“Well good. I hope you don’t give them too many problems. The two of you are troublemakers, I know.”

“But only the best kind of trouble!” Isadora laughed.

By the time she hung up the phone an hour later, Beatrice thought she could just about make it through a few more nights without killing anything.

Unless a good opportunity presented itself, of course.

She was studying some of Geber’s journals later that evening and watching Ziri and Lucien from the corner of the library. The old vampire patted Lucien’s gaunt cheek as he rose. He walked over to Beatrice.

“I will be visiting your mate later this evening with Emil Conti. It has all been arranged. I will be able to send my voice to him without anyone else hearing. Did you have a message?”

I love you. I miss you. Don’t die. You cannot leave me alone in this world. I will kill anything that harms you. I will raze a thousand castles to get you back.

“Tell him,” she said, “I will see him soon.”

Ziri smiled as if he could read her thoughts, but only nodded and walked out of the library.

“He admires you.”

She turned toward Lucien’s voice. “Oh?”

“He admires your resolve and control. It is unusual in one so young.”

Beatrice closed the journal. She hadn’t really read anything anyway. “What is he to you? Ziri? You call him ‘Uncle.’”

“He’s not an uncle, not in the human sense. But he is one of my mother’s dearest friends.”

“Your mother is the earth vampire who worked with Geber, isn’t she?”

Lucien smiled and rose. He walked toward Beatrice and settled into the chair across from her. They were sitting in the corner of the library closest to the fire. As always, Beatrice found the sound, scent, and presence of the flames soothing.

“She is. There is more to the story, but Ziri says he will fill us all in when Giovanni is back. He doesn’t like telling stories twice.”

“Okay. I suppose. Since I don’t seem to have any choice in the matter, I’ll be patient. How are you feeling?”

“As well as I have been.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Ziri keeps telling me that he will explain more soon, but he is being irritatingly close-mouthed about it. He has always been like that. Maybe that is why he and my mother get along so well. They can sit in a cave and not speak for fifty years and be totally content.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I am not sure… well, I am not sure.” He looked up and shrugged. “I suppose that sums up my life, lately. I am not sure of much.”

Her own curiosity burned, but Beatrice forced herself to remain calm and strove for the patience she knew her husband would expect. “Who’s your mother? Will you tell me about her?”

He smiled fondly. “Her name is Saba. And I may complain about her, but she is wonderful. She is a phenomenal healer and is very wise. She lives in the highlands of Ethiopia.”

“You’re pretty old. She must be ancient.”

He smiled. “She is the oldest of our kind I have known.”

“Truly?”

“Truly. I have never met her equal in power.”

“How old is she?”

He shrugged. “I doubt even she knows. She says that she simply was. She no longer remembers being human.”

It was impossible to fathom. “Does she have a big family?”

“She did at one time, but she stopped siring children many years ago. I am one of the youngest of her direct clan, and one of the last still living. But most vampires, if they looked back far enough, would hold some relation to her.”

“Interesting.” Beatrice contemplated the idea. Some of the oldest traces of human life had been found in Africa. Why would vampire life be any different? Then another thought struck, and she smiled. “She’s kind of like Eve.”

Lucien nodded and smiled. “The comparison is probably quite apt. In a way, I suppose she is our own Eve. A common mother from the times when elemental affinities were far more fluid.”

“What do you mean? I thought we always inherited the element of our sire, unless you become a fire vampire.”

“Now this is true. It is very uncommon for a vampire to sire out of their own element. It occasionally happens, but it's quite rare. But many years ago, it wasn’t as uncommon, especially if the sire was mated to one of a different element and they shared blood. Saba’s mate, when she made me, was a wind vampire. His blood is probably the reason I am not nearly as established as most earth immortals. I like to travel and do so frequently.”

“Until recently.”

“Yes,” Lucien said. “Until recently.”

“I’m not going to lie, Lucien, I’m having a hard time being patient with all this. I need to know what all of this means. If this elixir is so dangerous, why did they keep it a secret? Why didn’t they destroy the book to begin with?”

“Well…” He leaned back and closed his eyes. “We have many strengths, our kind, but the longer we live, the more weaknesses become evident, too. We’re not very good at sharing. Part of this is a survival mechanism, of course, but part of it is simply habit. We get so accustomed to hiding from the human world, we tend to hide things from each other, as well. And we’re quite greedy for information. Art, ideas, philosophy… these are the things that make immortal life interesting for those that live for centuries, because they are the only things that change. Humanity”—he grinned—“really does not change that much, you will learn. But stories, the ebb and flow of ideas, creativity, all of these things are always changing. It’s why we tend to congregate in certain places when there is an explosion of art or science. Anything new, really.”