There were countless swords and daggers from every corner of the globe. Shields and maces. Staffs and battle-axes. Bows and crossbows. Every weapon Ben could imagine.
“Your body is both a weapon and a liability. You are stronger than most, but your control is still developing. You are vulnerable during the day. Guarding yourself in daylight will be your greatest challenge and your first priority.”
The wall of swords gave way to a corner full of training dummies, blocks, wooden staffs, and even a few devilish-looking whips. Ben felt like he’d been cooped up for months instead of weeks. He desperately wanted to flex his new power and beat the stuffing out of a few of those dummies.
Zhang continued. “But most of all, you must come to understand your amnis, for the air is both surrounding us and within us. It is not matter but space that forms the tapestry of all things. And when you truly understand and are the master of space, you will be more powerful than a vampire of any other element.”
Ben ran his hand along a straight-edged jian, reaching for the leather-wrapped hilt.
Zhang said, “Let us begin.”
Ben turned and squared his shoulders at Zhang, only to see his sire sitting in the middle of the training room, cross-legged on the ground, with a small table and a board game set in front of him.
Ben blinked. “Wh-what is that?”
“The game is called abachee, and it is a general’s game. My father, who was a great warlord, taught the game to me, and I will teach it to you. This”—he pointed to the board—“is the true beginning of your education.”
Ben’s shoulder fell. “But…”
Zhang’s eyes were all amusement when he glanced at the sword. “The sword comes last, Benjamin. Right now we will work to train your mind.”
Ben let out a long breath.
It’s going to be a very long year.
Two nights after she’d left Penglai Island, Tenzin came to rest in the cave of the Eternal Goddess, high in the Himalayan Mountains. The air was crisp and turning colder each night, but prayer flags whipped in the wind, flapping their petitions to the heavens and to her.
She checked the altar in the cave where she had once spent centuries resting, and took the time to taste and appreciate the food that had been left for her, knowing it was a gift of the people in the valley and she should not ignore it.
Tenzin gathered the food and left the prayer scrolls, flowers, and candles behind, flying to her home higher in the cliffs that overlooked the broad, sweeping valley where a river cut through the mountains, creating a fertile pocket in the middle of the wilderness.
Green fields and birch forests filled the river valley, and arching bridges and narrow passes connected the small village to the outside world.
Spare white lights marked where each stone house stood. Some of them had radios and televisions now. A wireless tower had been built only a few years before, putting mobile phone technology within reach for the village. Tenzin could use her tablet in the valley, though the signal didn’t reach up to her home in the mountains, for which she was grateful.
YouTube was simply too addicting.
Despite the incursions of modernity, her home remained unchanged. It was the stone house she’d built with her own hands centuries before. The home she had shared with Nima. The place where her soul rested most quietly. The place where she found peace.
Now she was more grateful for it than she’d been in a millennium. Her mind felt new and burgeoning. She was a snake shedding her skin. A blade emerging from the tempering fire.
She was her sire’s weapon, newly forged, lying in wait for the time when she would rise and touch the heavens.
Her fifth life was upon her.
For the first time in thousands of years, Tenzin lay down in the mountains and dreamed of flying. Through the forests of red birch trees. Over wide oceans of grass and across the midnight desert.
Tenzin slept and she dreamed.
Epilogue
“I don’t think you’re putting the door together correctly,” Tenzin said. “Did you read the instructions?”
“I don’t need any bloody instructions,” Gavin muttered. “It’s a fucking glass house, not a nuclear reactor.”
“If you can’t put a glass house together, I think a nuclear reactor is a bad idea.”
“I’m not getting— Just hand me that screwdriver and be quiet!”
Tenzin handed him the screwdriver, stepped back, and looked at the large glass structure she and Gavin had constructed on the roof. It was nearly complete—the door was the last piece—which was a good thing because her plants were starting to take over the loft.
Once the door was finished, they could turn on the heater and move the plants that had been living in the apartment all winter into the glass house. Tenzin had watched numerous online videos and was satisfied that she was nearly an expert.
She knew how to use the roof panels to allow air in during the day and close them at night, trapping the warmth in the glass house so it created a tropical paradise like Ben had loved in Puerto Rico. She had installed fans and humidifiers that would keep the plants from overheating in the sizzling New York summers.
Plus the birds would be much happier in the glass house among the trees than stuck always in their cage in the loft.
“Do you think he’ll be annoyed that we built this without him?” Tenzin muttered, “Actually, I don’t think I care if he’s annoyed.”
Gavin huffed. “You took him to your sire to change him into a vampire without his permission, Tenzin. If he manages to forgive you for that, I really don’t think the glass house is going to be much of a stretch.”
“Good point.” She refused to think about Ben not forgiving her. He would. Eventually. “I should have gotten a bigger one.”
Gavin uttered one of the long and delightful Scottish curses that sounded like complete gibberish to her. “No, you fucking shouldn’t have. This one is complicated enough.”
“But you didn’t even need to read the directions.”
Gavin couldn’t hold in his laugh. “Woman, you’re a menace.”
“I know.”
He closed the door, and Tenzin listened for the click.
