“So, there are five elements.” Beatrice nodded. “Okay, but how does that relate to the elixir of life? What could Fu-han have found?”

Ziri shrugged. “Who knows? The four earthly elements are all that truly pertain to our biology. There are no aether vampires. None possess a fifth power.”

“What element is the most common?” Dez asked, looking up from the computer. “Just curious. Are there roughly the same number of all the different vampires around?”

Beatrice shook her head. “Not fire. Fire vampires are pretty rare, right Ziri?”

“Yes, I would say that there are roughly the same number of wind and water immortals. Earth vampires are more numerous.”

Lucien said, “We do like our big families.”

Dez patted Lucien’s hand. “That must be why you guys are so easy to hang out with.” She laid a hand on her swelling abdomen. “Family oriented.”

Lucien watched Dez with a warm gaze. The human and the vampire had bonded over Dez’s pregnancy, which was progressing with no complications. Matt had arranged an Italian midwife and hospital for his wife, but Dez also had the benefit of an immortal doctor on call. Lucien had been a healer for thousands of years and had grown very fond of Dez.

“How are you feeling, my dear?” He held a hand out. “May I?”

“Of course!”

Lucien placed a hand on Dez’s stomach. Beatrice felt her fangs descend involuntarily and tried not to growl.

“Relax, Beatrice.” Lucien glanced over his shoulder. “I’m not going to hurt her.”

She took a deep breath. “I don’t know why that keeps happening. You’re her doctor, for goodness sake. I’m so sorry.”

Ziri spoke. “It’s instinct. It’s natural for you because you consider Dez under your aegis. It’s nothing to be concerned about. It just means that you will protect her and the baby.”

“Aw.” Dez winked at her. “I knew you were gonna be the best auntie.”

Lucien smiled. “Have you felt the quickening?”

“Huh?”

“The baby. Have you felt the baby move?”

“Oh, yeah! Just a little. It kinda feels like bubbles.”

“You’ll feel more and more. He’s very active.”

Dez sat up straight. “It’s a boy?”

“I’m not sure,” Lucien said with a smile. “Extra strong senses, remember? No vampire ultrasound. And I can’t smell the little one. He or she is very well protected in there.” Lucien gave one last pat to Dez’s little rounded belly. “Aren’t you, bebe? Stay nice and snug until it’s your time.”

Dez melted. “Lucien, you are a big vampire sweetheart.”

“Please don’t let that get out. Well, you can tell my mother. She would laugh.” He winked. “And this vampire sweetheart is exhausted, I better—”

Deirdre blew through the door in her typical, abrupt way. “I need to leave,” she stated.

Beatrice sat up straight. “Everything all right?”

The redheaded vampire nodded. “Everything is fine. But there is nothing more I can do here. I need to return to my family.”

“Oh.” Dez stood and walked toward her. “I’m going to miss you!”

Lucien said, “You need to leave tonight?”

She nodded as she embraced Dez. “Matt has been looking for a ship that could carry me back. There is one leaving out of Genoa in the morning, but I’ll need to leave tonight. Soon.”

Beatrice glanced around the room. Ziri was unmoved. Dez was disappointed, but Lucien looked… lost.

“Deirdre," he said.

Deirdre’s eyes swung toward him and she held out a hand. “Lucien.”

And Beatrice suddenly recognized the anguish in his voice. The two friends had known each other for hundreds of years. Lucien and Deirdre’s husband had been the closest of friends and colleagues. And Lucien didn’t think he would see her again.

Deirdre walked over and embraced him. “You must not think this way, my friend. You must not.”

“I do not know if I will see you again in this life.”

Blood tears touched Deirdre’s stoic face as Lucien enfolded her in his long arms. “Do not make me say good-bye to another loved one, Lucien. Whatever this is—”

“It is not goodbye. Not really, Deirdre. You and I both know this.”

Beatrice just tried to hold herself together. At times, it was easy to see the mystery of Geber’s manuscript as academic. It was a research project. A problem to be solved.

But it wasn’t.

She watched the friends say good-bye, and her mind flashed back to her father’s anguished face as he faced off against Lorenzo on the banks of the Nine-bend River. The scattered bodies of the monks in the Wuyi Mountains. The memory of the woman before her, wailing on the ground as she mourned the loss of her mate.

It would never be just academic.

The memories of loss were still fresh as Beatrice made the journey to Castello Furio later that night. Deirdre had left for Genoa. Dez and Matt had finally collapsed in exhaustion. They were both working day and night, trying to help solve the mystery and keep track of Ben while Giovanni was gone. Lucien had also taken to his bedroom. He’d had a bad spell after Deirdre left and drifted in a kind of fugue state he couldn’t seem to wake from. It was happening more and more. Ziri and Beatrice had helped him to bed before Ziri flew ahead of her.