The Elemental Mysteries: Complete Series (106 page)

“Feed.” She pulled the servant in front of him. The man immediately held up a wrist, bowing his head so as not to meet Giovanni’s eyes.

“Tenzin, I told you, I don’t need it.”

“Giovanni…” She glanced toward the glowing lanterns again. “
Feed
.”

Narrowing his eyes, he took the servant’s wrist and bit, numbing the man’s skin so it wouldn’t be painful. Despite his initial irritation, he couldn’t help but enjoy the rich flow of blood from the servant, who obviously kept to an older diet free from processed foods. The surge of strength was immediate, and he felt his amnis pulse within him as he opened his senses and sent them across the palace grounds. A faint energy signature caught him off guard, and he pulled away from the man’s wrist, quickly sealing the wounds he had made.

“What is this?” he hissed before taking off at a run. He felt Tenzin’s amnis at his back and forced himself to hold back and wait for her. He paused before entering the hall, pulling back his fury and calming the rush of fire beneath his skin. Tenzin put a hand on his arm, pulling him back so she could enter the Great Hall ahead of him.

“My boy, I cannot emphasize how important it is for you to let me speak. Whatever you hear, remain silent.”

She strode forward, the jeweled doors swinging open with a flick of her hands that made the human servants scurry. The silk curtains blew back as Giovanni followed her into the glowing hall. It was filled to capacity with curious humans and wary immortals, and he could feel the tension roiling when Tenzin spoke.

“Lorenzo!” she called out as the press of immortals parted in front of her. “Get your hands off my mate.”

Chapter Six

Penglai Island, China

September 2010

Step, thrust, sweep, turn.

“Again.”

Baojia mirrored her movements, guiding her in the steps of the drill as she worked the
jian
. It already felt natural; the light balance of the old sword allowed her to move through the complicated routine with ease. It was as if some long ago muscle memory had been awakened.

Step, thrust, sweep, turn.

“Again.”

She realized about halfway through the lesson that Baojia had switched to giving commands in Chinese, but by then, his instructions were so predictable that she hadn’t even noticed. They moved in concert, both wearing the loose black pants and shirts that Tenzin had provided for them. Beatrice may not have liked most of the bland food that the palace provided, but she really liked the feeling of going through the day in what felt a lot like pajamas.

“Stop after this series and watch.”

She finished the last turn and moved to the benches to watch him. Baojia was not an ordinarily eye-catching figure. His even features were handsome, but not striking. He spoke even less than Giovanni did, but she had discovered that when he did, he had a dry humor that put her at ease.

It wasn’t until he moved that her eyes were drawn to him. If she hadn’t been studying martial arts for years, he might have made it look easy. But Beatrice could detect the iron control and carefully restrained ferocity of the vampire. No matter what move he made, he looked smooth, effortless, as if the complicated sequences he performed came as naturally to him as breathing did to her.

He had picked up the shorter curved saber Tenzin used earlier and was going through the basic movements when his eyes darted to the door. A few moments later, she heard Nima quietly enter the room, and the two had a quick exchange before Baojia returned the sword to its place on the wall and walked to her, his face unreadable and his gaze distant.

“What’s going on?”

“Come with me.”

“What’s going on?” she asked again, standing when he held out a hand. He pulled her up and stepped close. Beatrice suddenly realized that he was not much taller than she was, and she only had to glance up to meet his dark stare. She could see the barely concealed tension in his face, and for a second, she felt as if she could not breathe.

“Baojia… what’s going on?”

“There is”—he hesitated—“a new guest in the Great Hall. Tenzin has requested our presence.”

“Who—”

“No more questions.” He hooked her arm with his own and shuffled her toward the doors, grabbing a red robe hanging by the door.

“Maybe you don’t know this about me, but I really don’t like being kept in the dark,” she said as she pulled on the silk robe.

He snorted. “Maybe you don’t know this about me, but I don’t really care.”

“Would Ernesto care?”

Baojia laughed bitterly. “I am very clear on what my father wants from me, Beatrice De Novo. Why don’t you spend a little time worrying about your own father?”

“My own…” She fell silent as a sick feeling began to churn in her gut. “Where’s Gio?”

“With Tenzin in the hall.”

They left Tenzin’s wing of the palace and strode across the grounds, Baojia almost dragging her behind him. As they climbed the steps, she could already hear Tenzin’s stream of angry words pouring out of the hall, though she had no idea what her friend was yelling.

Beatrice knew not to open her mouth. She simply followed along, her fists clenched at her sides as Baojia ushered her into the opulent room with a hand at her back, his quick eyes sweeping the room.

Beatrice spotted Giovanni’s tall figure immediately. He stood at attention at the foot of Zhang’s throne, his gaze flickering over the crowd that had gathered toward the center of the room. She saw him glance at her, nod, then he locked his gaze with Baojia and tilted his head toward the left side of the hall, where Beatrice noticed some of the humans and vampires in Zhang’s retinue had gathered. She couldn’t see Tenzin, but she could hear the woman arguing in Mandarin from the center of the mass of vampires.

They picked their way through the crowd, and Beatrice was glad that her dark hair and short stature allowed her to blend in far better than Giovanni’s striking figure. They stopped about ten feet away, their backs to a large green column, and Baojia seemed to relax slightly at her side.

“Where’s my dad?” she whispered.

Baojia leaned over to murmur in her ear. “He’s in the crowd with Tenzin. I can hear him.”

“Can you translate for me? What’s going on?”

He sighed, and she could tell he didn’t want to do it, but he continued leaning over, translating as the argument progressed.

“Tenzin says, ‘You’ve always been needlessly worried about me. I have no interest in your throne…’ and she calls him a foul name.”

“Who?”

“Zhongli Quan.”

