I knew too.” Ben thought about all the times he’d caught her looking at him with pure female appreciation. She loved looking at his body. “Want me to take my shirt off?”
“Yes.” She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Anytime you would like.”
Fuck. “Well… I’m not going to, because I’m not an exhibitionist.”
“A very damaged bedroom on Penglai Island says otherwise.”
Ben’s fangs dropped. If he could have blushed, he would have. “That wasn’t exhibition.”
“Well, it was not quiet.”
“Tenzin—”
“In fact, several vampires approached me later that night and asked if either of us had been injured.” She narrowed her eyes. “I now realize they were probably trying to embarrass me.”
“I can see that was supereffective.”
“I do not get embarrassed by sex. Every animal in the world mates, Benjamin. I have never understood cultures that try to hide it.”
He raised a hand. “Can we just agree that wrecking entire rooms and parading around naked isn’t something we need to make a habit of doing?”
“If those are parameters you want to set in our relationship, I am comfortable with them.”
“They’re not parameters. I’m not saying we’re going to… We just don’t need to…”
Tenzin frowned. “I truly do not know what you’re trying to say.”
Neither do I.
Ben took a big breath and let it out slowly. The air smelled like woodsmoke, fresh grass, and human sweat. “I don’t know how to not be angry with you, but I’m really tired of being angry with you. You’re in every part of my life. You’re my uncle’s best friend. We share an assistant. And my baby sister thinks you walk on water.”
“I’m a wind vampire; I don’t walk on—”
“It’s an expression, Tenzin! She thinks you’re amazing and she adores you. So I’m tired of being angry with you, but I don’t know…” He swallowed the anger that rose. “I don’t know how to not be angry with you.”
“You’re like Giovanni. He was never very good at holding a grudge.”
Ben thought about his parents. “I can hold a grudge.”
“No. If you truly are done with someone, you cut them out of your life completely. When you are very angry with someone, you are cold, but if you are really and truly done with someone, it’s as if they don’t exist at all.”
She was right.
“Sometimes I hate that you know me so well.”
The corner of her mouth turned up. “Trust me, the feeling is mutual.” She stepped back. “It’s almost dawn. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
23
The next evening, Ben was greeted by the sound of music at sunset, a raucous, intoxicating melody that reminded him of wine-filled nights, dancing, and firelight. He threw on a fresh shirt and left his trailer, searching for the source of the music, only to find a brand-new landscape surrounding him.
The night before, they’d been camped on a hilltop, surrounded by a lush meadow edged by oak trees. Now he was standing in the middle of a forest, the scent of pine was everywhere, and a stream trickled through the middle of the camp.
Caravans were parked among the trees, but in a small clearing, a fire burned, musicians sang, and tables were set up while the scent of roasting meat drifted through the air.
Radu was sitting at the table with the sandy-haired vampire guard who was usually attached to Kezia. The Poshani leader stood and waved Ben over. The other vampire left without a word.
Ben walked toward him, his eyes moving everywhere at once.
“Do you move every day?” He sat in the chair Radu pointed toward, the one the guard had just vacated.
“Not every day, but when we get a new guest or one leaves, we must change location.”
“And no one has ever found the camp?”
Radu pursed his lips. “I cannot say that no one has ever found it. But if they have, they have been wise enough not to take advantage of that information to cause any trouble. We take a different route every year so as not to be predictable.”
“I see.” Ben looked around. “This is beautiful.”
The woods reminded him of some bohemian fairy-tale dream. Tasseled hammocks hung between trees, and colorful lamps dangled from branches above them. Thick rugs were spread on the ground near the fire, along with cushions and baskets of fruit and wine.
“We are in the business of providing a comfortable sanctuary for our guests,” Radu said. “We take the job seriously.”
“The club in Bucharest?” Nothing could have been further from the fairy-tale forest than the pulsing disco in the heart of the Romanian capital.
“The club is what the humans want. And it’s what vampires who want humans want.” Radu shrugged. “We pay attention to our customers. Here, we create a more traditional Poshani experience.”
Ben opened the bottle of a blood-wine in the center of the table. “It’s not a bad way to live. Join me in a drink?”
Radu held out an empty glass. “Happily. But you are incorrect. It is not just ‘not bad,’ it is the most excellent way to live.” He looked around the forest. “Among your friends and family, new earth under your feet every night. Humans weren’t meant to be so settled.”
“You’re giving away your element, Radu. I’m sure earth vampires would disagree.”
Radu’s eyes twinkled. “Indeed I am. Is it so obvious?”
“To one of the same element? Yes. Maybe not to others.”
Radu tapped his temple. “Ah, but you’re a clever man.”
“I’d better be.” Ben’s eyes swept the gathering, examining the immortals and humans he saw. Though the tables were relatively close together, the music prevented any eavesdropping, which was probably part of the reason they played it.
