Authors: Elizabeth Hunter
“Thank you.”
The young donor blinked, then said, “The mistress says to tell you another will be sent tomorrow.”
Giovanni narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“Another will come to feed you, Master.”
He nodded slowly, then waved the man away. The guard opened the stone door and let the donor out before the locks clicked in place again. Giovanni took a deep breath as the strength began to flow through his limbs and his wounds began to knit together.
He thought about Livia’s strange fury as he healed. Her violence. Her attempts to drink from him. She had looked...
“What was that, Livia?” He paced his stone cell. “What was that in your eyes? What was—” He halted when the answer occurred to him. She hadn’t been angry. Livia had been... frustrated. Like a child whose mischief had been thwarted.
Giovanni began to smile. Then laugh. Soon, his deep laughter echoed off the stone walls that held him. Someone had spoiled Livia’s plans.
It appeared Tenzin was back in Rome.
Chapter Twelve
Residenza di Spada
Rome, Italy
June 2012
When Tenzin and Beatrice reached the house in Rome, they dropped into the courtyard to see an unfamiliar vampire sitting near the fountain talking to Carwyn and drinking a glass of golden wine. The immortal may have appeared to be young, but his long, angular face and deep-set eyes gave him an ancient stare.
Carwyn smiled and waved them over.
“Beatrice, meet Lucien Thrax.”
“Finally.” She smiled and held out a hand.
The vampire rose. He was lean and weathered. His shaggy brown hair fell over his forehead when he bent over Beatrice’s hand and clasped it with both his own. “Many thanks for your hospitality, Beatrice De Novo. I am sorry I retired before we could be introduced last night. Your household has been gracious to me.”
She found herself clasping his fingers, which were unusually warm for a vampire. His energy felt different from any she had ever sensed, but his eyes were open and honest.
“You’re very welcome. I understand you’re a friend of the family, in a manner of speaking.”
Lucien closed his eyes and smiled slightly. “I was honored to call Ioan ap Carwyn one of my dearest friends. Carwyn and I were taking a moment to catch up on news. I met your lovely friends Desiree and Ben earlier this evening while you were...” His smile broadened. “Otherwise engaged.”
Carwyn snorted as he rose, motioning Beatrice to his seat while he and Tenzin gathered more chairs from the other side of the courtyard. “Speaking of that,” Carwyn said, “I don’t suppose you saw Gio?”
Tenzin shook her head. “No, but we did get to kill some guards.”
Carwyn patted her small shoulder. “That’s my small, ferocious girl.”
Beatrice smiled. “You missed it, Father. She scared the proverbial shit out of Livia.”
“I miss
all
the fun.”
Tenzin only looked him up and down. “If you weren’t such a behemoth, I’d fly you, too.”
Carwyn just shuddered while Beatrice and Lucien laughed.
“We earth vampires,” Lucien said, “aren’t terribly fond of air travel, if you haven’t noticed yet, Ms. De Novo.”
“Please, call me Beatrice. And yes, I’ve noticed.”
“Horrid, unnatural way to travel,” Carwyn muttered.
“Yes, it’s far more pleasant to tunnel underground like a giant rat.”
Beatrice shook her head. “You two really do bicker like siblings.”
Lucien burst out laughing. “Beatrice, you haven’t seen half of it!”
“Both of you, stop.” Carwyn waved a hand at them and looked back to Tenzin, suddenly serious. “Really though, what is the mood in the court?”
“Livia knows she’s backed into a corner, which means anything is possible. We need to get him out of there. She’s become more unstable than the last time I saw her. She’s still frightened by me, but she’s keeping Lorenzo at her side like a favorite pet, which means that he’s valuable to her right now. We have to assume it’s because of the elixir.”
“Or something to do with Geber’s book,” Carwyn said.
“No doubt, but that’s not the point. We need to get Gio out, and we need to do it in a way that she’ll not be able to point to us. My introduction should be arriving any night now.”
Beatrice said, “Your introduction?”
“Yes. Despite the way I charged in today, I will be very properly received the next time we’re there. It should drive her crazy.” Tenzin grinned. “One of Elder Lu’s children is coming in the next week to discuss mutual textile interests in Southern China, and Livia will be forced to acknowledge him as they have business. He’s naming me as a member of his retinue as a favor.”
