Ben knew he’d have to go back to Los Angeles eventually, but he wanted to take some time to think about his life.
What the hell was he doing?
Who was he?
A human? A vampire in training? A lackey or a leader?
Could he walk through a world where he was always seen as inferior because of his mortality? Would he be satisfied living in the human world again?
Was living in the human world even an option at this point?
Ben thought it would be Tenzin who found him eventually, but it was his uncle. Giovanni waited for him one morning a week or so after Ben had arrived in Tuscany, taking shelter in the library before Ben dragged himself out of bed.
His uncle said nothing at first. Then he stood, patted Ben’s cheek, and said, “We’ll talk tonight. I’m tired,” before he left the room.
❂
BEN took a nap that afternoon and woke to the smell of steak smoking on the grill. He walked out and saw Giovanni manipulating the flame around two thick cuts of beef, searing them from the outside before he warmed the coals underneath them and left the steaks on the grill to finish cooking. There was an open bottle of wine on the table and two full glasses.
“Sit,” his uncle said. “The meat is almost done.”
The dinner was simple, which was all he’d ever expect from Giovanni, who had not learned how to cook more than the basics in over five hundred years of life. Meat, bread, wine, and a few tomatoes sliced from the garden, with olive oil poured over them. Ben sat and drank his wine, staring out over the orchards at twilight.
Ben looked at his uncle.
Giovanni was, objectively speaking, the most handsome man Ben had ever seen. When he was in high school, all the girls had a crush on his Uncle Giovanni. Every girlfriend he’d brought home had angled for a hint of a smile. It had annoyed him until his last girlfriend said Ben and Giovanni looked more like brothers than uncle and nephew. That had made his chest puff up at the time, but now it freaked him out.
Because it was true. His uncle used clothes and hair and glasses to age himself for humans, but if you looked carefully, Giovanni didn’t look a day over thirty. He’d stay that way forever, and Ben was quickly catching up.
“I talked with Tenzin in Rome,” Giovanni said. “You have both made a friend in Emil Conti.”
“Huh.”
“The new regime in Naples is decidedly more open and willing to work with him. Added to that, they’ve already been able to shed more light on the library theft. Zeno was invited down to examine the documents they were keeping from Emil’s people. Emil believes Zeno’s status as a native Neapolitan and former clergy will be of benefit in building trust.”
“You must have agreed to let him go,” Ben said. “He’s under your aegis.”
Giovanni drank some wine and shrugged. “It will help clear things up for my clients.”
“Right.”
“And Emil is a good ally. Filomena could be as well.”
“She’s something, all right.”
Giovanni was silent.
“It’s not that she used me,” Ben said. “It’s that I was oblivious to it. I thought I was a bishop when I was a pawn.”
Giovanni nodded. “I understand. But you won’t be oblivious next time.”
“If there’s a next time.”
They were both silent for a long time.
“There doesn’t have to be,” Giovanni said. “Not for any of this. You know that, don’t you?”
Ben cleared his throat. “Be honest. Has living a normal life ever really been an option for me?”
Giovanni paused. “I talked to Matt and Dez before I left.”
“Yeah?” Ben sipped his wine. “How are they? I haven’t been by for dinner in too long. How’s Carina?”
“Growing quickly,” Giovanni said with a smile. “She starts school in the fall. Soccer too. She already has her first set of cleats and her very own ball. It’s purple. She’s very excited.”
Ben felt his throat close up. He remembered when Carina had been born. Had listened to her hummingbird heartbeat when Dez had been in the hospital in Rome. And now Carina was buying cleats and starting school.
His heart began to race. It was all happening too quickly. His uncle looked like his brother. Babies were growing up and Ben was graduating. Casper was slower every year, and Isadora’s hearing was beginning to go.
“Gio—”
“I talked to Matt and Dez before I left LA,” Giovanni said softly. “The apartment over their garage is empty right now. You could rent it if you wanted. Matt has an opening at the company in his online security division. You are more than qualified for it. You could—”
“It’s not the job thing,” Ben said in a rough voice. “I’m not worried about… It’s not the job.”
“I know.” Giovanni stood and took the meat off the grill. “I know it’s not about a job.”
Giovanni sat down again and poured more wine while the meat rested and the temperature in the hills dropped. A cool breeze drifted over the tops of the trees, sending a shush of sound through the valley.
“Who am I?” Ben asked. “Benjamin Amir Rios, bastard pickpocket? Ben Vecchio, ward of the famous vampire? Your son? Tenzin’s… butler?”
“You’re none of those things,” Giovanni said. “Or maybe you’re a bit of all of them. What is important is that you have the choice.” His uncle leaned across the table and squeezed his shoulder. “The man you are, Benjamin, the man you’re becoming… I am privileged to know him. Whatever you choose—whatever you do—I will be there. Beatrice will be there. You are ours. Maybe you don’t have our blood, but—”