Imitation and Alchemy Read online

  And came out squealing. Ben clapped a hand over the boy’s mouth and grabbed him by the back of the neck, dropping the fried snacks he’d been eating as the artist rushed to gather the prints that had gone flying with the soccer ball. Ben crouched down next to the boy, pinching his small hand in his own and speaking fiercely as the boy’s cheeks turned bright red.

  A few seconds later, the boy was running after his compatriots, who had abandoned him, a five-Euro note clutched in his hand, while Ben helped the artist pick up the last of his prints and a stray dog finished off the sciurilli that had fallen.

  Ben walked over to a nearby street fountain and washed his hands before he shook them off and walked back to Tenzin.

  “Pizza?”

  She smiled and shook her head. “What did you tell him?”

  “To be more careful choosing his marks.”

  “You didn’t try to warn him away from a life of crime?”

  Ben looked down the side street where the boy had disappeared. “I did a lot worse when I was hungry.” He nodded toward a pizzeria on the corner. “Come on. I’ll buy you a slice. Hopefully this Filomena won’t be late.”

  Chapter Three

  BEN SPOTTED THE VAMPIRE ENTERING Piazza del Gesù Nuovo a few minutes before ten. She was tall, especially for an immortal. With notable exceptions like his uncle, humans turned before the last century tended to be shorter than average. Tenzin was a perfect example. She was tiny, though she protested that she’d been quite tall for her time.

  This vampire was wearing high-heeled boots and leggings with a long, sleeveless tunic that showed off lightly muscled arms. Caramel-brown hair flowed down her back, and her skin was pale with a slight pink flush that told Ben she’d fed earlier in the evening. No one turned to look at her as she crossed the square, even though she was wearing sunglasses at night, which made Ben think she was a familiar sight in the neighborhood. Though she looked young, he knew she wasn’t.

  She was also drop-dead gorgeous.

  Ben knew the vampire had spotted Tenzin, who was perched on the graffiti-covered base of the monument in the center of the piazza, but Ben hung back, wanting to observe Alfonso’s lieutenant for a few more moments before he drew her attention.

  She was confident. He couldn’t see any weapons on her, but she approached Tenzin with what could almost be called a swagger.

  It was unusual in the immortal world. Though humans rarely noticed Tenzin—which she loved—something about her made most immortals pause. Beatrice had told him once that Tenzin’s amnis “smelled ancient,” whatever that meant. If he’d been able to detect it like vampires did, he might have been intimidated.

  But he was human, so she was just Tenzin.

  “You are Tenzin,” the vampire said when she reached the center of the square.

  “Yes.”

  Tenzin didn’t rise to her feet. Just looked up at the other vampire, squinting a little, her chin resting in her palm.

  The street boys who’d been hanging around sank back into the crowds on the edge of the square, leaving the vampires alone, save for Ben, whom Filomena finally noticed. She looked him up and down with an appraising eye.

  “I am Filomena. Who is the human?”

  “This is Ben, my yoga instructor.” Tenzin didn’t bat an eye, so Ben didn’t either. He just started plotting how on earth he was going to pay her back for that one. Was yoga instructor better or worse than life coach?

  To Filomena’s credit, she didn’t blink. “Will he be accompanying you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fine.” Filomena jerked her head. “Come. Alfonso is waiting.”

  Tenzin rose and followed Filomena, who led them toward the odd stone building that dominated the square. Covered in pyramid-faced stones, the church of Gesù Nuovo was deserted, visiting hours long past. No matter. Filomena knocked at the wooden door and stood back until it swung open. She passed something to the priest at the door and ducked inside.

  Tenzin and Ben followed her, neither meeting the eyes of the human in black robes who closed the door behind them. The heavy thunk echoed in the empty church. It was dark, except for a few candles lit in each chapel.

  Baroque art assaulted Ben’s eyes. Paintings, statues, and intricate altar pieces. “More” seemed to be the overriding design scheme. Filomena led them down a hallway covered with brass plaques and medals shaped like various body parts. Hearts and lungs. Legs, heads, and hands. The disembodied parts plastered the walls of the narrow hallway, lending a surprisingly morbid air to the holy place.

