Dawn Caravan: Elemental Legacy Book Four (Elemental Legacy Novels 4)

by Elizabeth Hunter

  Were they wrestling or was this foreplay? She often had a hard time distinguishing between the two.

  The low, happy growl that came from Ben’s throat told her that it was foreplay.

  Excellent. Sex would be much better than losing to him in another duel. It had happened twice now, and she was worried it would become a habit.

  He had the advantage in strike distance now, and it was highly annoying. She had to stop agreeing to fights on the ground. It was far easier to fight dirty in the air.

  She wiggled away from him and ran up the stairs, eager to see if he ran or flew trying to catch her. More and more he defaulted to flying, which delighted Tenzin.

  The wind loved him. It danced around him in flight, played with his hair, and lifted him with a manic kind of glee. The wind had always been her comfort, but for Ben, it would be his joy.

  Mood swings still happened, and Ben still had dark nights. He’d seen his father driving a cab on Houston Street three nights before and sank into a sullen mood he’d only shaken when he woke that night. She was hoping that challenging him to a duel he was likely to win would brush the last of the shadows from his eyes.

  Judging by the low chuckle behind her, the idea had worked.

  She flew up to the loft and crouched in the corner, daring him to come in.

  Ben set his toes on the edge and hovered. “Tell the truth—you did that because I was going to win.”

  “You wish.”

  He smiled, and the beauty of it made her forget to breathe. Seeing Ben happy had become her obsession.

  He fell on the mattress he’d dragged up to her loft and tugged her hand. “Come here.”

  Gladly.

  She jumped on him, bracing herself over him as he stripped the clothing from her body. They rolled and tumbled in the bed, falling out once, only to have Ben float them back.

  Their coupling was fast and full of laughter. Though Ben was still learning her body, he knew what brought her pleasure quickly and what would draw out sensual torment.

  That night he wrapped her in his embrace and pinned her high on a wall, wringing a climax from her before he found his own release. It was fast and intense, and she took his blood as he came, drawing out his pleasure as long as she could.

  They floated back into the loft and onto the new bed. Tenzin lay on him, aligning her body along his, skin to skin, as their amnis twisted and hummed.

  She kissed along his jaw. “You’re better tonight.”

  He played with a strand of her hair. “Sorry about the cranky mood.”

  “It’s fine. You’ve put up with more than one of mine over the years.”

  “True.” He didn’t say anything more, even though it sounded like he wanted to.

  She poked his side. “Speak.”

  “I’ve lived here for what? Five years? And in a city of eight million people, I’ve seen him three times. What are the chances of that?”

  “It’s really not that big an island. It is bound to happen.” Tenzin wanted to say, Shall I kill him for you? But she didn’t. That would probably be considered a backslide when it came to personal evolution. Chloe would not approve.

  “We can move,” she said. “We have options.”

  “I like New York. And Cormac has finally stopped giving me dirty looks when I run into him.”

  “Do you want me to find your father and strongly suggest he move back to San Juan?” With amnis. Not that she wanted to subject the lovely island of Puerto Rico to Ben’s father.

  “I don’t think he’d do anything but make my grandmother’s life miserable.”

  She laid her head on his chest. “Why does seeing him bother you so much?”

  Ben didn’t say anything for a long time. He stroked his thumb along her hip and stared at the ceiling. “Did you have children when you were alive?”

  Tenzin stopped breathing for a moment.

  He looked at her, and there was a challenge in his eyes. You want me to show you mine? Show me yours.

  Poke. Prod. Stretch the skin and shed it. Leave the old behind.

  Growth was painful, especially in moments like this.

  “I had three children.” She took a slow breath. “A girl who died and twin boys. I think possibly one of them might have lived to adulthood, but I don’t know because I was abducted by raiders when they were babies.”

  The challenge in his eyes fled, and Ben wrapped his arms around her in an iron grip.

