“Hey.” She shrugged. “We do love our revolutions. But this time, we’ll try to make it slightly less bloody.”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “What’s your plan?”
“Dez and Ben have discovered where she’s been producing it. It’s a cosmetics factory in Bulgaria. We need you and Carwyn to go shut it down. Find the humans she’s been working with. Find out how much they know. From what Ziri remembers and looking at Lucien Thrax’s condition, we know that this elixir is harmful to immortals, but she’s been circulating rumors that she has some great revelation. A secret that will make Rome the center of the world again and make her even wealthier. We need to get people doubting her. Questioning her intentions. If we can make people distrust her—”
“We can try, but who will believe us?” Giovanni shrugged. “She’s charismatic. Powerful. Even if we find out the elixir is poison, she could play it as if she was a victim. She’s very good at manipulation.”
Carwyn spoke up. “If we can find Arosh, Ziri’s certain we’ll find Kato. If we can find Kato, we’ll know the truth about the effects.”
“The truth doesn’t matter,” Giovanni shouted. “It only matters what people believe.”
“Then we’ll make them believe. Listen Gio, she either knows what the effects are, or we’ll make it sound like she does and didn’t care. Saba, the greatest healer in our history, killed everyone who had taken it. Killed them, Gio. Ziri thinks the truth will be damaging enough for her allies to abandon her. Once that has happened, Conti can step in with minimal conflict, because he is the obvious successor. There will be some bloodshed, of course, but we’ll be able to let him take the lead so that he’s the one stuck with the city. We’ll be backing him up, instead of acting as usurpers. Jean and Terry will throw their support behind him. The Vatican likes him already, which will lend him further legitimacy with the younger Roman vampires, most of whom identify as Catholic. It’s the easiest way.”
“You’re forgetting that we have nothing as proof. Nothing. We have guesses and the memories of one of the vampires involved. We have one sick vampire. Memories and suppositions. Even Lucien doesn’t know what’s really going on with his own health.” Giovanni paced the room.
“And then you have Livia! She has a lost secret. The elixir of life. And no doubt she’ll have mocked up some kind of lab results to make this elixir look legitimate. She’ll make it sound like we’re trying to stir things up against her, and no one is going to trust us.”
Beatrice murmured, “Well... that’s why you’re going to have to bring Kato back.”
She could have heard a pin drop.
“Oh, of course!” He threw up his hands. “So, not only are Carwyn and I supposed to find these two vampires—who aren’t supposed to exist—but we need to bring them back to Rome, as well!”
Beatrice forced a smile. “Ziri’s pretty sure Kato will like you.”
Giovanni turned to Carwyn. “Tell me she’s joking.”
“She’s not joking. Ziri says Kato would love you.” Carwyn slapped him on the shoulder and moved across the room.
Giovanni’s eyes darted between him. “Are we forgetting about the deadliest fire immortal in history? Are we forgetting about Arosh? If Arosh took Kato away for his own protection, then I’m fairly sure he’s not going to be pleased about being found.”
“Well, that’s true.” Beatrice nodded. “And that’s why you need to go.”
“Tesoro…” He rushed to her side and took her hands. “I’m very strong. I’m very powerful, Yes, I could probably hold my own against him in battle for longer than any other, but no one is as powerful as Arosh. He is the oldest fire vampire in immortal legend. He ruled Persia and Eastern Europe for thousands of years. I stand very little chance of actually making him listen to me!”
“But Ziri says he hated Andros.”
His face was frozen. “That just means he’ll kill me faster.”
“But what if you tell him you killed him? We’re pretty sure he’ll listen then. Also, Ziri has a letter for you guys to take.”
“Oh, of course. A letter!” Giovanni brushed a hand over his exasperated face. “Do we even have an idea where he might be after all this time?”
Carwyn said, “Ziri has the location that Saba gave him when he first decided to kill Andros. It’s somewhere in the Caucasus.”
Giovanni blinked. “So, we have the location that a notoriously vague immortal gave a friend over five hundred years ago to track down two vampires who have managed to remain hidden from the immortal community for a thousand years?”
Beatrice cleared her throat. “Well, if you’re only going to look at the down side—”
“Forgive me if I am less than optimistic about our chances of finding them.”
Carwyn said, “Do you really think that, once they’d found a good hiding place, they’d move? You know how the old ones are. Five hundred years is little to them. They’re probably tucked into the Northern Caucasus, happily feeding on the local population and playing chess.”
Giovanni stared at his friend.
“See that,” Beatrice said. “That’s his skeptical face, Carwyn.”
“I’m familiar with it.”
Her husband said, “I agree that I would probably have the best chance to find him. And you’d need a fire immortal to approach Arosh if you’re going to get close enough to deliver any sort of message. A female would be better, but... it might work. We will need a letter from Ziri. And we trust him?” His eyes turned back to Beatrice.