Page 26 of Tin God

Lev stared at the map. “Chaos.”

“So maybe the attackwasthe purpose,” Tenzin muttered. “Maybe they were just having fun.”

“Fun?” Lev’s eyes went dark. “Yes, perhaps.”

Brigid sat down and stared at the map, then delved into her memories. “Both the villages were like this?”

“Yes,” Lev said. “The one was on the mainland, the other on Kodiak Island.”

“Near a harbor?”

“They wouldn’t need a harbor.” Tenzin didn’t look up from the pictures.

“We can’t assume they’re air vampires.”

“Wind damage.” Tenzin kept looking through the stack of photos.

“And earth.” Brigid crossed her arms. “Fire too.”

Lev frowned. “The vampires who lived there were quiet. Old immortals. Powerful ones who didn’t bother anyone.”

“That would add to the fun from their perspective,” Tenzin said. “The older ones would have provided the amusement the humans couldn’t.”

“But still, a vampire’s gotta eat,” Brigid said, “so the humans are useful too.”

Lev curled his lip. “What you’re saying is?—”

“Awful.” Brigid kicked out her feet. “Disgusting. Abhorrent. And exactly something Zasha would do for fun.”

“They’ve done it before,” Tenzin said. “After all, Zasha learned it from your sire.”

“Our sire ran human hunts, but Oleg put a stop to it when he killed him.”

“And a few years back, Zasha’s son was runnin’, hunts in Northern California under Katya’s nose,” Brigid said.

“And before that, Ivan tried them down in the desert east of Los Angeles,” Tenzin said. “Probably at Zasha’s urging. This has always been their favorite amusement.”

“Ivan made good money on the hunts,” Brigid said. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars a night for the privilege of vampires letting their base instincts loose and thumbin’ their nose at authority.”

“So you think that is what Zasha is doing here?”

“Maybe.” Brigid narrowed her eyes. “But that can’t be the only reason.”

“Probably not.” Tenzin tossed the stack of pictures back on the table. “After all, you and I are here. Perhaps Zasha got another thing they wanted.”

ChapterSix

Ben slept very little that day. He could feel Tenzin stirring in his blood, her restless energy reaching out to him while she daydreamed wherever she was. The throbbing in his thigh was long gone, and his mind was tormented by what Tenzin had done.

Tenzin and Zasha are more alike than different.

It wasn’t true. He’d seen the kindness in her while Zasha was an empty vessel. Tenzin was a fury when the vulnerable were brutalized. He’d seen the flash of anger in her eyes when she witnessed casual cruelty.

She was more than what she had been.

Ben remembered a hospital room a very long time ago and a boy who had never been a boy sitting beside a woman he’d been trying to protect.

Was this the first?

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