He raised an eyebrow. “Does Gio know you have a list?”

Did he? Probably. She often thought Giovanni could read her mind, he knew her so well. Baojia and Beatrice went back and forth for a few more minutes until she heard the practice room door open. His scent reached her nose even before she turned.

“Hey,” she said, and a smile spread across her face. Now there was a distraction.

Giovanni leaned against the wall of the practice room. He had changed into a pair of loose, black pants and a shirt that hung open at the neck. The sleeves were rolled up, and Beatrice could see the muscles of his forearms as he crossed them over his chest and watched her.

He smiled at her, a languorous, easy grin that made her insides melt. His eyes raked over her flushed body, and she felt her heartbeat pick up. The things that vampire could do with a single smile…

He curled a finger, beckoning her. Beatrice walked toward him, making another list in her mind, when Tenzin darted into the room.

“Stop right there.” Tenzin held up a hand and nodded toward Beatrice. “You, practice. You”—she glared at Giovanni—“I told you not to distract her. You’ll get her back later. She needs to work.”

Giovanni narrowed his eyes, while Beatrice scowled. “Tenzin,” she said, “I don’t like you very much right now.”

“Nor do I,” Giovanni muttered. “Ignore her. You’ve practiced enough for one night.”

Tenzin pulled his collar. “She has not.”

“I really think…” Beatrice pouted when Tenzin shoved Giovanni into the hallway. She turned to see Baojia watching her with a smile. “What?”

“Options,” he almost sang as he picked up a long, wooden pole and tossed it toward her. “Always good to have options. Now, let’s talk about the staff.”

Chapter Nine

Mount Penglai, China

September 2010

“The water vampire is interested in Beatrice.”

Tenzin snorted. “Which one?”

Giovanni glared at her as they walked through the palace grounds. “You know which one I’m speaking of.”

“Well, Baojia is interested in her. Lorenzo is interested in her. I think half the palace is fascinated by the strange American girl, so you might want to specify.”

He stopped and watched her as she hopped along the top of a carved stone wall. “You know, I forget how irritating you can be when I don’t spend time with you for a while.”

She flew over him, stepping on his head once before she lit on top of one of the giant, limestone pillars. “I hate it here.”

“I know you do.”

“You know how you feel about Rome?”

“Yes, Tenzin.”

“That’s how I feel here. Everyone looking at me with expectations.”

“I know.”

“And my father is the worst one.”

“He cares about you.”

“That is… debatable.”

He continued walking as she flitted from one stone to the next. Finally, she set herself down on the grass to walk beside him. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

“Of Baojia? Not really, it’s just irritating.”

“She loves you very much. She wants to be your mate for eternity.”

He eyed her tiny form as she walked next to him. “And what of you and Stephen? I confess,  that—”

“Stephen and I are none of your business. Just because you confide in me does not mean I confide in you, my boy.”

He paused. “Who do you confide in, bird-girl?”

It was often hard to imagine how long she had lived, but when Tenzin turned her deep grey eyes on him, Giovanni saw millennia in her stare. “No one. I confide in myself alone.”

He had the strange urge to embrace her, which he had never once done in all their years as friends. “Are you lonely sometimes?”

She cocked her head and smiled. “I don’t remember.”

Giovanni shook his head and continued walking. “I am glad that Beatrice and Stephen have this time together.”

“He missed her very much. Family is very important to him.”

“It has become important to me, as well.”

“Family was always important to you. Why else would you look for your uncle’s books for so many years?”

“I suppose that is true.”

“You were always looking for a family. Now you have one. It is good for you.”

A familiar drift of amnis wafted on the breeze, and he turned his head. Lorenzo was walking with Zhongli Quan and a group of six guards. The Elder nodded toward them with an unreadable expression in his eyes before he turned. Two of the guards followed him while four stayed with Lorenzo as he approached Giovanni and Tenzin.

“If it isn’t my father and his miniature companion.”

The black-clad guards halted abruptly. They looked toward Tenzin with wide eyes, but she only waved at them and shrugged.

“Lorenzo,” Giovanni said, “you’re becoming even more foolish as the years go by.”

“Why? Is she going to attack me here? I have been promised protection, just like you. Penglai is neutral ground; we both know it.”

Tenzin’s eyes were impassive as she stared at Giovanni’s son. “You are irritating, and it will be good when he kills you.”

Lorenzo’s fangs flashed in the lantern light. “Do you think so? I think we are a long way from my father killing me. After all, we both know I have information he wants.”