“What?” Beatrice looked around. “Really? And she’ll just have to welcome you back? Even after the stunt we pulled tonight?”
“You mean the stunt
I
pulled? Remember, B, you did nothing but defend yourself. She’ll have no excuse to keep you out of court. With their natural sympathy for Gio and the Roman fascination with the new girl, you might be our most valuable asset.”
She just shook her head. “This makes no sense.”
Carwyn said, “You have to remember, as powerful as Livia is, she’s not the only member of the Roman court. There are many others with their own interests, and she has to placate them, too. She can’t piss everyone off and remain in power. Tenzin, what did you think of Conti?”
Tenzin paused for a moment to think and Beatrice thought about the quietly confident water vampire. Like Carwyn, she was curious what Tenzin would think of him.
“Conti may be poised. With the right push, he could take power. He’d be far better than Livia and his connections are more consistent.”
Beatrice asked, “More consistent? What does that mean?”
Carwyn leaned forward. “Emil Conti is a bit older than Livia. He was born during the Republic, not the Empire, so he has more... democratic ideals. He’s an elitist, but he tends to keep the same friends over the years, unlike our favorite empress. He’s also a much better businessman, which means he likes stability and avoids drama. If Livia was pushed out of power, it would be best for everyone if someone was poised to take her place so there wasn’t a vacuum.”
Beatrice said, “And, Tenzin, you think he’s ready?”
She nodded. “He’s positioning himself in all this. He senses an opportunity. He could be an ally, so you should get to know him.”
Beatrice said, “But does that help us get Gio out?”
“Oh,” Tenzin said, “none of
us
can get Gio out. We’ll need to be in her presence when he escapes. That way, Livia can’t point to any of us.”
“But then how—”
Carwyn broke in. “Leave that to me.” He gave her a quick wink. “Just a few days and I’ll have something worked out.”
Beatrice looked over to Tenzin, who was exchanging some kind of wordless communication with the priest. All of a sudden, her friend nodded. “Ah, yes. Send him to me when he gets here, and I’ll fill him in on what I know about the castle.”
“Good.”
Beatrice felt her anger spike. “Will someone clue me in, please? It
is
my husband we’re talking about.”
Carwyn reached over and patted her hand. “Not just now. I’ll fill you in, but I have a feeling our friend here is tiring.”
Beatrice looked at the sky, which was still pitch black. Then she looked at Lucien, who had been listening silently to their conversation while leaning his head back and letting his fingers brush through the tangled ferns that lined the edge of the fountain.
“Oh,” he murmured, “don’t mind me. I’m quite comfortable and quite happy to stay out of all of it.”
“Lucien,” Tenzin said, “you’re neck-deep in all this, and you know it.”
He opened his eyes, looking around the courtyard for a moment before he locked his eyes on Beatrice. Eyes that could never belong to a mortal man. They were stone-grey and ringed by a deep brown. Like bits of rock emerging from the earth. Despite the lack of lines on his face, she knew Lucien Thrax had seen many centuries.
As if guessing her thoughts, he said, “I’m almost as old as this one.” He winked at Tenzin.
“Where—”
“I come from the mountains, like my mother. But farther north. Not all that far from here, as the crow flies.”
Beatrice took a deep breath. “Not that you’re unwelcome, but
why
are you here? I know you’re not one of Geber’s four if you’re an earth vampire. You’re old enough, but Geber’s earth immortal was a woman.”
“What a wonderful mind you have, Beatrice.” He smiled and drifted in the cool night air. “And you ask an excellent question. Ever since Tenzin found me near my home, I’ve been hoping I might be able to help you. You see, in addition to being a good friend, Ioan and I were colleagues, as you would say now.”
“Colleagues?”
“Yes, though we trained centuries apart, the healing of vampires and humans was our shared interest, and we often corresponded. I’ve brought some letters and papers that might be of use to you.”
“Letters? From Ioan?”
“Yes, there were number of books and papers he sent some time ago that he asked me to look over. They concerned his research into vampiric blood and his theories on what might alter it. His ideas were interesting, even going back to our origins, as mysterious as those are.”
Beatrice sat forward, enthralled by Lucien’s quiet voice. “What do you mean?”
“Why do we live as we do? Why do we have an affinity for the elements? Why must we drink from the blood of living humans or beasts to remain as we are? Why do we heal from injury?”
