Blood Apprentice: An Elemental Legacy Novel

by Elizabeth Hunter

  “You’re American,” Inés said. “Your companion is not.”

  “She is not.”

  “I received your letter of introduction two weeks ago,” Inés said. “Novia speaks highly of you and your partner.” Inés glanced at Tenzin, who was remaining silent as they sat at the table. “I confess, she is not what I had expected.”

  Tenzin spoke quietly. “I’m usually not.”

  Inés smiled. “I understand you are here for work.”

  “I am.” Ben started on the carefully rehearsed story. “As I’m sure you’re aware, my uncle, Giovanni Vecchio, specializes in retrieval of items that are literary in nature. Books. Correspondence. Things of interest to a specific and very private clientele.”

  “I understand.” Inés paused as a servant set a bottle in front of her. “White wine?”

  “Thank you.” Ben pushed his glass forward. “While my uncle focuses on the literary side of the business, I assist him when a client is looking for something slightly different.”

  “Like treasure?”

  Ben smiled. “Objects can be valuable for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes sentiment is enough.”

  “Is sentiment the drive for this particular job?”

  Ben put a hand over his heart. “I can’t say. As you can imagine, discretion is very important to us, as is client information.”

  Inés seemed to consider whether or not she’d let Ben get away with it. A slightly amused glint in her eye told him he’d been successful. “And how do I know you’re not here to steal from me, Mr. Vecchio? Your reputation is somewhat… inconsistent at the moment.”

  Because no matter how many times he’d quashed rumors that he’d been behind the theft of a valuable painting last year, they kept slipping out.

  To be fair, he had been behind that theft.

  “If you know my uncle’s reputation, then you know he would not vouch for my traveling so far from his aegis without confidence that I was working for our client and that our client had a claim on the property. I give you my word that any disputes arising from our search will be brought before Los Tres.” He felt someone crushing his toe beneath the table. He glanced at Tenzin and offered her a mild smile in return.

  “Is that so?” Inés said. “And you are confident in your client’s claim?”

  “My uncle has checked this person’s background very thoroughly.”

  Because it was Tenzin. Tenzin was their client, and Giovanni knew as much about Tenzin’s past as anyone did.

  Which meant he knew hardly anything at all.

  “Hmm.” Inés leaned an elbow on the table. “I will forward your request to my brother. He will likely say yes, simply because he’s very confident there are no secrets hidden from him on his island.”

  “His?” Tenzin asked quietly. “Or theirs?”

  Inés turned to her. “His. My brother shares his power from a sense of goodness and fairness for the immortals of this island. But make no mistake: we were here first.”

  Tenzin nodded and said nothing more.

  “I will also warn you, charming young Vecchio, that this sounds to me very much like a treasure hunt.”

  “Isn’t every search for something a little like a treasure hunt?” Ben asked.

  Inés raised an eyebrow. “You are not the first treasure hunters to search this island.” She smiled indulgently. “And I very much doubt you’ll be the last. But I admit I am intrigued by your connections and your unknown client.” She took a sip of wine. “Come back in two nights. I will send your request to my brother. If he approves, he will give you an audience and you’ll be permitted to meet Los Tres.”

  “Thank you, Inés.”

  “Now, enjoy your dinner.” She rose and Vasco moved to pull out her chair. “I’m afraid I cannot finish with you. I have another meeting with Vasco tonight.”

  “Thank you both for meeting us.” Ben and Tenzin both rose with her.

  “Please stay.” She pointed to the food. “Eat. Drink. Join the party outside; we have many human guests tonight. You’ll be most welcome. Just don’t go into the mountain.” Her smile turned cold. “Not if you want to live.”

  Tenzin turned to Ben when they reached the car. “I told you it would have been better to come right after the hurricane.” Yanking open the door, she threw herself in the car and slammed the Jeep door shut. “There would have been chaos. Confusion. We could have taken advantage of all that to search quickly, retrieve the treasure, and go. Now we have to meet with some self-important vampire lord who may give us permission to search?” She exhaled a derisive snort. “Let him try to stop me.”

