Tenzin walked to him and climbed into bed. “Did you take a shower?”
“Of course. Lots of bugs here.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Yes. But you know that means there are also many birds.”
“I like the birds.” He felt the sunrise start to tug on him. “Not the bugs as much.”
“But you don’t get one without the other.” She lay next to him and stretched out along his body, pressing her face into his chest to smell his skin. She stared at the slight stubble growing along his jaw and rubbed her fingers across it. These explorations were typical for her. She had no qualms about any curiosity or interest in his body.
“You fed tonight?”
“I did. Hirut had fresh blood for us at the meeting.”
“You made sure she drank first?”
“I’m not an amateur anymore, Tiny.” Ben ran a hand down her silken hair. He loved the weight of it sliding between his fingers. “Have you found a sword or two yet?”
She smiled and her eyes lit up. “Maybe.”
“I’ve seen pictures of the traditional Ethiopian shotel. I don’t think you have one of those in your collection back home.”
“I have a Persian sword that’s very close, but you are correct. I’ll be procuring one on this trip, but I suppose since Giovanni is with us, I’ll have to actually buy it.”
He could hear the annoyance in her voice, and it made him smile. “I suppose you will.”
Her head popped up. “Did you know Ethiopians used hippopotamus skin to cover their shields?”
“That makes sense. I certainly wouldn’t want to stab a hippo. They are pretty horrifying.”
“They call them water horses, but their blood is disgusting. Nothing at all like actual horse blood.”
Ben closed his eyes. “I’m trying to imagine… Nope. Don’t want to.”
She lay on his chest again. “Horse blood was a regular part of my diet when I was young. The horses were part of the clan. We didn’t kill them; we cared for them and we drank their milk and their blood when we couldn’t find humans.”
Not unlike some African ethnic groups that still drank the blood and milk from cows. It made sense. He often had to remind himself that Tenzin was forged in a far hotter furnace than anything his soft, twenty-first-century ass had experienced.
He still didn’t want to know about the hippos though.
“I think Saba was at the meeting tonight.” His eyes were getting heavy.
His words made Tenzin sit up. “Ben, don’t fall asleep. Explain.”
“I don’t know for sure… Didn’t make sense. She was roasting coffee.”
“Roasting coffee? Did Giovanni and Beatrice see her?”
“No. I mean yes, but it was like they didn’t even notice her. Like she was just a human.”
“If she cloaked her power—which she is definitely capable of doing—to fool them, how did you sense her?”
“I don’t know.” He blinked rapidly. “Maybe she wanted…”
“What? Wanted what?”
“To say hi.” He shrugged. “Or something. Maybe I’m imagining things.”
“Do you really think that?”
He shook his head. “It was her.”
Rain spattered on the metal roof over them, then poured down, the sound further lulling him into his dawn sleep.
“What game is she playing?” Tenzin looked around the room as if the small chamber might offer some answers. “Is she with Arosh? Is he searching on his own? Does he have it already? Lucien said… But would Lucien really know? Would he tell me if he did?”
Ben had nothing more to offer. He was too sleepy, and he knew the sun was rising. “Tenzin.” He reached for her, and she lay down beside him.
“Benjamin.” She wrapped herself around him again. “My Benjamin.”
“Stay with me.”
“I will.” Her voice wasn’t sweet then, it was determined. And Ben knew she was saying nothing but the truth. She would stay with him all day. And if anything tried to hurt him?
She would slay any danger that came.
The fire was heading straight toward him, barreling down a narrow stone passageway. He could already feel the heat teasing his skin. Behind the flames, someone was laughing, his voice rising in the night like a terrible bell tolling an alarm.
“Mother.”
Ben turned to see a figure walking away from him, disappearing into the earth as the fire overtook him and his skin started to blacken and curl from his body.
“Mother?”
He turned toward the fire and saw his family in the middle of it. Giovanni, Beatrice, Sadia, and Chloe were trapped in the middle of the flames, screaming but unconsumed.
