Page 24 of Tin God

Were. Not are.

“She’s changed,” Ben said. “She’s more human now.”

“Oh no.” Carwyn’s eyes were sad. “It’s possible she’s changed, Benjamin, but she is anything but human. We will win this fight. Do not doubt it. Zasha and all her army could try to take on you and Tenzin, Brigid and me, but they will fail. I have no doubt.” He leaned forward. “But make no mistake: there will be no winners when this is over.”

ChapterFive

“There were attacks here” —Lev pointed to a red mark on a map near a place labeled Katmai Bay— “and here.” He pointed to another red mark. “Small villages. Mostly human and a few of our kind.”

They were talking in the great room where the fire still burned even though all the humans and most of the vampires had retreated to their rooms during the small hours of the night. Only Lev, Brigid, and Tenzin seemed to be awake.

“Were the vampires in these villages from the Athabaskan Confederation?” Brigid asked.

Lev said, “Athabaskan.”

“That’s what I said.” Her accent always betrayed her Irishness. Thethin Athabaskan sounded like Atta-baskan.

Lev frowned, but he nodded along. “Okay, right.”

Some mocked the Irish pronunciation ofth—threesounded likedtree—but the Gaelic for three wastríand always had been. The Irishthlasted long after the English had nearly wiped out her native tongue under punishment of death.

The Irish persisted. Sometimes Brigid felt like she persisted just to annoy her enemies to their deaths, but it kept her going.

“So were they Athabaskan?” she asked again.

“No. Some of the humans might be Native, but most of the vampires in this area came during the Russian time, so they’re not related to the Confederation.” He gestured to the northern and inland parts of the map. “Confederation vampires are more inland and almost all earth vampires like me. This area attracts water and air vampires.” He shrugged. “Mostly ones who want to hide but stay close enough to humans to… Well.”

Hunt.

The area Lev was pointing to was along the coast, farther south and west of their location.

“It’s remote and most of it is national park,” Lev said. “It’s only accessible from the air or the water. Tourists from the national park. Hunters and fisherman.”

“Immortals love places like that,” Tenzin said. “I love places like that.”

Lev chuckled a little bit. “More than one vampire enjoys the humor of hunting humans who are hunting animals.”

“Remote,” Brigid said. “But with enough humans to keep a vampire fed.”

“Exactly. It’s a good area if you want to live quietly,” Lev said. “Like you said, not busy but enough humans to keep you fed. Lots of wild game too.”

“But too many missing people would be noticed,” Tenzin said. “So you’d have to have the right sort of vampires.”

Lev nodded. “Our kind in that place? Soft footprint. Enjoy the long nights, feed from the tourists, keep a low profile, and you can live very comfortably. It’s all Katya’s territory technically, but she can ignore it. Our kind who go there want to be anonymous. Many live on boats or in the woods near human villages.”

“Even this time of year?”

“Eh…” Lev shrugged. “For a human? It’s a bad idea to be isolated in the winter, but for a vampire, not too bad. There are enough islands that the big storms aren’t too destructive, which is why we noticed when these villages were hit.”

“By hit, you mean?—”

“Hit.” Lev’s voice was low and lost all its usual humor. “No vampires left. No humans either. The houses were wrecked, the ground all torn up. Once the water warms up, the bodies might start washing ashore. Or they may be gone by then.”

Brigid looked at the two small dots. “How many people?”

“Not many.” Lev picked up a mug of heated blood-wine. “A few vampires and a few dozen humans. Old settlements, some of them family compounds.”

“Human families or vampires?” Tenzin asked.

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