  She devolved into a long string of muttered curses in a language Ben didn’t recognize.

  Ben started the car and pulled out, waving at the guard who’d escorted them down from the house. “Calm down, Tiny.”

  “You calm down. It’s your fault we weren’t here months ago.”

  He gritted his teeth to contain the sharp retort that wanted to explode. “And if we had been here months ago, we wouldn’t have the letters from the Dominican or the governor. There would be no reference point for your precious map. We wouldn’t have a comfortable house to stay in. And we still wouldn’t have escaped their notice. Don’t fool yourself. This island has more vampires than I expected.”

  It was true. The party at the top of the hill had been chock-full of them, and Ben expected even more lived in the mountain where they’d been forbidden to go.

  “You’re right.” Tenzin looked at him. “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why are there so many vampires? It doesn’t make sense. The island is small. Tourism is down right now. Why are there so many vampires here?”

  “Maybe because of the hurricane,” Ben said. “Just like you were talking about. Taking advantage of chaos to hunt.”

  “True. Natural disasters are useful that way.”

  Ben tried not to shudder at the cold calculation in her voice.

  She is a predator.

  She is a predator.

  She is a very good predator.

  “Los Tres is rich, organized, and clearly has pretty wide control of the island.” Ben frowned. “So why is the human government such a mess?”

  “Because they want it to be,” Tenzin said. “Corrupt human governments leave room for vampires to operate unseen in the corners. Think about how black markets grow. A need is recognized. No one in the human world can meet that need. A new source—an illegitimate one accountable to no one—rises. Vampires have worked this way for thousands of years all over the world. They prefer it that way. It makes governments easier to manipulate.”

  “So modern-day rule of law—”

  “Super inconvenient to the way we like to work.” Tenzin leaned back in the seat as Ben drove them down the mountain. “We like shadows and secret corners. Corrupt people we can manipulate. People who are afraid of exposure. Afraid of us.”

  The car fell silent as Ben concentrated on the twists and turns through the mountain. The air was muggy inside the Jeep. Tenzin opened her window and leaned out.

  Then… she flew out.

  “Tenzin!” Ben slammed on the brakes, but it was useless.

  She was gone.

  Tenzin flew back to the party, coaxing the air around into a snug bubble that hid her sound and her scent. She flew high, over the road and through the trees, slipping among the deep shadows of the nearly full moon.

  She could see the lights of the party in the distance.

  Tenzin flew over the house and back among the lush greenery that grew out of the cliffside overlooking the glittering house. She was cloaked in black, teasing the air to bring her hints of voices and sounds. She was looking for…

  What was she looking for?

  A feeling. An instinct. The thing that was hidden.

  She waited in the stillness for hours as the party ran late and the humans became more and more inebriated. One by one, they were picked off by the predators mingling among them. Two pretty boys
followed Inés down the stairs. A full-figured beauty lounged openly near the pool with one vampire attached to her wrist and another to her ankle. Her moans of pleasure went unnoticed by those around her. They were too busy indulging their own appetites.

  Tenzin waited and watched.

  She felt a presence on the cliff above her. A leaf moved. A rock nudged out of place.

  Tenzin launched herself away from the cliffs and spun up, into the darkness. Her clothes whipped against her skin. She rolled into a ball and hid herself under an overhanging fern.

  The intruder wasn’t as silent as Tenzin. She wasn’t as powerful. The wind didn’t love her as much.

  But it did obey her. A breeze flipped up the fern covering Tenzin’s alcove, exposing her to the moonlight.

  Tenzin moved again, skipping across the face of the cliff, her toes barely touching the face of the waterfall that poured into the pool below.

  She danced up the waterfall and over the crest of the mountain, waiting to see if the other vampire would follow.