He heard something drop to the ground next to him, and his head spun again.
She was on the ground, her hair smoking and flames licking along her skin. Her body was splayed out, crumpled on the rock floor like a fallen bird.
Her eyes were open but lifeless, and as he watched, her body began to dissolve.
“No, Tenzin! No!”
Ben woke at dusk to Tenzin’s back against his chest, his sickening dream twisting in his belly like spoiled blood. He’d rolled to his side during the night, and she’d found a space within his arms. His eyes fluttered open as he woke, and he saw the nape of her neck, inches from his mouth.
Bite.
Hunger roared through him, and he felt wild. His instincts told him to take; his arms tightened around her.
A simple pinch to his ear calmed him a little.
“You’re hungry,” she said. “You need to be drinking more.”
He laved his tongue against her neck. “I took blood-wine last night. And fresh blood.”
“Less blood-wine and more blood.” She turned to look at him over her shoulder. “Your fangs aren’t the only things that woke up hungry.” She wiggled her hips.
“Tease,” he growled.
“Far from it.” She tried to turn in his arms, but Ben held her tight. “So what is your plan, my Benjamin?”
He couldn’t bite her without an invitation, but he could make her want his bite. He knew she felt pleasure from it. He moved his hands down her body, caressing her breasts and sliding his hands under her shift. The curves of her form were subtle but deliciously feminine. He felt softness on her belly, the rise of her hips. She arched her back and pressed her bottom into him; he was hard as iron.
He seduced her, taking his time to explore every inch of her body until she was twisting in his arms, trying to take control. But as soon as she did, he let his fingers dip between her thighs and she let out a soft moan.
“Tilt back,” he whispered in her ear, scraping his fangs where he felt a single pulse in her neck.
Tenzin arched back and Ben entered her from behind, keeping his hands moving over her body and between her legs, stoking the fire that was building.
When she came, she tightened around him and Ben nearly lost control. His hips sped up and he flipped her onto her belly, hiking her hips up so he could move faster.
“Yes.” She gasped. “Yes.”
Her neck was right there.
Right there.
But she didn’t tell him to bite. His fangs drew blood in his own mouth when he came, and he collapsed over her, pressing his face into her shoulder and kissing along her spine.
We have to talk about the mating thing.
But he knew it would probably provoke a fight.
But we have to talk about the mating thing.
Her body was loose and languid in his arms. “You’re thinking very loud.”
“Am I?” He didn’t get tired when he had sex now. It was odd, but there was something he liked about the exertion necessary to make love when he’d been human. He missed that a little bit. Then again, he didn’t miss needing recovery time.
“Do you want me to ask what you’re thinking about?”
It was such a Tenzin question, he had to smile. “Do you actually want to know what I’m thinking about?”<
br />
“I don’t know. It could be something banal regarding sex, and that doesn’t interest me. Or it could be something about hunger. Or something about seeing Saba last night at the meeting with Hirut.”
Aha. So that’s where her mind was. Well, one could never say that she didn’t have focus. “I was thinking about banal sex things.”
She turned in his arms and faced him. She had a small frown on her forehead. “I want to be clear that sex with you is not banal. I was merely saying that often thoughts after sex are quite boring. And have nothing to do with the sex we had.”
“What do you think after we have sex?” He was going to regret asking that, wasn’t he?
“Just now, I was thinking that I like that position very much because it allows you to stimulate much of my body while we are having intercourse.”
Okay, that wasn’t too bad. “Noted. I like that position too.”
“And then immediately after, I was thinking about you seeing Saba at the meeting with Hirut.”
“You’ve been obsessing about that all day, haven’t you?”
She sat up. “Why would she do it? It makes no sense!”
