The Elemental Mysteries: Complete Series (17 page)

Caspar joined them to read halfway through the evening, often bantering about favorite horror films with Beatrice or needling Giovanni in various languages.
 

Doyle moved almost as quickly as the vampire, jumping from lap to lap and looking for any imminent treats to be dropped or sneaked behind Giovanni’s back.
 

“Seriously, Gio.
 
I see
one
of these houses you list with catalogues online, the rest—”

The kitchen door slammed, and they all started at the sound.
 
Giovanni held up a hand for silence, but didn’t hear any additional noise.
 
Caspar walked swiftly to Beatrice’s desk and stood next to her, looking far more dangerous than one might expect from a sixty-seven-year-old butler.
 

Giovanni, on the other hand, let out a low growl and slipped out the door in the blink of an eye.
 

He paused on the stairs, sniffed the air, and relaxed.
 

“You can hide, Carwyn, but your wet wolfhound cannot.
 
I have company.
 
Stop scaring the guest.”
 

All of a sudden, something pounced on his back, and Giovanni and the silent intruder tumbled down the stairs in a blur.
 
They rolled toward the entry way, knocking over a green vase that stood in the exquisitely appointed room.
 
A pale white hand shot out, catching the vase before it hit the ground and tossing it toward the plush sofa.
 

“That is turn of the century Bien Hoa.
 
If you break
it
, I will break
you
,” Giovanni gasped out as his friend put him in a choke hold.
 

“Oh, it’s fine, Gio!
 
You’re such a prissy bastard sometimes.”
 
Carwyn twisted around, trying to capture his friend’s leg in a lock, but failed.
 
Carwyn had never been faster than him.
 
His only advantage lay in his broad shoulders, heavily muscled arms, and the element of surprise, which he had lost.
 

Giovanni twisted around, finally getting out of the choke-hold and flipping backward over Carwyn’s head to leap on his back.
 
In no time, the Welshman was flat on his face with one arm twisted behind him, and a long leg bent his knees at angles that would have broken a mortal man.
 

Giovanni decided to shock him, just for good measure.
 
Carwyn hissed when he felt the sharp sizzle course through his body.
 

“Damn it, Sparky!” he yelped.
 
“Not fair.”
 

“Yield?”

“Of course, you bloody Italian, I yield.
 
Now let me up.”
 

Giovanni stood with a grin, holding his hand out to his old friend who scowled at him and grabbed it in a harder grip than strictly necessary.
 
Carwyn walked over to the couch to retrieve the vase.
 

“See?
 
Not a scratch.
 
I was an expert archer, you know.”
 
He pulled back an arm as if aiming an arrow and sighted Giovanni with one blue eye.
 
“Sired in my prime.”
 

“Archery does not translate to tossing Vietnamese ceramics, you idiot,” Giovanni scowled and dusted off the vase before setting on its stand.
 
“And where is your dog?
 
It better not be digging anything up.”
 

Carwyn shrugged his broad shoulders.
 
“I’m sure he is.
 
So, where’s the new blood?”

Giovanni nodded to the top of the stairs.

Carwyn looked to the top of the landing where Caspar stood, looking on in amusement.
 
Beatrice peeked out from behind him, her dark eyes taking in the clearly immortal being now standing in the entryway.
 

The new vampire almost tripped up the landing, his wild auburn hair flying and a grin overtaking his face as he peeked at Beatrice, who was still hiding behind Caspar.
 

“Now, Cas, tell her I won’t bite, will you?”
 
Carwyn grinned and shot a wink at her.
 
Beatrice stepped out from Caspar’s shadow to examine Giovanni’s friend more carefully.
 

Carwyn stuck out a hand.
 
“Father Carwyn ap Bryn, my dear.”
 

Beatrice shook it tentatively, her small hand dwarfed by the mountain of a man in front of her.
 
“Father?” she asked skeptically.
 

He winked at her before bending to press a kiss her delicate fingers.
 
“Indeed.”
 
Carwyn brought her hand up, suddenly twisting it to sniff her wrist.
 
“No wonder you wanted to hire her, Gio.”
 
Carwyn smirked and cocked an eyebrow.
 
“She smells delectable.”
 

Giovanni caught Beatrice’s quick gasp as he climbed the stairs.
 
Caspar was chuckling and trying to shove Carwyn toward the library, and Beatrice hung back, her face flushed with embarrassment and her hand still caught in the Welshman’s grip.
 

“Give her hand back, old man,” Giovanni muttered in a voice only an immortal would hear.
 

Carwyn growled a little and shot him a look, but let Beatrice’s hand drop and walked into the library with Caspar.
 
Giovanni stepped onto the landing, observing Beatrice’s reaction carefully.
 
Her heart rate was rapid, but there was no smell of adrenaline in the air, so he knew she wasn’t afraid.
 
Nevertheless, he approached her cautiously.
 

“He’s harmless, really.
 
Far more harmless than me.”
 

She glanced at the entryway.
 
“Really?
 
Tell that to your vase.”
 

Reassured of her mood, he placed a hand on the small of her back to lead her into the library where Caspar was pouring a drink from a crystal decanter, and Doyle was hissing at the large Welshman who shoved him out of his favorite chair.
 

“It’s raining out there, Gio.
 
