Midnight Labyrinth: An Elemental Legacy Novel Page 12

  “Please, call me Ben. And I don’t know if Emilie told you this, but I find antiquities for my business. I was trained by my uncle, whose passion is finding and dealing in rare books and manuscripts. So I’ve been doing work of this sort for quite a long time, even though I’m young.”

  Emilie handed him a fork and a piece of cake. It smelled heavenly.

  “How old are you?”

  “I’m twenty-five,” Ben said, taking a bite. He was actually twenty-four, but his identification said twenty-five. “This cake is wonderful. Thank you.”

  “Emilie, the coffee should be ready.” Mrs. Vandine smiled. “You are quite young, aren’t you Ben?”

  “I am. But as I said—”

  “Where would you even start?” she asked. “I cannot imagine.”

  “I’d start where most of these types of investigations start,” Ben said. “In the library, going through auction catalogs. Reading old newspapers. Most beginning work on a case is pretty mundane. Lots of busywork and checking off boxes. I do have a few sources here and in London who are particularly attuned to the art world.”

  Emilie came back with coffee in a french press and poured it into eggshell-thin demitasse cups she put in front of Ben, Chloe, and her grandmother.

  “Thank you,” Ben said, lifting the cup to his mouth. It was steaming hot and very rich. He burned the edge of his tongue when he sipped it. “I’d also like to look into owners of the other two Labyrinth paintings. It’s possible they have some information about Midnight Labyrinth.”

  Mrs. Vandine looked at Emilie. “I thought you said the owners were anonymous?”

  “They were,” Ben said drawing her attention back to him. “But anonymity is often a very public secret when you know the right people to ask. I have some contacts with Historic New York, who cosponsored the surrealist exhibit at the museum. I plan on starting there.”

  Mrs. Vandine looked at Emilie. “We donate to them, don’t we?”

  “I think so, Grandmother.”

  “They do so much for the city.” She lifted her own coffee cup. “And your friend? Is she part of your business as well?”

  Ben glanced at Chloe. “My partner would like to hire her, but Chloe’s just keeping me company tonight.”

  Chloe smiled at Ben. “She does not. Tenzin would hardly—”

  “She does. Tenzin’s the one who suggested you come tonight, so make sure you’re taking notes.”

  Emilie took a seat and reached for her cake. “Who is Tenzin?”

  “His partner,” Chloe said. “She’s the muscle. He’s the pretty face.”

  “I beg your pardon,” Ben sat up, trying to look offended. “I also have muscles. And a pretty face. I have both.”

  “And charm, I think,” Mrs. Vandine said with a twinkle in her eye. “If you have turned my Emilie’s eyes to you, you also have charm.”

  Emilie murmured something too fast for Ben to catch, but it made her grandmother smile.

  “I like this idea,” Mrs. Vandine said. “I don’t know if it will amount to any new revelations, but I am willing to let you look through our pictures and letters if you like. We don’t have any money to pay you, but—”

  “This would be solely at my own expense,” Ben said, winking at Emilie. “If I could dig into your family history a little more, I’d be grateful.”

  Emilie and her grandmother exchanged a cryptic look. Finally Emilie said, “What would you like to know?”

  11

  Tenzin stared at the small screen mounted to the wall.

  The human said, “This is unusual for you.”

  “I know.”

  The face on the other end was blurred, but the voice was familiar. Tenzin’s face would be blurred on his side too. It was the way Ben had set up her amnis-resistant tablet so that Tenzin could make calls in the relative privacy of her room.

  “Are you sure?” her art buyer asked.

  “Quite sure.”

  “Very well.” She saw the blurred face look down. He was writing something on a legal pad. “I’ll let you know what I find.”

  “Private sellers are going to be the most desirable. The gossip has already started on the East Coast.”

  “I’ll see what I can do and email any leads. You’re sure of this budget?”

  “Yes.”