“And why,” Carwyn asked in a quiet voice, “is our blood unable to heal humans as it heals others of our kind?”
Lucien nodded. “Ioan and I both researched this question over the years. We both had our own theories. He was convinced that there must be some way that we could harness the power of our blood to make humanity stronger. A trade, if you will. That we might drink from them, but that we could offer something good in return.”
“Just like Geber.”
Lucien offered her a sad smile. “You speak of the elixir.”
Beatrice blinked. “Yes! How do you—”
“Oh, my dear Beatrice.” Lucien nodded and slumped in his chair, staring into the burbling fountain. “I’m very well acquainted with Geber’s elixir. You see...” He looked back to meet her eyes. “I’ve taken it.”
By the time Beatrice noticed Ziri had joined them, she was immersed in Lucien’s story. The old wind vampire drifted around the edge of the courtyard, watching Lucien as he spoke.
“I looked over her charts, spoke to her doctors, but there was nothing more that I could do. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most vicious, you see. And very fast moving. By the time Rada was able to reach me, she was almost gone. Her family was devastated. And I knew that she would never accept immortality. We had discussed it many years before, but she...”
Beatrice spoke softly. “She was a friend?”
Lucien smiled wistfully. “A research assistant. For many years. And a... a dear friend, as well. She left me to go to medical school, marry, have children. It was good. It was what she wanted. But we kept in contact over the years, though her family never understood, as she did, what I truly was.”
“And she died?”
For a moment, a gleam of joy lit Lucien’s face. “No, she didn’t.”
Beatrice frowned, “But—”
“I was sitting in a cafe in Plovdiv, sipping a glass of wine and mourning her. You see, I thought that I had seen her for the last time that evening. I felt sure she would not last the next day. Her body was ravaged. Then, Lorenzo walked through the door.”
“Lorenzo?” Beatrice whispered, her fangs dropping in instinctive alarm. She could feel a brush of air soothing her shoulder, but didn’t know if it came from Ziri or Tenzin.
Lucien shook his head. “I remember thinking later that it was as if an angel appeared. Oh, I knew his reputation, of course, but you never know exactly how much of anything is true in this world. We started to chat. He was sympathetic when he heard of Rada’s illness. Who among us has not lost a multitude of human friends?”
Beatrice was willing to bet that there were no humans Lorenzo mourned, but she didn’t interrupt.
Lucien continued, “He seemed to sense that Rada was special to me. And then, he made his offer.”
A creeping suspicion took root in Beatrice’s mind. “When was this?”
“Eight months ago. October of last year.”
She whispered. “Almost a year after he took it.”
Lucien smiled bitterly. “As Tenzin informed me a few weeks ago.”
“He had the elixir.”
He nodded. “A form of it, anyway. He said that he was developing it for the pharmaceutical industry. That it was experimental, but would have miraculous effects.” Lucien shrugged. “What could it hurt? I thought. She is dying already. Practically a ghost in my arms. I took the elixir for Rada without hesitation. I gave it to her within hours of talking to Lorenzo.”
“And?”
“It was just before dawn on a Monday morning. I went to my home to rest and meditate, trying not to retain too much hope. I didn’t
really
think it would work, despite the gold I’d paid for it.” Lucien paused and brought a hand up to rest on his chin before he spoke again. “But that night, when the sun set, I still ran to the hospital. To her room, and there she was.”
Beatrice could see his red-rimmed eyes, and her heart ached.
“She had cheated death! She was still thin, but the color had returned to her face. The doctors called it a miracle. The cancer was completely gone. Her blood tests showed normal results.” He sighed and looked up at Beatrice. “I was convinced. How could I not be? It
was
a miracle. Lorenzo had developed the elixir of life.”
“Tell them,” Tenzin said gently. “Tell them the rest, Lucien.”
“I stayed at my home nearby for a few months. Rada seemed to be thriving, and I met with Lorenzo again to learn more about this medicine he had developed. He told me about Geber and the four vampires, though he did not tell me who they were. My instincts are always to be skeptical, but how could I be? I had seen the results with my own eyes. And it fit with much of what Ioan and I had theorized over the years. That blood had always been the key. The combination of elemental blood which linked to the four elements present in human blood—”