Page 126 of Tin God
“Or,” Ben offered, “maybe Paulson has the right idea and we should all be living on boats.”
She glanced at him. “Let’s not be ridiculous.”
“Think about it, Tiny. A ship with a huge deck. Privacy on the water. We could get a converted barge with a huge, light-safe hold.”
She smiled. “You’resuggesting this?You?”
“I’m just saying we’re going to need a new base after…” He blinked. “I mean, we lost New York. Maybe it’s a sign that we need to go somewhere new. I’m not saying I want to live on a freighter, but a nice luxurious river barge in Paris or Copenhagen? That’s hardly like living on a boat at all. And you keep saying that things in Paris need to be shaken up. Maybe what they really need is a vampire coup, and we both know that’s practically a guarantee when you come to?—”
“This is an intriguing train of thought.” Her voice was soft. “But why don’t we talk about it after we lose the vampire who’s been following us for the past few minutes?”
Ben didn’t turn to look. “Raven?”
“No. A male. He’s been following us since we first started flying up this inlet.”
She started to turn to face the enemy, but Ben snapped at her.
“Head forward!”
“Why? I’ll simply kill him now. His amnis is much weaker than ours, and we don’t want him reporting our presence to Paulson.”
“How do you know he belongs to Paulson?”
“Because he’s not one of Katya’s people or he wouldn’t be following at this distance.”
“Fair enough, but don’t kill him.”
“Yet?”
Ben sighed a little bit. “Let him tail us and see how he reacts. If he keeps on our tail, that means we’re probably on the right track.”
Tenzin considered it and decided it wasn’t the worst idea in the world. “I think we’re exploring the right inlet. The water looks very deep, and there are no settlements on the coastline.”
“Exactly,” Ben said. “Plus this isn’t a strait, according to Raven, but a bay. That means there won’t be any random passing ships and the mouth of the inlet is easily watched.”
A sharp, unexpected gust cut through Ben’s amnis and sent a shot of ice-cold, damp air down Tenzin’s back. “Plus this fjord is sheltered from the weather.”
“Yes.”
She rose over him, scanning the distant coastline, which was shadowed by the clouds blocking the moon. They passed over the first of a series of small islands in the center of the bay, and as they crested the rising hill at the center of the island, a cluster of lights appeared in the distance.
“There,” Ben said. “Do you see it?”
“Yes.”
As they approached, the cluster of lights took on a shape more akin to a pyramid, and as they got even closer, Tenzin saw that the triangular shape she’d been watching stretched back and back, revealing that it wasn’t at triangle at all but a light-dotted vessel painted white on the top with a dark blue or black hull jutting proudly from the water.
Two rows of portholes lined the lower deck of the ship, and the faint sound of music could be heard coming from the ocean liner.
“And what do we do about our friend?” Ben asked.
“Are we sure this is Paulson’s boat?”
“Who else is keeping a cruise ship in Alaska in the middle of winter?”
“Let’s get closer and take a look,” Tenzin said. “I don’t want any extra humans or vampires in the middle of this. It will irritate Katya if we kill innocent humans.”
“So what does that mean for our flying friend back there?”