“It’s a sort of trial, but not one you would recognize, Beatrice.” Tenzin was sipping tea and looked bored. “They do it mostly for their own amusement. Everyone knows how they will decide before they go in; it’s all worked out ahead of time in private negotiations.”
“Well,” Stephen added, “except for Lan. In this matter…” He only gave a shrug.
Beatrice looked around, confused. “What? What does that mean?”
Giovanni leaned forward. “No one knows how Lan will vote, and he’s the most unpredictable.”
“Or she,” Beatrice whispered. The whole table laughed. “Really?” she asked. “No one knows?”
Tenzin smirked at Giovanni. “Have you ever seen Lan get angry?”
“Only once,” he grimaced. “Not pleasant.”
“It doesn’t happen often.” Tenzin’s eyes danced toward Beatrice. “Try to imagine an extremely old and powerful fire vampire having a temper tantrum. It takes a lot to get Lan truly angry, but when she does, numerous vampires usually end up dead. Lots of humans, too.”
Giovanni saw Beatrice’s eyes grow wide. “But that doesn’t happen often, right?”
“No, Tesoro, it takes much to provoke Lan. Despite his playful appearance, he’s one of the canniest vampires on the council.”
“I’m not going to lie, the whole he or she thing is kind of annoying.”
“Agreed,” Stephen added quietly.
“He,” Baojia smiled, “or she doesn’t feel the need to inform anyone. Are you going to be the one to ask?”
“No,” Stephen and Beatrice said together.
“Getting back to the trial,” Tenzin said, “the council is fairly evenly split. My father and Elder Lu are firmly our allies. The Immortal Woman will side with Giovanni, because he’s a fire vampire, and she’s like that. Royal Uncle Cao will go along with Lu because he doesn’t want to disagree.”
“What about Elder Li?” Stephen asked.
Giovanni shook his head. “You know how the earth vampires tend to be. It seems that he will most likely follow Zhongli Quan since they are typically allies and he won’t want to disrupt that. Since Zhongli is the one who invited Lorenzo to Penglai, we can assume he’ll vote with him.”
“Han Xiang?” Baojia asked after the second water vampire on the council.
“He’ll vote with Zhongli,” Tenzin said. “He always does, just to spite Lu.”
“But,” Stephen directed himself to Beatrice, “Earth vampires also tend to be the ones most amenable to compromise, so if a reasonable one is offered, Iron Crutch Li and Royal Uncle Cao would probably go in that direction.”
“What kind of compromise could there be?” Beatrice asked. “Lu’s monks have the books. Lorenzo wants it. Giovanni wants it. Someone has to win.” No one spoke, and Beatrice looked around the table. “So, by my calculation, that leaves four elders on our voting side and three on theirs. And no one knows what Lan will do.”
Giovanni said, “He could vote for us.”
“She could vote for Lorenzo, too.” Tenzin shrugged. “I’ve known Lan for years and I don’t even know how she’ll vote.”
“Again with the he and she thing…” Beatrice muttered under her breath. “So, if Lan votes against us, that leaves it at a tie. What happens then?”
Giovanni’s eyes darted to Tenzin’s and both of them smiled.
“What was that look?” Beatrice asked. “That was a look.”
“A tie means that your husband could challenge Lorenzo,” Baojia said.
“I don’t like that option!”
“Neither would Lorenzo,” Tenzin snorted. “Giovanni would put an end to him quite easily. It’s really the best thing that could happen.”
Beatrice leaned forward. “But then we’ll never know what happened to the books. Or why he wants the elixir. I think we need to know that stuff, don’t you guys?”
“You aren’t worried, are you?” Tenzin looked scornful. “Have you ever really seen your mate fight? He’s ruthless. Lorenzo wouldn’t have a chance. I trained him myself.”
“And he has that irritating habit of bursting into flames,” Baojia said.
Stephen raised a hand. “I have to agree with Beatrice on this. As much as I’d like to see my sire dead, I think he has information we need. Lorenzo wants this elixir for a reason, and I think it’s obvious at this point that there are others involved in his scheme. We need to know who they are, or we’re back in the same boat of not knowing who may be after us.”
“Lorenzo said he had made promises to people. When he had me on the freighter, he said he had ‘made promises to people who were starting to doubt he could deliver.’ There’s obviously someone else involved. At least one other person, maybe more.”
“And,” Stephen added, “if my contact is correct that Lorenzo was researching pharmaceutical labs in Eastern Europe—possibly to produce it—then he must have someone who can fund him. That wouldn’t be cheap, and B stole most of his money.”
“You did?” Baojia turned to Beatrice with a look of amusement. “I always wondered why a college girl had that much cash. Ernesto never said. How clever of you.”
“Thanks!” She smiled.
Giovanni swallowed a growl, but he caught Baojia’s eye and threw an arm around the back of Beatrice’s chair.