Page 10 of Night's Reckoning
“Don’t be careless.” She met his eyes. “I don’t offer favors lightly.”
“Good. Neither do I.”
* * *
Ben arrivedin Rome before noon the next day. He caught a taxi to the Pantheon and walked a few blocks to Residenza di Spada, his uncle’s home in the city. He turned his key in the massive door that faced the road, only to have the latch click and the door swing in, revealing Fabia behind it.
“You didn’t call me!” She was dressed in a summer dress and sandals. It might have been fall, but it was still warm for most of the day. “I told you last night I’d pick you up.”
He slung an arm around her shoulders. “I didn’t want to ride on the back of your scooter from Termini.”
“I can drive, you know. There’s a car here.”
He shrugged. “Easier to take a cab. I’m fine.”
“You’re injured.” She turned his chin to the side. “I cannot believe you haven’t been to see the doctor.”
“It’s better than it was.”
“Which makes it even more horrific that you didn’t go. Dr. Mariano is coming this afternoon.”
He groaned. “Seriously, Fabi, all I want is a nap.”
“So take a nap. And then Dr. Mariano will check you out and I won’t be as much of a pest. Also, Chloe has been trying to call.”
He checked his watch. “I’ll call her tonight.”
“Also…” She ushered him into the kitchen and nudged him toward a kitchen chair. “There is more mail.”
He cut his eyes toward the counter where she stacked the mail. “What is it?”
“Chloe forwarded some things from New York. And…” She glanced over her shoulder. “There’s another one.”
Another envelope from China.
His expression hardened. “Just put it in the drawer.”
“I’m not putting it in the drawer, Ben.” She grabbed two glasses from the cupboard. “That is formal correspondence delivered by courier. It screams ‘Dangerous Vampires Wrote This—Don’t Ignore!’ Don’t you think you ought to—”
“I’ll open them when I feel like it,” Ben said.
She filled both glasses with water. “It’s been six months.”
“And she hasn’t called me once. She hasn’t sent me a message.” Ben walked over and grabbed the manila envelope with the New York return address. The thick linen envelope with a wax seal went in the drawer with the others. “Thisis not from her.”
Fabia waved at the counter. “You don’t think those letters are from Tenzin?”
“I think they’re formal communication from the Eight Immortals on Penglai Island. Which is not a letter from Tenzin.”
“Isn’t her sire one of the Eight Immortals?”
Ben sat back at the counter and opened the envelope from Chloe. “Yes.”
Fabia put a glass of water in front of him along with two pills. “Take these. You’re splitting hairs. She might be trying to communicate through her father.”
“Why would she need to do that?” He threw the pills in his mouth, letting the bitterness dissolve on his tongue for a second before he swallowed the water. “Tenzin has my phone number. My email. My address here and in New York. She knows how to reach me if she wants to.”
“Maybe…” Fabia shrugged. “I don’t know.”
