“You even asked me to call you when we got back from Brasilia, Tenzin. You knew then how upset she was, and you still said nothing,” Giovanni bit out, obviously still angry with his old friend.
“You found my house in Brasilia?” Stephen asked, looking at her with delight. “You did remember the game!”
“Yes, it might have been a bit easier to just leave a note, De Novo,” Giovanni replied. “Or show up to expected appointments. Either one would have worked so your daughter didn’t have to worry that you were dead.”
Stephen’s eyes flashed. “And how was I supposed to know you were trustworthy, di Spada? How was I supposed to know you wouldn’t take advantage of her?”
“Dad…” Beatrice squirmed.
“Maybe because I protected her. Which is more than what you did. Maybe because—”
“Stop it, both of you,” Tenzin broke in. “This is ridiculous. Save your posturing for another time, or leave B and I alone so we can talk.”
“Don’t get mad,” Beatrice said as she grabbed Giovanni’s hand. “Just… let’s talk for a bit, then I want to go to bed. I’m exhausted.” In the back of her mind, she felt as if she should be slightly embarrassed to talk about going to bed with Giovanni when her father was right across from her, but she was too tired to be mortified. “Tenzin, tell me what’s been going on.”
Tenzin looked at Stephen and something passed between them that caused Beatrice to sit up slightly straighter. It wasn’t exactly—
“If you found the house in Brasilia, then I’m assuming you found my journals,” Stephen said. “So you know I came here in August of 2008.”
“And what have you been doing since?” Giovanni asked. “You’ve been here for two years.”
“Working, mostly. I was in a monastery in the Wuyi Mountains for over a year, studying with one of the Bön scholars trained by Elder Zhang. Then I came back here when I was called.”
“And Tenzin? When did you meet her?”
Tenzin curled her lip and reached her foot across to kick Giovanni’s shin.
“Shut up. It’s none of your business, and you don’t ask him. Ask me.”
“Fine.” Beatrice saw the collar of Giovanni’s shirt start to smoke and she put a hand on his shoulder, willing him to calm down. “Tenzin,” he said through gritted teeth, “when did you meet Stephen and why didn’t you tell me you’d found him?”
“I met him about a year and a half ago, and I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t time to tell you yet.” She gave a slight shrug and reached for her tea again.
“Okay!” Beatrice jumped in, knowing Giovanni was about to lose his temper with his oldest friend. “I’m exhausted, and I want to go to bed before I collapse. Gio, where are we sleeping?”
Giovanni pulled back from the argument he was about to jump into and rested his chin on her shoulder. He and Tenzin appeared to be in some kind of staring contest for a few moments until she heard him take a steadying breath. He brushed a kiss across her temple and helped her up before standing himself. She put an arm around his waist and almost pushed him away from her father and Tenzin.
On their way out the door, she paused by Baojia. Giovanni waited next to her with a blank expression, his mind obviously elsewhere.
“Are you calling Ernesto tonight?” she asked.
Baojia cocked an eyebrow at her. “Perceptive as always. Did you have a message for him?”
“Yeah, tell him he has a new family member around.”
“Already on the agenda,” he said before giving her a wink.
“Goodnight, then.”
“Gio,” Tenzin called across the room, still drinking tea with Stephen. “Nima put your bags in the same room as last time.”
“Please, tell me it has more than chamber pots now.”
“Yes,” she sounded bored. “I made Father put a full bathroom in all my rooms here.”
“How very modern of you, Tenzin,” he muttered as they walked out the door.
“Can we pretend all that stuff out there didn’t just happen?” Beatrice asked when they were finally alone. “I just need to be normal with you tonight. That was… too much. There’s a million things to talk about, but I don’t want to talk about any of them right now.”
Giovanni nodded and gave her hand a quick squeeze before he started looking around the room. Even though they were in his friend’s home, he did his typical precautionary search, zipping around the room, pulling back any draperies and generally searching every corner for any unknown threat.
While he did that, Beatrice fastened the series of locks on the heavy wooden door and slipped off her shoes. She sighed when she turned around to survey the room where they would be living for… she had no idea anymore. “Wow, this is so beautiful.”
“It’s different. It’s all red.”
Giovanni was looking around their room with some confusion, but she could do nothing but admire the space. The ceilings were vaulted, and she could see what she guessed were the original dark wood beams crossing the center. The rest of the room was a stunning mix of modern simplicity and Chinese elegance. There were no windows, but carved wooden screens lined the walls and an intricately worked arch lined with silk curtains separated the bedroom from the sitting area.
Giovanni was still frowning. “She definitely redecorated since the last time I was here.”
“When was that?”
“About… a hundred years ago? I don’t remember exactly.”
She took a deep breath. “I forget how old you are most of the time.”
“I forget how old I am most of the time.”
Beatrice walked over to a low chaise, covered in red shantung. The whole room was decorated in rich crimson and black fabrics. “Somehow, I never pictured Tenzin having a flair for interior design.”
He chuckled. “I can almost promise you this is Nima. As rough as Tenzin can be, Nima is as cultured. They’ve been companions for many years.”
