Imitation and Alchemy: An Elemental Legacy Novella (10 page)

Ruby’s face lit up. “Really, Oz? All the way to the main island?”

Oscar grunted. “Just stay out of sight. Tenzin, leave. You’re distracting Ruby from her work.”

“Fine.” Tenzin walked over and punched his shoulder. The stocky man glared at her.

“What was that for?” he shouted.

“Just because you’re a bastard,” Tenzin said. “Don’t bite your woman unless she likes it, Oscar. I have ways of finding out.”

“She likes it.” Oscar’s eyes flicked up to Ben. “What’s this one, anyway?”

“Him?” Tenzin glanced over her shoulder. “He’s my publicist.”

Oscar narrowed his eyes. “Right. Keep him away from Ruby.”

“Ben’s trustworthy. He’s not going to poach your woman, you paranoid ass.”

“She’s an investment.”

Tenzin punched him again. “Such a bastard.”

❂

THURSDAY night, Ruby turned up just after dark in Claudio’s small boat. With her was a battered leather briefcase that must have weighed more than a bit, because the boat rocked when she hoisted it onto the steps.

“Thanks, Claudio!” she said, waving at the young man before he disappeared down the canal. Then Ruby planted her hands on her hips and looked at Ben. “Gelato?”

“Uh…” He set down the book he’d been reading. “I think we have some.”

“I don’t care if you have some here,” she said, grabbing his hand. “I want to go
out
. See the city. Get a drink. And definitely eat some gelato.”

“Okay.” Ben laughed and let her pull him down the entry hall. “Don’t get off work much, huh?”

“Ugh,” she groaned. “Oscar’s great, right? I don’t mean to whinge on. But he’s really overprotective. Very possessive, you know? I just need to get out a bit. I’m not nine hundred like some people.”

Ben tucked that one away and went to grab the key for the door. “Come on then. I’ll be your trusted escort through the city.”

Ruby winked. “Know every nook and cranny, do you?”

“Not quite, but I’m getting there.”

He glanced up and wondered if he needed to tell Tenzin they were going. Then he spied the heavy briefcase sitting on the stairs.

“Is that…?”

“A bloody fortune in reproduced Sicilian tarì? Yes, it is.” Ruby smiled. “And rather expertly reproduced if I say so myself.”

“Let me take it up to Tenzin,” he said. “Let her know we’re going out.”

Ruby was strolling along the entry hall, examining the marbles. “So you’ve got a mummy too, eh?”

“A mummy?” Ben resisted the urge to break into hysterical laughter. “No, not exactly.”

He hoisted the briefcase and climbed the stairs to the second level, knocking before he pushed the door open.

Tenzin was stretched out on a thick Persian rug at the end of the
pòrtego
, the grand entry hall on the main floor of the house. She was on her back, reading a book in front of the arched floor-to-ceiling windows that lined the front of the house. During the day, they were covered with a heavy red velvet drape, but at night they reflected the lights glittering across the canal.

The rest of the
pòrtego
was sparsely furnished and looked more like a gallery than a room. The terrazzo floors were a soft gold color and the walls were covered in a red Venetian plaster, but the ceilings were the tallest in the house, which meant they were the most comfortable for Tenzin, who preferred flying to walking when possible.

Ben tapped on the door again and she waved him in.

“Ruby’s here,” she said, putting the book on the ground.

He walked over and set the briefcase down next to her. “Yep.”

Tenzin grinned. “She brought the coins.”

“Is this the part where I pour them over you in a river of gold while you laugh maniacally? Because I’m going to be honest, this bag is heavy and I’m wondering how comfortable that would be.”

“No, no, no.” She rolled over and grabbed the briefcase. “Ah,” she said, peering inside. “Lovely.”

It wasn’t a river, but when Tenzin poured out the perfectly reproduced tarì over the rich wool of the Persian rug, Ben had to admit…

It was hot.