  “For healing,” Filomena said when she caught him looking. “Pilgrims come and pray here. They hang medals to ask for healing.”

  Ben smiled, delighted in the excess. “Does it work?”

  Filomena blinked. “Of course not. It’s superstition. Humans are very gullible.”

  He saw the edge of Tenzin’s smile when he passed her.

  The hallway led to a back room with a hidden door behind a tapestry. Then another hallway and another door. Ben could feel the cool damp growing the farther they traveled. At his side, he felt Tenzin’s tension increase.

  “Where are you leading us?” she asked.

  “Alfonso keeps court under the city,” Filomena explained. “He prefers the seclusion.”

  Only Ben caught the minute falter in Tenzin’s step.

  “That’s unusual, isn’t it?” Ben asked, stepping quickly into her silence. “I was told Alfonso was a water vampire.”

  “He is.”

  No other explanation came, nor did he expect one. Filomena pressed on, turning corner after corner until Ben was completely baffled. It was a maze, designed to confuse those not familiar with it. Plaster hallways gradually gave way to stone passages. Then Filomena stopped at a wooden door and pulled out an old iron key.

  She said nothing as she unlocked the door and swung it open, the damp musk of earth blasting them as an even darker passageway gaped below. Filomena didn’t wait for them to enter. She handed Ben a flashlight from a shelf set into the wall and continued down the wooden stairs leading below the surface.

  Ben watched Tenzin. Her tension had been steadily growing the farther they traveled. Now her face was a complete mask. Dead eyes. Face devoid of expression. He’d never seen her look less human.

  “Tiny?” he murmured.

  “Go. I don’t need the light.”

  Something was very wrong.

  “Do you want me to—”

  “Walk, Benjamin.”

  She shoved him toward the stairs and followed him, but Ben grabbed hold of one of her cold hands and held it, disturbed beyond reason by the look in her eyes. He walked down the damp, earthen passage leading under the streets of Naples.

  Tenzin wasn’t claustrophobic. The mere idea of it was ridiculous. She’d comfortably traveled across much of China in a smuggler’s hatch once. What the hell was going on?

  He refused to let go of her hand, even when she tried to tug it away. Finally she seemed to give up and let Ben hold it as they walked down the stairs, following Filomena into the darkness. The vampire slowed down to allow for the clumsy human to stumble along. The passageway was smooth, but the dirt floor was uneven.

  “How do you walk in those heels?” he asked Filomena.

  A low laugh. “Natural grace and centuries of practice.”

  Ben smiled.

  He followed her for what felt like an eternity before the earthen passageway gave way to stone again, and he felt the tension begin to ease from Tenzin’s fingers. Another turn and they entered an arched chamber nearly the size of a gymnasium.

  “What is this?” he asked Filomena.

  “One of the catacombs,” she said. “Naples has many tunnels. Alfonso has used this system for years. The humans don’t come here.”

  Ben ran his fingers along one wall. “This construction looks Roman.”

  “It is.”

  He couldn’t help but smile. It was like walking through a ruin, only perfectly preserved from sun and
weather. Arches soared over his head along with a series of walkways leading from the second story into other tunnels. There were no electric lights, but torches lit the hall and the air was fresh, so he knew there had to be ample ventilation. He could hear water flowing somewhere. It must have been what drew Alfonso to this place.

  Hidden from the sun. No electricity. Secret passages. Underground water.

  “It’s brilliant,” he said under his breath.

  Tenzin, seemingly fully recovered from whatever had plagued her in the earthen tunnel, nodded in agreement.

  “A most comfortable court,” she said. “I am impressed, Filomena.”

  “On behalf of my lord, I thank you,” Filomena said, nodding respectfully toward Tenzin. “The immortals of Naples are very proud of our city.”

  “As you should be.”

  ❂

  TENZIN hated being underground. Absolutely hated it. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d frozen as she had on the stairs.

