over the farm. “Well, it’s a very grown-up decision. You know that, right?”
“I know.” She stopped bouncing and wove her fingers through the net, leaning to the side and letting her hair hang upside down. “Baba said I can only decide when I’m really old like you.”
“I’m old?” He poked her in the side and she giggled.
“Yes. Really old.”
“Well, you’re my sister, so if I’m old, you must be old. And short.”
She stood up straight and looked at him, her mouth hanging open in outrage. “I’m the second-tallest girl in my class!”
“Oh.” He turned around and patted his shoulders. Sadia got the message and jumped onto them. “My mistake.” He started walking back to the house with Sadia hanging on his back, swinging her legs and humming a song. “You must be very tall then.”
“Ben?”
“Yes?”
“Are you staying home for a while?”
He considered how to answer. “I may need to go away for work next week, but then when I finish with that, I promise I won’t stay away for so long again.”
“Ever again?” She leaned over his shoulder. “Promise?”
He bumped her forehead with his own. “I promise.”
“Good.” She put her chin on his shoulder. “I miss you when you’re gone.”
“I miss you too.”
“And I miss Tenzin.” She sighed. “I love Tenzin so much.”
Ben bit his lip. “I know you do.”
“Is Tenzin coming soon?”
“I don’t think so, Sadi.”
“Why not? Is she working?”
“I think so.” The lie slipped too easily from his lips, but he didn’t know what else to tell her. “Has she video-called you?”
“Yes. With me and Baba. She showed me your birds in New York.”
Ben stopped. “My birds?”
“Yeah. The pretty little birds that live in the glass house.”
“Oh right.” The spike twisted in his heart. “Those birds.”
“I like their names.” She giggled. “Tenzin said they were lovebirds.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Loooovebirds.” Sadia couldn’t stop the giggles. “’Cause they love each other.”
Ben couldn’t stop the smile at hearing her giggle so much. “I think you’re tired and you need to go to bed.”
“Do lovebirds kiss with their beaks?” She was still giggling in his ear. “I bet they kiss a lot, like Baba and Mama.”
Ben shook his head. “I think you’ve been infected with a case of the sillies.”
His words only made Sadia laugh harder. And for the first time in a long time, all was right in Ben Vecchio’s world.
4
The De Novo-Vecchio predawn family celebration lasted until exactly dawn, when Ben abruptly fell into a deep vampire sleep. When he woke the next night, it was to a smell that was more welcome than the sweetest, freshest, most delectably pure blood in the world.
He sat up in the dark closet and inhaled deeply.
Dried chiles. Cumin. Corn. Sweet heaven and all the angels.
“Mexican food.”
Ben nearly tripped over the bedsheets he stood so quickly.
Throwing on clothes and glancing at the clock, he realized that jet leg wasn’t really going to be a thing anymore. Young vampires woke when the sun went down and knocked out when it rose. A few quirky ones like Beatrice and Tenzin woke during the day. And his uncle woke a little bit since he and Beatrice exchanged blood.
You exchanged blood with Tenzin.
He shoved that inconvenient voice to the back of his brain. It had only been once. Just the one time, and it would not be happening again.
When he left the room he’d used since he was twelve years old, he was met by the cacophony of voices that was normal in a busy family home.
“Mama, I want juice.”
“Is that the way you ask?”
“Princesa, here is some juice. Zain, give the baby—”
“Grandma, she has to ask politely. And she is not a baby. If you give in—”
“Thank you, Zain!”
“You are welcome, Miss Sadia.” A deep male voice echoed down the hall. “Miss Isadora, what are you wanting to drink tonight?”
“A juice sounds good to me too.”
Good Lord, had chatter in the house always been that loud to Giovanni and Beatrice? No wonder they’d tried to kick him outside so often. Though the voices were coming from the kitchen, Ben heard them like they were in the same room.
He walked through the familiar halls of his childhood, taking everything in with new eyes. Had he ever noticed the stunning swirls of blue in that ceramic vase? There were so many cracks in that oil painting! It nearly ruined it. No wonder Tenzin didn’t have much use for stealing oils.
Ben walked down the hallway and stood in the kitchen doorway, crossing his arms and waiting for someone to notice him. Beatrice’s eyes