She turned to Gavin and grinned. “You did it.”
“Thank fuck, we did.” He pointed to the glass tiles on the ceiling. “I’d have never figured out the roof panels on my own.”
“You’re becoming more modest,” Tenzin said. “Is it because you’re in love with Chloe?”
“Fuck if I know,” he muttered, using one of Tenzin’s favorite American curses. “Probably.”
“Did she talk to him this week?”
“We both did.” Gavin cleared his throat. “He told Chloe about learning how to fly better and how he didn’t have to use his hands to close doors now. She warned him about getting a fat arse because he was turning lazy.”
“And what did he tell you?”
Gavin hesitated for a moment. “He hunted last week. First time with a human. Zhang was with him. No one was hurt, but he’s feeling conflicted anyway. He asked Zhang about animal blood.”
“Not as healthy for his amnis, especially when he’s so young.”
“I know. He knows too. I talked to him.”
Tenzin nodded. It was those harder lessons she wanted most to talk with Ben about, but in the months he’d been in Khentii, he hadn’t asked to speak with her once, even though Chloe had told Ben she was back in New York.
Gavin walked inside and closed the glass door before he turned on the heater, giving the house a few moments to warm up before they started moving the plants from the loft.
“Hey, Tenzin?” Chloe walked out on the roof and clapped her hands. “It’s so great! He’s gonna love it.” She ran into the glass house and looked around. “It’s huge.”
“It won’t feel so big when all the plants are inside.” Tenzin spotted a thick envelope in Chloe’s hand. “What is that?”
“Oh right.” Chloe walked over and handed th
e envelope to Tenzin. “This came to the pub today. Nearly forgot about it.”
Tenzin glanced at the wax seal and lack of postage. “Courier?”
“Yes. Didn’t recognize her, but she had an accent. Maybe Russian?” Chloe shrugged. “I’m not sure. Just asked for Ben’s assistant and dropped it off.”
Tenzin had already spotted Ben’s name on the front, but she was pretty sure she recognized the seal too.
“Gavin?” She held it so he could see. “Recognize that?”
Gavin frowned. “I think so. But why would he be sending a message to Ben?”
“Remember when I told Ben to send a courier to Bucharest and have that courier get lost for a year or so?”
“I have a vague memory.” Gavin took the envelope and looked at Ben’s name on the front. “But what does Radu want with Ben?”
“To hire him.”
“He hasn’t heard the news?”
“Maybe he sent it before he heard,” Tenzin said. “Maybe he doesn’t care Ben is Zhang’s son. As far as the vampire world knows, Ben and I are still partners and we’re still for hire if the price is right.” Tenzin reached for the envelope again and felt the weight. “And judging by the gold in this envelope, the price is probably right.”
“So that means Ben…”
“Isn’t going to be able to relax in the mountains forever.” Tenzin handed the envelope back to Chloe and picked up the last ficus plant. “Put it with his other mail for now. Radu will have to wait. Besides, it’s nearly springtime.”
“Why does that matter?” Chloe asked.
Gavin said, “That means Radu will be impossible to find unless we can magically figure out how to find his damn caravan.”
Chloe looked confused.
“I’ll explain later, dove.” Gavin walked into the loft and came back holding the birdcage with the two singing lovebirds. “Do you want to do the honors, Tenzin?”
She smiled and reached for the cage, taking the birds to the far side of the glass house. “I should probably just leave them in here until they get used to it.”
“Why?” Chloe crouched down next to the cage and fed the male bird a sunflower seed that he snatched up and took to his mate. “They’ve been in here for weeks. They’re probably dying to stretch their wings.”
Tenzin double-checked the door, the roof panels, and the windows to make sure the glass house was completely sealed before she sat on the ground next to the birdcage. “Okay, let’s see what you think.”
She held out her finger for Layah first. The bright yellow bird with a soft orange blush hopped on her finger. Tenzin lifted her from the cage and closed the door before Harun could escape.
She carefully set the little bird on the branches of a small lime tree and watched as she hopped up and down the branch until she took to the air and flew across the room to an upright palm.
Her partner was clearly outraged to be left behind.
“I hear you, tseetsa.” Tenzin opened the door, and Harun immediately shot from the cage and arrowed over to Layah, his green feathers blending in with the shadowed palm as he settled next to her and groomed her neck feathers.
“Look at them!” Chloe was almost dancing. “They’re so happy. This is perfect, Tenzin.”
“Job well done.” Gavin reached for her hand and shook it. “We should celebrate.”
“Good idea.” She pointed to the table she’d put together. “Sit. And watch my birds.”
While they sat down to watch the birds explore their new home, Tenzin carefully opened the door and slipped out to grab the bottle of champagne she’d bought on impulse from the bodega the night before.
She walked in the kitchen, grabbed the bottle and three glasses before she paused at the counter.
Taped to the cupboard above the bar was a picture Gavin had taken with his phone and sent to Chloe just before they’d left for Puerto Rico. A picture of them before, when everything was golden and full of promise.
Ben’s warm brown eyes caught her. His right arm was slung around her shoulders and his left arm was around Chloe’s waist. He’d been teasing Gavin about kissing his girl, and his face was flushed with life and laughter.
