Tenzin landed beside him. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, but—”
She took off again. Ben tried to make himself invisible while still keeping an eye on the fight.
It was clear that Filomena’s allies had come prepared. Most were cutting down Alfonso’s friends with quick chops and sweeping strokes from blades while many of Alfonso’s allies were unarmed. It was an ambush. Ben saw mostly European blades, but Filomena carried a katana, and Ben even saw a few battle-axes.
Retro.
A few took the time to feed from their enemies, but most of the carnage was practical. Cut down. Take head. Go for the next one.
The second vampire who attacked him tried to grab him from the side. She launched in Ben’s direction and latched on with all four limbs, slamming him to the ground before she attempted to dig in with clawlike fingernails. Ben twisted away, grappling with her superior strength while tossing away a butcher knife she’d stowed on her back.
He managed to roll far enough away to put a hard boot in her neck. The impact stunned her enough that Ben got in another couple of kicks before she hissed and ran away.
He crawled to another corner, dragging the damned briefcase with him. Tenzin was swooping over the heads of the fighters, one of the few air vampires in the room. Most of Filomena’s people were, like herself, water vampires. Isolated from easy access to their element, the battle was dirty and bloody and crude.
It was hard to tell how long it lasted. All Ben knew was, by the time the third vampire attacked, he was sick. The smell of blood was thick in the air; he could taste it on his lips. He saw the vampire running and aimed a throwing knife at one eye. He threw it, hit the target, then sent three more into the twitching body before he walked away. He hadn’t killed it, but it was on the ground and one knife had gotten close enough to the thing’s neck that Ben doubted it would chase him.
“Tenzin!” he shouted.
She landed a few minutes later, her face flushed like a child coming in from play. “Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Is the gold safe?”
“Yes.”
She frowned. “Then what’s wrong?”
His throat was tight. “Is this almost done? I want to turn over this gold, collect our fee, and go home. Unless someone else is planning to attack us.”
Tenzin’s eyes took a slow sweep around the room, then she poked her head around the corner and reported, “Filomena has almost killed Alfonso. I think this is close to done.”
Ben joined her, craning his neck around the pillar to see Filomena roar, her blouse drenched in blood, two swords in her hands. She whirled and struck at Alfonso, who parried with surprising speed. Alfonso had brute strength going for him, but it was clear who was the better swordsman. Filomena worked Alfonso across the dais until he was bent back over his throne.
“How does the throne feel now, you mad Spanish bastard?” Filomena screamed.
Alfonso tried to roll away, but she brought her blade down on his neck before he could escape. Unfortunately, the blade didn’t go clear through, and Alfonso’s head listed to the side but didn’t quite detach.
Ben winced and looked away.
“Unfortunate,” Tenzin said. “She hit him at a difficult angle. She’ll get it on the next—ah. Gone now.”
The roar of the crowd told him that Filomena’s allies clearly considered their side victorious. Since Ben didn’t know which bodies belonged to which side, he couldn’t judge just by looking at the carnage.
“We done now?” Ben said.
“I believe so.”
He crossed his arms and leaned against what was now his favorite pillar, his boot resting on the edge of the briefcase with all the gold tarì. A thought struck him. “Hey, Tiny?”
“Yes?”
“Was Alfonso the only one who ever saw the original coins?”
Tenzin leaned against the pillar next to him. “Other than me, I believe he was.”
“So there is now no one who’ll be able to…”
“Correct.”
He let out a slow breath. “Did you plan this out in advance?”
She shrugged. “Let’s just say that it was time for Naples to leap into the twenty-first century. We just gave it a little nudge.”
Ben heard Filomena giving some kind of inspirational speech in the background about the new Neapolitan republic and the end of foreign oppression as she stood over the bodies of the vampires she’d killed.
And Ben felt… exhausted.
He picked up the briefcase full of gold, handed it to Tenzin, and walked toward the stairs.
“Where are you going?” she called.
“Home.”
The problem was, Ben wasn’t quite sure where home was at the moment.
So he went to Tuscany.
Chapter Nine
THE HOUSE IN TUSCANY WAS out in the country, surrounded by olive groves and grapevines. The vines in midsummer were laden with thick-skinned purple fruit and lush green leaves. He walked through the vineyard during the day and ate the sweet, seedy grapes. He brought a blanket into the olive grove and lay in the afternoon shade, reading a book or napping. He ate sandwiches made from the bread and cheese he bought when he rode his old bike into town. He opened cans of salty sardines stored in the pantry and picked tomatoes from the garden the caretaker tended.
He drank a lot of wine.
When the sun set, Ben locked himself in his room and slept. He slept long and hard, and he tried not to think about blood or gold or pretty girls with deadly fangs. He stayed in the primitive wing of the house with no electricity and let his phone die. When it was dark, he slept. When the sun rose, he woke.