I come to your place to escape the rain, for heaven’s sake.
 
I get enough of this at home.”

Giovanni was curious what Beatrice would make of one of his oldest friends.
 
Though Carwyn was a priest, he rarely wore any kind of uniform, preferring to dress himself more like a surfer than a man of the cloth when he visited the United States.
 

He removed his soggy coat and hung it on the back of his chair, revealing a garish shirt with scantily clad hula girls dancing across the back.
 
He must have caught Beatrice’s stare, because he only smiled again and sat down, reaching for the drink Caspar held out to him.
 

“Thanks, Cas.
 
We don’t
have
to wear black, you know.”
 
He nodded toward Giovanni, who had shown Beatrice to the small couch in front of the fire and sat down next to her.
 
“This one does it because he thinks it makes him look dashing, or he really is that boring.
 
Haven’t figured that one out.”
 

“I vote boring,” Caspar quipped.
 
“God knows I’ve tried to break him out of his shell.”
 

“Though,” Carwyn shrugged.
 
“Look at the girl, Cas.
 
Perhaps he’s met his match in the black wardrobe department.”
 

“Thanks,” Beatrice finally piped in.
 

He winked at her.
 
“Great boots, my dear.
 
Do you ride motorcycles?
 
And if not, would you like to?”

Giovanni leaned into the back of the couch, stretching his arm casually behind Beatrice, unable to completely turn off his territorial instincts around another vampire, even his old and trusted friend.
 

“You’re early, Father.
 
Everything all right in Wales?” he asked nonchalantly.
 

The sharp glint in the Welshman’s eye told him they would be having a more private discussion once the humans left, and tension made the blood begin to move in his veins.
 
He instinctively moved closer to Beatrice, who was listening to a story Carwyn had begun relating about one of their more outrageous exploits in London in the late 1960s when Caspar had been much younger.
 

The three friends took turns making the girl laugh with their wild tales and quick, needling humor, and Giovanni took a strange kind of delight in the amused expression that lit Beatrice’s face every time Caspar or Carwyn told a story that proved to be embarrassing to him.
 
He simply shrugged and took another sip of his whiskey.
 

After a couple of hours, he noticed Beatrice’s eyes begin to droop, and she nestled a little more into his side on the small sofa.
 
He pushed aside the urge to reach down and run a hand along her hair.
 
“Caspar,” he asked quietly, “could you drive Beatrice home, please?”

She sat up, as if surprised by Giovanni’s question.
 
She glanced at her watch, not realizing it had been pressed into his leg and was now dead.
 

She shook it for a second then glared at him in annoyance.
 

He shrugged.
 
“I’ll buy you a new one tomorrow.”
 

“Yes, you will.
 
I’d appreciate a ride home, Cas, it must be late.”
 

“I’d be happy to drive you.
 
Let these two old men catch up on their secret vampire business without us.”
 

She chuckled, having no idea how true the statement was.
 
“I’m surprised my grandma hasn’t called already.”
 
She yawned and stretched as she stood, treating Giovanni to a glimpse of the smooth skin at her waist.
 
He shifted slightly, looking away as she stepped over his long legs.
 

Gathering her bags from the desk she used, she quickly followed Caspar out of the library.
 

“Good night, everyone.
 
I’ll see you on Wednesday, Gio.
 
Carwyn,” she smiled, “very interesting meeting you.”
 

“Likewise, B.
 
I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”
 
The Welshman stretched his long legs in front of him and batted away the cat as they listened to Caspar and Beatrice walk down the stairs.
 
Only when they had both heard the kitchen door slam shut did Carwyn turn to Giovanni with a grim look on his face.
 

“Heard from your son lately?”

Chapter Eight

Houston, Texas

December 2003

Beatrice and Charlotte stared at the letters Dr. Christiansen spread out on the table like a proud father.
 

“This could be the start of a very exciting new collection, ladies.”
 

“I have to confess, even though they’re thematic orphans in our collection, they are so damn cool,” Charlotte murmured as she examined the old parchment.
 

“How old are they?” Beatrice asked.
 

The grey-haired director set the letters down on the table in the reading room and pulled out a sheaf of notes from his briefcase.
 
“They’ve been dated to 1484.
 
A very important year in the Italian Renaissance—really, what some would consider Florence’s golden age.
 
It was before Savonarola, and there was a blossoming of art, philosophy, classical studies—”

“James, we know what the Italian Renaissance is,” Charlotte remarked.
 

“Well…” The academic blushed a little.
 
“It’s a very exciting pair of letters.
 
The translation was done at the University of Ferrara, and the letters were authenticated there as well.”
 

“Is Renaissance Italian much different from modern Italian?” Beatrice asked, wishing, as she often did, that her father were still around to see some of the treasures she came across in her work.

“Somewhat, but we don’t have to worry about that.
 
Professor Scalia is practically chomping at the bit to take a look at them, and he’s an expert in the language.
 
I suspect the whole of the history department, classics department, and the philosophy department will be our very eager visitors for quite some time.”
 

“Philosophy department?” Beatrice asked, still examining the well-preserved letters on the table.
 
She couldn’t help but admire how clean the edges of the parchment were.
 
They look liked they had been preserved by a professional archivist when they were first written.