The thumping bass spilled out of Zarvă, making Ben wish like mad for his human hearing back. Maybe noise-canceling headphones. Earplugs. Anything.
Chloe walked between him and Gavin. She looked up. “Ha! You’re both making the face.”
Ben met Gavin’s eyes. There was definitely a look, and it had a lot to do with the cacophony of sound emerging from Radu’s club. “Have you been here before?”
“Not when it’s been this crowded,” Gavin muttered.
They made their way to the alley behind the club and the private entrance manned by a vampire bouncer who was taller than them both and had a head that was distinctly square and facial hair that looked straight out of an old Western.
Romania defied explanation.
A heavy metal door opened and steps led up to a distinctly muffled room that still thumped of bass.
“Vampire lounge,” Gavin muttered. “This is new.”
“Good idea though.”
“Bummer,” Chloe said. “No music at all?”
Ben looked at Chloe, amazed that she couldn’t hear anything. Then he looked at Gavin.
The man shrugged.
“Was I that deaf?”
“Deaf?” Chloe asked.
“Oh no,” Gavin said. “You were far worse.”
“Bullshit.” Ben walked up to a discreet hostess stand. “We’re here to meet Radu.”
The young woman was dressed in a strappy black cocktail dress and her red-streaked hair matched the leather booths in the dimly lit lounge. “You are Mr. Vecchio?” She spoke in heavily accented English.
“Yes.”
She looked at Ben. “But I have only three in your party.”
Ben looked at Gavin, then Chloe. “And?”
She offered him a strained smile. “I’m sorry. I am confused. Please, if you can wait. Please. Let me check with Radu.”
She wandered off, leaving Ben, Gavin, and Chloe waiting in the lounge.
“Maybe it’s a language thing?” Ben asked. “Do you speak Romanian?”
“No.” Gavin was sweeping his eyes around the club. “Not picking up anything suspicious,” he said under his breath.
“Neither am I.”
The hostess came back, all smiles. “Please. My apologies. Please follow me.” They followed her through the winding lounge. “It was a… missed understanding from me.”
“No problem.” Ben glanced at each booth they passed, taking note of faces and making mental notes to ask about a few who looked familiar.
Hello.
In the far corner he spotted the vampire guard he’d seen with the mysterious woman in Kashgar. The man was looking as nondescript as ever, but his eyes locked on Benjamin with clear recognition.
Ben knew the woman in Kashgar had been connected to Radu, but this obviously confirmed it. Ben nodded to the man as he passed, but the other vampire only observed him with a distant, unflinching stare.
Would his mystery woman appear from the shadows next? Ben wouldn’t be surprised.
“Please.” The hostess parted a curtain covering the corner booth. “It was my mistake. One of your party had already arrived.”
Fuck. Me.
“Mr. Vecchio.” Radu rose from the end of the booth, a handsome, dark-haired vampire with a barrel chest who was wearing a perfectly tailored three-piece suit. “Welcome. It is so good to finally meet you.”
Ben barely registered what Radu was saying. Sitting silently in the booth next to him, wearing a blood-red dress, was the one mysterious woman Ben hadn’t been expecting, though maybe he should have been.
After all, Tenzin did like surprising people.
10
Ben shook Radu’s hand, never taking his eyes off her. Tenzin was pleased; it had been too long since she’d been able to look him in the face.
The eyes bothered her. She’d known they might change, but a part of her mourned. She missed the dark brown with gold flecks that had once been so warm.
What did the humans say? Tall, dark, and lethal? Something like that. Ben was all of that. He said nothing, and his inhuman gaze never wavered.
You were born to be this.
Gavin was the first to greet her and smooth over any rough edges. “Tenzin, we didn’t realize you’d arrived in town already.”
“I wasn’t expecting to be here until tomorrow night.” She glanced at Radu. “My apologies for confusing your human.”
The confusion was completely part of the plan. She hadn’t wanted to give Benjamin time to prepare. She needed to see his genuine reaction to being in proximity to her, and she’d been successful.
“No apology necessary.” Radu sat and motioned Chloe, Gavin, and Ben to the other side of the booth. “I was making the acquaintance of your notorious partner, Mr. Vecchio.” Radu glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Such a fearsome reputation for such a delightful guest.”
Why Radu was acting like he and Tenzin had never met before, she didn’t know, but she decided not to challenge him in front of the others.
He was a disarming vampire, and that was the intention. Radu was a handsome man who’d been turned in the prime of his adult life. Not young enough to be a playboy and not old enough to be a mentor. He could be your friend, your partner, the one who had your best interests at heart. He was very good at his persona, mostly because Tenzin recognized that part of Radu actually believed it.
Ben finally spoke. “Tenzin likes to take people off guard.”
“Yes, I do.”
Radu laughed. “What do the Americans say, Mr. Vecchio? Mission accomplished?”
“Please call me Ben.” He leaned back in the booth, cool and smooth as ice water. “Mr. Vecchio is my uncle.”
Ben’s immortal grace was lethal, confident, and as natural for him as breathing.
You are so stunning.
She didn’t say it. He wouldn’t appreciate it—certainly not among vampires he didn’t know—but he was.
Tenzin felt her blood sing in his presence and wondered if Ben felt anything similar. Probably not. He was young and was likely flooded with far more sensation than she was. The sounds, scents, and sights of the club were meant to be overwhelming, and she could see that he was affected.
For Tenzin, the pulsing music and heavy scent of cedarwood and vetiver in Radu’s cologne barely registered. Their host’s power, carefully concealed as Gavin’s was, simmered beside her while Ben’s amnis was a roaring, incandescent flame. The fact that he did nothing to mute it marked him as a newborn, but one whom no one would confront rashly.
“Welcome to Bucharest, Ben.” Their host put his hand over his heart. “Thank you so much for coming from such a distance. I am honored that you and Tenzin would consider this little personal item of mine worthy of your notice. I know you are very busy.”
Flattery was Radu’s forte and his favorite tactic, but Tenzin wasn’t taken in. “Radu, this is our human assistant, Chloe.” She motioned in Chloe’s direction. “You cut your hair since the last time I saw you.”
She smiled. “So did you.”
Ben was sitting on the edge of the booth, staring at her openly. “New dress?”
Tenzin looked down at the dark red dress Arthur had made for her the previous month. It had nearly nowhere to put weapons, but her favorite tailor had managed to sneak at least one dagger in, which was difficult with the dress being very tight and very short.