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

  Then she closed the door.

  He heard nothing for a long time, only the sound of her breath moving slowly in and out of her lungs, then her footsteps receded from the door and there was silence.

  19

  Chloe caught Tenzin before she left the next night. “Where will you go?”

  “Back to Bucharest.” She stuffed a new video game console in her backpack next to her gloves and a Cara-enabled tablet. “Can I stay in the same place?”

  Chloe nodded. “You have the code?”

  “I do.”

  Gavin had his regular apartment over the club in downtown Bucharest. He also had a safe house where Tenzin had stayed that few knew about. It was only accessible by air, built into an old Soviet-era warehouse on the outskirts of the city.

  “How long will you be in Romania?”

  Tenzin said, “No more than a few nights. I need to contact a few people; then I will probably disappear for a time.” She pulled an envelope from the pocket of her tunic and handed it to Chloe.

  “What is this?”

  “I emailed instructions to you about the safe in New York. The letter is for Ben.” She met Chloe’s shocked eyes. “If a year has passed from this day and I have not spoken to you, give this letter to Benjamin.”

  Chloe said, “You’re scaring me.”

  “Don’t be scared.” She touched the woman’s shoulder. “I don’t expect anything to happen to me. I’m quite hard to kill. But I think this is necessary. It shouldn’t take more than three to seven months.”

  “Three to seven months? That’s oddly specific.”

  “I think the snow will come in October.”

  Chloe let out a strangled laugh. “Yeah, this is weird and cryptic even for you.”

  “I know.” She frowned. “I am not going to stop working on my New Year’s resolutions, but for now I may have to pause my progress.”

  “Okay.” Chloe nodded. “Again, nothing about that makes sense.”

  “Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you in three to—”

  “Seven months.” Chloe waved the letter. “I got you.”

  “Are you and Gavin going to return to New York soon?”

  “I think he said last night that he needs one more night to work here, then back to Romania for Ben’s meeting with Radu, then back to LA to drop off the plane, and then we’ll head home from there.”

  “I see.” Tenzin thought rapidly. “I can’t decide if Gavin should accompany Ben to meet Radu. I think maybe he should.”

  “I don’t think he was planning on it. Radu has no leverage on Ben at this point. He prepaid for the icon with all that gold, so all Ben needs to do is drop it off. Pretty straightforward.”

  “Yes, all that gold…” Tenzin turned to Chloe. “Tell Gavin there is nothing about Radu that is straightforward. I warned Ben not to underestimate him, but I ended up doing it myself. Ben won’t take me seriously.”

  Chloe fisted her hair in her hands. “You need to start making sense, Tenzin!”

  “I know.” She quickly leaned forward and kissed Chloe’s cheek. “You are a true friend to both of us and I love you.” She hugged Chloe quickly. “You know that, correct?”

  Chloe’s expression told her she hadn’t known it. “I love you too. Please be safe.”

  “Of course.” Her fangs peeked out when she smiled. “I’m finally having fun again. But don’t tell Ben I said that.”

  “That you’re having fun with something that’s obviously life-threatening? Yeah, I think I’ll keep that to myself.”

  “Ben likes to pretend that he doesn’t also get excited by dangerous situations. I don’t understand that about him, but I have decided not to challenge his sense of self for a while.”

  “Okay.” Chloe shrugged. “Sure.”

  “I’ll see you in three to seven months.” Tenzin slung her backpack over her shoulder. “Hopefully.”

  Ben woke from his day rest and he was starving. He hit the intercom inside his sleeping chamber.

  “Yes, Mr. Vecchio? Can we help you this evening?”

  Gavin’s household staff was amazing. “Can I get a thermos of preserved blood heated and sent to my room?”

  “If you’ll give us ten minutes, we can have fresh delivered.”

  “Sweet.” He swallowed back the burning in his throat. “Just leave it on the table. I’m going to stay secured until it’s delivered.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Vecchio.”

