Page 112 of Tin God

“But then the attacks start up north.” Tenzin’s eyes moved to the western edge of the Alaskan Peninsula. “The first compound that Oleg reported was south of Katmai Bay.”

“Lev called it a village.” Brigid went over and pointed to a spot on the map, and Jennie placed a red dot. “At least twenty victims that we know of. They estimated somewhere in the beginning of September, but they didn’t find it until weeks later.”

“Then another one on Kodiak Island.” Tenzin drew a mental line on the map. “Moving across the water. Maybe a week or two later.”

Jennie lifted a small yellow flag. “That would be the beginning of October?”

Brigid nodded.

Buck said, “We had another ship go missing in that time, but it was in Prince William Sound.”

Tenzin blinked. “Zasha isn’t a wind vampire. They can’t move the way Ben and I can.”

Carwyn’s booming voice interrupted Tenzin’s train of thought. “Zasha has wind vampires working with them, and it’s clear from what we know of the attacks that they have hunting parties with every element. Isn’t it possible that Zasha sent someone to grab another boat in Katya’s territory to sow confusion?”

The priest was right, but Tenzin wasn’t going to say it.

Ben added, “It’s logical that there would be multiple raiding parties at work, especially if the goal was to get Katya and Oleg fighting each other. Steal a boat in Katya’s territory, attack a village in Oleg’s.”

“It’s not Oleg’s territory.” Jennie’s voice was sharp. “And I resent the implication that?—”

“Officially it might not be.” Tenzin stared at the map from her position overhead. “But this part of Alaska looks east to Oleg for protection” —she waved a hand over the territory west of Anchorage— “and this part of the state looks south to Katya. Let’s not get caught up in politics when we’re hunting.”

“So they attack a village in the west,” Brigid said, “then jump over and steal a boat in the east. But still movin’ steadily along the coast.”

“Zasha and Paulson don’t want to go inland, and they don’t want to draw the Athabaskans into this,” Ben said. “If they do that, they’re way outnumbered.”

“Moving along.” Carwyn stood and started pacing around the room. “The attacks continue along the coast, roughly one every couple of weeks.”

“And then back toward the tip of Seward,” Brigid said. “We know that one was only a few weeks back because there was a survivor.”

“More confusion,” Buck said. “Keep moving south but send a few people to attack Oleg’s people so there’s not a clear pattern.”

“There were ten victims in the Seward attack,” Brigid said as she placed another red dot. “Last I heard, Walter was hangin’ in there.”

“Spite,” Tenzin whispered. She had to admire the old man she’d flown to the hospital. He’s survived a vampire attackandhuman doctors.

Go, Walter.

“Zasha’s overall trend is east and south though, pushing toward the Inside Passage,” Tenzin said. “Why?”

Ben looked at the flags and the dots on the map. “I think we have to assume that Paulson is on a ship here somewhere.” He waved a hand over the map of the watery maze that curved south from the Gulf of Alaska.

Buck said, “Most of this area has deepwater channels and pretty decent traffic, so you could move ships in and out of the area without anyone noticing. And there are” —he shook his head— “thousands of places to hide.”

Tenzin surveyed the area. It was still huge. “Somewhere among all these islands, Paulson and Zasha have some kind of base.”

“A base?” Carwyn frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Paulson. From what we’ve heard, he’s always mobile.”

“He has a base.” Jennie’s voice was soft.

Every eye in the room turned toward her.

Tenzin stared at the quiet woman. “What do you know?”

“The elder that Carwyn found.” She nodded at the big vampire. “He was talking in his sleep a little bit. Said something about a floating city.” She shook her head. “I thought he was talking nonsense, maybe remembering old stories, but what if he was talking about a larger vessel, like one of these sea-steading things people talk about?”

“A floating city?” Tenzin pictured Penglai Island floating in the sky. It was a beautiful image. And terrible. That many dangerous vampires shouldn’t be comfortableandmobile at the same time.

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