Tenzin leaned into him, unconsciously drawn to his warmth and life.
“Smile, Tiny. Just one picture.”
She’d relented, but she hadn’t smiled. Her hair covered half her face, and she’d kept her mouth firmly closed, intent on hiding her teeth.
Tenzin grabbed one more glass and carefully opened the bottle of sparkling wine. She set the glass on the counter and poured, the wine fizzing up to the rim and then settling down to bubble happily under Ben’s picture.
“Let’s dance, Tiny.”
Always. Always. Always.
Tenzin left the sparkling glass with Ben and picked up the other wineglasses, grabbed the bottle of champagne, and walked back into the night to celebrate with her friends.
* * *
THE END
Continue reading for a preview of
Valley of the Shadow
an Elemental World novella.
“I’m sure of you. Everything else,
we’ll figure out along the way.”
For eight years, Baojia and Natalie have pursued their goals: family, career, friendship and love—trying to carve out an ordinary life in an immortal world. And for eight years, they’ve been mostly successful, save for a world-bending adventure every now and then.
Except that their life was never ordinary. It was never going to be.
Natalie and Baojia may have made plans, but when ordinary life comes crashing down, they’ll have to turn to the family they have chosen, vampire and human, for help keeping their world together.
Five couples, four kids, three weeks, two paths… and a partridge in a pear tree? Return to the Elemental World for a Christmas reunion of old friends and forever loves.
For Natalie Ellis, it’s time to come home.
Valley of the Shadow is a novella in the Elemental World series by USA Today bestseller, Elizabeth Hunter, author of the Elemental Mysteries, the Irin Chronicles, and Love Stories on 7th and Main.
Chapter One
* * *
Baojia lived his immortal life from sundown to midnight. He and Natalie had decided as a family that midnight was as late as two small children could be allowed to stay awake, even if they had a non-traditional school schedule and slept until noon. Though his security work sometimes interrupted, the primary focus of his life from sundown to midnight was his children and his wife.
He carried his squirming daughter under one arm and nudged his son with the other. “Bed.”
Jake yawned loudly. “I’m not ti-ired.”
“Clearly.” He mussed the boy’s dark brown hair. “We can finish the game tomorrow.”
“But not until you wake up,” Jake whined. “I don’t want to wait that long.”
His daughter Sarah did her best impression of a boiled spaghetti noodle and flipped backward in his arms.
“It’s good to want things.” Baojia wrangled Sarah upright. “It teaches you patience. Don’t play dead, monkey. You’re going to hit your head.”
Sarah’s lively brown eyes were not tired in the least. “I’m not playing dead. I’m playing vampire!” She patted her father’s cheek. “Let me see, let me see.”
He forced himself to snarl and allowed his fangs to fall. “Rawr.”
Sarah squealed in delight and nearly twisted out of his arms again. “Rawr, rawr, rawr!”
Jake looked up with adoration. “I’m gonna have really big fangs when I grow up.”
“That” —Baojia nudged him into his room— “is a very mature decision that you cannot make until you are very old.”
“How old?” Jake hopped into his bed.
Baojia slung Sarah over his shoulder to keep her from crawling out of his arms. She truly was their monkey. She crawled and climbed on everything in sight. “Hmm… let me think.”
Jake wasn’t budging. He crossed
his arms over his skinny seven-year-old chest. It was a gesture he’d recently began copying. “When can I decide I want to be a vampire?”
Baojia went with his gut. “When you’re forty-seven.”
Jake’s mouth dropped. “What? No way, Dad. I don’t want to be an old man.”
“Forty-seven isn’t old.”
“It’s really old.” Sarah grabbed Baojia’s head and pulled herself up to sit on his shoulder. “That’s almost a hundred, Dad.”
He laughed low and long. Nothing made him laugh more than his children. They were the light and life of his eternity, and words could not express how grateful for them he was.
Even when they were being restless.
“Bedtime, Jake.”
He swung Sarah onto his back and sat on the edge of Jake’s bed while they said goodnight prayers. It was a habit Natalie had begun with both the children, and while Baojia wasn’t religious, he appreciated the habit of gratitude it engendered.
“And thank you for our house,” Jake said. “And thank you for my bike.”
“And my bike too,” Sarah whispered.
“Thank you for Sarah’s baby bike.”
“Jake.” Baojia’s voice was a warning.
“And thank you for fishing. And thank you for Ariel and Miss Olivia.”
Baojia murmured, “Wrap it up.”
His son could be very grateful. For close to an hour if he didn’t want to go to bed.
“And thank you for Uncle Lucien and Auntie Mak and for cousin Carina and also for Butch, amen.” Jake finished his prayers and opened his eyes, his lips pressed together.
Baojia raised an eyebrow. “Butch?”
“He’s out there, Dad. We just haven’t found him yet.”
Jake was bound and determined to have a dog. He’d been begging for two years. Natalie and Baojia had resisted. They already had enough people in and out of their house simply to help take care of two active children. A dog seemed like another thing to keep track of.
Night's Reckoning Page 30
