The Elemental Mysteries: Complete Series (11 page)

It grew until it was the size of a lighter flame, then it got bigger, and rounder, its soft blue-green light illuminating the large hand it hovered over.
 
She couldn’t look away as it swirled and grew, slowly becoming the size of a glowing softball, held hovering over the palm of Giovanni’s pale hand.
 

She finally dragged her eyes away from the ball of blue-green flame that now resembled the color of his unusual eyes.
 
Her gaze tracked up his arm, the buttons of his black shirt, the still, white column of his neck, and over his grim mouth.
 
Finally, she met his intense stare in the low light of the broken elevator.
 

Beatrice held her breath and stared in astonishment as the terrifying fire in his hand pulsed and swirled.
 
She could only manage a hoarse whisper.
 

“What are you?”

Chapter Five

Houston, Texas

November 2003

Giovanni’s gaze was steady and his voice soothing as he looked at her in the pulsing blue light.
 

“Remember, Beatrice—remember when you told me at the fair that nothing was inexplicable, just not explained
yet
?”

She nodded, wondering if he could hear the race of her pulse.
 
Her eyes darted around the compartment, instinctively looking for an escape from the strange, fire-wielding…whatever he was standing across from her.
 
But there was no way out of the steel box, and she had no idea when anyone would notice the notoriously defective elevator wasn’t running if there was no alarm.

“I’m not asking you to believe in magic, Beatrice.
 
I’m asking you to believe that there are things in this world you don’t understand yet.
 
Things that none of us do.”
 

Beatrice stared back at the strange blue fire and asked again, “What are you?”

“Many human myths are created as an attempt to explain the inexplicable.”
 

Beatrice shrank into the corner of the elevator, glaring at him as he spoke.
 
She felt her legs begin to shake, so she slid to the ground and folded them under her.
 
Giovanni followed, sitting slowly so as not to upset the flaming blue orb still hovering over his hand.
 

“Thor, the Norse god of thunder,” he said.
 
“Pele, the fire god who created the Hawaiian volcanoes.”
 

She was shaking her head in disbelief, glancing between his face and the ball of blue fire he held.
 
Panic seemed to well up in her throat, choking her.
 
She tried to take deep, calming breaths, but she wasn’t very successful.

He spoke more quickly, “Dinosaur skeletons led to myths about dragons.
 
Prehistoric basalt formations became the Giant’s Causeway.”
 

“
What are you?
” she asked in a stronger voice, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
 

He fell silent, his eyes left hers as he stared down at the blue fire in his hand.
 
“What do you think I am?” he asked in low voice.
 
“Think.”
 

“I don’t remember any particular myths about pyrokinetic book dealers!”

He flicked his fingers and the flaming orb spun to the top of the compartment where it hung and twisted, still illuminating the small space.
 
Giovanni pulled his long legs toward his body and rested his arms on his knees, his long graceful fingers loosely knit together in front of him.
 

“Forget the fire for a moment,” he said in what she thought of as his “professor voice.”
 
She normally found it annoying but, at that moment, it was oddly comforting.
 
“There are other myths.
 
Other stories.
 
What do you think I am?
”

She remembered the first night they had met, and his inhuman speed that beat her elevator to the lobby.
 

“You—you’re fast.”
 

He nodded.
 
“I’m very fast.
 
And very strong.”
 

She thought back to his pale face glowing on Dia de los Muertos.
 

“Your skin…it’s pale.
 
Really pale.
 
And I’ve never seen you during the day.”
 

“And you never will,” he murmured in the pulsing blue light.
 

Her breathing picked up as a growing suspicion began to take shape.
 
Her voice wavered a little as she continued, “I’ve never seen you eat or drink…anything.”
 

Her heart pounded when he looked at her through the dark hair that had fallen into his eyes.
 
“I can eat, a little, but I don’t need food to survive.”
 

“Because,” she swallowed, “you drink…I mean, you’re a…”
 

Giovanni slowly parted his lips and the tip of his tongue peeked out as he ran it slowly along his top teeth, two of which were now noticeably elongated into very sharp, white fangs.
 

“You’re a vampire,” she whispered.
 

He nodded slowly, and they sat across from each other in the small compartment, both seeming to gauge the other’s reaction.
 

“You’re afraid,” he said.
 

“Yeah, well…duh.”
 

He smiled a little at her exclamation, and it revealed his long canines even more clearly.
 

She leaned forward and rested her forehead on her hands.
 
“I’m dreaming.
 
Or crazy.
 
I’m probably crazy, right?”
 

“You know you’re not.”
 

She looked up and barked out a sharp laugh.
 
“Oh, you really have no idea.”
 
She stared at him, then back to the blue orb hovering above them.
 
Then she looked down at the scuffed messenger bag he always carried, and the dark hair he brushed out of his face as he stared at her with inscrutable eyes.
 

“Are you going to kill me?”

His eyebrows furrowed together, and he almost looked offended.
 
“No, of course not.”
 