  She did. Making no attempt to conceal herself, the other wind walker rose in the mist of the waterfall until she was floating across from Tenzin, her spiraling curls misted by the crashing water. Her eyes met Tenzin’s.

  It was the beautiful woman from the restaurant in San Juan, but all pretense of humanity was gone now. Her rich brown skin was flushed from feeding. Her full lips curled up, revealing glistening fangs.

  Tenzin didn’t take her eyes off the vampire. She was beautiful and deadly, not at all a combination Tenzin disapproved of. The wind caressed the flowing dress that wrapped around her body.

  Tenzin cocked her head, watching the woman in silence. Would she speak? Who was she? She was powerful; that much Tenzin was certain of. Not as powerful as Tenzin, but the other vampire had no way of knowing that unless she knew who Tenzin was.

  They floated in the humid breeze, eye to eye. Neither spoke. Neither moved an inch.

  What are you doing here?

  Who are you?

  Were you watching us in San Juan?

  The woman cocked her head as if tuned to a silent chime. She offered Tenzin one last glance before she dove over the crest of the waterfall, flying straight down the cliff face.

  Tenzin peeked over the edge, cloaking herself in darkness again.

  The vampire alighted on the stone bridge leading into the mountain. Those on the path coming toward her stepped out of the way, one offering a slight bow in her direction.

  The wind vampire disappeared beneath the mountain as Tenzin floated into the night.

  Who are you?

  10

  Ben strolled through the plaza in front of the Cathedral of Saint Philip the Apostle in the heart of old Arecibo. A search through city records had proven that the previous church, destroyed by an earthquake in 1787, had been the last posting of the young Dominican who’d taken care of Miguel Enríquez.

  Brother Tomás had been born in a small mountain town south of Arecibo and had requested a move back to the city where he’d taken orders just weeks after Enríquez had died. There were mentions in the records of Brother Tomás for a few months, and then…

  Nothing.

  Ben stopped to grab a coffee at a small stand. The rainbow hues of shops and buildings surrounding the plaza were alive in the bright midday sun. Traffic was slow in the old town, but shops were open and restaurants set out chairs and tables, hoping to catch a lunchtime crowd.

  The treasure map Tenzin was obsessed with had shown a city near the junction of three rivers and a church, but one without names. If they were right, then the entrance to the cave system marked on the map was half a day’s ride southwest of the cathedral Ben was watching. Half a day’s ride was roughly twenty kilometers in the mountainous region they were working in.

  From there, they had to look for a variety of karst formations, sinkholes that—with any luck—hadn’t filled in, and ruins that hopefully hadn’t been disturbed. A large outcropping in the distinct shape of a horse’s head. A waterfall. And caves.

  And caves were abundant in that part of the island.

  Luck and hope. Ben finished off his coffee and glared at the cathedral. This is why I don’t like treasure maps.

  If everything went according to plan, they would gain formal permission from Los Tres the next evening. Then they could start exploring, which would go faster with a wind vampire in the lead, and if they found the entrance to the cave system, it could be days before they located the treasure with a map drawn by an amateur. If the treasure was still there. And if none of the caverns had collapsed.

  Tenzin owed him one. Big.

  His phone rang. He glanced at the screen, pleased to see Chloe’s name. “Hey, gorgeous.”

  “See, is it too much to ask that all phone calls start out this way?”

  “Have you forwarded this request to Gavin?”

  “No. He’d just take it as a challenge to start conversations with something far more lewd.”

  “Vampires.”

  “I know, right?”

  “What’s up?”

  “I was just curious what the status of Operation Aaargh was.”

  “Operation Aaargh?”

  “What else do you call a pirate treasure hunt?”

  Well, she had him there.

  Ben smiled. “We’re supposed to meet with the VICs tomorrow night. Tenzin went rogue after our meeting the other night, but apparently she didn’t piss off anyone important because we got an audience with the big boss. Once we have formal permission to start hunting, we can get started. Thanks for arranging the shipping on that equipment, by the way.”