  It wasn’t the close passageway. It wasn’t even the knowledge that they were going beneath the earth. It was damp air. The closed passage. The taste of the earth and rot in the air surrounding her.

  The taste of earth in her mouth…

  She’d heard ancient laughter in the back of her mind, and the wary creature in her emerged. The gut-deep urge for blood took root, and she concentrated on the pounding of the young one’s pulse.

  Th-thunk. Th-thunk. Th-thunk.

  She followed it in her mind, pacing his steps. Following his blood. But something stopped the creep of amnis before it reached his skin. Some instinct whispered to the feral creature, coaxing it to calm.

  They walked into a tunnel built of rock, and the smell of earth receded. The pressing eased on her mind.

  There was nothing but the taste of earth that could cause that old reaction to emerge. Tenzin found she was still holding Ben’s hand. It showed weakness, but she did not let go until they entered a larger hallway clad in dressed stone, when the rotting earth had receded and her sanity had returned.

  Mostly.

  Filomena led them under the Roman arches of subterranean Naples and toward her master, who was sitting on a raised dais playing king of all he surveyed.

  Tenzin disliked him immediately.

  He wasn’t a handsome vampire. His face was pockmarked and sagging. His skin had once been olive, but now it leaned toward sallow. A high forehead, arched nose, and haughty gaze led her to believe he was, as he claimed, Spanish royalty of some kind.

  Filomena stopped at the edge of the dais and gave Alfonso a short bow.

  “Alfonso,” she began in English, “I introduce Tenzin, daughter of Zhang Guolao. Sired of air. Mated to water…”

  Oh, so he was one of those immortals. Tenzin tried not to sigh as Filomena continued.

  “…Scourge of the Naiman Khanlig. Commander of the Altan Wind. Protector of Penglai Island. Patron goddess of the Holy Mountain…”

  Goddess of anything holy, let it end.

  “…protector and scribe of New Spain. Friend of Don Ernesto Alvarez of Los Angeles.” Filomena paused. “And… Ben, her yoga instructor.”

  Ben leaned over and whispered, “You have so many more titles than I realized.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “I need to be called ‘The Scourge’ of something. Just put that in the back of your mind to think about later.”

  “Maybe the Scourge of the Refrigerator,” she muttered. “That would be accurate.”

  Ben must have realized that a dozen or so vampires were staring at the two of them because he straightened, cleared his throat, and whispered, “Sorry.” He stepped just behind Tenzin and to the left, instinctively covering her weaker side.

  Tenzin, not wanting to piss off the vampire who would be paying her lots and lots of money if everything went according to plan, inclined her head and said, “Thank you for your generous welcome, Alfonso.”

  “Welcome to Naples,” Alfonso grunted. “It is one of the few civilized places left on the peninsula.”

  “I have found it remarkably civilized,” Tenzin said. “And very rich. In history. And… culture.”

  And gold, but Alfonso would probably find that crass. There were a few artifacts in the archeological museum that Tenzin was considering liberating from their cases. Some things just shouldn’t be forced behind glass.

  “As you are here, I assume you received my communication regarding the gold.”

  “I did.”

  “The Norman tarì are mine.” Alfonso’s eyes burned. “Whatever rumors you might have heard, any knowledge of them should be given to me. Withholding information that might lead to their return would be very unwise.”

  “I have long welcomed,” Tenzin said quietly, “the opportunity to assist my… friends in the retrieval of valuable possessions, should those possessions be lost or misplaced.” She raised her voice enough for the other immortals to hear it. “But be careful, son of Kato. I do not respond well to bullying.”

  ❂

  GOOD Lord, some vampires were stupid, no matter how long they lived. Ben repressed the urge shake his head. Who heard the litany of titles Tenzin carried—the Scourge of the Naiman Khanlig? What was that about?—and then proceeded to threaten the Scourge?

  Tenzin was quietly schooling Alfonso, so Ben made mental notes about the Neapolitan court. Lucky for him, most of these vampires were traditional and completely ignored the human in their midst.