She spread them with her hands, a small sea of intricately etched gold coins scattering over the red, blue, and ochre of the rug. Ben knelt next to her and picked one up. The patina looked identical to the examples he’d seen online. Even to his experienced eye, the coins looked hundreds of years old.

“Amazing,” he said.

“Come on,” Tenzin said, pushing the coins into a pile. “It’s not enough for a bed, but you can use it for a pillow.”

He laughed. “A pillow?”

“Just…” She stood and pushed him down to the rug. “Do it. Everyone should lie on a big pile of gold at least once in their life, Benjamin.”

“Did you read that on a motivational poster somewhere?”

“No, but maybe someone should make one with that on it. I find gold very motivating.”

Ben lay down on the rug and put his head on the pile of gold coins, staring at the ceiling. The beams had been painted with tiny decorative elements in red and lapis blue. The rug was soft at his back. And the pile of gold coins…

Tenzin lay down next to him. “It isn’t very comfortable, is it?”

“No.” He picked up a coin and flipped it in the air. “Sleeping on gold does have a certain appeal though.”

“Yes.” Tenzin scooped a handful and let the coins run through her fingers. “Gold always does.”

The cool metal warmed to his neck as he lay on it. “I think that’s what it is,” he murmured.

“What?”

“The gold. It’s… warm. It’s precious metal, but it’s not cold. Diamonds are hard and cold. Platinum always feels mechanical to me. But gold…” He picked up a coin and balanced it on his nose. “Never tarnishes. It doesn’t break; it bends. It’s warm. More human than other precious metals or gems.”

He turned to see her watching him with a smile flirting at the corner of her mouth. “What?”

Tenzin said, “I’ve always wondered when you’d find it. It’s an honor to be here when you did.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your one true love.” Tenzin laughed and rolled away when he grabbed for her. “Should I leave you alone?”

“Shut up.”

“Wait, I can’t leave you alone. Your one true love needs to go in the safe.” She flipped a coin at him, and he caught it just before it hit his face. “Kiss your true love good-bye, Benjamin.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“You’re the one philosophizing about gold.”

He filled a hand with the coins and let them pour out onto the rug again, delighting in the soft sound. “Do you blame me?”

“Me?” She rolled to her knees. “Never.” Tenzin flipped a coin up, caught it, and kissed it before she tossed it in the bag. “Not when I’m guilty of the same thing. Like recognizes like, my Benjamin.”

He tossed coin after coin in the leather satchel, listening to each one clink. “Ruby is still here. Wants to go out for a drink and some ice cream. You want to join us?”

She wouldn’t want to join them.

“No”—Tenzin confirmed his suspicion—“just be careful with her. Oscar is very possessive.”

“Yeah, I got that.” He frowned. “Everything all right there?”

“It’s none of my business.” Tenzin shrugged. “The girl doesn’t appear to be unhappy.”

“And if she was?”

Tenzin raised an eyebrow in speculation. “Ask her.”

“Fine. Be cryptic.” He rolled up to his knees. “You want to finish this and I’ll play host?”

Tenzin’s eyes danced. “That girl knows the city better than either of us, I’d wager. Don’t let her fool you. She’s smart and she’s not nearly as innocent as she comes across.”

“Probably not.” He shrugged. “But she’s fun. We won’t stay out too late.”

“Nothing stays open late enough to worry about,” she said. “This isn’t Naples.”

“Very true.”

The thing that delighted Tenzin most about Venice was the very thing that annoyed Ben. It was too quiet at night. There was little to no nightlife unless you took a boat out to the Lido or trolled the tourist areas along the Grand Canal. Still, he’d found a good gelato place just around the corner on the Calle de la Mandola, and there was a bar not too far from it in Campo Sant’Angelo that served a nice selection of cocktails where they could sit if they wanted.

Ruby was waiting for him when he came down the stairs. “So, permission granted?”

Ben shook his head and cocked an arm out for her to take. “Come on, you brat. Let’s find someplace you can let your hair down.”

