The Elemental Mysteries: Complete Series (20 page)

“Gio,” she whispered; her pulse pounded in his ears, and the scent of her panic rolled off her in seductive waves.
 
“Please, don’t—I don’t understand—”

His head inched toward her neck, the ancient, territorial compulsion roaring through him to drink and claim her blood as his own.
 
He felt the current in his fingertips crawl across the girl’s skin as the amnis began to run through him and into her.
 

“Giovanni di Spada!”

He stared, hypnotized by the pulsing heartbeat that sped faster the closer he held her.
 
His own heart began to thump faster and he bared his fangs.
 

“I will end you if you harm the innocent!” Carwyn roared in Italian, the language of his youth finally breaking through the haze that clouded Giovanni’s rational mind.
 

His hooded eyes flew open, and the vampire leapt away from the girl, staring at her in horror when he saw the tears coursing down her face.
 
He stopped breathing and took another step back, pushing down the snarl that threatened to erupt when Carwyn stepped between him and Beatrice.

“Outside.
 
Now!”

He tried to look around Carwyn.
 
“Beatrice—”

“Now, before I throw you out!” he yelled as Caspar stood gaping in the doorway.
 

Giovanni threw open the terrace doors and stalked outside.
 
Caspar met him pacing near the pool a few minutes later with a bag of blood from the refrigerator.
 
Biting directly into the bag, Giovanni ignored the stale taste as he sucked it dry.
 
He felt the volatile energy licking along his skin, so he stripped off his clothes, and dove to the bottom of the pool where he sat in utter stillness, gradually slowing the beat of his normally silent heart.
 

He watched the moon through the dark water, disgusted with his actions in the living room and furious with himself for losing control of his base nature after hundreds of years of strict discipline.
 

“What is our first lesson from Plato?”

“’For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.’”

“You must always be stronger than your nature.
 
Do you understand?”

“Yes, Father.”
 

“It is the key to your survival in any circumstance.
 
You more than any other.”
 

He didn’t know how long he sat at the bottom of the pool, but eventually his ears alerted him to the faint splash near the shallow end as something broke the still surface.
 

He shot up, shocked to see Beatrice sitting near the steps with her shoes off, and her feet dangling near the steps.
 

“Hey.”
 

He didn’t speak, but scanned the surrounding area, spotting Carwyn who sat, glaring at him from one of the chaises on the terrace.
 
Giovanni nodded toward his old friend, his eyes communicating his careful control, and he saw the priest relax.
 
He looked back to the solemn young woman who met his gaze without flinching.
 

“I would offer an apology, Beatrice De Novo.”
 

The girl had no idea how rare an occasion it was for Giovanni to admit wrongdoing, so she only narrowed her eyes.
 
“Is it going to happen again?”

He paused, wanting to answer honestly.
 
“I had underestimated how territorial I felt toward you.
 
I won’t make the mistake again.”
 

“Why do you feel territorial about me?” she asked quietly.
 

He treaded water, still keeping his distance.
 
“You are under my
aegis
, whether you accept it or not.”
 
Giovanni ignored the sudden tension he sensed from Carwyn on the patio, choosing to lock his gaze on the girl at the end of the pool.

“What does that mean?”
 
She looked at him, confusion evident in her features.

There was no need for her to know the full extent of his aegis, or that by claiming her, he had every right to drink from her as he wished.
 
He decided the simplest explanation was best.

“It means I have taken responsibility for you in my world.
 
Part of that responsibility is to protect you, and I failed in that tonight.”
 

“You stopped.”
 

He couldn’t speak, afraid that honesty would send her running.
 
If Carwyn had not been there, he wouldn’t have stopped.
 

She must have seen the truth in his eyes.
 
“Would you have killed me?”

Most definitely not.
 
“No ... but I would have marked you.
 
Without your permission.”
 

She frowned and looked at him curiously.
 
“Do humans—do they
ever
give you their permission?”

He avoided the question, diving and surfacing a few feet from her.
 
She looked away, flustered by his presence, so he retreated a few feet.
 

“Wh—who is Giovanni di Spada?” she asked.
 

“Who?”

“Carwyn, he called you that when you were…you know.”
 

Giovanni frowned a little, faintly remembering the priest calling the name of his more violent past.
 
“Giovanni de Spada is the name I was using when Carwyn and I met.
 
I went by that name for almost two hundred years.
 
He still forgets and calls me that occasionally.”
 

“So you changed the last name, but you kept Giovanni?”

He nodded, baffled by her questions, but willing to entertain them if it regained some of the trust he had broken.
 
“It seemed easier to keep the given name.
 
If I ever traveled back to the same place or the same business and someone happened to remember me, it was easy enough to claim I was a relative.
 
And, of course, there were no photographs until recently.”
 

“Oh,” she nodded, “that makes sense.”

“It wasn’t difficult to change your identity for most of history.”
 

“And now?”

He shrugged.
 
“Now it is harder, but not impossible.”
 

She paused and finally met his eyes.
 
