Page 72 of Tin God

“Yeah.” Jennie nodded. “Come on then. We already made a bed for him. Let’s get him out of the water and onto land.”

Carwyn muttered, “He needs blood.”

“That’s why they’re here.” Jennie nodded at the two humans. “He gonna hurt ’em?”

“I don’t think so. He took some donated blood on the boat and didn’t lash out.” Carwyn followed Jennie off the dock. “He didn’t seem aggressive.”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “That sounds right if he’s who I’m thinkin’ of.”

Buck and Ben hung back, tying up the fishing boat to the dock as a misty rain fell on them.

“Does it rain every day here?” Ben asked the man.

“Pretty much.” The man smiled. “Water vampires love it.”

“I bet.” He glanced at the retreating figures. “Will he be okay?”

“Friend, you probably know better than me about that. I’m just married to one of you folk.” He stood up straight when the ropes were secured and pulled out a mobile phone. Something dinged and he stared at the screen for a few moments, his mouth a grim line.

“Everything okay?” Ben asked.

If there was one thing he missed from mortal life, it was his damn phone. The lumpy miniature tablets they had to carry to use any technology did not match the sleek black phone that had been his constant companion before he turned.

“Everything’s fine,” Buck said. “Let’s get in the house. Carwyn was asking about Henri Paulson the other day.”

Ben nodded. “He was thinking that Zasha might be working off theFlying Dolphin.”

“I put a word in with Katya’s people in Seattle after Paulson’s name kept coming up. Tried to find out what all I could tell you.”

“Okay.” That made sense to Ben. “You hear back?”

“Just now. Let’s head in and I’ll fill you in on what I know.”

Ben changedout of his damp clothes, listening to Buck as the man moved around in the living area upstairs. He could hear the human talking to someone on the phone and suspected Buck was filling Katya’s office in on what they’d discovered at Zasha’s rental house.

If Paulson was under Katya’s aegis, that meant he was afforded some privacy from outsiders. Vampire aegis went more than one way. Katya would expect immortals in her territory to show her loyalty, but that meant they were under her protection as well, so sharing private information with an outsider would be frowned on unless there was a reason.

But Ben wasn’t sure if Paulson was under aegis or just residing in Katya’s territory independently. He was leaning toward the latter.

By the time Ben walked upstairs, whatever permission Buck needed must have been granted, because the human had his laptop out and was projecting his screen on a wall across the room.

“I’ve been looking through the file Katya’s people just emailed,” Buck said. “Paulson is the current name of Henri Paulus.” He pointed to a grainy black-and-white picture. “Water vampire from what’s now Denmark. About three hundred years old or so—not sure on that one, to be honest—and apparently the quietest billionaire you’ve never heard of.”

Ben blinked. “Billionaire?”

Millionaires weren’t uncommon among the undead. After all, when you lived for centuries, it was almost impossible not to acquire wealth. But billionaire wealth was a level that few vampires reached because it required too much interaction in the human world. Of course, the richest vampires in the world—including his mate—really had no way of measuring wealth since they kept most of it in gold.

Ben frowned. “How did he make his money?”

“Technology if you can believe it. And pharmaceuticals. He quietly invested in a bunch of internet start-ups over the years and some very successful pharma companies. He pays Katya boatloads to keep his location a secret. No one is supposed to know where he is. He lives only on the water and has no citizenship of any kind.”

“Like one of those marine colonies humans talk about?” Ben asked. “What do they call it? Sea-steading or something?” He leaned forward, watching as Buck flipped through pictures.

Buck nodded. “Somethin’ like that.”

There was Paulson on the deck of a yacht in the moonlight. All the pictures were at night save for some of large watercraft that were taken during the day with what looked like staff on deck.

“All these boats are his?”

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