Her smile lit the room. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“You know I’m going to want to do this again in about an hour.”
“Mmm.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Newborn energy. I like it.”
35
They left their shelter an hour before dawn. Ben and Tenzin stood over the wreckage of the burned-out caravan, and he felt his rage rising again.
“You’re sure it was Vano’s men?”
“They threw a very clever net over me and bound my feet.” She looked confused. “I’m not sure why they thought it would hold me. Do they think I need to flap my wings to fly?”
“I admit it would be funny, except for the fact that they tried to burn you alive.”
He heard Kezia’s voice over and over in his mind.
…may they never burn us alive.
“If this gets out, no one will ever stay in the Dawn Caravan again,” Ben said. “No one will trust it.”
Tenzin shrugged. “Maybe. They could always deny it happened.”
“Would anyone take the chance?” Ben turned to her. “Why? Why spoil the reputation of a valuable commodity like immortal trust when there are so many easier ways to get rid of us? And why leave me alive when they tried to kill you?”
“I believe Vano considered me the bigger threat. And I’m also known for disappearing for the odd decade or century, so if I go missing, it’s less suspicious. You, on the other hand—”
“Newly turned son of Zhang Guo, nephew of a famous assassin and scholar. Yeah, I’d be noticed.” He frowned. “Is it weird that I’m offended on your behalf?”
“It’s nice that you care, but Vano’s reasoning was solid.” She shrugged. “I do tend to disappear.”
He watched her. “But not from me. Not anymore.”
“No.” There was a slight frown between her eyes. “You’ve taken my blood twice now.”
“Yes.”
She looked at him. “If you take it another time or two, a more permanent mating bond will form.”
“I know.” He watched her carefully. “Does that bother you?”
“No.” She didn’t even hesitate. “As I said before, I am very territorial about you right now.” She stared at the wreck. “I should tell you René was in my trailer when Vano threw me inside.”
Ben froze. “Why?”
“Because I asked him to be there,” she said. “When I told you that he fell asleep in there accidentally the other day, it was a lie.” She turned to him before he could speak. “I apologize for lying to you.”
Ben wanted to be angry, but an apology from Tenzin was too rare. “Why did you lie?”
“Avoidance. I did not want to cause a larger fight than the one we were already having.”
Ben felt a piercing pressure in his ear. “But why, Tenzin? Why did you ask René, of all people—”
“Oh!” She walked into the wreckage and kicked aside a trio of pipes running the length of the trailer to reveal a gash in the earth. “He was insurance.”
He stared at the trench. “Insurance?”
“It’s always nice having an earth vampire around,” she muttered, kicking a pile of ash. “Very useful creatures.”
Ben’s eyes went wide. “Wait, is René still under—”
“No, I flew him back to the caravan. He was quite grateful to be rid of me; not a fan of flying.” She kicked aside the dirt. “I knew what they were planning once I smelled the kerosene. I broke through the floor when they walked away, waking René when we landed. You’ll be happy to know I slapped him quite hard. He buried us under the vehicle, and as soon as the sun went down, he dug us out.”
Ben stared at her. “You stayed underground with René fucking DuPont all day? Is he alive?”
“Yes. I was surprisingly calm when I was underground this time. I believe my irritation with René overrode my instinctual fear. He’s surprisingly affectionate in his sleep. Very… handsy.”
Ben cocked his head. The fuck you say? “Tenzin—”
“You’re not allowed to kill him,” she broke in. “Don’t even think about it. He was and is part of the plan.”
“What plan?” He spun with his arms held out. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. We need to find a cave or something fast, because I do not trust that thing in daylight.” He pointed at the trailer. “We have no plan.”
“My Benjamin.” She rose in the air, holding her hand out. “Of course we have a plan.”
They took shelter in one of the natural limestone caves in the area. Ben stripped the blankets and pillows from the trailer to make a pallet on the ground and grabbed the few belongings he had with him, leaving the electronics in the caravan, wanting nothing that Vano might be able to use to track him.
“Vano will believe I’m dead,” Tenzin said. “With René back in the camp, no one will know he wasn’t in his trailer last night.”
“So you know where the Poshani are?” Ben felt the dawn coming.
“It wasn’t hard since I knew their last location. I can travel faster than human caravans.” She pressed him down into the pillows and blankets. “Sleep, Benjamin. I’ll tell you the rest tomorrow night. We have time.” She pressed a kiss to his mouth. “Sleep.”
For the first time in his immortal life, Ben settled down for his day rest with Tenzin curled into his side. Her amnis ran through his blood, and her scent filled his senses.
Sleep.
Ben murmured, “‘You must learn to be strong in the dark as well as in the day, else you will always be only half brave.’”
“I remember reading that to you.” Tenzin laid her head on his chest. “You told me once that it was a greater compliment to be trusted than to be loved.”
“I remember,” he murmured.
“I trusted you to come back to me.” She whispered something as he fell asleep, ancient words that crept into his mind and settled in his heart like a mantra.
“What…?”
“You’ll learn,” she said softly. “I will teach you.”
