He kissed her quickly. “I’ll be inconspicuous.”
“Not with that amnis,” she muttered. “We’re going to have some lessons on moderating that.”
“Are you saying I’m loud and flashy?”
“Like Giovanni wearing a cowboy hat.”
He grinned. “I would be insulted, but you’re cute when you’re irritated.”
She flicked her hand toward the camp. “Go. Try not to shout. If you’re gone more than an hour, I’m coming after you and I’ll probably destroy everything.”
He snorted. “You say the sweetest things.”
Ben flew off toward the twinkling torchlights in the distance.
Time to act human again.
* * *
There was only one group of humans near enough to the forest that Ben felt like he could infiltrate and blend in. They were around his age, dressed similarly in dark pants and ordinary T-shirts. A few wore vests or light jackets over their shirts, but that wasn’t a huge difference. Most had hair falling around their shoulders or pulled back in a knot and wore various lengths of beards. They looked like your average Eastern European hipsters.
The only problem? They were all speaking Poshani.
Since he was not a language expert who could pick up a foreign language in ten minutes, Ben waited until they began to walk back to the camp.
He trailed behind them, disguising the sound of his steps by directing the air around him, a highly useful tip Tai had taught him the year before. He stayed close enough that an observer would think him part of the group, but far enough away to keep the men from noticing him.
Once he entered the circle of travel trailers, he let out a breath. He quickly found a line of drying clothing and slipped on a vest; then he found a cap hanging on a hook at the end of a trailer. He pulled it down over his eyes, then walked to a solitary campfire burning in a cut-off barrel, using that vantage point to survey the camp.
Busy, busy, busy. If he wanted to get into the center of the trailers where Tatyana probably was, he needed to find an errand to run or a job to do.
He spotted the shovel and rake within minutes.
Okay, gross, but at least no one was likely to get too close.
When you had as many horses around the camp as the Poshani liked to have, you also had more than a little horse manure. Ben grabbed the shovel and rake, trying not to gag at the pungent scent of horse shit and piss. Sometimes being a newly turned vampire was a good thing. More than one of his immortal acquaintances had remarked that Ben still “walked like a human.” He didn’t know what that meant, but he was hoping they weren’t just bullshitting him.
He began walking through the alleys between the rings of caravans, working his way, bit by bit, into the center.
No one gave him a glance.
Where had he always found Tatyana? She was usually near the humans cooking, seeming to prefer the company of humans rather than vampires. He scooped a few piles of manure along the edges of the inner circle until he spotted her.
“Vecchio!”
He tensed until he heard the accent. Ben turned and saw René walking toward him.
The man stopped a few yards away, seeming to examine a flower arrangement that had been erected near a music stage. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“We got your note,” he murmured. “It told us nothing.”
“It told you enough. Everything is in place. Come to the camp tomorrow night an hour before midnight. Meet me by the same birch tree where I left the gold.”
“You’re not the one in charge,” he said. “What did Radu say about me and Tenzin?”
“Nothing. People come and people go. Vampires here don’t ask questions.”
“And Vano?”
“Playing his part. His people were the last to arrive today.”
“Kezia?”
“Her people showed up the same day I returned to camp. They’re coming from closer range.”
“So all the Poshani are here now?”
“Yes.”
Ben moved to another pile of manure. “And you have the goblets?”
“I have access to them,” he said, strolling past Ben. “I have my own interests, Vecchio. Tenzin would do well to remember that.” He curled his lip slightly. “Merde.”
“Literally.” Ben flipped a piece of manure toward René. It landed perilously close to a handmade leather shoe. “Oops.”
“Tomorrow,” he said. “Eleven o’clock. Birch tree. That’s all you need to know. Now get out of here before someone sees you.” René walked off, leaving Ben with the shovel and the rake.
He set them behind a portable toilet, then strolled through the outer ring of the camp, his hands stuffed in his pockets. Maneuvering closer to the kitchen area, he stopped to wash his hands before picking up a few chairs and moving them to where a man was pointing and shouting.
By the time he’d gotten close enough to Tatyana, he knew he was pushing his luck. He had to be close to an hour. The last thing the plan needed was Tenzin roaring in like a hurricane.
Tatyana was standing near the humans again, listening to them chatter as she sipped a glass of wine and observed the clutches of Poshani vampires and visitors in the most inner circle.
“Tatyana.” He said her name barely over his breath, but she looked up.
“Ben Vecchio.” She glanced around and walked toward him. “I am surprised to see you here, where you definitely should not be.”
“Did Radu make my excuses for me?”
“He told us nothing. Only that you and Tenzin had chosen to leave the caravan. Is everything well with your family?”
“Yeah. I don’t know if Radu knows what’s going on.” He spotted Vano speaking to some of his guards. “Stay away from Vano. He’s dangerous.”
“You tell me things I already know.” She raised an eyebrow. “That man makes my skin crawl.”
“Tomorrow night,” he said, lowering his voice, “anything you can’t live without, keep it with you. If you need to run, be light.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What do you know?”
“Enough to know that something
