A Fall of Water (28 page)

She smiled and took a deep breath, drinking in the smell of his skin, trying to soak up enough of his presence to last her through the weeks, and maybe months, ahead. He held her, playing with her hair and letting his lips trail over his skin.

“Is Ben all right?”

“He’s fine.” She smiled a little. “He’s been taking care of his aunt.”

“He’s a good boy.”

“He’s becoming a man through all of this. Keeping me company when I’m sad. Helping Dez with research. Helping Matt with security.”

“Tell him I’m very proud of him.”

She blinked back tears. “I will.”

“And I’m proud of you, too. This is… as much as I do not like aspects of it, this is a good plan.”

“It is?”

She felt him nod and press a kiss to her temple. “It is. If everything goes well, we’ll be home by Christmas.”

Beatrice smiled a little. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Let’s plan on it, shall we?”

“Okay.”

They held each other for another hour. The fire in the grate crackled in the still night air. They could hear Ziri pacing out on the dock, though he did not interrupt them. Beatrice knew that they would need to leave soon if they were going to make it back to Rome before dawn.

“I love you so much it hurts sometimes,” she whispered.

His arms tightened around her. “Love should never hurt.”

A wave of panic flooded up, and she was suddenly overcome with doubts. Her heart began to pound. “This—this is stupid. You’re right. We need to stay together. We’ll go back to Rome. We’ll just take everyone away and say to hell with them all. You and Tenzin can come back and kill Livia and Lorenzo later. I don’t—”

“Beatrice—”

“I don’t give a shit about the rest of the vampires! Let them kill themselves with this drug. We’ll go back to the States. We’ll—”

“Beatrice.” He soothed her, pressing her face into the crook of his neck. He rocked her back and forth for a few moments as her heart evened out. “You know that we must put an end to this. If this elixir is as dangerous as everyone seems to think, it could spread through Europe. Asia. Africa. On the surface, it looks like a miracle. Imagine how many would be taken in. Eventually, it would reach our own home. It could endanger the people we care about. This secret has been in the shadows for too long. We need to uncover the truth—the whole of it—and it needs to come to light. Whatever the consequences. You know this.”

She clutched his neck. “Why did it have to be us?”

“Who else could it be? This is the secret that brought us together, Tesoro mio. Some things have to happen—”

“Exactly as they do.”

“Yes.”

She only held him tighter, feeling his hands stroke her back. He hummed a song in her ear and she closed her eyes and took a calming breath. “You better come back to me, Giovanni Vecchio.”

“I told you already.
Ubi amo; ibi patria.
Wherever you go, I will find you.”

Giovanni watched her from the dock as Ziri grasped her hand and took off into the clear, dark night. They would have enough time to get back to the safety of the house in Rome before dawn. He felt Carwyn stand behind him.

“She’ll be fine.”

“That’s not your wife flying off to go play politics in the viper’s nest.”

“No, you managed to fool her into thinking that you were the better choice. How did that happen?”

Giovanni smiled. “Natural charm, I guess.”

“Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better, Sparky. I’m still betting you used amnis on her.”

He couldn’t stop the low chuckle that came to his throat. “Did you bring me any clothes that fit, by the way? I’ve been wearing Gavin’s miniature wardrobe for the past few days.”

“Don’t lie. You haven’t been wearing clothes at all.”

They started toward the house. “I have a feeling you might not like that wardrobe option as much as Beatrice did.”

“Good thing I brought you some clothes then.”

“Hawaiian shirts?”

“Of course. We’re being men of mystery.”

“How are we going to find two vampires who are supposed to have been dead for centuries, Father?” Carwyn burst into laughter, and Giovanni turned to him, confused. “Did I miss the joke?”

“Oh…” Carwyn tried to calm his features, but couldn’t seem to help himself. He was bent over, laughing and wiping tears from his eyes. “I suppose you
have
been gone for a while, haven’t you?”

Giovanni shook his head, still confused. “What the hell are you laughing about?”

“It’s a good thing we’re taking a road trip. We need to catch up.”

“I’ve been a bit busy.”

“As have I, my friend, as have I. The joke, as you say, is on… well, everyone.” Carwyn slapped him on the back and pulled open the door. “You see, strictly speaking, I’m not exactly a Father anymore.”