The first person to catch Ben’s eye was a waif-thin blond vampire with round blue eyes and a worried expression.
“That is Tatyana.” Radu caught the direction of his gaze. “The newborn who’s on the run from Oleg.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“She didn’t need to.” Radu smiled. “I like her. She has a very Russian sense of humor.”
“Hmm.” Ben saw an older man with a pocked face and olive-brown skin sitting on his own. More correctly, the man was sitting in an isolated pocket of introversion while humans and vampires tried to tempt him with something he ignored. “Let me guess,” Ben said. “Darius?”
“Yes, that is Darius.”
“If these vampires are the ones you’ve narrowed down, how did you get them all here?”
“I sent them an invitation.”
Ben blinked. “And they just arrived?”
“I made excuses of course.” His eyes shifted. “Now,
Fynn is an interesting case.”
“The Nazi vampire?” Ben didn’t know if he was guilty of the goblet theft, but everything about the man told Ben he was scum.
He was wearing a suit the color of oatmeal in the middle of the forest and flicking the servers away from him with a casual disregard that Ben found enraging.
“Please tell me he’s paying a lot of money,” Ben muttered.
“I cannot tell you exact details, but he’s paying a substantial amount.” The corner of Radu’s mouth turned up.
“Good.” Ben liked Radu more for the half smile. It told him Radu was milking Fynn, and that made him happy. “The woman near Tatyana?”
“Madina,” Radu said. “Very smart. Very opportunistic. She was getting a little too imperialistic according to rumors, so Arosh asked her to leave Samarkand.”
“He asked her?”
“He asked her… forcefully. I believe she accepted my invitation so quickly because the offer of safe haven was appealing.”
“Good.” This was the kind of information he needed more of. “Why would she steal the goblet?”
“I have two theories: pure greed or leverage.”
“Greed is greed, but leverage?” Ben looked at Radu. “What does she want from you?”
“Safe haven for now, and later? Possibly a new community to rule? She comes from nomads too. I don’t think being terrin of the Poshani would be undesirable to her.”
“If she wanted to use the goblet as leverage, wouldn’t she have approached you by now?”
“She has approached me.”
“With the goblet?” Why am I here then?
“No, with sex. She made a sexual advance toward me.”
Thanks for the info? “Which has what to do with the goblet?”
“I don’t know.” He narrowed his eyes. “But she is an excellent lover. Perhaps she means to entrap me.”
“That’s…” Too much information? Unlikely? Unfortunately, more than one vampire considered sex just another weapon in the immortal arsenal. And most of them were very good at it.
Tenzin was good at it.
“I think” —Ben cleared his throat— “that if she had the goblet and wanted to use it in some kind of bargain, she would’ve made her hand a bit easier to read.”
“Perhaps,” Radu said. “You suspect René DuPont. Why?”
Ben wanted to swallow his exclamation from the day before. “I only know he’s a skilled thief. But he also takes contracts for others. If René took the goblet, I suspect he’s already sold it or handed it over to a buyer and the goblet is probably long gone.”
A flicker of anger burned in Radu’s eyes. “It is far more than a goblet.”
“To you,” Ben said, “yes. But to another, it’s a priceless artifact.” He saw the object of their conversation lounging on a cushion near the bonfire with a slim, dark-haired woman Ben recognized. “Your sister Kezia.”
Radu glanced at René and Kezia. “What about her?”
“She’s clearly friendly with René. Could her loyalties—?”
“Not even a sliver of a chance.” Radu was clearly confident. “She would never betray the Poshani.”
“I see.” Nevertheless, Ben watched Kezia and René, watched them flirting and playing coy with each other, watched them whisper and laugh.
After a minute’s scrutiny, René glanced up and saw Ben watching him.
“Vecchio!” The French thief broke into a wide smile. “Fancy meeting you here.” He leapt to his feet. “And all grown up too.”
René sauntered over to Ben and Radu’s table.
“Hello, René.” Ben desperately wanted René to have stolen the goblet, but he had a feeling that Tenzin was right this time. René DuPont had the look of a man without a care in the world. He didn’t even appear to be scheming.
It made his face look all wrong somehow.
“I see you recovered from that time Tenzin threw you off a building,” Ben said.
“And I see you’ve shed that irritating mortality, yet kept the same lack of humor.” René cocked his head. “Such a disappointment.”
“Must be the title of your sex tape,” Ben muttered.
All the vampires looked confused, but a familiar laugh cackled from the trees.
René lifted an eyebrow. “If Vecchio is here, he must be following Tenzin.” He slipped an arm around Kezia’s waist. “You know Tenzin, don’t you, chérie?”
Kezia said, “Of course I do.”
“The boy follows her like a faithful puppy. It’s quite adorable.”
“Hey, René,” Ben said.
“Yes, Vecchio?”
“Remember the times I beat you—twice—when I was still human and you were a vampire?”