  A hint of laughter. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

  “And Emmanuel, if I hear about this tip spreading to any other clients—and I will hear—I will kill you,” Tenzin said. “Do you understand?”

  The laughter stopped. “Have I ever betrayed you?”

  “There’s a first time for everyone. Don’t let this be yours.” Tenzin used the stylus to end the call.

  She checked her email. There was a follow-up email from Blumenthal Blades.

  Damn. She’d waited too long to decide on the saber and someone else had bought it.

  Another email from René.

  Dearest Tenzin,

  I miss you so. The Paris lights are calling you. Won’t you answer? We could have a marvelous time in the city. France is ripe fruit waiting to fall these days, and I do know how you hate being bored.

  Speaking of fruit, I have a joke for you.

  “How do you make an apple turnover?

  Push it downhill.”

  Isn’t it amusing? Write me back when you can.

  Your constant admirer,

  René DuPont

  Sometimes René’s jokes were funny. Sometimes they were just bad. This was the third apple joke he’d sent her, and none of them made sense. Was this current one a threat?

  She used the stylus and touched an arrow button at the end of the message. She thought it might be a voice message of some kind—René would sometimes send those—but instead a low-plucked bass sounded from the house speakers and a lazy song about taking a walk on the wild side filled the loft. She listened to it for a moment. The rhythm was nearly hypnotic, but she couldn’t make sense of the lyrics. She briefly debated forwarding the message to Benjamin to see if he could make sense of it, but instead she moved it to the René folder. Her email program closed and the loft fell silent just in time to hear the quiet churn of the elevator. Ben and Chloe were almost home.

  Perfect.

  A few moments later, Tenzin heard them chattering in the entryway and took to the air, floating in the middle of the living room, reading the manual for her new sewing machine. It was past time that Chloe was made aware of vampire life. Tenzin would have to take matters into her own hands since Ben was being stubborn.

  The door opened.

  “No,” Chloe said with a laugh. “Because when she stopped serving coffee, I just wanted more cake. It’s a vicious…”

  “Chloe?” Ben asked.

  Tenzin looked up. Chloe’s eyes were locked on her. She waved. “Hi. How was the meeting?”

  The girl’s face went pale a second before she fell over in a faint.

  Chloe heard the voices before she opened her eyes.

  “—that on purpose!”

  “Of course I did. You were never going to.”

  “It is not your place to tell my friends about my other life. I am the one who—”

  “Don’t be so selfish,” Tenzin snapped. “She’s my friend too.”

  Oh, that was nice. Tenzin could be so odd, Chloe was never sure quite what the other woman thought of her.

  The other woman.

  Who floated.

  Chloe’s eyes fluttered open. The light was too bright, and someone had laid her on the couch. Had she hit her head when she fell?

  “She can be your friend,” Ben said, “but she was my friend first—”

  “Are you five now?”

  “—and you should not have decided to tell her, especially not like that!”

  “Well, it was direct.”

  “She passed out from shock.”

  Chloe started to sit up. “She’s kind of awake now.”

  Ben rushed to kneel next to her. “Hey. How are you feelin
g?”

  “I’m… okay.”

  God, he was so great. Why couldn’t she have just stayed in love with Ben Vecchio and married her high school sweetheart? Her life would have been a lot easier if that had happened. Sure, by the time she and Ben broke up they were already more friends than boyfriend and girlfriend, but she could have worked with that. He was handsome as sin, smart, and funny. He had his own business. He was self-assured and a great friend. He was also pretty great at sex—even as a teenager. He was probably so much better now.

  He was a catch.

  And he was staring at her intently. “Do you remember anything… weird?”

  She closed her eyes. “I think we might need to call Dr. Singh again. I don’t want to be a pain in the ass, but I’m pretty sure I had a hallucination before I passed out. There might be some head trauma from before. I don’t know. Is that weird?” She rubbed her eyes. “I hate feeling like I’m putting everyone out, but if I’m seeing things like—”

  “Like women floating above the ground?”

