“Okay.” He blinked. “Good.”
“I know Gavin wants to stay with Chloe,” Tenzin said, “but part of his passage through our world is that he is seen as a neutral party. If you’d be willing, I think it would be better if he and Chloe stay at his club in Monaco while we fly to meet Juvan and his brothers. It will only take an hour and a half to fly.”
Ben jotted down some notes just to keep himself from staring at her. “Okay. That’s a solid idea, and I can’t imagine either one of them will have any objection to it. We can fill Chloe in on the Corsican meeting when we get back.” Ben hadn’t known Gavin had a place in Monaco, but it didn’t surprise him. “How’s the garden?”
She was silent until he looked up.
“The garden in New York?” he asked. “How is it?”
“Thriving. The glass house is finished, and the heating system is operational. I bought birds.”
“Chloe told me. Sadia loves them.”
Tenzin smiled. “She visited last summer.”
“She told me. My little sister is kind of your superfan, you know.”
“The feeling is mutual. She’s an excellent child.”
Ben couldn’t take his eyes off her. Did you have children? He knew nothing about her human life, and seeing her uncovered a relentless curiosity. “Do you remember much about your human life?”
She froze. “Why do you ask?”
Make it about me. “I find myself wondering whether my memories of Sadia—from when she was very young—will stay with me.”
“Ah.” Her gaze relaxed a little. “Yes. I believe you will remember. Sometimes memories will escape you, but they always find you again.”
Yes, he was a little bit afraid of that.
“So.” He cleared his throat and finished his whiskey. “We’ll leave tomorrow night, and we both feel comfortable with the business parameters of this job?”
“Yes.” Her smile was polite. So damn polite he wanted to scream.
“Good.” He held his hand out. “We agree. One last job and then… good luck to you.”
“And good luck to you too.” Tenzin stretched her hand across the table and Ben took it. Their hands met calmly while their amnis twisted and arrowed straight to Ben’s groin. Twin desires nearly drowned him—his for her and hers for him—and his fangs lengthened and his cock swelled hard as a rock.
Ben dropped Tenzin’s hand and reached for his notebook, forcing his aching fangs back into his jaw. “Why don’t you brief me about the Corsicans? You said one was named Juvan and he has brothers? Is Juvan in charge?”
She raised one eyebrow, and Ben read the entire conversation in her eyes.
So we are ignoring this?
Yes. We’re ignoring it.
Didn’t you say we should not avoid those things between us?
That was before. We’re ignoring them now.
“The Corsicans” —Tenzin’s smile was amused— “are very entertaining.”
“Entertaining in a really murdery, violent way?”
“Yes.” Her eyes lit up. “But they enjoy karaoke as well.”
13
Ben had been faced with a lot of unexpected twists and turns in his life, but seeing a stocky Corsican earth vampire absolutely killing it on a karaoke cover of “Born to Run” was definitely not on his bingo card for the year.
He leaned over to Tenzin. “You said they like karaoke, but I had no idea.”
“Yes, they are very competitive.”
This wasn’t your drunken sorority-party version of the sing-along. It was more along the lines of a singing competition, and participants were not making fools of themselves.
If anything, it made the gang even more creepy.
They’d landed an hour before on a brightly lit yacht floating off the north coast of Corsica.
Why a boat for earth vampires? Ben had asked Tenzin, and she’d waved a dismissive hand. Rich men, whether they’re human or immortal, like big boats.
The three brothers, Juvan, Carlo, and Alcide, greeted Tenzin like she was an old friend, offered blood-wine to both of them, and then seated them on the top deck at the front of an ongoing karaoke party where Ben and Tenzin were clearly the guests of honor.
“I’m just glad we’re guests and not participants,” Ben muttered in Mandarin.
Tenzin’s eyes went wide. “We will be expected to sing, Ben.”
Oh fuck.
“Uh, no. I didn’t agree to that because I don’t sing.”
“Everyone sings, Ben.” She took a slip of paper from her pocket. “I have prepared a song. Everyone comes prepared with a song. It’s karaoke.”
“Do I have a history of enjoying karaoke? Have you ever heard me sing when I’m not drunk?”
She narrowed her eyes. “I suppose not.”
“Exactly.”
Alcide was finished paying tribute to the Boss, and a raucous round of applause rose from the gathered vampires and humans. The party was a fairly even mix between the two, though Ben noticed the vampire attendees were pretty heavily weighted toward the men who were dark, heavily stubbled, and dangerous, while the mortal attendees were pretty much all young, beautiful women.
Lots of young and beautiful women.
Another vampire was taking the stage with two others. They began a three-part rendition of “Sweet Caroline” that would have left Neil Diamond crying from the harmonies.
He leaned over to her, trying to ignore the instant burning in his throat and the tightness in his pants. “Tenzin, are you serious or are you trying to push my buttons? Do we really have to sing?”
“Not together. I am sorry, Benjamin, but I did not prepare a duet.”
He blinked. “You’re actually serious.”
“Of course I am.”
“You’re singing?”
“I do not know how I could have made it more clear.” The crowd around them erupted during the “Sweet Caroline” chorus. “The Corsican vampire mob loves karaoke.” She glanced around and looked back. “You can sing, Ben. I’ve heard you. You just don’t do it when you are sober.”
“Exactly.”
“So pretend you are drunk.”
“That’s your advice?” He looked around the deck. “What am I supposed to sing?”
Tenzin clapped as the Neil Diamond classic came to an end. “Something you know. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but
