Page 13 of Fangs, Frost, and Folios
Sadia shrugged. “I don’t know. Normal, I guess.”
“She seeing Daniel at all?”
“I don’t ask her about her love life,” Sadia muttered. “Your ovaries are showing, Ben.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “I’ll remember that one.”
The corner of her sullen mouth turned up. “You can use it on Gavin.”
“I will.”
Beatrice and Giovanni had done what they could to make Sadia’s life as normal as possible, sending her to an exclusive school where she was surrounded by the children of vampire employees and a few vampire relatives like her.
Most vampires—if they adopted human children—kept them in seclusion for security reasons. Any vulnerability for a vampire parent was a threat, children more than any other. But naturally, that also produced some pretty messed-up kids that had no idea how to socialize, and Beatrice and Giovanni didn’t want that for Sadia.
“So how are your friends at school?”
Without another word, Sadia stood and tossed a handful of popcorn at Ben before she stomped up the stairs of the theater and out the door.
Ben stared after her while a mummy on the screen chased a screaming woman in an evening dress down a creepy hallway dripping with cobwebs.
“What did I say?”
Four
“René du Pont.” Giovanni carefully pronounced the name. “Son of Guy du Pont, son of Carwyn ap Bryn, one of my oldest and dearest friends.”
They were sitting by the fireplace, René in a wingback chair, his legs kicked out in front of him, his jacket laid across the back of the sofa and his sleeves rolled up in casual ease. He looked like a very rich college boy who’d snuck home from the dormitories when mummy and daddy were on holiday.
René rolled his eyes like the adolescent he was. “Son of Guy, blah blah blah. Why stop there? Nephew of Gemma Melcombe. Charming rival of Benjamin Vecchio. Former lover of Tenzin—”
“Bullshit,” Beatrice blurted. “She wouldn’t give you the time of day.”
“No?” The golden-haired immortal smiled. “You’ll have to ask her. Someone told me she had an email file devoted to me. We keep in touch.”
Beatrice had no doubt that René continued to be fascinated with Tenzin, but she suspected the feeling wasn’t mutual.
Giovanni said, “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“It’s good to see you too.” The French vampire smiled with beatific innocence.
“Whyare you here, René?” Beatrice leaned forward. “You’re a thief. What are you trying to steal?”
He narrowed his eyes. “I could ask you the same question. What areyoutrying to steal? I know the human solicitors didn’t hire two of the most notorious book thieves in the immortal world to catalog a valuable library.”
Giovanni looked down his nose at René as he stood over him. “Book thieves? My mate is a scribe of Penglai. I hardly think that’s the reputation she and I have garnered.”
“In the vampire world, no, but why don’t you ask a collection of human archivists and curators?” He whispered, “You’re notorious.”
“We’re unknown.”
René’s eyes glowed. “For which I am supremelyjaloux. Your mastery of stealth is unparalleled, and for that I deeply admire you.” He bowed his head slightly. “For me? I cannot even be in this country without risking my dearest uncle’s wrath.”
“Isn’t that because you killed his sire?”
“Not even a little bit!” He looked sincerely perturbed. “What trouble some of my more notorious friends caused is certainly not my fault, is it? They might have misled me as to their intentions in visiting London.”
Beatrice sat on the chaise nearest René’s wingback. “Speaking of secret intentions, you haven’t answered our question. Why are you here?”