  “My father is such a shitty person, and he still got to have a kid. I’ll never have children, and I think I’d be so much better at it than he ever was. For some reason, in the past few months, that has been pissing me off. And then I saw him and it was just like… a slap.”

  Tenzin examined his expression. She sensed no hidden meaning or prevarication.

  “It is ludicrous to say that you will never have children, because you are immortal now and you know that many of our kind adopt children. You don’t know what your life will be like in ten years, let alone in one hundred or two hundred.”

  He stroked the back of her neck. “Would you have children again?”

  “Not now, and not anytime soon.”

  He nodded.

  “But I will not say never.” She looked away. “It would be foolish to project like that.”

  “Okay.” His hand stroked along her back.

  Tenzin closed her eyes and felt his blood living inside her. She still hadn’t told him that she’d started sleeping again. For a few blissful hours each day, she slept and dreamed. That, more than anything, had calmed the voices in her mind.

  Often their days were spent like this, Ben falling asleep with Tenzin draped over him, either in the loft or the bedroom they’d light proofed when they returned to New York. Tenzin preferred that Ben sleep in the loft. She liked to sense his nearness even when she was awake or meditating.

  That night they were supposed to meet Chloe and Gavin for drinks at the Dancing Bear. But then again, maybe they wouldn’t.

  She felt a burgeoning energy approaching, and a familiar scent blew through the open windows like a gust of night jasmine in the air.

  Tenzin picked up her head. “Zhang is here.”

  Ben frowned. “What?”

  It couldn’t be. But it was.

  “Zhang. My sire. Our sire.” She sat up. “He is here.” What was he doing in New York?

  “Has he ever been to New York before? Are you sure?”

  “I smell him on the roof.”

  She was about to fly out of the loft when Ben pulled her back threw a tunic at her.

  “Clothing please. I know you don’t subscribe to traditional mores of modesty, but please don’t make me crazy, even if it is your father.”

  She looked at him. “Is this another relationship parameter?”

  He rubbed a small circle on his temple. “I can’t believe we have to spell that out, but yes, Tenzin. Please don’t randomly spend time naked in front of other people.”

  “That’s a reasonable parameter.” As was monogamy. Very few vampires as old as Tenzin subscribed to monogamy, but since she had no interest in sexual intercourse with anyone other than Ben, that was an easy request to agree to. Understanding the complex dynamics of an emotional and sexual partnership with one person was complicated enough. She didn’t know how Arosh handled a harem, but he clearly had far more emotional depth than she could manage.

  Tenzin pulled on a tunic and a loose pair of pants; then she flew down to the french doors that led to the roof. Ben was right behind her.

  Just as she’d suspected, Zhang was sitting on a bench outside, his eyes roaming over the city.

  “Extraordinary,” he said. “Truly, I begin to understand Lan’s fascination with the modern world.” Zhang looked over his shoulder. “It looks like another sky has fallen to the ground, spreading its stars across the land.”

  Ben leaned against the doorway. “Yeah, it’s pretty spectacular.”

  Tenzin didn’t waste time on pleasantries. “What are yo
u doing here? What is wrong?”

  “A piece of unexpected information came to me two weeks ago.” Zhang turned, and Tenzin was surprised by the tension she saw on her sire’s face. “It affects both of you.” He sniffed the air. “I see you have become sexual partners again.”

  Ben covered his eyes with one hand. “God, you two are so strange. I will never understand your relationship.”

  “That is none of your business,” Tenzin said. “And it has no bearing on our relationship with you.”

  “Admittedly, this is true,” Zhang said, “but I do hope you are both happy with the arrangement.”

  “Why are you in New York? I doubt it’s to check whether Ben and I are having sex.”

  Ben groaned and sat on a bench. “You just keep saying it.”

  She spun on him. “So Catholic.” Tenzin turned back to her father. “What is this about?”

  “It’s about Arosh,” Zhang said, keeping his voice low. “I have sources who say he has found the bone scroll in Axum.”