  Chloe looked up. Tenzin was there. Floating. Above the ground.

  And she was smiling.

  And… there were teeth. Very long, curved teeth.

  Spots danced across her vision again as Chloe closed her eyes.

  She decided to lay herself down this time. She really didn’t want to hit her head.

  “Dude!” Ben shouted, jumping to his feet. “Tenzin, cut it out! Stop doing that.”

  “We’re all going to laugh about this someday. It’s going to be hilarious.”

  “Well, it’s not hilarious now. We’re never going to convince her it was a hallucination if you keep doing that.”

  Chloe muttered, “I’m pretty sure I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming, right?”

  Ben pressed his lips together and pointed at Chloe’s back.

  Tenzin wasn’t sure what he wanted her to do, but he had that pointy, judgmental face that made her want to hoot with laughter and antagonize him more.

  “What?” she asked.

  Ben pointed at Chloe again but didn’t speak. Then he waved his hand in front of his face before he touched a finger to his temple.

  “What are you doing?” she asked. Was this a strange game of charades? It wasn’t really the time for charades, even though she did enjoy that game.

  “Amnis. Memory,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “I’m not going to use amnis to wipe her memory,” Tenzin said. “I don’t want her to forget. You’re the one who wants her to forget, so you wipe her memory.”

  “I can’t do that, Tenzin; I’m not a vampire!”

  Tenzin sat down next to Chloe on the couch. “No. No, you’re not. Don’t you wish you were right now though?”

  “I hate you so much.”

  “No, you don’t,” Chloe muttered into the pillow. “Did someone say vampire?”

  “Yes.” Tenzin patted Chloe’s back. “I’m a vampire, but I won’t bite you. I promise.”

  Chloe kept talking into the pillow. “Okay sure. Why not? Ben, where’s my purse?”

  Ben was pacing the room, arms crossed on his chest and one hand gripping his hair. “Uh, why?”

  “I need my phone.”

  “Why?”

  “To call Dr. Singh, of course,” Chloe said, her face still smashed in the pillow.

  Tenzin watched with satisfaction as Ben realized that he was going to lose this fight. Chloe was going to learn about vampires and be part of their world. Tenzin kept herself from clapping with glee.

  She didn’t need to rub it in. He already looked defeated.

  But she was so very pleased. Chloe was a delightful person. She was funny and smart, and Tenzin could really use another day person around the house. She was missing Caspar, Giovanni’s butler. Not that Chloe would be a butler. Tenzin and Ben weren’t as formal as Giovanni was. No, Chloe could be their day person and friend. She was perfect.

  Ben was glaring at her. “Selfish,” he hissed.

  “What?”

  “You are selfish.” He uncrossed his arms and his eyes went cold as he switched to speaking in Mandarin. “You did this for you, not her.”

  That was partly correct. But not entirely.

  “I did it for you too,” she replied back in Mandarin. “You need more people who understand you.”

  “And did you, even once, wonder what would be best for her? What she might want?”

  No. Not that Tenzin didn’t like Chloe, but Chloe wasn’t one of her people. Not yet. Her blank expression must have given away the answer to Ben.

  “Selfish,” Ben said again. “Leave. I don’t want to see you right now.”

  “Are you going to explain things to her on your own?”

  “Yes.”

  “She might not believe you.”

  Ben glared. “I’ll invite Gavin over. He already knows about her. I’ll be needing his help to protect her anyway.”

  He preferred Gavin’s assistance to hers? Tenzin curled her lip. “Now who’s being selfish?”

  Without another word, she flew out the rooftop door and into the night.

  When Chloe finally opened her eyes, she turned over and saw Ben sitting on the end of the couch, her feet resting in his lap. He had a hand on the back of her ankles and was absently rubbing her bad leg. His face was a carefully controlled blank.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey.” He rubbed a hand over her knee. “Is it feeling better?”

