Page 77 of Dawn Caravan
He pushed the door open and saw Radu standing alone on a hill under the swiftly darkening sky. The sun had set in the distance, and a lone Romani wagon was next to him, parked at the end of a cracked asphalt road where Ben realized his caravan had come to rest. That was the compartment where he’d woken, not a mobile home but a travel bus.
Radu turned and smiled ruefully. “I apologize, Ben Vecchio. This was not how I wanted to introduce you to the Dawn Caravan, but you left me no other options.”
20
Ben sat across from Radu, a bottle of blood-wine between them. He was trying to keep calm, but anger pushed at him. Tenzin had been right. He shouldn’t have met Radu alone. He’d been lulled into a sense of normalcy by Radu’s familiar face and the small number of guards with him.
He hated when Tenzin was right.
“I really hate to pull this one out,” Ben said. “But do you know who the hell I am?”
Radu smiled. “I am very aware.”
“Tell me why I shouldn’t fly away right now.” Ben leaned back and crossed his leg over his knee.
“Again, I deeply apologize for the unfortunate way I had to bring you here.” Radu opened the bottle in front of Ben. “It was not my wish.”
“Your guard hit me on the back of the head hard enough to knock me out.” Ben hadn’t even known that was possible.
“He disoriented you just before daybreak, and as I said, it was not what I wished. Devan was perhaps a little too concerned when you said you were leaving for Rome, and he will make restitution for his actions.”
“You still haven’t answered my question.” Ben watched Radu pour a generous amount of wine in both glasses. “Why shouldn’t I take off right now?”
“It will be to your benefit to stay and hear my offer. If, after this drink, you don’t agree with me, I will bid you farewell as well as leaving you with a chest of valuable items” —Radu nodded at a small belted travel chest near the door of his vardo— “as a thank-you from me and my clan for your generosity of time and your forgiveness.”
Ben glanced at the chest, then at the blood-wine, then at the vampire across from him. “You’re going to pay me to listen to you over a glass of wine?”
“I value your time.” A smile touched Radu’s mouth. “If you had, perhaps, valued mine as highly, this abduction wouldn’t have been necessary.”
“I’m going to go ahead and argue this abduction definitelywasn’tnecessary.”
A hint of Radu’s jovial smile touched his lips. “When I contacted you three years ago, I had time to spare. That time has run out.”
Okay, Ben did feel a little guilty about putting the man off for three years. Maybe it was worth giving Radu another ten minutes. He looked around the clearing. “No guard?”
“I know you are an honorable man.” Radu raised his glass. “Good fortune and safe roads, Ben.”
He took his glass and lifted it. “Good fortune and safe roads.” He waited for Radu to drink; then he drank after him. “None of this makes sense. You got your icon. I wasn’t asking for any more money. Why am I here?”
“In a way, your own cleverness compelled it.” Radu sipped his wine. “The icon was a puzzle, Benjamin Vecchio. One that others had not been able to master. The real reason I wanted to hire you is far more complicated.”
“You have another job for me?”
“Yes. One much more profitable than the first.”
Seeing as Radu hadn’t gone cheap on the icon job, Ben was intrigued. “Details?”
Radu examined him. “I must have your confidentiality.”
“I don’t know what the job is yet.”
“I’m not asking for a commitment, I’m asking for your assurance that—no matter what you decide—what is spoken between us will go no further.”
Ben could live with that. “Unless it endangers me or anyone under my aegis, you have my word.” Technically, he didn’t have anyone under vampire aegis—he was way too young—but he might have someone someday, and vampire commitments and promises didn’t have expiration dates.
“That is a fair promise,” Radu said. “I accept your assurance.” He finished his glass of wine and poured another. “How much do you know about my people, the Poshani?”
“My aunt filled me in on the basics of your history.”
