Read Imitation and Alchemy: An Elemental Legacy Novella Online
Authors: Elizabeth Hunter
Tags: #paranormal mystery
Giovanni chuckled. “I’m not sure about that, but she does live in the moment.”
“Has she always?”
“Well…” Giovanni stopped the ball with his foot. “You have to remember, she’s the type of immortal that will get fed up with the world, then go sleep—figuratively speaking—in a cave for a century without thinking twice. So when she’s awake, she’s
present
.”
Ben thought about that and it made an odd kind of sense.
“To get to be that age without going mad,” Giovanni continued, “I think you have to live in the moment.” Giovanni started kicking the ball again. “They’re very different personalities, but if you think about Carwyn, he’s the same way. He exists in the present. It’s rare to get him ruminating about history. Vampires who ruminate about history tend to meet the sun because they become melancholy.”
“You ruminate.”
Giovanni nodded. “I used to. And how long do you think I would have lasted if I hadn’t met Beatrice? Not long.”
“Gio?”
“Hmm.”
“Do you wonder? About me and Tenzin? About… whatever it is we are?”
Giovanni paused. “Not anymore. I love you both. Whatever you are… you’ll figure it out, Ben. Both of you are simply more alive when you’re together than when you’re separate. I don’t know what that means yet. I don’t think you do either.”
Ben let that one sink in for a while.
“It’s okay,” Giovanni said with a smile. “You don’t have to know yet.”
❂
THEY were playing chess and drinking wine the following night.
“I think I want to move back to New York,” Ben said.
Giovanni paused, a rook held in his hand. “You want the town house?”
“No,” Ben said. “I’d stick out like a sore thumb in that neighborhood. I’m thinking about a loft in Brooklyn.”
“For?”
Several kicks under the table from Fabi, a few dropped hints from Tenzin, and lots and lots of sleep were starting to make things clear. “I want to do what you do,” Ben said. “Or at least I want to try. But not with books. I can’t spend that much time looking for books, Gio. I’ll go crazy.”
“Do you think this is a surprise to me?”
“I want to find art,” Ben said. “Antiquities. Take on clients and find things for them on commission. What do you think?”
Giovanni paused and finished his wine. It took three more moves from both of them before he replied.
“You can’t do it alone,” Giovanni said. “Not in the immortal world. No matter what your reputation, skills, or connections, there will be some who only take you seriously if you have a vampire partner.”
“She’d go with me. You know she would.”
“So you’re the brains and Tenzin is the brawn?” Giovanni tapped the table. “It has possibilities. You’d be in O’Brien territory.”
“Would that be a problem?”
“I don’t think so. You don’t have political ambitions, and neither does Tenzin. If you gave them a cut rate for family and associates like I do with Ernesto, you’d probably be fine. Cormac is the one to approach. Talk to Gavin.”
Ben nodded, growing more and more excited about the idea as he thought about it. “I can do that.”
“They wouldn’t like Tenzin living there…,” Giovanni said. “Or maybe they would. If it would open a business relationship with her allies in Asia, they might not have a problem. She’d have to play nice sometimes.”
Ben shrugged. “I can get her to play nice when necessary.”
“You’re possibly the only one who can.”
“Do you think it’s a big enough market?” Ben asked. “Could we make any money with it?”
“If you were good, you could make very good money, but we should consider it an offshoot of Beatrice’s and my business to start. I’ll refer clients to you when they need to find antiquities—”
“And eventually I’ll refer clients to you if they need to find books.”
Man and vampire both smiled.
“This could work, couldn’t it, Gio?”
“Are you excited about the idea?”
Ben paused and really thought about it. “This feels right,” he said. “More right than anything else I’ve thought of. I just have to keep Tenzin from forging copies of stuff we’re hired to find.”
Giovanni closed his eyes and turned back to the chessboard. “I’m pretending I didn’t hear that.”
“Good call.”
“Don’t do it again.”
“I won’t.”
“You risk your reputation and mine, Benjamin.”
“I get it. I get it. I’ll keep her in line.”
-
❈
-
TO Lady Filomena De Moura
Immortal Guardian of Naples and the Second Parthenopean Republic
Nena (I told you I’d give you a nickname),
Forgive me for leaving your beautiful city so abruptly. I meant no offense, so I hope none was taken. The events that led to your rise were, admittedly, surprising to me, but I hope that Tenzin and I were able to assist you in our own way. I understand the collection of Sicilian tarì have been returned to the Neapolitan treasury. I am grateful that our small part in their recovery was satisfactory. (And the bonus was very much appreciated.)
As I have now discovered the delights of your city, I hope to return again soon. I understand you and Emil Conti are working toward smoother relations between the Neapolitan and Roman courts. I wish you both well.
Until our next meeting I remain…
Your admirer,
Benjamin Vecchio,
International Man of Mystery
Scourge of the ____________ (still working on that one)
-
❈
-
DEAR Ben,
Come back to Naples soon. You will be welcome.
Nena
Epilogue
THE HUMIDITY WAS EVEN HIGHER than when he’d left two weeks before, but Ben was whistling when he saw the prow of Claudio’s boat as it drew up to dock near the train station.
“
Ciao
, Claudio.”
“
Ciao
, Ben.”
He threw his satchel into the back of the boat and climbed in next to Claudio.