  Ben had excellent control, but he really didn’t feel like growling at room service when they delivered his blood, and with the way his throat was feeling, that was highly probable.

  What had set him off so much? He tried to think back to the drifting place before he truly woke.

  Right. Sex dreams about Tenzin. That would do it.

  He was still confused about why he dreamed at all. According to Brigid, it wasn’t normal or natural for a new vampire to dream. When she went out, she was out. No consciousness at all. She said it was one of her favorite things about being a vampire.

  But Ben wasn’t that way. He hadn’t slept like that since the first night he woke.

  The first night he woke… and drank from Tenzin.

  He refused to think that her blood could have affected him that much; it was one time.

  Nope. Wasn’t an option.

  It was probably something about Zhang’s blood being so old. It was far more likely that was the explanation.

  He lay back down and waited for the intercom to chime again, and an uneasy tremor ran down his spine.

  Ben sat up and stared at the wall. The realization hit him with an unexpected slap of anger.

  She was gone.

  He knew it like he knew blood would sate his thirst. He knew it like he knew the wind would hold him if he jumped off a building. Tenzin was gone and his amnis ached.

  “Mr. Vecchio?”

  “Yes?”

  “Your evening meal has arrived.”

  “Thank you.”

  He couldn’t identify how he was feeling. He rose and gave the server a few seconds to depart. He pulled on a pair of cotton pants and a T-shirt. Then he leaned against the door and closed his eyes, thinking about the dream he’d left behind.

  They were flying over a forest, a blanket of thick trees below them. They were pressed together, their bodies moving as one while the air cradled them.

  Not a sex dream really. Something far more intimate.

  He walked into the living area and found the thermos on the table. He gave it a quick shake—fresh blood coagulated quickly—and opened the lid to drink it straight from the thermos, ignoring the tall black mug the server had placed on the tray.

  God, it was so good.

  As a human, he’d always imagined blood hunger would be the same as human hunger, but it was far more intense. It was closer to being drastically thirsty than hungry, but sating that thirst was more satisfying than drinking water. It was a full-body sensual experience that was second only in pleasure to sex.

  Sex and blood drinking? Well, that was probably part of the reason Ben hadn’t wanted to touch another women since his one night with Tenzin. He couldn’t imagine the intimacy of blood exchange with anyone else, but he couldn’t imagine finding any sex without blood drinking satisfactory in the least.

  He finished the thermos and set it down on the table, wiping the traces of blood from his lips with his thumb. He felt the warmth traveling from his throat, down the core of his body and into his limbs as he woke from daily torpor.

  She was gone.

  Left.

  You asked her to leave, his mind taunted him.

  “…this is a temporary thing, Tenzin. That means when we finish and I ask you to leave, you leave. And you do not follow me again.”

  So… she was gone. And he had work to do.

  Ben walked to the bathroom and started the shower, waiting for the steam to fill the small room. One of the more surprising things about becoming a vampire was the constant, invasive cold.
r />   While it was true that he could heat his body with amnis, he hadn’t quite gotten to the point where it was automatic. It took effort to create an average body temperature, which meant that if the surrounding environment was cool and there were no humans around to fool, he usually didn’t make the effort.

  But Ben hated being cold. It reminded him of childhood winters in New York when the landlord would shut off the heat in their building and his breath would freeze in the air as he lay in bed, wishing he could stay under the covers.

  Basically, Ben now understood why so many vampires—not just the northerners—had saunas and steam rooms in their houses. He sat in the bathroom enjoying the warm, wet air surrounding him and thought through his next steps.

  Return to Bucharest. Gavin had another night of meetings, but Ben didn’t need to be there and it was only a couple of hours to fly on his own. Did he want to just take off? He was sure Gavin’s place was still safe even without Gavin.

  Yep. Best to just leave.