Giovanni stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened. Carwyn was still chuckling.

“Come on. We’ll talk in the car. Might as well get going; it’s a long drive to Bulgaria.”

Chapter Nineteen

Residenza di Spada

July 2012

“You need to let him stab you.”

“I’m not letting him stab me.”

“He needs to learn.”

“Forget it, you mad vampire. It’s not going to be me.”

“He has been raised to have too many manners. He won’t stab a woman. Even me.”

Ben’s eyes darted between Tenzin and an angry Gavin. “For the record, I really don’t want to stab anyone.”

Tenzin’s eyes swung toward him. “Too bad. We’re practicing hand-to-hand combat with knives. That’s what you need to do.” Gavin just huffed and leaned against a wall in the basement.

“I’m not stabbing any of you guys. Forget it. We’ll practice with…”

Tenzin crossed her arms. “What?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not stabbing anyone!”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you can kill us.”

“I agree with the boy,” Gavin said. “Just pretend.”

Tenzin said, “You have obviously never trained anyone to fight before.”

Gavin looked indignant. “Yes, I have.”

“Are they still alive?”

The two started bickering again and Ben sighed. For the past few weeks, ever since Gavin, Deirdre, and Jean had showed up in Rome, everyone had been stuck in Giovanni’s house, trying to be inconspicuous. Deirdre spent most of the time on her phone or visiting with Dez and Angela. Jean was either talking on the phone or meeting with an assistant who ran errands for him. Gavin, Ben had decided, was the most fun to hang out with. And he let Ben drink. Well, he did until Beatrice caught them in the library and went ballistic.

The rest of the time, Gavin helped Tenzin with Ben’s training. Matt had given him a handgun to carry, but Tenzin still insisted that knives were often more reliable and better because of their silence.

‘Remember, boy. A knife never runs out of bullets. You can use it anywhere. And it doesn’t announce its presence.’

Ben touched the grip of the hunting knife he carried. He had a simple sheath tucked into the inside of his waistband that made it invisible, even under summer clothes. It definitely beat the rusty old steak knife he’d carried with him on the streets when he was a kid. That one he’d found behind a restaurant in the Bowery when he was eight, but it had come in handy more than once.

Gavin and Tenzin were still arguing, so Ben spoke up. “Listen, both of you, I really don’t think I need to stab either of you. I know you may find this hard to believe—”

Ben felt the cold slip of a hand at his neck a moment before the barrel of a gun hit the small of his back. In a heartbeat, Ben leaned back into his attacker, ducking down and to the left as he twisted his body under the arm that was reaching around his neck. In one smooth movement, he drew the hunting knife from his waist and turned so that he came behind his assailant. His arm reached around, slicing up the front of the man’s shirt until it was poised at the neck.

The whole maneuver had taken just a few seconds.

Cocky vampires
, Ben thought as his other arm braced itself against the rock hard back of Jean Desmarais.

Jean chuckled and patted the hand that held the knife at his throat. “Nicely done. See? Neither of you needs to bleed. The young man is well-trained already. Boy, if we were on the streets, would I be breathing?”

“You don’t breathe.” Ben’s heart was racing, but he kept his voice in check. He let his hand fall and stepped from behind the Frenchman.

Jean merely shrugged. “You see? Tenzin, you have taught him well. The boy is very good with a knife already.”

Tenzin eyed him with the guarded expression Ben had come to expect from her. “I can’t teach reflexes like that.”

Ben ignored her and tucked his knife back in his waistband. “Jean, sorry about the shirt.”

“Think nothing of it. Perhaps you could procure one of your uncle’s for me. My wardrobe is rather limited.”

He slapped the Frenchman on the shoulder. “No problem, man. I’ll go grab one. You sure you don’t want one of Carwyn’s?” Ben heard Jean laugh as he jogged up the stairs.

He walked through the kitchen where Lucien, Angela, and Dez were involved in a conversation about baking or something. He wandered up the stairs and past the library. Deirdre, Matt, and Ziri were there, speaking some language he thought might have been German. Or Russian. He couldn’t really tell. All three sounded like they needed to gargle.