  Tenzin felt as if her body had been hollowed out in an instant. “The bone scroll is a myth.”

  “No,” Zhang said. “It is not.”

  “Aabmen—”

  “I have seen it with my own eyes.” Zhang’s face was like a grave. “It is not a myth.”

  Zhang had seen it? It was as if she were seeing her father for the first time. How had he seen it? Where? If he had seen it, why had he not destroyed it?

  Ben crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s a bone scroll? And haven’t we done enough for Arosh to last a lifetime? We found the Night’s Reckoning. We ended the cold war between the West and the East. Isn’t that enough?”

  Zhang looked at Tenzin and spoke in the old language. “You haven’t told him about Saba.”

  She responded in the same. “You didn’t tell him either.”

  Ben walked over to Tenzin. “You’re going to teach me that language because this” —he pointed between them— “is going to drive me crazy.”

  The bone scroll. It was a myth. She’d always been told it was a myth.

  But her father did not lie.

  Tenzin walked to Ben and looked him straight in the eye. “How do you feel about a trip to Ethiopia?”

  THE BONE SCROLL

  Elemental Legacy: Book Five

  Coming Spring 2021

  The Elemental Legacy Series

  Want to read more about

  Ben and Tenzin’s adventures?

  Obsidian’s Edge

  is now available at all major retailers!

  For the first time ever, all three origin novellas in the Elemental Legacy series are available in one volume, along with a bonus novella, The Bronze Blade.

  In Shadows and Gold, driving a truck full of rotting vegetables and twenty million in gold across mainland China wasn’t what Ben Vecchio had in mind for summer vacation. If he can keep Tenzin’s treasure safe, the reward will be worth the effort. But when has travel with a five-thousand-year-old wind vampire ever been simple?

  In Imitation and Alchemy, all Ben wanted was a quiet summer before his last semester of university. All Tenzin wanted was a cache of priceless medieval coins that had been missing for several hundred years. And some company.

  In Omens and Artifacts, Ben needs a job. A legendary job. Finding the lost sword of Brennus the Celt would make his reputation in the vampire world, but it could also draw dangerous attention. The Raven King’s gold isn’t famous for being easy to find. Luckily, Ben has his own legend at his side.

  OBSIDIAN’S EDGE is an anthology of novellas in the Elemental Legacy series by Elizabeth Hunter, USA Today Bestselling Author of Midnight Labyrinth, Blood Apprentice, and other works of fiction.

  He’s a human in a vampire’s world,

  but she’s the reason he’s not sleeping at night.

  Midnight Labyrinth

  Benjamin Vecchio escaped a chaotic childhood and grew to adulthood under the protection and training of one of the Elemental world’s most feared vampire assassins. He’s traveled the world and battled immortal enemies.

  But everyone has to go home sometime.

  New York means new opportunities and allies for Ben and his vampire partner, Tenzin. It also means new politics and new threats. Their antiquities business is taking off, and their client list is growing. When Ben is challenged to find a painting lost since the Second World War, he jumps at the chance. This job will keep him closer to home, but it might just land him in hot water with the insular clan of earth vampires who run Manhattan.

  Tenzin knew the painting would be trouble before she laid eyes on it, but she can’t deny the challenge intrigues her. Human laws mean little to a vampire with a few millennia behind her, and Tenzin misses the rush of taking what isn’t hers.

  But nothing is more dangerous than a human with half the story, and Ben and Tenzin might end up risking their reputations and their lives before they escape the Midnight Labyrinth.

  MIDNIGHT LABYRINTH is the first full length novel in an all-new contemporary fantasy series by Elizabeth Hunter, author of the Elemental Mysteries and the Irin Chronicles.

  If you’re a human in a vampire’s world,

  nothing goes according to plan.