He could see her start to relax and wished he had not agreed to avoid using his amnis on her.
 
It would make questioning her far more straightforward.
 

“Who did you meet today?” he asked quietly, slowly moving closer to her at the edge of the pool.
 

“Who did I—what?
 
I met…” she cleared her throat, suddenly flustered again, “lots of people, Gio.
 
What does that—”

“You met someone new.
 
A stranger.
 
You had the scent of another immortal on you,” he said, keeping his voice carefully neutral.
 

She scowled at him.
 
“I did not!
 
I had a completely normal day.
 
I didn’t meet any vampires.
 
I think I’d know what to look for at this point, don’t you?”
 
He could hear her pulse pick up, but he sensed it was from anger, not fear.
 

He glanced at Carwyn, who moved slightly closer to the pool, his hands in his pockets as he sauntered toward them.
 

“I smelled it too, B.
 
It was faint, but it was there.
 
It’s on your hands.
 
Gio’s nose has always been sharper.
 
Did you shake hands with anyone?
 
Go anywhere new?”

She rolled her eyes and huffed in frustration.
 
“I went to school and work.
 
I went to dinner with my grandma and her friends.
 
I went to a new Thai restaurant where none of the waiters looked any paler than usual, Carwyn.
 
I didn’t meet a vampire!”

“Something,” Giovanni muttered, swimming over to the edge of the pool and lifting himself up.
 
“There has to be something.”
 
He strode over the patio, dripping cold water as he walked.
 
He only remembered his nudity when he heard Beatrice gasp a little from the steps.
 

Carwyn rolled his eyes and tossed Giovanni a towel from the end of the chaise.
 
“Cover yourself up.
 
We all know she’d rather see
me
naked.”
 

He glanced over his shoulder toward Beatrice, who was blushing and staring at his feet.
 
He smirked when he realized why her heart had been racing.

It didn’t appear to be anger.

He slung the towel around his waist and walked back toward her, holding a hand out to help her up.
 
She was still looking anywhere but at him.
 

“Beatrice,” he said, trying to smother a smile.
 
“I apologize.
 
My behavior in the living room was unconscionable.
 
It won’t happen again.”
 
She still refused to look at him.
 
He sighed and dropped his hand.
 

“It’s fine, Gio,” she said, bright red in the face.
 
“Just don’t scare me like that again.”
 

“I’ll try not to.”
 
He held out his hand again; this time she took it and allowed him to help her stand.
 

“And don’t think I didn’t feel the current thing when you grabbed me.
 
Do
not
mess with my brain.”

He allowed her to see the edge of his smile.
 
“Understood.”
 

She nodded, resolve clear in her eyes.
 
“I’m going to go call my grandmother so she doesn’t worry.
 
I’ll be up in the library when I’m done.”
 

“Thank you.”
 

“You’re welcome.
 
Now go put some clothes on.
 
Because if you want me to concentrate, you can’t dangle that much naked man in front of me.
 
Vampire or not.”
 

Giovanni stifled a grin as he walked into the house, punching a laughing Carwyn as he walked by.
 

“Ow,” the priest pouted, back to his normally gregarious nature.
 

“Liar.”
 

“I’m practicing for wrestling!”

Giovanni couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face or the sense of satisfaction as he ran upstairs to get dressed.
 

She still hadn’t run.
 

He met them all in the library, where Carwyn started a fire and Caspar had already brought drinks for everyone.
 
The butler sat next to the girl on the couch, leaving the two end chairs for the vampires to perch.
 

Neither vampire sat; Carwyn leaned a shoulder into the mantle and watched the room, while Giovanni roamed the length of the library.
 
His mind was shuffling information, moving clues like a puzzle.
 
Now that he could think more rationally, the pieces were beginning to fall into place.
 
The anger, however, was only beginning to grow.
 

“Carwyn,” he heard Beatrice ask as he walked toward his locked cabinet, “why can you use the stereo and the remotes when Gio can’t?
 
You’ve got the same current under your skin, right?”

Giovanni’s eyes shot to his friend’s, who simply shrugged a little before he answered.
 

“Well,” he winked at Beatrice.
 
“Let’s just say I’m better grounded than Sparky over there.”
 

“Better groun—oh, elements!
 
Fire.
 
Earth.
 
Air.
 
Water.
 
Are you an earth vampire, or something?”

He nodded and stared at her in the flickering light from the hearth.
 
“Such a clever girl,” he murmured.
 
“I wonder what else we can figure out together, hmm?”
 
He glanced back to Giovanni, who only nodded silently at the back of the library.
 

“Beatrice,” the priest continued, “may I smell your hand, dear girl?
 
Just once more.
 
I promise not to get all fangy.”
 

Beatrice smiled and glanced over her shoulder at Giovanni.
 

“Sure.”
 
She held out her hand.
 
“But I’m pretty positive I didn’t meet a vampire today.
 
My day was completely boring.
 
The only exciting thing about it was a couple of new documents at work.
 
And that’s…”
 
She trailed off and Giovanni could see her make the connection.
 
“I mean…the documents—”