Page 136 of Tin God

It was the perfect location for them. Rainforest to keep their element under control. The lush greenery around the house showed evidence of blackened scarring, but the forest was too wet for any fire to find purchase, especially in the winter.

Brigid stood at the base of the cedar tree and looked up. “What are we doing?” she whispered.

Ugh. How inconvenient to be tethered to the ground. Tenzin tried to remember what it felt like to be bound with gravity, but she couldn’t quite fathom it anymore.

Not the little fire vampire’s fault. She swooped down, picked up Brigid under the arms, and plopped her on a branch in the cedar tree.

“That’s Zasha’s house.” She nodded at the old izba peeking through the trees.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.” Brigid was hugging the trunk of the cedar. “Are you sure?”

Tenzin frowned. “What are you doing?”

The woman glanced down and clutched the tree trunk harder. “Tenzin, why?—?”

“Even if you fell, you’d survive.” Tenzin bounced on the branch a little. “And this tree is sturdy.”

“Right.” She gritted her teeth, and her fangs pierced her lip. “I know that. Really I do. But it would hurt. A lot. And you said you found Zasha’s house.”

“If you open your eyes, you’ll see it.” Tenzin peered through the branches to keep an eye on the windows. “I don’t see any movement, so I don’t know if Zasha is there. I find it hard to imagine they don’t know theNautilusis being attacked.”

“Right.” Brigid nodded, but she didn’t let go of the tree. “Uh… they prob’ly don’t care. Zasha doesn’t have any loyalty to Paulson or those vampires. They were just useful idiots to them.”

“Yes.” The little fire vampire really was quite bright. “But on the chance that anyoneiswatching, they’re going to see the top of this tree shaking, and it’s obviously not from the wind, so could you calm down please?”

“Okay.” Brigid took a calming breath. “Okay. Right. Right.”

Tenzin rolled her eyes. “Oleg was right; you do still think like a human.”

“You know, I consider that a feature, not a bug.”

“I don’t know what that means. Why would you compare yourself to a bug?” Tenzin wrinkled her nose. “Why Zasha became fascinated with you is a mystery to me.”

“Me too.” Brigid cautiously sat up straight, still keeping a hand on the trunk of the cedar. “Why don’t we go knock on the door and ask?”

Tenzin pursed her lips. “That’s an idea.”

“I was jokin’.”

“Maybe, but it’s a quick way to get an answer.” Tenzin floated away from the cedar tree and held her hand out. “And I think we’ve waited long enough. Don’t you?”

Brigid’s eyes went wide. “You’re serious.”

Tenzin nodded. “They won’t kill me. They know they can’t try to kill me without me killing them. So I’m going to go knock on the door and say hello.”

“But you said that you didn’t care about your promise anymore. That your children wouldn’t care if you broke your word.”

“I did.” Tenzin nodded. “But Zasha doesn’t know that.”

Carwyn growledat Ben when the wind vampire finally pulled him away from the fighting. “They did what?”

“Tenzin found Zasha’s house,” Ben said. “It’s on the island we passed in the middle of the bay. I dropped Brigid on the beach.”

“Why would you bloody do that?” Carwyn roared.

“Because she told me to!” Ben snarled and roared back. “Do you want me to take you to her or not?”

“Fuck!” Carwyn spun and slammed his fist into the face of an elegantly coiffed vampire who was barreling toward them with a harpoon spear in her hand.

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