His eyes moved from left to right as he faced them.
Elder Zhang Guo, the oldest of the eight, was Tenzin’s sire and a warlord of some kind from the ancient steppes of the North.
Royal Uncle Cao, the youngest of the eight, was still over twelve hundred years old. An earth vampire of unknown origin, he usually wore a pleasant smile.
The Immortal Woman, He Xiangu, sat next to Cao. Giovanni met the eyes of his fellow fire vampire, who nodded at him with respect.
Lu Dongbin, the ancient water-master, scholar, and reluctant leader of the eight, sat near the center next to Zhongli Quan, a wind vampire who met him in an uneasy truce. The two had been embroiled in a somewhat-polite tug-of-war for power for almost two millennia.
The earth-master and legendary healer, Iron Crutch Li sat next to Zhongli, and next to him was possibly the most enigmatic immortal Giovanni had ever met.
Lan Caihe was a fire vampire who had been turned at a very young age, but that was all anyone knew about him… or her. No one even knew that much, and Lan wasn’t sharing.
The last of the eight was the philosopher and water vampire, Han Xiang, a watchful immortal with a smile that never reached his eyes.
Giovanni estimated that at least sixty other vampires and numerous humans milled around the room, positioned in relation to their allies and associates. All of them paused and turned when Giovanni, Beatrice, and Baojia entered the room.
As one, the Eight Immortals, wearing identical white robes, rose to greet them, and the rush of energy that rolled through the room was enough to make Beatrice stumble back.
“Welcome, Giovanni Vecchio,” Zhang greeted him in Mandarin. “And welcome, Baojia. Your presence is unexpected, but not unwelcome.”
Baojia nodded, but refrained from bowing toward Zhang.
He Xiangu, the Immortal Woman, smiled as she surveyed the group. “It is pleasant to have such respected vampires in our midst, particularly a famed one of my own element.” She nodded toward Giovanni. “But who is this young human you have with you? Who is this girl who warrants protection from both the lion and the dragon?”
Giovanni stepped forward. “Elder He, may I introduce the granddaughter of Don Ernesto Alvarez of Los Angeles, a friend of Tenzin, and my companion, Beatrice De Novo.” He motioned Beatrice forward, and she nodded respectfully toward the Eight, as Giovanni had instructed her. When she spoke, it was in English, which Giovanni knew all the Elders spoke.
“I am honored to be introduced to the hall. Thank you for your invitation, Elder Zhang Guo.”
“You are welcome here, Miss De Novo,” Zhang answered with a smile. “It is my pleasure to meet my daughter’s dear friend.” He looked to Giovanni as if searching for a reaction when he continued. “I believe there is another present in the hall who is even more pleased to see you than the Elders.”
Zhang looked at Lu, who lifted an open hand and motioned to the side of the enormous room. The crowd parted to reveal a slim vampire dressed in the blue-grey robes common among scholars of the court. Giovanni recognized him immediately and turned to Beatrice to hold her hand as she gasped in recognition.
“Dad?”
Chapter Two
Mount Penglai, China
August 2010
He looked exactly the same.
Beatrice’s mind flashed to the last time she had seen her father the summer she was twelve. She’d been angry with him because he was leaving for Italy and worried because he wouldn’t be there for her first day of junior high school.
“You’re always leaving. You love books more than me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll be back on Friday afternoon. You and Grandma can pick me up at the airport and we’ll meet Grandpa for dinner to celebrate your first week of school.”
“I can’t believe you’re leaving again! You just got back from Boston.”
“And I was only there for the weekend. I can’t turn down this invitation, Beatrice. Try to understand.”
She hadn’t understood. Beatrice hadn’t understood anything except the last words she had ever spoken to her father had been in anger. Five weeks later, her grandparents sat down with tears in their eyes and told her she would never see him again.
And fifteen years later, Stephen De Novo looked exactly as he had when he’d stepped out the door that summer morning.
“Daddy?”
Beatrice could feel Giovanni’s hand on her arm, and she knew he wanted her to stay still. He worried so much. He shouldn’t have. Her feet were as frozen as her gaze while she stood, staring at the man she thought she would never see again.
His thick, black hair was shorter, and he was paler, but no wrinkles touched the corners of his eyes. No grey sprinkled his hair. His dark brown eyes, the exact color of her own, stared at her as he stood in utter, immortal stillness. Her father was thirty-five years old for eternity.
Her hand slid down to Giovanni’s, gripping it in her own as she heard him start to speak.
“Elder Zhang, you can imagine that you have… surprised us, though I am pleased to see Mister De Novo in good health. I’m sure his daughter is eager to meet with him, and—”
He broke off when the doors to the hall swung open and an irritated stream of Mandarin rung out. Beatrice tore her eyes from her father and turned to see the disturbance. For some reason, the sight of Tenzin’s tiny figure stalking into the hall brought tears to her eyes and an overwhelming wave of relief.
Giovanni pulled her closer, slipping an arm around her waist and sighing. “Grazie a Dio,” he whispered.