Tenzin wasn’t claustrophobic. The mere idea of it was ridiculous. She’d comfortably traveled across much of China in a smuggler’s hatch once. What the hell was going on?
He refused to let go of her hand, even when she tried to tug it away. Finally she seemed to give up and let Ben hold it as they walked down the stairs, following Filomena into the darkness. The vampire slowed down to allow for the clumsy human to stumble along. The passageway was smooth, but the dirt floor was uneven.
“How do you walk in those heels?” he asked Filomena.
A low laugh. “Natural grace and centuries of practice.”
Ben smiled.
He followed her for what felt like an eternity before the earthen passageway gave way to stone again, and he felt the tension begin to ease from Tenzin’s fingers. Another turn and they entered an arched chamber nearly the size of a gymnasium.
“What is this?” he asked Filomena.
“One of the catacombs,” she said. “Naples has many tunnels. Alfonso has used this system for years. The humans don’t come here.”
Ben ran his fingers along one wall. “This construction looks Roman.”
“It is.”
He couldn’t help but smile. It was like walking through a ruin, only perfectly preserved from sun and weather. Arches soared over his head along with a series of walkways leading from the second story into other tunnels. There were no electric lights, but torches lit the hall and the air was fresh, so he knew there had to be ample ventilation. He could hear water flowing somewhere. It must have been what drew Alfonso to this place.
Hidden from the sun. No electricity. Secret passages. Underground water.
“It’s brilliant,” he said under his breath.
Tenzin, seemingly fully recovered from whatever had plagued her in the earthen tunnel, nodded in agreement.
“A most comfortable court,” she said. “I am impressed, Filomena.”
“On behalf of my lord, I thank you,” Filomena said, nodding respectfully toward Tenzin. “The immortals of Naples are very proud of our city.”
“As you should be.”
❂
TENZIN hated being underground. Absolutely hated it. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d frozen as she had on the stairs.
It wasn’t the close passageway. It wasn’t even the knowledge that they were going beneath the earth. It was damp air. The closed passage. The taste of the earth and rot in the air surrounding her.
The taste of earth in her mouth…
She’d heard ancient laughter in the back of her mind, and the wary creature in her emerged. The gut-deep urge for blood took root, and she concentrated on the pounding of the young one’s pulse.
Th-thunk. Th-thunk. Th-thunk.
She followed it in her mind, pacing his steps. Following his blood. But something stopped the creep of amnis before it reached his skin. Some instinct whispered to the feral creature, coaxing it to calm.
They walked into a tunnel built of rock, and the smell of earth receded. The pressing eased on her mind.
There was nothing but the taste of earth that could cause that old reaction to emerge. Tenzin found she was still holding Ben’s hand. It showed weakness, but she did not let go until they entered a larger hallway clad in dressed stone, when the rotting earth had receded and her sanity had returned.
Mostly.
Filomena led them under the Roman arches of subterranean Naples and toward her master, who was sitting on a raised dais playing king of all he surveyed.
Tenzin disliked him immediately.
He wasn’t a handsome vampire. His face was pockmarked and sagging. His skin had once been olive, but now it leaned toward sallow. A high forehead, arched nose, and haughty gaze led her to believe he was, as he claimed, Spanish royalty of some kind.
Filomena stopped at the edge of the dais and gave Alfonso a short bow.
“Alfonso,” she began in English, “I introduce Tenzin, daughter of Zhang Guolao. Sired of air. Mated to water…”
Oh, so he was one of those immortals. Tenzin tried not to sigh as Filomena continued.
“…Scourge of the Naiman Khanlig. Commander of the Altan Wind. Protector of Penglai Island. Patron goddess of the Holy Mountain…”
Goddess of anything holy, let it end.
“…protector and scribe of New Spain. Friend of Don Ernesto Alvarez of Los Angeles.” Filomena paused. “And… Ben, her yoga instructor.”
Ben leaned over and whispered, “You have so many more titles than I realized.”
“You have no idea.”
“I need to be called ‘The Scourge’ of something. Just put that in the back of your mind to think about later.”
“Maybe the Scourge of the Refrigerator,” she muttered. “That would be accurate.”
Ben must have realized that a dozen or so vampires were staring at the two of them because he straightened, cleared his throat, and whispered, “Sorry.” He stepped just behind Tenzin and to the left, instinctively covering her weaker side.
Tenzin, not wanting to piss off the vampire who would be paying her lots and lots of money if everything went according to plan, inclined her head and said, “Thank you for your generous welcome, Alfonso.”
“Welcome to Naples,” Alfonso grunted. “It is one of the few civilized places left on the peninsula.”
“I have found it remarkably civilized,” Tenzin said. “And very rich. In history. And… culture.”
And gold, but Alfonso would probably find that crass. There were a few artifacts in the archeological museum that Tenzin was considering liberating from their cases. Some things just shouldn’t be forced behind glass.