“Scholars only?” Ben asked.
“The usual number of security with them, nothing that seemed excessive or out of the ordinary.” His eyes moved to Tenzin. “And one other boat. A trading partner from the south negotiating tariffs for the Tanggu port. Her boss has been paying through the nose to a corrupt official, and she was hoping to get some assistance from the elders.”
Tenzin was silently cursing even as Ben asked the question.
“And who was the trading partner’s boss?”
“I think your mate knows already.” Myung couldn’t stop his smile. “Old pirates up to their tricks again, Tenzin?”
“Cheng.” Tenzin’s tea burned her tongue. “Thanks, Myung. I better get that trading partner’s name before we go.”
Chapter Six
The first time Ben had been in the hold of a ship, he’d been tricked into accompanying a cache of gold and treasure Tenzin had taken from Kashgar, and he’d spent weeks on a Chinese freighter crossing the Pacific. The last time he’d been on a ship, he’d been nearly killed by an assassin from the Mediterranean, and Tenzin had taken him to Shanghai so Zhang could make him a vampire.
He stared at the wall of the luxury yacht that was taking them to meet Cheng in Shanghai. “You know, I really don’t like boats.”
Tenzin stretched out on the bed next to him, reading a magazine she’d snagged from the upper deck. “Good thing you’re not a water vampire.” She showed him a picture. “Who is this?”
“I think she’s an actress.” He frowned. “What is that magazine?”
“The only one I could find. There were no books on the bookshelves. They were all decorative and they’d been glued together.”
“Who does that?” He glanced at the magazine, which looked like some kind of glossy gossip rag from Europe. “She was in that big action movie last year with the aliens.”
“Her teeth are strange.”
“She probably got them capped or something.” Ben had little interest in most movies since he turned immortal. He enjoyed watching football, going to live shows, and he could be a little obsessive about music. But most actors and actresses were strangers to him.
“What is capped?” Tenzin frowned.
“They file down your natural teeth and then put false shells over the top that are more perfect than your original teeth.”
Tenzin looked horrified. “Were the teeth damaged?”
“Not usually. Just not uniform.”
“Teeth aren’t meant to be uniform.” She shook her head. “What is wrong with humans?”
“So many things.” He turned on his side. “Are you worried about this?”
“Capped teeth?” She had returned to staring at the magazine.
“No. Cheng.”
She was still staring at the magazine. “Why would I be worried about Cheng?”
“Is it possible he stole the seal?”
“Oh yes.” She set the magazine to the side. “It’s very possible. Cheng wouldn’t think of it, but it’s the exact kind of thing that Jonathan would do.”
“So why aren’t you worried?”
“Because I don’t think he did it.” She reached for the magazine again, but Ben plucked it from her fingers.
“Explain.”
She scowled at him. “It’s like something he would do, but he wouldn’t do this.”
Ben tried not to roll his eyes. “Explain more.”
She shifted to face him. “Staging a theft or some kind of similar sabotage to cause a rival to lose face with a business associate he wanted to poach is exactly the kind of thing Cheng would do. In fact, I can think of three occasions right now where he did something similar.”
“But you don’t think he did this?”
She sat up a little bit. “Despite what Cheng would have the world believe, he actually has an extreme amount of respect for the Eight Immortals. Maybe more than most vampires who pay them proper homage. He reveres their tradition, their history, and their philosophy.”
It didn’t match up with the image of Cheng Ben had in his mind. “So why is he always challenging their authority?”
“In business.” Tenzin held up a hand. “In business, he does. And politics. He tugs at their reins in the business world because he doesn’t think they should have influence in commerce the way that they do, but when it comes to who they are and what they stand for? Spiritually? Culturally? He would never admit it, but he reveres them.”
Ben mused, “He did agree to help Zhang recover Arosh’s treasure with pretty much zero argument.”
“Because it represented a historic peace treaty between Western Asia and Eastern Asia.” She reached for the magazine. “He might try to undermine Penglai when it comes to business, but he would never ever sneak onto the holy island and steal a relic that represented a historic alliance between an elder and an ancient. He would consider it sacrilegious.”
That actually made sense. “So why did you agree with Jae that we needed to visit Cheng?”
She managed to snag the gossip magazine again. “My personal knowledge of Cheng is not evidence. Jae is our associate in this investigation and Elder Han’s representative; he needs to reach his own decisions, and a visit to Cheng on this irritating boat will settle the matter.”
Ben could feel his eyes begin to droop as the sun made an appearance on the horizon. “How much longer?”
“It’s about sixteen hours from Penglai to Shanghai.” She stroked a hand across his jaw. “Sleep, Benjamin. We’ll almost be there when you wake up.”
“I don’t like boats, Tenzin.”
“I know you don’t.” She set the magazine to the side and wrapped her arms around his shoulders as the day pulled him into oblivion. “I’ll stay with you all day, and I won’t sleep.”
He fell into dreams of birch forests and lush green caves dripping with ferns. He stood on an open plain, cracked earth stretching between him and a distant figure. He floated up and up, the pale figure growing closer as the cold mountain wind pushed him forward.
The cracked earth spread, and glowing magma smoked the landscape, blurring his vision and scouring his eyes.
He felt her teeth at his neck, and her arms wrapped around his chest from behind. She whispered words he didn’t understand, and he gripped her hands and pressed them to his heart, which burned like fire as it beat frantically beneath his ribs.
The blood of Temur…
He woke and she was naked at his side, her fingers playing in his hair and her cheek pressed against his bare chest.
“I wanted your skin,” she said simply.
Ben wrapped his arms around her and pressed her bare torso to his own. “You have it.”
He’d given her permission to undress him when he was sleeping as long as they were completely alone. Sometimes her energy could only be calmed by this kind of direct contact. If she needed to ground herself in something, Ben wanted it to be him.
“What happened?” He held her close.
“Memories.”
“Hmm.” He kept one hand holding her tightly and allowed the other to stroke her hair back from her forehead. His dream ricocheted in his mind; he could feel her teeth in his neck. He urged her up his body and pressed her face to his neck. “I need your bite.”