  Meet with Radu and hand over the icon. Unlike some of his jobs, this wasn’t going to be hard. Nothing about the icon appealed to him. It was nice enough, but Ben didn’t understand the sentimental value, and while it was a beautiful example of early Orthodox art and it had a fascinating history, it wasn’t something he’d become attached to. It really was just a job.

  The last job.

  “That was what you wanted. You said, ‘This is a temporary thing, Tenzin.’ You were quite clear.”

  Yes.

  Yes. This was what he wanted. Ben shook off the feeling of loss.

  Except she hadn’t even seemed sorry. Or angry. Or sneaky, which would tell him that she had no intention of actually leaving him alone.

  It didn’t matter.

  He’d leave tonight for Bucharest and call Radu to meet the next night at his club. The vampire had already paid, so nothing else needed to happen. At the end of the night, this had really been one of the more straightforward jobs he’d worked, and he hadn’t even had to wrangle about payment.

  Payment in advance.

  Investigate icon.

  Call in favors from Corsicans to confirm a sneaky tip from associate of his aunt.

  Break into cool thief’s house.

  Retrieve icon.

  Return icon.

  And that was that.

  Aaaand he hadn’t been able to talk to Tenzin about what they were going to do about the New York house. No matter. After he finished in Bucharest, he’d head to Rome for a while. He was overdue for a visit with Fabia, and he could chill in the Eternal City with Ronan and his old friends for a while. It would be good to be among familiar faces.

  Would he need a formal introduction to Emil’s court now since he was under the aegis of Penglai? He buzzed Chloe.

  She picked up after two rings. “Hey, sleepyhead.”

  “Hey, yourself. Can you remind me when I’m finished in Bucharest to call Giovanni and ask if I need a formal letter of introduction to Emil Conti in Rome?”

  “Are you going to Rome?”

  “I thought I’d head over there after I’m done in Bucharest and give Fabia a visit since I’m on the continent. You and Gavin should come too. There’s plenty of room in the house, and you and Fabi could shop. She’d love to take you around.”

  Chloe was suspiciously silent instead of enthusiastic. “Give me a minute.” She hung up and a knock sounded at his door a few minutes later.

  “Hey.” He opened the door, and she immediately walked in with a frown on her face. “What’s up?”

  “Tenzin is gone.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  She looked like she was going to ask something and then changed her mind. “Okay, I have no idea what is going on, but she seemed really determined that you shouldn’t meet with Radu on your own. She thought Gavin should go with you.”

  “Why?” He sat on the edge of the couch. “There’s not going to be any trouble with payment. He’s paid in advance. I’m going to drop off a painting. That’s it.”

  “And I told her that, but she said not to underestimate him.”

  Ben rolled his eyes. “Yeah, she likes to keep people on edge. At this point, I think she thinks it’s adorable, but it’s not. It’s just annoying. I’m going to fly to Bucharest tonight and I’ll meet with Radu first thing tomorrow night. Then I’m going to head to Rome.”

  “I really wish you’d wait for Gavin.”

  Ben stood and kissed Chloe’s forehead. “I’ll be fine. I’m not being rash. I’ve completely thought this through and there are really no dangers in meeting Radu at a club I’ve already visited in a city where I have a safe house.”

  “But Ben—”

  “At times like this, it’s actually convenient to be a vampire everyone worries about.” Ben started unplugging his devices and packing his backpack. “Trust me, Chloe. Radu is not stupid enough to mess with the son of Zhang Guo or the nephew of Giovanni Vecchio. He’d have vampires from half the known world pissed off at him over a minor work of art.”

  She stared at him a long time. “I really don’t like this.”

  “And don’t forget.” Ben folded a long-sleeved black shirt and tucked it in his backpack. “If anything gets too dangerous, I can just fly, fly away.”

  Two nights later…

  Ben woke in pitch darkness.

  He smelled vinyl and leather.

  Pine and the scent of fresh water nearby.

  Fresh blood.

  He touched his head, but the blow at the base of his skull had already healed itself. Scattered memories of jostling in a vehicle and heavy, unfamiliar accents. Flashing lights and the sound of truck engines revving.