They watched the Poshani camp from a distance, surveying a landscape dotted with crystal clear lakes and ponds where water birds roosted in the long grass. The sky overhead was clear, unmarred by a single cloud, and the moon was waxing nearly full. The circle of caravans and trailers was lit by the moonlight and torches. A large bonfire burned in the center, and Ben could smell the lingering scent of meat roasting over a fire.
“The festival will take place here in two nights, when the moon is full.” Tenzin turned to look at him. “By that time, we will have all three goblets in our possession and we’ll be able to expose Vano and his plot against Radu and Kezia.”
Ben still had his doubts about Radu’s sister. “How do we know Kezia doesn’t know about this? She took Vano to Kashgar. She invited you to the caravan.”
“Precisely because of that. They burned my trailer and believe they killed me.” Tenzin nodded toward the camp. “I was Kezia’s invited guest. Her beliefs would never permit it. She had no idea what Vano was planning.”
“Are you sure?”
“Kezia and I both honor the Kali,” she said. “And she knows I am a devotee of the goddess. Trust me on this.”
Ben used the binoculars he’d stolen from the trailer. “Okay, but when we’re done with this, you’re going to explain the Kali thing. I thought you were an atheist.”
“Why would you think that? I have a spiritual system; it’s simply not as easily classifiable as yours.”
“I’m nearly an atheist.”
She laughed. “Being nearly an atheist is not a thing. You are a Catholic, like your uncle. Trust me, I recognize the signs.”
“Can we discuss this later?”
“Just to be clear, I do not believe in marriage contracts.”
Ben dropped the binoculars and glared at her. “Did I ask?”
“No, but it seemed relevant to the conversation.”
“It’s not.”
“Okay.” She leaned her chin on her hand. “I’m bored.”
; “You’re the one who said we needed to wait for René.”
“I know. Right now Vano thinks I’m dead and you’re gone. It’s a great advantage.” She pouted. “But it’s boring to wait.”
“If we weren’t sitting in the middle of a forest, I’d think of something to amuse you,” he murmured. “But we are and I’m not an exhibitionist. Looks like you’re out of luck.”
Tenzin swung her legs. “Are you going to return to New York?”
“Yes. It’s past time I checked on the loft. God knows what you’ve done to it the past couple of years.”
She didn’t shoot him a quick comeback.
Ben glanced over to see her smiling. “What?”
“Nothing.” She reached for the binoculars. “I want to see.”
He handed them over. “They’re setting up some kind of stage.”
“For the ceremony.”
Ben watched the flickering bonfire in the distance. “Why are they doing it? Radu, Kezia, and Vano aren’t getting older. Why is it time to choose new leadership?”
“I don’t know. It might not be all three of them—that would seem unwise. Maybe there is a timeline they agreed to when they became the terrin. But I believe any vampire choosing a successor will choose from Poshani candidates who present themselves.”
“Only vampires?”
“Not necessarily,” Tenzin said. “If a human proves to be the correct person to ascend to terrin, then that human would be turned. They are very selective about which Poshani become vampires and which do not, but new vampires are sired when it is necessary.”
“So in theory,” Ben said, “Vano holding two goblets means that he could choose a successor for Radu, and that person would be his ally and give him effectively two out of three votes?”
“Correct.” She looked up from the binoculars. “Or alternately, Vano could choose two vampires who are his children, thus retaining effective control of the entire clan. Or he could choose weak vampires and manipulate them. But control is the only motivation I can see for stealing Radu’s goblet.”
“Didn’t someone tell me,” Ben said, “that the Poshani decide their leaders in the end? That if a terrin was proven to be unjust or corrupt, the darigan wouldn’t follow their lead?”
“Yes, but you can see how Vano has catered to the goodwill of the humans in the camp. I’m sure he has a plan to appease them.”
“Shouldn’t he want to cater to the darigan?”
“Not necessarily.” Tenzin handed over the binoculars. “Catering is not leading, and every culture is vulnerable to demagogues if they show up at the right time. The Poshani need a leader, not a fairy godmother.”
Ben’s eyebrows went up. “A fairy godmother?”
“I believe the comparison is accurate. Chloe made me watch a series of movies featuring princesses’ heroic journeys, and the fairy godmother trope appeared in most of them. I’m assuming they’re old human attempts to make sense of vampires since many of the godmothers appear to fly or have other supernatural qualities.”
Ben stared at her, unable to hide the smile on his face.
“What?” Tenzin frowned. “Have you seen these movies?”
“Princess movies? Yeah.”
“I have thoughts about the mermaid movie. There are very unhealthy messages in it, and I don’t believe Sadia should watch it.”
He leaned over and pressed a fast kiss to her mouth. “I missed you.”
“Yes, I missed you too.” She lifted the binoculars again. “I believe I see René leaving something for us.”
“We’ll have to get closer and just pray the Hazar don’t see us.”
“See?” Tenzin hung the binoculars around her neck. “Catholic.”
They picked up a bundle from the base of a birch tree.
Ben started to open it, but Tenzin stopped his hand. “Wait.”
Her feet never touched the ground as she floated closer to the edge of the forest. She waited, motionless, while Ben stood in the shadows.
His amnis gave a pulse of excitement a second before she turned and floated back to him.