  Filomena, he noted, did not. In fact, she was watching him more than she was Tenzin. And the slight curve at the corner of her gorgeous mouth told him she’d like to get to know Tenzin’s “yoga instructor” a little more.

  Ben returned her smile with a wink.

  Filomena’s eyebrows rose, but she did not look displeased.

  Tenzin was speaking in a lower voice to Alfonso. The two leaned together, engaged in a private conversation. Alfonso scowled, but Ben didn’t get the impression he was displeased.

  Filomena sidled up to him. “He always looks like that.”

  “How? Pissed?”

  Filomena clearly didn’t understand the American slang.

  Ben quickly said, “Sorry. I mean angry.”

  “Ah.” She nodded. “Yes, Alfonso nearly always looks angry. And he often is. But I believe he and your pupil are merely negotiating some arrangement regarding the coins she’s heard rumors of.”

  Ben was confused. “My pupil?”

  Filomena cocked her head. “You are her yoga instructor, are you not? I admit, I did not know that a warrior such as Tenzin was so spiritually inclined, but I find it inspiring that she is so. She must be very devout to bring you with her, even across oceans.”

  “Right.” Ben tried to look very solemn. “Well, I’m kind of her… spiritual advisor too.”

  “Of course.”

  “So you find Tenzin inspiring, huh?”

  She blinked. “She is one of the most ancient of our race. A woman of tremendous power and influence.”

  “And you?”

  “I’m young.” Her mouth curled into a smile. “But not so young as you.”

  Filomena’s eyes traveled across his chest and up his neck while she let the edge of her fangs peek from her bottom lip.

  It was the vampire version of a proposition, and Ben’s body responded with enthusiasm.

  “Will you be remaining in Naples?” she asked.

  I will be now.

  Ben forced himself to remember his role. “That depends on Tenzin, of course.”

  Filomena glanced at Tenzin and Alfonso, who were still locked in conversation. “And you do not belong to her?”

  Hell no.

  He put his solemn face back on. “I hope you understand that I take my spiritual commitments very seriously. I could never involve myself with someone under my instruction.”

  Her fangs dropped lower. “I have heard that those who practice the eastern arts exhibit great flexibility and vigor.”

  Ben didn’t even
hear Tenzin approach until she interrupted.

  “Yes,” she said. “Ben is very vigorous. Shall we go?”

  He blinked. “What? I… Yes. I mean, if you’re done with your conversation with Alfonso. Then yes.”

  She looked amused. “I am. Filomena, your master said you could see us out. The front door this time, please.”

  Filomena glanced over Ben’s shoulder and nodded at whoever was behind him. Ben was assuming Alfonso, but he didn’t turn to look. Yoga instructors wouldn’t be that curious, would they?

  “Of course,” she said, bowing a little as she motioned down a hall that was opposite the way they’d entered. “If you would follow me, my lady.”

  “No bowing, please. And call me Tenzin.”

  “I would be honored to do so.”

  Ben fell in step behind them as Filomena led them down another stone hallway and up a set of torchlit stairs. Within moments, they were exiting through the front of a dimly lit nightclub. Vampire and human patrons turned to glance at them, then quickly looked away.

  Once they were out of the building, Ben looked around and realized they were close to his hotel on Piazza Bellini.

  “Convenient,” he muttered, looking around at the young people gathered across the street. Naples was alive with humans and more than a few vampires. The sound of music and smell of tobacco filled the air. Ben saw paint-spattered artists and earnest students. Young men with slicked-back hair and girls in snug cocktail dresses.

  Tenzin and Filomena were all business.

  “I’ll make contact when I locate the item,” Tenzin said. “I would estimate three weeks, but I cannot say for certain. This will require a trip to Switzerland, you understand?”

  “Of course,” Filomena said. “We all understand the Swiss are… complicated. If he grows impatient, I will remind him of your words.”

  “Thank you.”

  “The thanks are mine.” Filomena inclined her head. “The tarì are part of our treasury. You honor Naples with your assistance in this matter.”

  “I look forward to our continued cooperation,” Tenzin said. “Ben, let’s go.”