“It’s still hot,” Claudio said. “Even at night. It’s not cooling off at all anymore.”
“I know.”
“You have your passport? Get it out. I’ll take you to the airport right now. Get you out of this dreaded damp furnace.”
“No, thanks.”
Claudio shook his head. “Fine. Whatever you want. You’re an idiot like her, I think. Come back in the spring. It’s much nicer then.”
Ben smiled. “You’re the one who lives here, Claudio.”
The young man shrugged. “Where else would I live? It’s Venice. The greatest city in the world.”
❂
BEN heard Louis’s trumpet echoing down the quiet canal as they approached the house. Claudio let him out at the end of the Rio Terà dei Assassini and tossed his bag up to him.
“You have the key?” Claudio asked.
Ben held it up. “I made my own copy.”
“I’ll talk to you later then. Try not to die.”
Ben blinked. “Okay. Is there an ambush I need to know about?”
“No,” Claudio said. “I say that to all the humans I know who hang out with vampires.” He waved and drifted off down the canal.
Ben watched the lights of his boat until they disappeared around a corner, then he turned and punched in the gate code before he twisted the key in the lock. Both the gate and the door swung open easily because he’d oiled them before they left Venice the last time. It was little stuff like that Tenzin always forgot to do.
“Honey,” he called quietly when he stepped into the courtyard. “I’m home.”
A faint sound of laughter echoing off marble.
Ben dropped his bag on a bench and walked to the turntable at the end of the entry hall. He picked up the needle and skipped to “La Vie en Rose,” then he walked over and plucked the wineglass out of Tenzin’s hand and set it on the coffee table.
Accusing grey eyes met his. “I was drinking that.”
“I know,” he said. “But you should be dancing.”
“This is becoming a bad habit, Benjamin.”
Ben pulled her to her feet and spun her out before he tugged her back and grabbed her around the waist as the trumpet solo started. After a few minutes, she relaxed in his arms and let him lead.
“I thought you’d go back to LA,” she said.
“I missed your house.”
She chuckled. “Good to know where your loyalties are.”
“My loyalties are never in question,” he said in a soft voice. “You should know that by now.”
She didn’t say anything, but her hand gripped tighter at his waist.
They danced silently around the entry, their feet shuffling along the checkerboard marble as the record scratched and echoed and skipped. The moon rose through the arched window over the stairwell and the ancient house breathed with the tide.
Minutes of peaceful silence were broken when Ben groaned, “Why is it so
hot
?”
“Heat wave,” Tenzin said. “They say it’s the worst in sixty years.”
“That’s just hideous and wrong.”
“And yet, you’re still forcing me to dance.”
“You like it.”
“I don’t—”
Ben slapped a hand over her mouth so she couldn’t argue. “Stop. Just dance. It’s Louis. We always dance to Louis. That’s the new rule.” She bit his hand and he let go. “Ouch.”
“It’s so cute when you try to boss me around. Is this an absolute rule? What if a Louis Armstrong song happens to come on at an inopportune moment? If we’re fighting for our lives, do we have to stop and dance?”
“We can be flexible in life-threatening situations.”
The record switched to “Blueberry Hill,” and they kept dancing.
“So,” he said. “I did a lot of thinking in Tuscany.”
“You brood.”
“I was not…” He stopped talking so he didn’t start yelling.
Take a deep breath.
“Thinking is not brooding. I was thinking.”
“Fine. Whatever you say.”
“And I figured out what you can call me when you introduce me.”
Tenzin looked up, her eyes laughing. “Oh yes? Can I stick with life coach? That’s my favorite so far. I was thinking about some other ones though—”
“No.” Ben spun her round and round until she was laughing aloud. “I’m not going to be known as your life coach or your yoga instructor or your publicist.”
“So what then?”
Tenzin took a wrong step and tried to take the lead, but Ben shook her arm until she stopped trying to push him around. “No. Don’t do that, you’ll just mess up the dance. Let me lead. I’m a better dancer.”
“Fine.” She relaxed and Ben stepped forward, dipping her until her hair brushed the ground.
He pulled her up. “Partner.”
Tenzin blinked. “What?”
“You and I,” he said, “are going to move to New York.”
“Hmmm.” It was a suspicious
hmmm
.
“We’re going to find shiny, pretty things,” Ben continued.
“I like that.”
“And we’re going to return them to the people paying us to find them.”
“I don’t like that so much.”
“For a very generous fee.”
Tenzin thought. She thought until the needle was bumping against the edge of the record, but Ben didn’t stop dancing.
Finally, she asked, “Can we—?”
“No, we cannot make forgeries and keep the originals for ourselves.”
She pouted. “You’re no fun.”
“I just need to know.” Ben spun her out and tugged her back, the quiet lapping of the water in the canal the only accompaniment to their dance. “Are you in or out, Tenzin?”
Tenzin’s eyes narrowed and the corner of her mouth turned up in a smile.
“In.”
❂
TENZIN let Ben turn the record over and dance with her for another half an hour.
She was glad she let him figure it out on his own. It was much more satisfying to know he’d come to the same conclusion she had years ago. It was obvious after their trip to China that he’d be the perfect partner to treasure hunt with her. It had taken him a little while to come around, but he couldn’t help being slow. He was human.
For now.
The End
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