Page 130 of Tin God

Katya had no idea how Paulson had managed to keep an entire cruise ship in her territory without her knowledge, but she was more than a little angry. Though, as Brigid had pointed out, if it was part of Paulson’s shadow fleet, there was no telling where it had been and how long it had remained in Katya’s stretch of the ocean.

Beside Carwyn, Gavin’s chief of security on the West Coast sat on the deck, his eyes closed and his amnis positively swollen with power from the salt-and-water-laden air.

“Raj?”

The young vampire’s eyes flickered open. “I’m so ready to be done with this.”

“Sokholov?”

“Sokholov, Paulson. The Ankers. All of it.” Raj took a deep breath and let it out slowly, the water in the air around them drawn to his skin, so it appeared almost as if the dark-skinned water vampire was sweating in the freezing-cold wind.

“I know we didn’t make the best impression on you in New Orleans, and I’m sorry for that. You’re entitled to your privacy. All of us have parts of our past we don’t like to talk about.”

“When you work for Gavin Wallace, you don’t have secrets.” Raj stared straight ahead. “At least not from your boss.” He glanced at Carwyn from the side. “Remember that if you go in doubting any of our people again.”

“I’ll remember.” He settled down next to the man, who was wearing a black wet suit. “You don’t seem to mind the cold.”

“I hate it, but this much water is always going to rev me up.”

“I hate the coldandthe water.” Carwyn grinned. “I might not be a help at all.”

Raj didn’t even show a hint of a smile. “You know who else doesn’t like water?”

“Zasha Sokholov?”

Raj nodded. “That vampire won’t be on the boat. I guarantee it.”

“Ben and Tenzin are already looking for someplace close by. Tenzin agrees with you.” Carwyn looked at the dark water and the black outlines of land rising around them. “You know Zasha?”

“Mila had this weird fascination with them.” He looked at Carwyn. “Mila Anker.”

Carwyn knew from Gavin that Raj and Mila had a history before Gavin killed her. “Why fascination?”

“Zasha could be… very mercurial. One moment it was like they wanted to be your friend. They could be really fascinating when they wanted to be. Very… attractive.”

“The same way a deadly animal can be attractive?”

Raj nodded. “Zasha always reminded me of a tiger. I never got too close—Mila kept me away from them—but they were beautiful and fascinating and very… relaxed. But with all this silent energy you could just sense anytime you got close.”

“What happens when a tiger gets hungry?”

“Or bored?” Raj’s voice got softer. “I think Zasha grows bored quickly. Mila tried to impress them, but Zasha ended up leaving her after a month or two.”

That surprised Carwyn, and he didn’t know why. “Mila and Zasha were lovers?”

“For a time. Mila tried to brush it off. I could tell she was angry though. She said Zasha would never stay with any lover for long. They were still in love with their dead mate.”

“We only learned about their mate last year.”

Raj looked at Carwyn. “Can you imagine loving a tiger?”

Carwyn looked at the deck and the sky reflected in the dark water that had pooled at their feet. “Maybe Zasha wasn’t always a tiger.”

“Maybe.” Raj shrugged. “But I don’t think you just suddenly turn into a sociopath like that. Even when life hurts you, there has to be something beyond that.”

Carwyn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Despite his firm belief that something Tenzin had done had precipitated the vampire’s ire, he knew that Zasha wasn’t the average vampire out to get revenge.

“I agree with you,” Carwyn said. “I’ve seen many hurt people in my life. Human and vampire. Very few of them become monsters.”

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