“The other head guy? The one below Lu?”

“Some may say so. He is a wind vampire, like Tenzin. Do you understand?”

“No.”

“There are only two of each element on the council.”

‘No interest in your throne…’ “Oh, he thinks Tenzin wants to take his place or something?”

He only cocked an eyebrow at her and tilted his head back toward the crowd.

“Zhongli responds that Zhang may invite his guests without fear of them coming to harm, and he may do so, as well.”

“What? Guests? Who—”

She broke off when an eerily familiar voice rang out. Beatrice may not have recognized the language, but she would never forget the dulcet tones of her former captor.

“Lorenzo,” she gasped as her heart began to race. Her eyes searched for Giovanni’s; he was looking at her, his lips pursed in a hushing motion, and she began to move toward him. He gave a tiny shake of his head at the same time that Baojia gripped her forearm.

“Let go!”

“No. You need to calm down and look at me.” She couldn’t look away from the front of the room; her eyes darted between Giovanni, who stood in a position by Zhang, and the clutch of people who surrounded the arguing voices. She could feel the vampires pressing around her begin to react to her agitation, and it only made her more nervous.

“Beatrice,” Baojia said, “you need to look at me. Now. Take a deep breath and look at me.”

She finally tore her eyes away from the crowd and looked at Baojia. She let herself rest in his calm, dark gaze as he continued to speak in a soothing voice.

“Giovanni needs to stay by Zhang. He is publicly allying himself with the Elder right now, so he must stay there. You are here under his aegis, and under the protection of Tenzin, Zhang, and all their allies, who are more numerous than you can imagine. He will not touch you here.”

“But—”

“Beatrice,” Baojia continued, “he will not touch you. I will not allow it.”

Something in his eyes pulled her in. Some flare of emotion touched his normally placid face, and she pulled away in surprise, only to have him move with her. She leaned back against the pillar and made a conscious effort to calm her breathing. Baojia stared at her, his hand still holding her forearm, and she could feel his finger brush against her wrist. A calm began to steal over her, and her breathing smoothed out, so she was able to look back at the group at the front of the hall.

The crowd had thinned, but all eyes were on the ongoing argument between Tenzin and Elder Zhongli. She could see her father through the crowd and relaxed more when she saw his calm expression. She looked at Giovanni, whose eyes continued to scan the room, glancing from her and Baojia, to the back doors, across the crowd, over the arguing immortals, and back again.

For a moment, his eyes met hers and he gave her a quick wink. She tried to smile, but she was worried it came out more pained than optimistic.

“What did you study at university?”

Beatrice turned at the sound of the unexpected voice to her left. The odd Elder Lan Caihe had sidled up to her in the crowd and was staring at her with a curious expression. He… or she glanced at Baojia, and the two exchanged a friendly nod. Lan was no longer wearing the brilliant white robes of the Elders, but a dull grey set that blended with the crowd.

She frowned. “What? What did I study?”

“Yes, what was your course of study at the university? Your father says you are very bright for a human. What did you study? Medicine? Theology?”

“Um… library science.”

Lan laughed. “You did experiments with books?”

“No.” Beatrice had to smile. “Information Technology. I studied… well, how to be a good librarian. The best ways to preserve books and manuscripts and how to get that information to the people who need it. It’s called ‘library science,’ but—”

“Oh!” Lan smiled, his or her round face creasing into a delighted smile. “You are a scribe.”

She smiled, happy to be distracted by the strange vampire, even if she was confused why exactly Lan was talking to her. Lan’s dark hair was pulled into a topknot, and while she had heard the immortal was mysterious, his or her face seemed open and friendly. Beatrice, like everyone else, was at a loss to guess whether ‘he’ or ‘she’ was the correct pronoun.

“Um… I guess that’s accurate. I don’t write the books, though. I just take care of them.”

“But that is a heavy responsibility, as well. A scribe was a very honorable position when I was a human. Only the wisest could write and were given care of the scrolls.”

Beatrice smiled, a little embarrassed by Lan’s eager face.

“I don’t think people take librarians quite that seriously anymore.”

“That’s because humanity is foolish,” Lan said with a shrug. “And what do you do with my brother fire-vampire?”

She smiled when she heard the casual acceptance in Lan’s voice. Most vampires, even those who knew and seemed to like Giovanni, spoke about him with a kind of reservation, almost as if they expected him to erupt at any minute. Lan’s gentle voice held no judgment, and even though she didn’t know the vampire, she was immediately set at ease by Lan’s manner.

“I had to quit my job a while back. So I’m traveling with him and currently hoping I can stay away from Lorenzo. We don’t get along very well.”

Lan squinted at the mess of arguing vampires. “I do not think you should be concerned for your safety. You have many protectors.”

“But my dad doesn’t.”

Lan’s eyes twinkled. “I do not think your father looks worried, Mistress Scribe. And you should not, either.”

She cocked her head at Lan before glancing at her father, who she was surprised to realize really didn’t look concerned. He seemed completely relaxed and… taller, if that was even possible. She frowned and glanced back to her left, expecting to see Lan there, but the elder had disappeared into the crowd and the only one to her left was one of Zhang’s guards, who began a quiet conversation with Baojia that she couldn’t understand.

She really needed to learn Chinese.

By that time, the arguments had died down, and more vampires had dispersed, allowing her to see Tenzin and Zhongli speaking more quietly. Tenzin held an open hand toward Stephen, who reached out to grasp it in his own.

“Well,” she heard Baojia murmur, “that is… interesting.”

“What? What’s interesting?”

Zhongli looked irritated, but resigned. Elder Lu Dongbin, who she remembered Giovanni telling her was a close ally of Tenzin’s father, looked quietly pleased, and the Immortal Woman looked as if she wanted to laugh.