They did not want to live without each other.
But for how long?
Despite her age, nothing about Tenzin felt permanent. She was like the wind slipping around him as he flew. Grasping onto her would be a lesson in futility, and Ben couldn’t shake the feeling that Tenzin was still hiding things. A large part of him didn’t want to know.
She will always have secrets.
Tenzin walked to him and climbed into bed. “Did you take a shower?”
“Of course. Lots of bugs here.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Yes. But you know that means there are also many birds.”
“I like the birds.” He felt the sunrise start to tug on him. “Not the bugs as much.”
“But you don’t get one without the other.” She lay next to him and stretched out along his body, pressing her face into his chest to smell his skin. She stared at the slight stubble growing along his jaw and rubbed her fingers across it. These explorations were typical for her. She had no qualms about any curiosity or interest in his body.
“You fed tonight?”
“I did. Hirut had fresh blood for us at the meeting.”
“You made sure she drank first?”
“I’m not an amateur anymore, Tiny.” Ben ran a hand down her silken hair. He loved the weight of it sliding between his fingers. “Have you found a sword or two yet?”
She smiled and her eyes lit up. “Maybe.”
“I’ve seen pictures of the traditional Ethiopian shotel. I don’t think you have one of those in your collection back home.”
“I have a Persian sword that’s very close, but you are correct. I’ll be procuring one on this trip, but I suppose since Giovanni is with us, I’ll have to actually buy it.”
He could hear the annoyance in her voice, and it made him smile. “I suppose you will.”
Her head popped up. “Did you know Ethiopians used hippopotamus skin to cover their shields?”
“That makes sense. I certainly wouldn’t want to stab a hippo. They are pretty horrifying.”
“They call them water horses, but their blood is disgusting. Nothing at all like actual horse blood.”
Ben closed his eyes. “I’m trying to imagine… Nope. Don’t want to.”
She lay on his chest again. “Horse blood was a regular part of my diet when I was young. The horses were part of the clan. We didn’t kill them; we cared for them and we drank their milk and their blood when we couldn’t find humans.”
Not unlike some African ethnic groups that still drank the blood and milk from cows. It made sense. He often had to remind himself that Tenzin was forged in a far hotter furnace than anything his soft, twenty-first-century ass had experienced.
He still didn’t want to know about the hippos though.
“I think Saba was at the meeting tonight.” His eyes were getting heavy.
His words made Tenzin sit up. “Ben, don’t fall asleep. Explain.”
“I don’t know for sure… Didn’t make sense. She was roasting coffee.”
“Roasting coffee? Did Giovanni and Beatrice see her?”
“No. I mean yes, but it was like they didn’t even notice her. Like she was just a human.”
“If she cloaked her power—which she is definitely capable of doing—to fool them, how did you sense her?”
“I don’t know.” He blinked rapidly. “Maybe she wanted…”
“What? Wanted what?”
“To say hi.” He shrugged. “Or something. Maybe I’m imagining things.”
“Do you really think that?”
He shook his head. “It was her.”
Rain spattered on the metal roof over them, then poured down, the sound further lulling him into his dawn sleep.
“What game is she playing?” Tenzin looked around the room as if the small chamber might offer some answers. “Is she with Arosh? Is he searching on his own? Does he have it already? Lucien said… But would Lucien really know? Would he tell me if he did?”
Ben had nothing more to offer. He was too sleepy, and he knew the sun was rising. “Tenzin.” He reached for her, and she lay down beside him.
“Benjamin.” She wrapped herself around him again. “My Benjamin.”
“Stay with me.”
“I will.” Her voice wasn’t sweet then, it was determined. And Ben knew she was saying nothing but the truth. She would stay with him all day. And if anything tried to hurt him?
She would slay any danger that came.
The fire was heading straight toward him, barreling down a narrow stone passageway. He could already feel the heat teasing his skin. Behind the flames, someone was laughing, his voice rising in the night like a terrible bell tolling an alarm.
“Mother.”
Ben turned to see a figure walking away from him, disappearing into the earth as the fire overtook him and his skin started to blacken and curl from his body.
“Mother?”
He turned toward the fire and saw his family in the middle of it. Giovanni, Beatrice, Sadia, and Chloe were trapped in the middle of the flames, screaming but unconsumed.
He heard something drop to the ground next to him, and his head spun again.
She was on the ground, her hair smoking and flames licking along her skin. Her body was splayed out, crumpled on the rock floor like a fallen bird.
Her eyes were open but lifeless, and as he watched, her body began to dissolve.
“No, Tenzin! No!”
Ben woke at dusk to Tenzin’s back against his chest, his sickening dream twisting in his belly like spoiled blood. He’d rolled to his side during the night, and she’d found a space within his arms. His eyes fluttered open as he woke, and he saw the nape of her neck, inches from his mouth.
Bite.
Hunger roared through him, and he felt wild. His instincts told him to take; his arms tightened around her.
A simple pinch to his ear calmed him a little.
“You’re hungry,” she said. “You need to be drinking more.”
He laved his tongue against her neck. “I took blood-wine last night. And fresh blood.”
“Less blood-wine and more blood.” She turned to look at him over her shoulder. “Your fangs aren’t the only things that woke up hungry.” She wiggled her hips.
“Tease,” he growled.
“Far from it.” She tried to turn in his arms, but Ben held her tight. “So what is your plan, my Benjamin?”
He couldn’t bite her without an invitation, but he could make her want his bite. He knew she felt pleasure from it. He moved his hands down her body, caressing her breasts and sliding his hands under her shift. The curves of her form were subtle but deliciously feminine. He felt softness on her belly, the rise of her hips. She arched her back and pressed her bottom into him; he was hard as iron.
He seduced her, taking his time to explore every inch of her body until she was twisting in his arms, trying to take control. But as soon as she did, he let his fingers dip between her thighs and she let out a soft moan.
“Tilt back,” he whispered in her ear, scraping his fangs where he felt a single pulse in her neck.
Tenzin arched back and Ben entered her from behind, keeping his hands moving over her body and between her legs, stoking the fire that was building.