He shook his head and reached for her hand. “Tenzin, Saba has always been this mythical figure to me. I mean, when you first told me her role in my turning, I couldn’t even say I was surprised.” He took a breath and tasted the lingering scent of rain and the flowering plumeria bushes outside their door. “What am I to her? Honestly? I’m a nobody. Sure, I’m a powerful nobody because I’m Zhang’s son now, but really…” He hated to say it because he already felt like Tenzin was carrying guilt—or whatever feeling that passed for guilt with her—about his turning. “I think that her role—with the Night’s Reckoning, with Johari stabbing me—I don’t really think that was about me. I think that was about you and your dad somehow. I was just… there. Maybe she saw me as a weakness for you.”
She nodded. “You were a weakness for me.”
“Thanks?”
Tenzin shrugged. “I cared about your life. Anyone I care about is a weakness; that was why I insisted that Nima be isolated on Penglai if I was traveling.”
There were so many times over the years that Ben wished he could have a conversation with Nima. This was definitely one of those times. “Well, thanks for not locking me up, I guess.”
“I’m just saying you would have been safer.”
Ben sat up. “This conversation has veered way off track. Saba was there. Probably. And she revealed herself to me probably for this exact reason, to get us confused and questioning.”
Tenzin nodded. “We have a plan.”
“We have a good plan.” He counted on his hand. “Steal Desta’s devotional, check. Find Desta’s crown—we’re getting there. Then find the bone scroll—”
“Which has only been lost for a little over a thousand years.”
Ben stared at her. “You’re not helping.”
“I’m only saying we’ve found older things.”
“Exactly.” He rubbed her back. “So we find the bone scroll, trade all of Desta’s treasures to Saba for it—”
“Then escape from Arosh, who is going to be very pissed off.”
“But we can fly, and he can’t.”
“How convenient.” She smiled, and seeing her fangs just made him hungry again.
“Okay, I really need to eat.”
16
“Why do you want to meet Liya again?” Chloe leaned back in her seat and scanned the outdoor restaurant that smelled of frying lamb and berbere spice. “She was happy to meet me, but I now I feel weird.”
“Why do you feel weird?” Ben looked around the spacious garden where every table was full and the patrons all looked local. “Zain was right; you definitely blend in here.”
Chloe laughed a little. “I’ve never been around so many Black people in my life. I just wish I could talk to more of them.”
“I know what you mean.” He sat across from her, enjoying the clamor of human life around him and the pumping music coming from inside the restaurant. The setup was more like a beer garden than a single restaurant, with two small places serving meat and vegetarian dishes to tables scattered around a large garden shaded by cedar trees while servers in black-and-white uniforms carried bottles of beer and large drafts across the patio.
Initially he’d wanted to sit inside—better to control the environment—but the noise had become far too loud for his sensitive ears. He could barely concentrate, so they’d moved outside.
“But really” —Chloe wasn’t letting up— “why do you want to meet Liya?”
“I’m meeting a fellow Angeleno in Addis.” Ben sipped the chilled beer the waitress had poured into a clear glass. “What’s weird about that?”
Chloe narrowed her eyes. “Because you and Tenzin are here on a job, and this nice woman I met who just happens to be an archaeologist is suddenly very interesting to you.”
“She’s an archaeologist. Everyone is interested in archaeologists. They’re cool.”
“Ben! I didn’t meet Liya with ulterior motives in mind! I thought I was just making a friend.”
“You did.” He took another long drink of beer. “And I want to meet her too.”
Chloe closed her eyes and rubbed her temple. “Remind me to only meet boring people from now on.”
“Impossible.”
“Chloe?” a cheerful female voice called from the entrance to the garden.
Ben turned and saw a smiling woman with a cloud of dark brown curls waving from across the lawn. She walked around, stopping once to say hello to a friend at another table before she continued toward them.
“You must be Ben.” Liya, a pretty human whom Ben guessed was in her late twenties, held out her hand. “Heyyyy, it’s so nice to meet you. Chloe talks about you a lot.”
Ben had already risen when she approached the table. He shook her hand and smiled. “Great to meet you too. I hear you’re from our neck of the woods.”