By the time he got to the third floor, Ben could hear the cello recording coming from Beatrice and Giovanni’s room. He knocked lightly on the door and waited for her voice.

“Come on in, Ben.”

He was the only one who ever disturbed her when she was up here. Not even Dez was really allowed. Tenzin came up sometimes, but she never knocked. He poked his head into the bedroom. Beatrice was sitting at the table in the living area of the suite and tapping her pencil against a notebook.

“What’s up?”

“Can I borrow one of Gio’s shirts for Jean? I kind of sliced his up in the basement.”

She frowned. “Do I want to know?”

“Probably not.”

A smile flickered across her face. She was better since his uncle had escaped from Livia’s castle, but still not herself. She wouldn’t be until Giovanni was back. He missed his uncle, too, but the thing they had? Ben thought he would probably never feel that way about anyone. His aunt and uncle were the center of each other’s universe. Even he could see that.

“Yeah, there’s a bunch that came from the cleaner’s a few weeks ago. Pick any of those. Except the green one.”

“I’ll just grab a black one. That’s what he was wearing.”

Ben went to the closet and ignored the few crumbled Oxford shirts that lay on top of the dresser. Giovanni’s clothes hadn’t really been touched. Everything was still as it had been that first horrible night his uncle had been arrested. Ben shook his head and grabbed a random black shirt, hoping it would fit. Jean was a little smaller than his uncle, but not by much. He wandered back out to the bedroom.

“What are you working on?”

“Huh?” She looked up. “Oh, I’m just taking some notes. I’m going to that reception thing that Livia’s hosting at this club in town later.”

“Like a dance club?”

“Kinda. It’s more like a social club. I’m not sure, but Emil Conti’s going to be there along with most of the most influential vampires in the city. Ziri said that she’s trying to be more visible since word got out that Gio escaped.”

“That probably made her look pretty bad, huh?”

“Yes. But Emil requested another visit, so she had to admit he’d escaped. And she knows we were at the reception the night it happened.” A satisfied grin spread over her face. “It’s driving her crazy. And yes, it makes her look really bad.”

He sat down. “Well, that’s good, right? That’s what you want.”

“Yep, that’s what we want. And that’s why she’s hanging out in the city more and having this reception. She’s trying to show off and make sure people remember she’s still the queen. But Emil’s going to be there, along with his wife, who I haven’t met yet.”

“So you’re gonna go make nice?”

“I’m going to go hang out and try to boost his ego and his reputation. The more people think of him, the more likely he’s going to be to make the moves we want to get Livia out of power. Hopefully, flattery will get us everywhere.”

Ben asked, “Anyone going with you?”

“Not this time.” She glanced up into his worried eyes. “It’s fine, Ben. Nothing’s going to happen to me. It’s a very public event. I’m not even going to be very far away from here.”

“You sure? Maybe Matt—”

“This is a vampire thing, Ben.”

“Tenzin?”

She dropped her pencil and reached a hand across the table. “Ben, honey, I’ll be fine.”

He shrugged and tried to act nonchalant. “Okay, whatever.”

She smiled and patted his hand. “Now, go take that shirt to Jean. He’s a little too proud of that hairy French chest. We don’t want him scaring Angela.”

Ben burst into laughter and stood. He walked out and looked back at his aunt. Beatrice was sitting at the table, looking pensive, and staring at the moon through the open window. He gently closed the door.

“My dear, if looks could kill, then you would be a splatter on the wall.”

Beatrice glanced up to see Emil Conti standing over her with a martini and a cool smile. “Emil, I doubt you’re complimenting my outfit, so I’m going to assume she was glaring at me again.”

He chuckled as he sat next to her in the plush velvet chairs that lined the VIP section of the club.

She had been mistaken, Livia
was
entertaining them at a nightclub. It was one she owned, and Beatrice could feel the vibrations of the music from the dance floor below. The favored vampires who had received an invitation stood at the edge of the darkened glass, surveying the humans who crowded the club like their own, personal buffet.

Which, Beatrice thought, they kind of were. The few humans allowed upstairs were swimming in amnis and quickly taken to the private rooms. The grunts and moans of pleasure were dampened by the thick walls, but not completely drowned out.