Page 129 of Tin God

“I don’t care if Zasha is here or not,” a woman with a similar accent responded. “I’m dying for some variety.”

“I’m not sure when dinner hour is over, but we can go take a look at the buffet.”

“Darling, can’t we order room service?”

Ben flew closer to the second-level balcony, intrigued by this seemingly ordinary exchange that sounded like it could have been any wealthy, middle-aged couple on holiday.

The voices grew louder, and a man said, “We’re limited to crew if we order room service, and you know what Henri said about the crew. And after the last incident?—”

“That wasn’t my fault.” The woman’s voice took on a distinct whine. “The girl was struggling to escape, and you know how that triggers my prey drive.”

Okay, so not an ordinary couple on vacation.

The man was trying to placate her. “I’m just saying that if you want to be able to finish a kill, the ballroom is where we must go. We don’t want to annoy our host.”

“Ballroom hunting isboring. What a dreadfully banal way to spend an evening. Frightful, Reggie. Absolutely gauche.”

Ballroom hunting? What the actual hell was Henri Paulson doing on this boat?

“Henri promised another shore excursion soon, Poppy.”

“Henripromises a lot.” There was a definite pout in her voice. “Why are we even listening to him? We’re not under aegis here. That’s the whole point, isn’t it? We can fly out of here right now.” Footsteps approached the balcony, and Ben slid to the side, keeping to the shadows.

“Patience, pet.” The man soothed the petulant vampire. “Henri promised that once the fighting starts, we’ll all have as much hunting as we like without anyone the wiser.”

“Oh, I suppose?—”

“Didn’t we have fun at the last shore excursion?” He cajoled her in dulcet tones. “Didn’t we, pet? Remember that funny old man who was hobbling with his cane?”

Ben heard the woman laugh.

“That was funny. But he tasted medicated. I like younger blood.”

He struggled to keep from flying up and showing them what violence really looked like.

“And you shall have it.” The man coaxed her back into the room. “Just be patient a little bit longer.”

Ben silently shook his head.

Even if he and Tenzin had to raze this boat to the ground themselves, these spoiled and entitled immortals weren’t taking another human victim.

“So we agree?”Brigid looked at Katya, then at Oleg on the screen. “You’ve both dealt with Ben and Tenzin before. We can agree they’re giving an accurate report?”

“Agreed,” Oleg said. “I am willing to deal with the blowback from any regents who complain. Whoever might be on Paulson’s ship, their lives are forfeit for attacking humans and vampires in foreign territory.”

“I can agree with that,” Katya said. “Oleg and I may have our own disputes, but neither of us condones this. Paulson and everyone on that ship are fair game.”

When Brigid had heard the report from Ben and Tenzin, she immediately knew that a group of powerful and wealthy immortals were going to have powerful and wealthy friends. The last thing she wanted to do was start an international incident, but they had ironclad proof that Paulson was hunting humans and that Zasha Sokholov was involved.

Whatever “soon” meant to those waiting vampires, she didn’t want to find out what they had planned.

“We’re all in agreement then.” Brigid nodded. “So let’s talk strategy.”

ChapterThirty-Two

Carwyn crouched low in the bow of the speedboat, hurtling through the night toward the long cove where Henri Paulson had parked theNautilus, his “floating city” for vampire elites.

Using Ben and Tenzin’s description, they’d identified the ship as a three-hundred-thirty-foot vessel bought by a shell company in the Bahamas several years ago. It had cruised up to Vancouver two years before; then by all official accounts, it had disappeared.

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