  Blood Apprentice

  When a map to the mysterious fortune of notorious privateer Miguel Enríquez falls in the lap of Ben and Tenzin, only one of them is jumping at the opportunity. Tenzin can’t wait to search for a secret cache of gold. Ben, on the other hand, couldn’t be less excited.

  All Ben knows about Puerto Rico is what he hears on the news and a few lingering memories of his human grandmother. Going back to his roots holds zero appeal for the carefully constructed man he’s become.

  But in the end, the lure of hidden gold can’t be denied.

  Ben and Tenzin head to Puerto Rico where the immortal world is ruled by Los Tres, a trio of powerful vampires commanding the wind, the waves, and the mountains that make up their small island in the Caribbean.

  To find Enríquez’s treasure, they’ll have to walk a fine line between flattery and secrecy. To leave the island might mean a bigger fight than either one of them foresaw.

  Blood Apprentice is the second novel in the Elemental Legacy, a paranormal mystery series by Elizabeth Hunter, author of the Irin Chronicles.

  Sometimes falling is the safest step to take.

  The Devil and the Dancer

  Chloe Reardon has a problem, and his name is Gavin Wallace.

  Okay, Gavin isn’t exactly a problem, unless you consider a highly attractive wind vampire with dubious intentions a problem. Especially if that vampire is your boss. With an affinity for kilts and excellent taste in music.

  But none of that matters because Chloe Reardon has had enough of dangerous men. Danger is overrated. Danger is the opposite of sexy. So Gavin is the last man—or vampire—on earth she needs to let into her heart.

  Except what if the most dangerous man you knew was also the one who made you feel the strongest?

  The Devil and the Dancer is a paranormal romance novella in the Elemental Legacy series.

  Darkness comes for everyone,

  and some fates are inescapable.

  Night’s Reckoning

  For over a thousand years, the legendary sword Laylat al Hisab—the Night’s Reckoning—has been lost in the waters of the East China Sea. Forged as a peace offering between two ancient vampires, the sword has eluded treasure hunters, human and immortal alike.

  But in time, even the deep gives up its secrets.

  When Tenzin’s sire hears about the ninth century shipwreck found off the coast of southern China, Zhang Guo realizes he’ll need the help of an upstart pirate from Shanghai to retrieve it. And since that pirate has no desire to be in the middle of an ancient war, Cheng calls the only allies who might be able to help him avoid it.

  Unfortunately, Tenzin is on one side of the globe and Ben is on the other.

  Tenzin knows she’ll need Ben’s keen mind and political skills
to complete the job. She also knows gaining Ben’s cooperation won’t be an easy task. She’ll have to drag him back into the darkness he’s been avoiding.

  Whether Ben knows it or not, his fate is balanced on the edge of a thousand-year-old blade, and one stumble could break everything Tenzin has worked toward.

  Night’s Reckoning is the third novel in the Elemental Legacy series, a paranormal mystery by Elizabeth Hunter, USA Today bestselling author of the Elemental Mysteries.

  After this night, dawn can’t come fast enough.

  Dawn Caravan

  For Ben Vecchio, everything has changed. His eyes. His diet. His new aversion to sunlight. But after a long sojourn in China, Ben realizes that the world he left behind hasn’t changed as much as he feared. He wants to leave his old life in the past, there’s one job remaining that just won’t leave him alone.

  Radu’s mystery is too interesting—and too profitable—to ignore. The problem? Taking on this commission puts Ben in the path of his old partner, the one woman he’s spent years avoiding.

  Tenzin has been following Ben at a distance, hoping his ire might wane, but when he heads to Romania, her patience runs out. Ben is a new power in their world, and more than one vampire will be eager to test him.

  Ben and Tenzin need to work together if they want to find the truth behind Radu, his mysterious clan, and the treasure at the heart of the Dawn Caravan. One last job, then it’s finished between them.

  Right?

  Dawn Caravan is the fourth book in the Elemental Legacy, a paranormal mystery series by USA Today bestselling author, Elizabeth Hunter.