❂

THEY were sitting in the Campo Sant’Angelo and most of the square was empty. Ben and Ruby had the place to themselves, aside from a small group of what looked like retirees who were chatting in German on the other side of the restaurant. The moon had risen and the night was warm. The wine wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either.

The company, however, was stellar.

“So tell me about vampires in Venice,” Ben said. “How long have you lived here?”

Ruby cocked her head. “Ten years now? Almost eleven, I suppose.” She grinned and the points of her fangs peeked from her lips. “I came on holiday and I never left.”

“Intentional?”

“Very much not.”

“But you’ve stayed.”

“Well, I’ve got Oscar, don’t I?” she said. “Can’t leave him. Not until he gets bored with me.”

Ben’s protective instincts pricked. “Do you
want
to leave?”

Ruby winked at him. “You’re adorable, you know that? It’s not what you’re thinking. But when I first came, it wasn’t under ideal circumstances. In fact, Oscar’s the one who brought me up in front of the council here.”

“So there’s a council? Not just one VIC?”

“VIC?”

Ben shrugged. “My shorthand for vampire in charge.”

“Ha!” Ruby laughed. “That’s brilliant. Yeah, there’s a council. It’s not big. For an old city, there’s not as many of our kind as you’d think.”

Ben thought for a moment. “No nightlife.”

She pointed a finger at him. “Right in one. That’s it. There’s a larger population on
terraferma
, but in the old city? Not many anymore. And the ones here are more like Oscar. Old, ornery, and like keeping to themselves.”

“And he’s the one who took you to them?”

“Long story, but yeah. And I’m grateful he did. What did I know about any of this, eh?” She looked around. “I would’ve turned these canals bloody if I’d had my way. Oscar reined me in. Looked after me.”

“And you work for him.”

She grinned. “Among other things. No worries, Benny. He’s not a bad sort. I’m happy enough.”

“So you’re settled here?”

Ruby snorted. “God, no. I’d love to get out. Travel the world. That’s what I was doing before I turned, you know? I’m an artist. I can’t stay in one place forever, can I?” She sipped her wine. “But I’ve got time. Gobs and gobs of it now. So we’ll see. I’m here now.”

“Well”—he took his card out of his pocket—“if you ever make your way to America—and I’m still alive—give me a call, huh?”

Ruby took the card and put it in a pocket. “I’ll do that. So you and Tenzin?”

He shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

“Friends?”

“Yes,” he said. “Always.”

“She’s a bit of a legend, isn’t she? Got the creeps the first time I met her. Stories Oscar told made my hair stand on end.” She fingered her tight curls. “Even more than it is now. And that’s saying something.”

Ben smiled. “Yeah, I’ve heard a few of them too.”

A chime sounded in Ben’s pocket, and he pulled out his phone.

“The docks near San Samuele,” he said. “Sounds like Claudio’s picking both of us up there at midnight.”

“Both of us?”

“That’s what he says.” He tucked his phone away. “Maybe Tenzin went out to your place.”

“Could be.” She lifted her wineglass. “We should probably get going. I know the way.”

Ten minutes later, they walked through the twisted streets of San Marco again, their footsteps echoing in the deserted city. If it hadn’t been so empty, Ben would never have spotted their shadows as they crossed the Campo Santo Stefano.

“We’ve got company,” he said under his breath, knowing Ruby would hear. “Just passing the library now.”

Ruby’s head whipped around and back so fast he could barely see it. “Vampires. I don’t recognize them.”

Ben’s eyes glinted. “Shall we see how well they know the city?”

“Can you keep up?”

He grinned. “Not even a little.”

Ruby ran.

She kept to human-ish speed, but Ben still had the devil’s time keeping her in sight. She sped past the church on the south end of the campo and ducked right across a small bridge, almost losing him in the maze of streets.

Their vampire trackers stayed with them. They were little more than shadows, but they drew nearer to Ben, bolder than they were with Ruby. They knew he was human.