“Let’s go.”
“What—”
She put a finger over his lips, then took his hand and flew through the canopy, darting between trees and dipping low to skim over meadows and isolated ponds. The landscape was washed in an eerie white glow from the gibbous moon as they crossed the hills to find shelter in their cave.
They landed near a stream that cut through the narrow valley below where the cave was located.
“Do you know where we are?” Ben asked when they landed.
“I’m not certain,” Tenzin said. “It’s part of the traditional Poshani route. I would guess we are in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, probably in Ukraine.”
The moonlight created dappled shadows on the ground as Tenzin sat on a large rock and dipped her feet in the water.
“So” —she nodded toward the bag— “are you going to open it?”
Ben sat next to her. “As her majesty requests…”
Her eyes lit up. “I could get used to that.”
He laughed. “Don’t.”
Inside the bag were a note, a gold bar, and three familiar rubbings.
“See?” Tenzin said. “I told you René was part of the plan.”
“What are these?” Ben picked up the rubbings. One was eerily familiar. “Are these… Does he already have the goblets? He only had one night.”
Tenzin raised an eyebrow. “He’d been planning this for a while.”
Ben was reluctantly impressed. “So René has the three goblets.”
“Or he’s been in their presence and knows where they are.”
“And he’s still at the camp? How do we know he’s not tunneling to Paris as we speak?” Like a gopher. A big French gopher.
Tenzin took one rubbing from his hand. “The real value of the goblets is authority. René doesn’t want that authority. He’s spent his life running from anything that will require more than the most superficial commitment. He wants treasure.”
“Don’t lie. He wants the goblets too.”
Tenzin shrugged. “I may have threatened to cut off various parts of his body if he took the goblets.”
“I’m going to guess he was both afraid and oddly turned on by that.”
Tenzin just said, “He is a very odd man.”
Ben turned the gold bar in his hand. “Okay, so he wants treasure. Why is he helping us?”
“Because if he takes it without some major distraction, they’ll know he has it and he won’t have any peace, nor will he have a safe house when he inevitably pisses someone off again and needs a place to hide.”
“So he wants to steal from the Poshani… but still stay friends?”
“I didn’t comment on the likelihood of his plan succeeding or the probability of the Poshani figuring out who stole from them.” She glanced up. “Which they will do. They will probably find out.”
“So how are we getting away with it?”
“Silly Ben.” She elbowed him. “You’ve been hired to steal for them. Which is probably the best hired job ever, in my opinion.”
The wind turned, and a low rumbling sound came from over his shoulder.
Ben turned and his eyes went wide. “Tenzin.”
“Yes?” She was reading the note.
“There’s a very large bear right behind us.”
“Hmmm.” She didn’t look up. “Does it have cubs with it?”
“I don’t see any.”
“Male or female?”
“I’m not going to ask.” He reached for her arm. “You have the bag?”
“Yes, what—?”
Ben yanked her up straight into the air just as the bear’s attention turned toward them.
Tenzin gave a whoop of pure joy and raced high into the air, arcing up and over Ben before she circled back to hover over his head.
Moonlight glinted on her fangs when she smiled. She held out her hand. “Fly with me.”
&n
bsp; He flashed back to a dream nearly forgotten. Him and Tenzin, skimming over white-barked birches, turning together, their blood and bodies linked in the air.
This is what was always meant to be.
It was as if he could hear her voice in his mind.
Ben rose and met her in the air, linking their hands as she drew him deeper and higher into the velvet-black night.
36
When Ben opened his eyes, Tenzin was staring at him. He jolted awake and sat up. “I didn’t miss that.”
“Miss what?”
“You staring at me while I sleep.” He rubbed his eyes and sucked in a breath when he realized she was completely naked. “I admit I like this variation on the theme though.”
Tenzin crawled up the pallet, straddling his legs as she kept her eyes on him with predatory intent. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth, opening her lips to his as he placed both hands on her backside and squeezed.
“Mmmm.” She squirmed over him and pressed her breasts into his chest.
“You like that?” Ben did it again.
“Yes.”
He slid a hand over the curve of her backside, cupping her flesh and running his fingers along the crease of her thigh until he found her wet heat.
She pulled her mouth away from his and let out a long breath. “I do understand why so many women want to have sex with you.”
“If you can think about that, I’m not doing my job right.” He trailed his fingers up and down, learning the curves and secret corners of her body, taking his time as he toyed with her pleasure.
Her hands ran down his chest and her amnis teased him, kissing along his body where her hands and mouth couldn’t reach. Whispers of air laved his skin.
“How do you make the air do that?”
She gripped his erection and began to kiss down his chest. “If you can think about that, I’m not doing my job right.”
Fuck. “Do I need to be worried about fangs?”
Her low, wicked laughter only made him harder.
They returned to the camp later that night, splitting up and remaining at a distance to avoid the Hazar. The preparations for the ceremony seemed to draw everyone’s attention. Human voices became the dominant background noise through the night as the darigan erected more platforms and small stages. More and more wagons began to arrive.
Dawn Caravan: Elemental Legacy Book Four (Elemental Legacy Novels 4) Page 27