René’s lip curled just slightly. “You have different memories than I do.”
“Clearly. The funny thing is” —he addressed himself to Kezia— “René always seemed to be a step behind me, even when I was mortal. Can you imagine how far behind he’ll be now that I’m a vampire?”
Kezia’s mouth curled into a smile. “You like playing with fire, young Vecchio?”
Ben rose and stepped close to both of them. “Fire doesn’t concern me. Just makes me think of home.”
“Hmmm.” Kezia looked him up and down appreciatively. “So I see.”
He felt her approaching and knew instinctively what she would do. Tenzin flew toward them and landed on Ben’s back, curling her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist possessively.
Was she making it look like she was claiming territory? Yes. Did Ben mind?
Not… really?
It was a power play, but a good one. Tenzin might be one of the suspects on Radu’s list, but Ben wasn’t willing for any adversary to see them as divided. They had their problems, but those were no one else’s business.
He ran a hand from Tenzin’s ankle up to her knee. “Hey, Tenzin. How’d you sleep today?”
“Metaphorically?”
“Of course.”
“Very well, thank you.” Tenzin laid her cheek against Ben’s neck. “Hello, René. Hello, Kezia.”
“Tenzin.” René looked slightly ill, and yet he couldn’t take his eyes off Tenzin. His lips were flushed. It was a weird combination.
“My dear Tenzin.” Kezia greeted her with a smile. “I am so glad you accepted my invitation.”
“I was surprised to receive it, but there was no way I would turn it down. I wouldn’t want to miss a minute of this,” she said. “I’m just glad Radu invited Ben too.”
Radu rose. “Forgive me for leaving this delightful group, but I must attend to other guests.”
“Cool.” Ben’s fingers were running across Tenzin’s ankle. “We’ll catch up later.”
“Let me know if you have any further questions about your accommodations.”
“You bet.” Ben wasn’t looking at Tenzin, but every cell in his body was tuned to hers. “So René—”
“I heard so many rumors about your adventures in China,” René said. “I imagine only half of them could be true.”
“Did you hear that Ben found the Laylat al Hisab at the bottom of the ocean,” Tenzin asked, “where it had lain for a thousand years? But he found it completely intact, stored in the glass vessels created by Harun the sword master, along with countless other gold treasures valued at many millions of dollars.”
René pressed his lips together.
“Because that happened,” Tenzin said, playing with a curl of Ben’s hair. “It was fun.”
Ben turned to her. “Did you want to make that call at my place?”
“Yes.”
Ben turned to Kezia and René. “You’ll have to excuse us. Personal business.”
Kezia smiled. “Of course. I’ll just let my imagination run wild until René fills me in on all the details.” Her eyes swept up and down Ben’s body one more time before she glanced at Tenzin, smiled with a hint of fang, and turned back to the fire.
Ben gave René a flippant
wave and turned toward his caravan. He said nothing more until he reached the bus. He kept Tenzin on his back until he walked inside and shut the door. “Okay, you can get down now.”
Tenzin floated off his back and landed in front of him. “Kezia would like to have sex with both of us. Just in case you didn’t understand what that look was about.”
“Yeah, I got it.” It was pretty obvious. “Just not into it.”
Tenzin nodded. “I will add that to the previous parameters.”
“This is not…” He closed his eyes and willed the erection away. “Can we not start a conversation about this when we’re here to video call my baby sister?”
“That’s fine,” Tenzin said. “We can talk about it later.”
“Or never. That’s okay too.”
She patted his cheek. “I don’t know what René was talking about. You have a wonderful sense of humor, Benjamin.”
24
“So then!” Sadia leaned on the desk and kicked her legs up behind her. “Kara and Owen were the last ones, and they jumped in the pool and went all the way to the bottom!”
“Really?” Ben shook his head. “That’s really dangerous.”
“I know!” Sadia’s face was glowing as she told them about her swimming party. “All the way in the deep end. That’s where Dema threw the hoops.”
Tenzin said, “The deep end is very deep.”
“I know! But Kara grabbed the red and the yellow ones—those were her colors—and she swam all the way up and she popped up” —Sadia jumped up— “and then swam to the steps, and that’s how she won the race.”
Tenzin asked, “What did she win? What was the prize?”
Sadia lifted her shoulders. “We didn’t have a prize. We were just racing.”
Tenzin frowned. “No prize?”
“That’s cool.” Ben squeezed Tenzin’s knee. No doubt the idea of a competition without something shiny at the end was messing with her brain. “You don’t need a prize. Sometimes racing is just for fun, right?”
“Yeah.” Sadia was bouncing again. “And on the trampoline, I totally won.”
“Of course you did,” Tenzin said. “You are superior to other human children.”
Dawn Caravan: Elemental Legacy Book Four (Elemental Legacy Novels 4) Page 18