  He stretched out, searching for anything familiar. On his right was a ledge of some kind. He reached over. He was on a bed and there was a wall next to him, but it felt hollow. False. He slapped the wall and felt the edge of a familiar plastic fixture. It was the flat paddle of a light switch.

  He pushed it and a small lamp turned on next to him, nearly blinding him with its low light.

  In the newly lit compartment, Ben looked around.

  Bed.

  Small kitchen.

  Square cupboards and plastic-covered bookshelves lined the walls. Was he on a plane? No, it was silent. He stood motionless and allowed the fear and panic to rise up so he could examine them clearly.

  He took a deep breath and put his hands on the wall again.

  Space. Some kind of insulation was packed behind the surface, but beyond that there was vast openness just on the other side. He reached up and felt the low ceiling. He felt the other wall and sensed the same.

  In every direction, he was surrounded by air.

  His panic began to calm. Just beyond these thin walls, his element waited for him. He could escape anytime.

  A simple door stood at the end of the compartment, and as he walked toward it, he felt the floor swaying beneath him. It creaked and bounced.

  What was this place? A mobile home? It was too small. A parked bus? Ben cracked the door slowly, reaching his amnis outward to sense any threats, but he was met by one single familiar energy signature a short distance away.

  He pushed the door open and saw Radu standing alone on a hill under the swiftly darkening sky. The sun had set in the distance, and a lone Romani wagon was next to him, parked at the end of a cracked asphalt road where Ben realized his caravan had come to rest. That was the compartment where he’d woken, not a mobile home but a travel bus.

  Radu turned and smiled ruefully. “I apologize, Ben Vecchio. This was not how I wanted to introduce you to the Dawn Caravan, but you left me no other options.”

  20

  Ben sat across from Radu, a bottle of blood-wine between them. He was trying to keep calm, but anger pushed at him. Tenzin had been right. He shouldn’t have met Radu alone. He’d been lulled into a sense of normalcy by Radu’s familiar face and the small number of guards with him.

  He hated when Tenzin was right.

  “I real
ly hate to pull this one out,” Ben said. “But do you know who the hell I am?”

  Radu smiled. “I am very aware.”

  “Tell me why I shouldn’t fly away right now.” Ben leaned back and crossed his leg over his knee.

  “Again, I deeply apologize for the unfortunate way I had to bring you here.” Radu opened the bottle in front of Ben. “It was not my wish.”

  “Your guard hit me on the back of the head hard enough to knock me out.” Ben hadn’t even known that was possible.

  “He disoriented you just before daybreak, and as I said, it was not what I wished. Devan was perhaps a little too concerned when you said you were leaving for Rome, and he will make restitution for his actions.”

  “You still haven’t answered my question.” Ben watched Radu pour a generous amount of wine in both glasses. “Why shouldn’t I take off right now?”

  “It will be to your benefit to stay and hear my offer. If, after this drink, you don’t agree with me, I will bid you farewell as well as leaving you with a chest of valuable items” —Radu nodded at a small belted travel chest near the door of his vardo— “as a thank-you from me and my clan for your generosity of time and your forgiveness.”

  Ben glanced at the chest, then at the blood-wine, then at the vampire across from him. “You’re going to pay me to listen to you over a glass of wine?”

  “I value your time.” A smile touched Radu’s mouth. “If you had, perhaps, valued mine as highly, this abduction wouldn’t have been necessary.”

  “I’m going to go ahead and argue this abduction definitely wasn’t necessary.”

  A hint of Radu’s jovial smile touched his lips. “When I contacted you three years ago, I had time to spare. That time has run out.”

  Okay, Ben did feel a little guilty about putting the man off for three years. Maybe it was worth giving Radu another ten minutes. He looked around the clearing. “No guard?”

  “I know you are an honorable man.” Radu raised his glass. “Good fortune and safe roads, Ben.”