Thinking of the odd mood she’d picked up between her father and Tenzin, she asked, “Is Tenzin… well, were she and Nima together? Or… I don’t know anything about that part of her life, to be honest.”
He shrugged. “Neither do I.”
“Really?”
He cocked an eyebrow at her and walked over, placing his hands at her waist. “It’s not something she talks about. You have to remember, Tenzin has been alive for over five thousand years. I expect she sees those kind of relationships in a very different way than you or I do.”
She sighed and embraced him, wrapping her arms around his waist and putting her ear to his chest. His heart gave a single, quiet thump.
“Are you very angry with her?” She cursed herself for asking, but she had to know.
“You were crying.”
“That’s not her fault.”
“No, it’s your father’s fault.”
“No…” She looked up at him and traced around his lips with her finger. “It’s not anyone’s fault. You can’t blame anyone this time.”
He frowned as if her explanation was unsatisfactory, so she asked another question.
“Who are the lion and the dragon?”
He pulled back. “What?”
“Elder He, the other fire vampire?”
“Yes?”
“She said, ‘Who is this human who’s protected by the lion and the dragon?’ Was she talking about you and Baojia?”
Giovanni chuckled. “Yes, she’s quite dramatic, isn’t she? She always has been.”
“So, are you the dragon?” Beatrice teased, pulling at the back of his shirt as she walked backward toward the silk-covered bed beyond the arched doorway. “The dragon that breathes fire?”
He bent down and hitched up her legs around his waist, carrying her toward the bed and laying her on the red pillows. “We’re in China; the dragon is a water symbol here.”
“Oh?” she asked as his warm hands stroked along her waist. “So you’re the lion? Why are you the lion?”
“I’m from
the West, and the lion is a symbol of the sun,” he said as he laid gentle kisses along her collar. “The sun is the mother of fire.”
“But…” She sighed as she felt the quick lick of amnis wherever his lips touched. Her heart began to race. “That seems kind of cruel. You can’t go out in the sun.”
He only smiled, and she could see the length of his fangs gleaming in the low light of the candles that lit the room.
“Tesoro mio, the lion may be a symbol of the sun…” He bent down, lifted her body toward his, and gave one long, slow lick from her collarbone to her ear. “But he hunts at night.”
Chapter Three
Mount Penglai, China
August 2010
Giovanni left Beatrice sleeping a few hours before dawn, after exhausting her body and quieting her mind. She wouldn’t talk about her feelings toward her father yet. He knew it was too soon. As she did with all new developments, she would take her time observing and thinking before she came to a decision.
But Giovanni could still be angry.
He was angry with Tenzin, who had kept the secret of Stephen’s location for her own cryptic reasons. He was angry with Stephen for running and questioning his motives with Beatrice. He was angry that he had to be in this place that tried his patience and set every instinct on edge. He knew exactly why Tenzin avoided her father’s court. It reminded him of the strictly choreographed social scenes of his human childhood, where even the color of a hat could have some hidden meaning.
Giovanni walked out of Tenzin’s rooms and into the central courtyard, spending a few quiet moments breathing the night air and wandering among the large limestone rocks placed around the garden. The scholar’s stones had been shaped by wind and water and were a popular symbol among the Eight Immortals, as they combined three of the four natural elements in harmony.
He stepped over a small footbridge and spied Beatrice’s father reading a book near the edge of a stream. The vampire must have sensed the changing energy because he immediately looked up and narrowed his eyes. Giovanni walked over, sitting on a stone bench opposite Stephen. He looked around the garden, but picked up no indications they were being observed.
“How’s my daughter?” Stephen asked.
Giovanni debated for a moment, but decided he would answer him. “She’ll be fine.”
Stephen nodded and closed his book. He set it on the bench next to him and folded his hands, the picture of practiced serenity.
“Have you had any word of Lorenzo?”
“I suspect he knows you are here. Or at least has some suspicion. The last time we had information about him, it indicated he was heading to Eastern Asia.”
Stephen took a deep breath. “I’ve been in this place long enough that I knew it would trickle back to him.”
“Then why did you stay?”
“I was tired of running.” He sighed. “And I hoped that Beatrice would find me somehow.”
Giovanni felt a spurt of anger. “You knew that I was looking for you. You must know my reputation. Why did you not seek me out? I was protecting your daughter; I could have protected you, too. And then you wouldn’t have worried her.”
“And how did I know you were trustworthy?” Stephen cocked an eyebrow at him. “Do you know the stories your son tells about you? The picture Lorenzo painted of you would make a thousand-year-old vampire run screaming, much less someone as young as me.”
“Good.”
“Do you know what it did to me to think that Beatrice was under your aegis? I had the most horrifying thoughts and conflicting reports. I had no way of knowing what the truth was.”
Giovanni snorted. “Your daughter is more than safe with me, De Novo.”
“I realized that when I met Tenzin.”
“Tenzin…” Giovanni curled his lip. “I’m quite angry with both of you.”
“She said you would be, but that we were doing the right thing and that things had to happen in a certain order.”
He shook his head. “Damned mystic. Who does she think she is?”