“Well, not lately. Chloe says you live in New York now.” Liya sat and waved for a waitress. “I’m so glad to be done with traffic today. It was brutal.”
“I hear you.” Ben sat across from her and examined Dr. Liya. She was beautiful, like so many Ethiopian women were, with a heart-shaped face and medium brown skin. Her mouth was bow-shaped and quick to smile. “We’re in New York now,” he continued, “but we both went to high school in Los Angeles. Most of my family is still there.”
“Mine too,” Chloe said. “Though we’re still not really speaking.”
“Oh my God, and my family calls me every day.” Liya laughed. “My parents were both born here in Addis, so they’re happy I’m working here now—and I love it, obviously—but they call every day.”
Ben smiled. She had an infectious smile and an easy personality. It didn’t surprise Ben at all that Chloe and she had hit it off.
“I tell them,” she said, “if you’re missing Ethiopia so much, then come for a visit. It’s a long way, but they’re both retired now.” She threw up her hands. “What can I say? They’re stubborn.”
“Can I ask why they moved to the States?” Ben asked.
“For work. My mother is a doctor and was invited to work in the US. My father was a commercial pilot, so he was able to work anywhere. They moved when my oldest sister was about three years old.”
“They must be proud that you’re back here, huh?” Ben waited for the waitress to set down a beer for Liya. “Chloe said you’re an archaeologist.”
Liya nodded. “I am. I grew up hearing all the stories about Ethiopian history and being in love with Indiana Jones, so I don’t think anyone was surprised.”
Chloe said, “But who wasn’t in love with Indiana Jones?”
“Exactly!” Liya laughed. “Don’t get jealous, Ben.”
“Why?” Ben looked at Chloe, who was sitting on the same side of the table as he was, and wondered if Liya might have gotten the wrong impression. “Oh, we’re not together.”
; Liya’s eyebrows went up. “Oh, I’m sorry. I assumed—”
“We dated in high school,” Chloe said. “But my boyfriend is Scottish and much cuter than Ben.” Chloe winked at him.
“Thanks.” He pretended to scowl. “My…” Fuck, what was he supposed to call Tenzin? “…partner is here in Addis, but she’d already made plans tonight.” To play Minecraft with Sadia. “Chloe’s boyfriend may end up flying over though, right?”
As in actually flying since Gavin Wallace was a wind vampire like Ben.
“We thought he might, but his business stuff is taking longer than he originally thought,” Chloe said. “He does nightclub development, so he’s overseeing the final details on a new place his company is opening in Lagos right now.”
“I’ve never been to Lagos,” Liya said. “I know it’s huge, right? Like three times the size of Addis?”
“Something like that,” Chloe said. “I just know Gavin is kind of over it. Right now it’s just another place that needs a lot of work. Hopefully we can visit again when everything is done and have a little more fun.”
“I can definitely understand that.” Liya looked between Chloe and Ben. “But speaking of fun, what are your plans in Ethiopia? What are you going to see?”
“Lalibela for sure,” Ben said. “We’re flying up there next week.”
Liya kissed her fingertips. “You have to. The churches are amazing.”
“I’ve seen the pictures,” Chloe said. “I’m really excited to go.”
Which was not an exaggeration. Chloe had been talking about it for weeks.
“And I’d like to go farther north,” Ben said. “But it’ll depend on how much time we have.”
Liya was nodding. “Gondar is amazing. And I’m sure you’ll fly through Bahir Dar, and that has the island monasteries that are so fascinating and beautiful. Lot of mosquitos by Lake Tana though, so I hope you brought bug spray. It’s hard to find here; ask me how I know.” She grimaced.
“You must know a lot about the north,” Ben said. “Being an archaeologist and everything.”
“I know quite a bit.” Her smile was a little crooked. “To be honest, most of the funded expeditions in Ethiopia are in that area, so it’s well known. Of course, most of that funding goes to foreign teams and not local ones.”
The Bone Scroll: An Elemental Legacy Novel Page 12