Page 33 of Tin God

“Humans all group together on large boats. I’m talking massive boats, Tenzin.”

“Yachts?”

“Bigger than yachts.” She spread her arms out. “Hundreds of bedrooms. Restaurants. Swimming pools. Nightclubs and pubs. Theaters sometimes.”

“Like a floating city.”A vampire buffet.She didn’t say that part.

“Yes, like a floating city.”

The idea of that had some appeal even without the human-buffet part. Tenzin traveled quite comfortably in boats even though Benjamin hated them. “If I could stay below the waterline, it wouldn’t bother me. Ben stayed in a freighter once when we were?—”

“Focus,” Brigid said. “So on these human cruise ships, they travel to different spots, and then when they get to those locations, the humans will go off and do different things. Tour historic sites. Visit national parks or museums. Things like that.”

“I like museums.”

“You like stealin’ from museums,” Brigid said.

“Not always.”

But often.

Tenzin didn’t have a problem with stealing from museums. After all, most of the things in museums had belonged to someone else to begin with. She was hardly going to feel guilty about stealing things that were already stolen.

“What if, instead of running hunts like Ivan, Zasha is running vampire tours? ‘Here, come to a place with long nights and cold weather where a lot of isolated vampires and humans are settled in for the winter, and then we can hunt them.’”

“For a price?”

“Of course for a price.”

Brigid stared at the fire, and Tenzin watched the vampire and the fire react to each other.

Did the woman know the flames followed her? If she gestured, the fire moved in tandem. If she grew animated, the flames jumped. Sparks glowed when she stared at them, dying down when she looked away.

Fascinating.

Tenzin had never been particularly interested in fire. Giovanni’s had been useful in certain situations, but they rarely burned vampires to death when a blade was so much quicker. She found herself curious about how Brigid and the fire worked together.

Giovanni wielded his fire like a warrior swung a sword.

But Brigid? Tenzin felt like the flames were almost reaching for her. As if the fire was an extension of her body.

Fascinating.

“…what you’ll bring?”

She frowned. “What?”

Brigid said, “I was askin’ if you had an idea what you’ll bring? To Oleg’s house.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “We should be there in about thirty minutes. I’m gonna go change into a clean shirt.”

“Good idea. You are also starting to smell like pickled eggs.”

“If I am, so are you.” Brigid stood up. “We’ve gotta get some fresh air.”

Tenzin waitedat the front door of the luxurious wooden house in the middle of the forest. In the summer it would look out over a broad river teeming with fish. Bears probably rambled through to feed, and the sun from the long summer days would bake the wooden shingles on the steep, angled roof and warm the broad double porch.

The house’s shutters were painted bright green with delicate flowers in red and yellow, a surprisingly feminine touch in an otherwise masculine abode. Elk and moose antlers decorated the face of the house, and two purebred white dogs lazed on a corner of the porch, looking for all the world like two miniature polar bears soaking in the snow.

“I guess he likes dogs after all,” Tenzin said.

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