“Your friend,” Stephen said as he leaned forward, “and a friend to my daughter.”
Giovanni remained silent, sitting with a stoic expression as he examined Beatrice’s father. Stephen had the thin countenance common among those who spent their lives immersed in books, but he also looked as if he had been feeding regularly, and he no longer wore the gaunt look Beatrice had described from her childhood. There was something about his energy signature that bothered Giovanni. If he had no idea who the vampire was, he would have guessed he was much, much older.
Perhaps even older than him.
“Is Beatrice very angry with me?”
Giovanni shrugged. “You’ll have to ask her.”
Stephen sighed. “You explained to her what he’s like, didn’t you? Lorenzo?”
“She didn’t need me to describe Lorenzo’s madness for her. Unfortunately, she’s quite well-acquainted with it on her own.”
Stephen’s face fell, crumbling with guilt as he remembered why Beatrice was familiar with Lorenzo’s cruelty. “I know she may not forgive me. I understand that.” He looked up. “Do you understand?”
“Why you ran? Of course I do. I could even feel some guilt for it, since I created him, but ultimately, Lorenzo is a creature of his own making. And frankly, Stephen De Novo, you are only as important to me as you are to your daughter. If she did not want to find you, you would be nothing to me. A mere annoyance in my otherwise very long life.”
Stephen looked at him silently, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes for a moment. “You really do love her, don’t you?”
“That is between Beatrice and me. I do not know you well enough to confide in you; however, Tenzin may decide to trust you. And if I think that your presence is a danger to Beatrice, I will not hesitate to be rid of you, manuscript or no manuscript.”
“You killed to get her back. You’ve spent vast sums to protect her. Does she even know?”
Giovanni shifted slightly. “It is irrelevant.”
Stephen only nodded. “I’m glad you found her. She could have come to a far worse end.”
“Yes,” he murmured, “she could have.” The rage Giovanni had suppressed for over five years bubbled to the surface, and he felt his skin begin to heat. “Do you have any idea what you did? How you endangered her? What it did when you abandoned her?”
“What? Abandoned—”
“How could you be so careless? With your own daughter? Do you realize what could have happened to her?”
Stephen scowled. “I didn’t plan on being murdered by your son, di Spada. If he hadn’t killed me, my daughter never would have been in danger.”
Giovanni rose to his feet. “And if you hadn’t left her unprotected, she wouldn’t have been, either.”
Stephen shook his head. “What do you even know about—”
“You are not a man without skills, Stephen De Novo. You could have sought protection for yourself and your family through someone more powerful of your choosing. Then she and your mother—”
“I thought I was doing the right thing!” Stephen rose to his feet. “I thought—”
“You thought like a petulant child!” Giovanni glared at him, clenching his hands and trying to restrain himself. “You gave no thought to your daughter. Do you realize that every man in her life has abandoned her at some point?”
Stephen blinked, cocking his head at Giovanni before he sank back to his seat. “But I thought you—”
“I left her, too. Like a fool. After I came back, it took me months to realize what I had done, how I had hurt her.” He took a deep breath and calmed the rush of his heart, taking a seat on the bench once again. “I was arrogant, probably even more than you. I thought I knew what was best for her, what she could ‘handle.’”
Stephen sat with his arms resting by his side and his shoulders slumped. He took a hand and waved it in a scooping motion toward the stream. A ball of water floated toward him, and he tossed it in the
air between his upturned palms like a baseball.
“I never thought about it that way. I really didn’t think she’d remember me.”
“Don’t get me started on your clumsy mental manipulations. You’re lucky that I’m feeling generous and she has such a strong mind.”
Stephen winced and let the ball of water splatter on the neatly trimmed grass. “My father, Hector—”
“Your father was a good man, De Novo, but he died. He didn’t want to leave her, but he did anyway. You left her. Your father left her. I left her. Don’t even get me started on the woman who calls herself her mother. Frankly, some days I think it’s a miracle she’ll talk to either of us.”
Stephen looked at the ground, nodding. “I understand what you’re saying.”
“She’s far stronger than either of us gave her credit for. Just remember that.”
“Will she…” Stephen looked at him with pleading eyes. “I mean, does she want this life? Have you talked about it?”
Giovanni looked away. “You’ll have to ask her. It is not my business to speak for her.”
“I understand,” Stephen said, nodding again.
“Do you?” Giovanni leaned forward, capturing Stephen in his vivid green gaze. “Make sure that you do.”
Stephen did not flinch under his stare. “She’s lucky she found you.”
Giovanni shook his head and muttered, “I am the lucky one.” Just then, his eyes darted to the right as he registered an ancient immortal coming toward them. Giovanni held up a hand to silence Stephen and took a deep breath, waiting for their host in a pose of meditation.
“Giovanni Vecchio. Stephen.” Elder Zhang spoke as he approached them. “You are enjoying the hours before dawn in my favorite place.”
Giovanni smirked. “I thought your favorite place was the banquet hall.”
Zhang chuckled. “You know me too well. I have to thank you both for giving my daughter a reason to come visit me. It has been too long since I have seen her.”