Ben took a big breath and let it out slowly. The air smelled like woodsmoke, fresh grass, and human sweat. “I don’t know how to not be angry with you, but I’m really tired of being angry with you. You’re in every part of my life. You’re my uncle’s best friend. We share an assistant. And my baby sister thinks you walk on water.”
“I’m a wind vampire; I don’t walk on—”
“It’s an expression, Tenzin! She thinks you’re amazing and she adores you. So I’m tired of being angry with you, but I don’t know…” He swallowed the anger that rose. “I don’t know how to not be angry with you.”
“You’re like Giovanni. He was never very good at holding a grudge.”
Ben thought about his parents. “I can hold a grudge.”
“No. If you truly are done with someone, you cut them out of your life completely. When you are very angry with someone, you are cold, but if you are really and truly done with someone, it’s as if they don’t exist at all.”
She was right.
“Sometimes I hate that you know me so well.”
The corner of her mouth turned up. “Trust me, the feeling is mutual.” She stepped back. “It’s almost dawn. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
23
The next evening, Ben was greeted by the sound of music at sunset, a raucous, intoxicating melody that reminded him of wine-filled nights, dancing, and firelight. He threw on a fresh shirt and left his trailer, searching for the source of the music, only to find a brand-new landscape surrounding him.
The night before, they’d been camped on a hilltop, surrounded by a lush meadow edged by oak trees. Now he was standing in the middle of a forest, the scent of pine was everywhere, and a stream trickled through the middle of the camp.
Caravans were parked among the trees, but in a small clearing, a fire burned, musicians sang, and tables were set up while the scent of roasting meat drifted through the air.
Radu was sitting at the table with the sandy-haired vampire guard who was usually attached to Kezia. The Poshani leader stood and waved Ben over. The other vampire left without a word.
Ben walked toward him, his eyes moving everywhere at once.
“Do you move every day?” He sat in the chair Radu pointed toward, the one the guard had just vacated.
“Not every day, but when we get a new guest or one leaves, we must change location.”
“And no one has ever found the camp?”
Radu pursed his lips. “I cannot say that no one has ever found it. But if they have, they have been wise enough not to take advantage of that information to cause any trouble. We take a different route every year so as not to be predictable.”
“I see.” Ben looked around. “This is beautiful.”
The woods reminded him of some bohemian fairy-tale dream. Tasseled hammocks hung between trees, and colorful lamps dangled from branches above them. Thick rugs were spread on the ground near the fire, along with cushions and baskets of fruit and wine.
“We are in the business of providing a comfortable sanctuary for our guests,” Radu said. “We take the job seriously.”
“The club in Bucharest?” Nothing could have been further from the fairy-tale forest than the pulsing disco in the heart of the Romanian capital.
“The club is what the humans want. And it’s what vampires who want humans want.” Radu shrugged. “We pay attention to our customers. Here, we create a more traditional Poshani experience.”
Ben opened the bottle of a blood-wine in the center of the table. “It’s not a bad way to live. Join me in a drink?”
Radu held out an empty glass. “Happily. But you are incorrect. It is not just ‘not bad,’ it is the most excellent way to live.” He looked around the forest. “Among your friends and family, new earth under your feet every night. Humans weren’t meant to be so settled.”
“You’re giving away your element, Radu. I’m sure earth vampires would disagree.”
Radu’s eyes twinkled. “Indeed I am. Is it so obvious?”
“To one of the same element? Yes. Maybe not to others.”
Radu tapped his temple. “Ah, but you’re a clever man.”
“I’d better be.” Ben’s eyes swept the gathering, examining the immortals and humans he saw. Though the tables were relatively close together, the music prevented any eavesdropping, which was probably part of the reason they played it.
The first person to catch Ben’s eye was a waif-thin blond vampire with round blue eyes and a worried expression.
“That is Tatyana.” Radu caught the direction of his gaze. “The newborn who’s on the run from Oleg.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“She didn’t need to.” Radu smiled. “I like her. She has a very Russian sense of humor.”
“Hmm.” Ben saw an older man with a pocked face and olive-brown skin sitting on his own. More correctly, the man was sitting in an isolated pocket of introversion while humans and vampires tried to tempt him with something he ignored. “Let me guess,” Ben said. “Darius?”
“Yes, that is Darius.”
“If these vampires are the ones you’ve narrowed down, how did you get them all here?”
“I sent them an invitation.”
Ben blinked. “And they just arrived?”
“I made excuses of course.” His eyes shifted. “Now, Fynn is an interesting case.”
“The Nazi vampire?” Ben didn’t know if he was guilty of the goblet theft, but everything about the man told Ben he was scum.
He was wearing a suit the color of oatmeal in the middle of the forest and flicking the servers away from him with a casual disregard that Ben found enraging.
“Please tell me he’s paying a lot of money,” Ben muttered.
“I cannot tell you exact details, but he’s paying a substantial amount.” The corner of Radu’s mouth turned up.
“Good.” Ben liked Radu more for the half smile. It told him Radu was milking Fynn, and that made him happy. “The woman near Tatyana?”
“Madina,” Radu said. “Very smart. Very opportunistic. She was getting a little too imperialistic according to rumors, so Arosh asked her to leave Samarkand.”
“He asked her?”
“He asked her… forcefully. I believe she accepted my invitation so quickly because the offer of safe haven was appealing.”
“Good.” This was the kind of information he needed more of. “Why would she steal the goblet?”
“I have two theories: pure greed or leverage.”
“Greed is greed, but leverage?” Ben looked at Radu. “What does she want from you?”
“Safe haven for now, and later? Possibly a new community to rule? She comes from nomads too. I don’t think being terrin of the Poshani would be undesirable to her.”
“If she wanted to use the goblet as leverage, wouldn’t she have approached you by now?”
“She has approached me.”
“With the goblet?” Why am I here then?
“No, with sex. She made a sexual advance toward me.”