“Shit shit shit shit shit.” The Englishman was panicking. “I didn’t sign up for a battle, Vecchio. This is not what I was hired—”
“Shut it,” Tenzin said tersely. “You think they can’t hear you?”
Ben kept an eye out, but the fire didn’t come again. Still, the air crackled with energy as they landed on the far side of the mountain. Silence lay like a blanket across the hilltop and no one moved, save Daniel, who wriggled out of Ben’s hold and stepped behind Tenzin.
“You may be small, but I will use you as a shield,” he muttered.
“Fine.” Tenzin started forward and Ben followed, taking position just behind her left side. Daniel trailed behind them both.
“Son of Vecchio!”
The voice rang out clear in the night, speaking in English. Ben recognized the owner; it was Arosh, ancient Fire King of Central Asia, legendary warrior, elder of the Council of Alitea.
“Small daughter of Zhang!”
Tenzin curled her lip. “Ugh. This asshole.”
Arosh’s laughter rang through the night. “Tenzin, it has been too long since we have parlayed. My harem misses you.”
Tenzin smiled. “You’re welcome…” She let the pause hang. “…for our work retrieving the Laylat al Hisab. It truly was the finest blade I have ever seen. I am so glad that you and my father have finally put an end to your long war.”
If you didn’t know Tenzin, the sarcasm would be nearly undetectable. Ben did his best not to smile. His partner truly was the queen of courtly doublespeak.
“Ah yes. The Night’s Reckoning. A fitting gift to end a war.”
Was it though? “Interesting perspective,” Ben muttered.
Tenzin and Arosh had been shouting into the darkness. While Ben could sense three strong immortals and two lesser ones, he couldn’t see anything other than faint outlines from this distance.
“Harun was a friend of mine,” Arosh said. “I have many of his blades.”
Rub it in, why don’t you? Ben saw Tenzin’s lip curl. “Congratulations.”
“Son of Vecchio, you are well grown in power.”
“Son of Zhang.” Ben corrected the elder. “Though I am still allied with my uncle, aunt, and their immortal lines.” It was a subtle nod to his uncle’s relationship with the fourth elder in Alitea, Kato of the Mediterranean, the elder who was not present that night. “How is my uncle’s grandsire?”
“Not here,” Tenzin said under her breath. “But probably the reason he hasn’t tried to burn us yet.”
“He hasn’t tried to burn us yet?” Daniel whispered back. “What do you call that giant column of fire he shot at us five minutes ago?”
“A friendly greeting.” Ben stepped forward and started walking toward the voices. “Arosh, sired to fire, king of the West, we have business on this mountain,” he said carefully. “We seek an object of great wisdom.”
“You seek an object of power,” Arosh said. “Just as I do.”
Ben was getting closer now, and he could see more of what was happening. An earth vampire he didn’t know was moving the ground, faster than Daniel had worked, as Ziri and Saba sat on a large boulder some distance away. Arosh stood on the edge of the digging site, his hands braced on his hips.
Ben could sense a fifth vampire somewhere, but the way the amnis drifted, he knew it was a wind vampire like him and Tenzin. The scent of her amnis was too diffuse, too ephemeral to be anything other than one of their kind.
He could sense the tension from Arosh, but what did he feel from Saba? His eyes turned toward her shadow in the distance. There was something there…
Amusement?
It couldn’t be. That made no sense.
Ben tried not to react to any of the emotional currents floating in the air. “I see that you have already started excavation at this site.”
“Leave, son of Vecchio,” Arosh said. “I have no wish to harm the son of an ally.”
Whether he was talking about Giovanni or Zhang, it didn’t really make a difference.
“We can’t,” Ben said. “We have taken an assignment from a client to retrieve this object of great wisdom, and we cannot abandon a commitment.”
“Children.” A new voice called from the boulder. It was Ziri. “I beg you to reconsider this quest. Be wise.”
Tenzin had cocked her head at the word children.
“Interesting,” she whispered. “It’s been some time since I’ve heard that.”
“I imagine.” Ben continued walking and raised his voice. “We have made a commitment to our client. We cannot stop looking.”
“Interesting.”
Movement in the pit had stopped, and a dark head peeked over the edge of the hole. “Arosh?”
“Keep digging, Gedeyon. These… visitors have no claim on this site.”
“Do you?” Tenzin barked.
Saba rose, and Ben was once again floored by her sheer presence. She was a small woman with a massive energy signature, fitting for the oldest vampire known to human or immortal knowledge.
“Son of Vecchio,” she said. “You are truly a beautiful sight.”
Ben didn’t know what to feel. He was unquestionably drawn to her amnis; it was nearly irresistible. But he also knew that this was the vampire who’d ended his human life and taken the choice of immortality from him.
And yet…
He couldn’t bring himself to feel bitterness or hate. Frustration was his dominant emotion.
“Saba—”
“Don’t.” Tenzin reached for his hand and squeezed it tightly. “Not now. Not right now.”
“Tenzin, I don’t—”
“Open your senses,” she bit out. “Don’t you feel it?”
“What are you…?” He sucked in a breath when he felt what she was talking about.
Arosh stalked toward them, fire burning in the palms of his hands. His hair was braided into a long thick rope behind him, and dark markings on his face lent him a sinister air.
“Leave.” It was a single command. “Leave this quest. Leave this land.”
Shit.
Ben slowly shook his head. “Sorry. Can’t do that.”
Arosh cocked his head, incredulous that anyone would disobey his command. “Foolish child.”
It stung, and Ben couldn’t pretend it didn’t. Here was a creature of immense power and years, telling him he was an ignorant kid. Still, Ben wasn’t willing to back down.
“We have as much right to search for this object as you.”
“Nonsense,” Arosh said.
Saba laughed. “I want to hear his reason, my love. What right is yours, young Vecchio?”
Ben turned to Saba and addressed her only. “Mother, does your blood run through me?”
Saba looked at him with keen interest, her eyes bright in the moonlight. “It does.”
“And is this land your territory?”
That question she took longer to answer. Saba’s gaze turned inward, and she closed her eyes a moment before she opened them and stared into Ben’s eyes. “This land has been mine, it is mine, and it will be mine always.”
“So,” Ben said. “I find myself in my mother’s land.” He turned to Arosh. “And you?”