  “No problem. I just checked. Everything should be at the location you gave me in two days. I didn’t even know you had that storage unit.”

  “Yeah…” Most people didn’t know about that storage unit. “It’s useful for stuff like that.”

  “Do those metal detectors really work on gold?”

  “Yes. They really do.”

  “Are you going to wear big goofy headphones while you’re using them? Can you send pictures?”

  “Probably, and not on your life.” He paused while a father and son passed, unable to tear his eyes away from the pair. The little boy was around ten, close to the same age Ben had been the last time he’d seen his father. But unlike Ben and his father, the shared affection between the two was obvious.

  The father was gesturing as he talked, clearly passionate about whatever the topic was. The little boy was disagreeing with him, but doing so in a playful way that told Ben he felt safe with his father. Safe to argue. Safe to disagree. They laughed at one point, and the father mussed the boy’s curly dark hair.

  “Ben?”

  “Do you ever miss your parents?” he asked abruptly.

  “Wow. Okay, wasn’t expecting that question.”

  Chloe had the opposite of Ben’s problem. While his parents neglected him, Chloe’s had tried to map out every inch of their daughter’s life to their own specifications. The result in both cases was similar. Ben hadn’t spoken to his parents since Giovanni had adopted him. Chloe hadn’t spoken to hers since they’d disowned her.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I do.”

  “Why?”

  “Um…” She took a deep breath. “Because they were still my home. Even though it was suffocating, it was still what was familiar. And safe. I know it’s hard to understand with them being so controlling, but—”

  “No, I get it. I get it completely.”

  There was silence on the other end of the line. Ben could hear traffic in the background, cars passing and a taxi honking its horn.

  “Sometimes,” she continued, “I don’t think I actually miss them. I miss the idea of them. Or the idea of what parents are supposed to be. Loving. Supportive. Proud.”

  Present. Sober. Nonviolent.

  “That make sense,” he said. “You miss the parents you were supposed to have.”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “What’s does �
��supposed to’ even mean? Lots of people have shit families. Lots of people have great families. These days it’s probably fifty-fifty. I guess I miss what I saw you had with your aunt and uncle. They loved you and you loved them, even if you didn’t say it. You didn’t always get along. But you really loved each other.”

  “Yeah.” Ben’s heart warmed. “You didn’t think your parents loved you?”

  “I think they are very self-centered and saw me as a reflection of themselves, which means they really didn’t see me at all.” She laughed a little. “Well, this got way deeper than I planned on. I was just going to tease you about treasure hunting.”

  “Yeah. And I was just going to tease you about Gavin.”

  “Hah.” She cleared her throat. “So, speaking of Gavin—actually, speaking of your aunt and uncle—”

  “Please don’t tell me it’s Richard again.”

  “No, as Gavin would say, that’s well in hand. But there’s another…” Silence on the line. “You know what? Never mind. It’s not important.”

  Ben frowned. “What’s going on?”

  “I just realized it’s kind of Gavin’s business and not mine, and I really don’t want to break confidence. You know what I mean?”

  “Uh-huh.” He did know what she meant. And yet he was suspicious. If he wasn’t feeling awkward around Giovanni, he’d call his uncle himself.

  “Let me know how the meeting goes,” Chloe said. “I better get off the phone. Gotta catch a train.”

  “Stay warm.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He could practically hear her teeth chattering. “Jump in a lake, tropical boy. I saw that rum cocktail on Instagram.”

  Ben smiled. Chloe was only one of a dozen people who followed his private account on the social network. It was the only one he allowed himself, and he half did it for security reasons. If he disappeared somewhere weird, it was handy to leave visual cues for a search party.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said. “Hi to everyone.”

  “Hi to Tenzin. Tell her I’m rearranging all her swords.”

  “Between dating a vampire and messing with her, I’m wondering if you have a secret death wish.”