“Still looking through Ioan’s library? If he’s the doctor that Stephen mentioned in the journals, it’s possible that they were in contact. Have you looked through his letters?”

“Deirdre has. I’ve been through his library, and so far, there’s nothing. Nothing about the research that Lorenzo tortured him over, either. In fact, anything related to vampire blood seems to be gone, though I know he had at least one book that he wrote, detailing its uses in treating humans. Deirdre is quite certain that no one has been in their library except their immediate family and nothing seems disturbed. I’ve been writing letters to the rest of the family and his other colleagues to see if he lent his work to anyone, but as you can imagine, the list is fairly long.”

“I hate to pull you away if you’re needed there. Are you sure—”

“Yes, I need to get away from here for a bit.” Carwyn sighed. “I’ll see you in Rome the beginning of May, Gio. Keep out of trouble and say hello to B for me. I need to go.”

“You’re acting strange.”

The priest laughed. “When do I not act strange?”

Giovanni scowled. “Fine. Keep your secrets.”

“Just following your excellent example. I’ll see you in a month or so.”

“Good night, Carwyn.”

“Good night.”

He hung up, but couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong. Carwyn had lost much of his normally affable demeanor since Ioan’s death, and Giovanni knew that witnessing his family’s grief was even more wrenching than his own. Reminding himself that Lorenzo still walked the earth, free to hurt others, he dove back into research. He pulled out the letters and turned to one dated 1488, written from Benivieni to his uncle when they were in Paris.

“My dear Giovanni, I saw the odd Signore Andros in Rome last month. He was speaking with the Moor who is visiting with the governor on some trade issue. He really is a most strange gentleman. I cannot ascertain your preoccupation with him...”

Chapter Three

Los Angeles, California

April 2012

In the four years since Ben Vecchio had lived with his adopted uncle, it wasn’t unusual for him to pinch himself to make sure he was awake. It wasn’t when he saw his uncle dart by so fast that his eyes blurred or noticed his aunt’s new fangs peek out of her mouth. The fact that he had been adopted by vampires no longer fazed the young man. No, it was the mornings he woke in a warm bed, surrounded by the sounds of family and signs of comfort that he pinched himself.

But pinching was the last thing he needed to do to remind himself he wasn’t dreaming when it came time for practice with Tenzin.

“I’m going to keep beating you up until you get this,” Tenzin said as she punched his shoulder. “You’re horrible today. Very distracted.”

“Hey.” He scowled and threw up an arm, instinctively blocking the strike she aimed at his face. “Can we take a break and watch them already? It’s kinda hard to concentrate.”

“What? Them?” Tenzin glanced over her shoulder at Baojia and Beatrice as they practiced with the new swords that Baojia had brought. Ben snuck in a quick jab to her knee while she was turned.

Tenzin’s leg buckled and she looked back with a smile. “Good. Opportunistic is good. Fine, we can watch them for a while. I’d better make sure that vampire doesn’t slice her up before Gio gets here anyway.”

Tenzin walked over to the wall opposite the weapons training area in the industrial building. When she’d moved to Los Angeles, she had bought the nondescript complex off Allen Avenue and gutted it, turning the majority of the large area into her own personal training studio. She had shipped many of her own weapons over from somewhere in China, and now Giovanni, Beatrice, Tenzin, Ben, and currently, Baojia, used the large space to work out and train.

Beatrice and Baojia were sparring in the corner, Beatrice using the curved dao she usually trained with, while Baojia used the twin blades of the shuang gou he had brought to introduce into her training regimen.

“Why isn’t she using them?” Ben asked. “I thought she was supposed to be learning.”

“Watch and learn. He’s showing her how to defend herself against them before he teaches her how to attack. Watching Baojia use them will be the most effective way for her to learn.”

The longer Ben watched, the more he could see the wisdom of it. Initially, Beatrice was cautious, weaving and ducking away from the other vampire, darting in occasionally with a quick thrust of her saber, but mostly, dancing around him. He saw Baojia hook the swords together in one swift movement, sweeping the blades over his head and then down toward Beatrice’s legs as she jumped to escape the broad reach of the wicked edge. He swung them around like a chain or rope, and the double-sided blades cut through the air, lethal from all angles as they sought their target.

Ben frowned. “He wouldn’t actually hurt her, would he?”

Tenzin only shrugged. “He won’t cut her head off. He’s more careful than that. If he slices her up a bit, well... that’s just part of training.”

Ben had a feeling that his uncle might have a distinctly different attitude about the whole matter, but that was probably why Giovanni rarely joined them when Beatrice was fighting. As cultured and calm as his uncle usually was, Ben had witnessed his rare fury once when he thought Tenzin had attacked his wife too fiercely. The flames from his outburst had singed the hair off Ben’s forearms from ten feet away. Beatrice was furious, but Giovanni only snarled and told Ben to run faster next time.