Page 32 of Tin God

“You can’t remember?”

“My boy, I have lived a long time.”

“The boss is here.”

Tenzin looked up to see Lev standing in the doorway that led to the stinky room. “Who is your boss?”

Brigid nudged her arm. “Oleg.” She looked at Lev. “I didn’t know he was in the area. You said he hated the cold.”

“Oh yeah.” Lev nodded. “That’s probably why he’s so grumpy, you know? And the dogs. He doesn’t like the dogs.”

Tenzin muttered, “What kind of human doesn’t like dogs?”

“Maybe it’s just the sled dogs,” Brigid said. “I can’t lie, they are really feckin’ loud.”

“Hmm.” Tenzin stood up from the pictures she was examining. There was something about the photos that tickled her brain, but she couldn’t place the irritation, so she just kept looking at them long after Brigid had lost interest.

“Is Oleg staying in the big house?”

Lev nodded. “Oh yeah, he doesn’t stay here.”

“Because it stinks like sweat?” Tenzin’s nose twitched. “And pickled eggs?”

Brigid snapped her fingers, and a spark lit the air. “That’s what it is. Pickled eggs.” She wrinkled her nose.

“No, he stays at his house because…” Lev looked hurt. “He likes his privacy. Does it really smell like pickled eggs here?”

Tenzin and Brigid exchanged a look, and then they both nodded.

“Oh.” Lev frowned. “Okay, so the boss said he wants to talk to you both in an hour. He doesn’t want to come here. He says he’ll have his housekeeper make tea.”

“Okay, great.” Brigid waved, and Lev returned to the front room. “Bollocks.”

“What’s wrong?” Tenzin returned to the map, trying to estimate how long it would take to fly to the burned villages.

“I don’t have anything for tea.”

“So?”

“Gift giving is a big thing for Oleg,” Brigid said. “Anne said I should never show up to anything that Oleg is hostin’ without some kind of gift.”

“So he knows that about you,” Tenzin said. “This is why he has invited us to his house instead of coming here and he specifically told Lev that he was preparing tea. He’s challenging you.”

Brigid’s lip curled. “Yeah, but that doesn’t help me at the moment.” She lifted the pile of pictures. “What am I gonna give him? Snapshots of destruction?”

Tenzin shrugged. “I’ll find something.”

Brigid frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” She pointed to the pictures. “Every type of attack. Every element represented. How likely is that? Usually our kind hunt in like groups. Wind with wind. Water with water.”

Brigid crossed her arms and looked at the pictures. “You’re spot on. Every single frame shows evidence of fire, earth, air, and water violence. It has to be intentional.”

“This isn’t chaotic,” Tenzin said. “It’s not random even though it’s meant to look that way. Zasha is choosing vampires of each element and then letting them loose on these villages for fun.”

Brigid sat down in a chair and stared at the fire. “Do ya know all the cruise ships that come up here to Alaska?”

“Cruise ships?”

---