“Why ‘of course not’?
 
How do I know?
 
Don’t you drink human blood?”

“Not unless you’re offering, but I’m really not all that hungry.
 
And I wouldn’t kill you if I did.
 
I’m not young and I don’t have to drink much.”
 

“Well, that’s…comforting.”
   

“It should be.”

She eyed his chest for a moment, and then her eyes darted to the wooden bar that ran around the elevator.
 
She heard him snicker.

“On the off chance you were able to break that railing, and make a stake,
and
drive it into my chest—which is harder than it looks, trust me—it wouldn’t do anything more than give me a rather nasty chest wound and ruin one of my favorite shirts.
 
Relax, I have no interest in hurting you.”

Her eyes met his and she could feel the blush coloring her face.
 
She suddenly felt embarrassed that she’d thought about killing him when she’d been in his company for weeks and he’d never so much as said a rude word.

“What if I don’t believe you?
 
What if I run screaming to the security guard when we get out of here and tell him you’re a vampire?”

He chuckled a little, and then he stretched his feet across the elevator and crossed his ankles.
 
“Feel free.
 
After all, who would believe a crazy story like that, Beatrice?”

“Right,” she frowned.
 
“Right.
 
No one would believe me because vampires aren’t real.”
 

He smiled.
 
“
Everyone
knows that.”
 

She swallowed audibly and nodded.
 
“Of course they do.”
 

“Besides.”
 
There was a blur in the elevator, and she gasped as he seemed to materialize sitting beside her.
 

“How—how did you—”

“
Shhhh.
”

Beatrice could feel his whisper like a caress along her skin and her entire body reacted to him.
 
Her heart raced.
 
Her skin prickled.
 
As she sucked in a breath, she realized even the air around her felt charged.
 
He leaned in and his hand reached up to trace her cheek.
 
It felt as if an electrical current ran along her skin when his fingertip touched it, and she shivered.
 

“All it would take is a few moments,” he murmured, “and you wouldn’t remember a thing about me.”
 

She felt a tingle at the nape of her neck, and she realized it felt like something was vibrating
under
her skin.
 
She gasped again and scrambled a foot away from him, shoving his hand away.
 

“What was that?”
 

“
Amnis,
” his accent was strong as the word curled from his lips.
 

“Uh…”
 
Her forehead wrinkled in concentration.
 
“Is that Latin?
 
It’s been a while, I don’t remember—”

“Current.
 
I call it ‘amnis.’
 
Some immortals who believe in magic call it ‘glamour’ or ‘thrall,’ but it’s not magic.
 
It’s simply energy manipulated by the current that runs under our skin.”
 

His logical voice spurred her natural curiosity.
 
“Really?
 
That’s…weird, and kind of fascinating.
 
So really?
 
You can just make me forget all this?
 
Because I can tell you, that’s not sounding real likely at the moment.”
 

Giovanni smiled.
 
“Yes, I can tap into your cerebral cortex and manipulate your memories, your senses, even the words that come out of your mouth.”
 

For some reason, the thought of him messing with her brain suddenly scared her far more than the idea of him getting hungry.
 

“Have you done that to me before?” she whispered.
 
“Did you make me trust you?”
 
A thought occurred to her and her temper flared.
 
“Did you use that on my grandma?”

“No, Beatrice,” he spoke calmly.
 
“Trust is an emotion, and I can’t manipulate emotion.
 
Those are centered in the limbic system, and amnis doesn’t seem to affect that.
 
That’s also why some long-term memories are harder to erase or change.”
 

She stared at him as he sat next to her with the same academic expression he wore when transcribing documents.
 
“You’re talking about all this like it’s some kind of science experiment.”
 

“I’m not a scientist.
 
Though, I suppose it is a kind of science experiment,” he mused quietly.
 
“One I’ve been working on for many years.”
 

He shrugged as he settled into the corner next to her, and that familiar gesture did more than anything else to set her at ease.
 
Her logical brain told her he probably wouldn’t bother explaining any of this if he was planning to kill her and drink her blood.
 
Besides that, she couldn’t really imagine Dr. Giovanni Vecchio doing anything quite that rude.
 

The blue flame continued to swirl above them without any apparent effort on his part, though she knew from its inception he must be manipulating it.
 
It was the same way he had shorted out the elevator, killed her phone, and made the hair on her body stand at attention when he got too close.
 
He controlled this electric current, this…“amnis.”
 

“So you don’t think it’s magic?
 
It seems like magic.”
 
She frowned.
 
“And I always thought of vampires as magic.”
 
She suddenly sat up in excitement.
 
“Are there other creatures?
 
Werewolves?
 
Demons?
 
Fairies?”

He snorted at her and looked down his nose a little.
 
“Fairies?”

She was a little pissed off he seemed so dismissive.
 
“Hey, you’re the one with the glowing blue fire and suddenly pointy teeth, mister.
 
Don’t give me that look.
 
Doesn’t seem that far-fetched to me.”