  “A little more every day.”

  He nodded, but he didn’t say anything more. Ben had turned the lights in the loft down, but the dreamlike quality of waking was giving way to a clearer mind. She had seen Tenzin floating in the air. Floating like she was held up by strings. But there were no strings in the apartment.

  Ben had not been shocked. He’d been angry. Chloe had seen teeth that came straight from a horror movie. Long curving teeth in the mouth of a woman of who didn’t seem to age.

  And somehow she knew. Maybe it was from the look on Ben’s face. Maybe it was from a flash on the edge of her peripheral vision or the flutter in her belly when Tenzin stared at her too long.

  None of this was a movie. None of this was a dream.

  Chloe battled through the queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She’d never seen Ben more nervous.

  “Do you know I still get stage fright?” she blurted out.

  “Really?” Ben’s voice was barely above a whisper.

  “Really. Every time.”

  “You never look scared.”

  “It’s an odd feeling. Not like real fear. There’s excitement mixed in. I’m scared and excited.”

  “That makes sense.” He was still rubbing her knee.

  “You know, the first time I felt that, I was six years old. I was with my class and we were performing the swan dance from Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns. Do you know that one?”

  “I think so. Cello?”

  “Yeah. I remember…” She felt the same pressure in her chest. The quickening of her blood and the faint prickle that ran along her skin. “I remember standing behind the curtain in my shoes and tutu. And I remember thinking, ‘When this curtain opens, I will be a different person. Nothing will ever be the same.’”

  “Chloe—”

  “I was scared, but I was excited too.” She looked at Ben until he met her eyes. “I have the same feeling now.”

  He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Chloe had never seen him so unsure. Not even with her, and he was more honest with her than he was with most people.

  “I always knew you hid things, Ben,” she said. “I always knew there was more.”

  He took a deep breath. “There’s a lot more.”

  She nodded because she wasn’t surprised. Though she couldn’t wrap her mind around the whole of it, none of this was a surprise. Ben was one of the most extraordinary people she’d ever met. He had secrets. He’d always had secrets.

  She asked, “Your uncle?”

  “Not my un
cle.”

  She’d known. Yes, she’d known that. “But he loves you.”

  Ben nodded. “He took me in when I was eleven. I was a street kid here in New York.”

  “Why’d he take you in?”

  He swallowed hard. “He needed… another person. They can’t go out during the day.”

  Chloe’s heart was pounding, but she forced herself to nod. “Okay.”

  He’s not crazy. Ben is not crazy. Neither am I.

  “The sun part is true,” he said quietly. “A lot of the stories aren’t. They don’t have to… to kill to eat. They do have to drink blood though. They can’t go out in sunlight, but they don’t all sleep during the day. Tenzin is proof of that.”

  “Okay.” The black spots were back, but she battled through the quick spike of nausea and focused on Ben. “Tenzin doesn’t look any older than she did when you were in high school.”

  “No. I think she’s looked the same for a few thousand years now.”

  Chloe’s stomach dipped. “Thousand?”

  “That’s old. Really old. Even for them.”

  “Okay.”

  “Chloe, how you doing?”

  She drew in a shaky breath. “I’m not crazy.”

  “No.” He looked her straight in the eye. “You’re not crazy.”

  “She can fly.”

  “She can. Not all of them can. The thing Tenzin mentioned. Amnis? It’s like an electrical current that runs beneath their skin. And with that they can control an element. Wind, like Tenzin. Water, like my aunt.”

  “Your aunt?”

  Ben nodded. “Earth. Do you remember my Uncle Carwyn?”

  “The weird priest?”

  “That’s the one.”

  Chloe put her head in her hands. “Oh my God.”

  “Chlo—”

  “Oh. My. God.” She took deep, even breaths. “How many of them are there?”

  “More than a few.”

  “Is your whole family… like that?”

  “Like vampires?”