Page 64 of Tin God
Brigid looked up and saw Tenzin staring at her. The wind vampire nodded silently.
“I think you know our little bargain now, don’t you? I can’t kill Tenzin. She can’t kill me.” Zasha’s voice was a soft whisper. “But send me her head and I’ll walk into the sun the next morning. Would that be enough for you?”
Brigid froze. “What?”
“You kill Tenzin and I’ll stop. All of it. The hunts. The death. All of it will stop, Brigid Connor. Your innocents will be protected. Civilized vampires” —Zasha’s voice dripped with condescension— “will be safe. Just send me Tenzin’s head and it’s over.”
Tenzin sat on the edge of the bed, a smile teasing the corner of her mouth.
“Is that understood, Brigid?” Zasha’s voice was playful again. “I know you won’t do it, but I at least wanted to offer. I’m notunreasonable. Give me a word, Brigid Connor. Tell me you’ve received my proposal.”
Brigid could barely form the word. “Noted.”
“Good.” There was a clicking sound and the line went dead.
She stared at the wall.
“You have to consider it.” Tenzin held up her phone and spoke. “Cara.” She looked back at Brigid. “You have to at least consider it. I won’tletyou kill me, but you’d be a fool not to consider it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“It’s not ridiculous.” Tenzin gripped her phone. “Cara!”
Cara was the virtual assistant built into the Nocht software that let vampires run their electronic devices with minimal touch.
“Cara doesn’t work up here.” Brigid couldn’t take her eyes off a spot on the wall. “Do you think Zasha meant it?”
“You’ve interacted with them more than I have. Do they lie?”
“Constantly.”
“Then they might have meant it or they could change their mind.” Tenzin threw her phone on the bed. “Call Chloe for me.”
Brigid frowned and looked up. “Who?”
Tenzin bent down and snarled in Brigid’s face. “Call Chloe Reardon.Now.”
The corner of Brigid’s mouth turned up and her fangs dropped, but she had Chloe’s number. “Wake.” Her phone came to life in her hand. “Call Chloe Reardon.”
The phone rang and rang, but finally a voice picked up. “Who is this?”
“Chloe, are you safe?” Tenzin shouted at the phone.
“Oh my God, Tenzin.” Chloe sounded as if she’d been crying. “Tenzin, I’m so sorry.”
“What happened?” Tenzin stood, and her feet left the floor. “Is Gavin with you?”
“He’s talking to the firefighters right now.” Chloe sniffed. “Tenzin, it’s— I don’t know how it happened. Maybe an electrical fire or something. I know I didn’t leave a candle burning, and I haven’t cooked anything there since you guys left, so I don’t know what?—”
“Firefighters.” Tenzin was frozen, her eyes blinking rapidly. “They burned the loft.”
Brigid’s heart sank.
Ben and Tenzin’s loft in New York had been their sanctuary. A refuge from the world. Brigid knew that especially for Ben, his place in New York was his pride and joy, a home he’d built for himself and Tenzin. Maybe the first home that had ever been truly his own.
“The birds,” Tenzin whispered. “Chloe, did you get the birds?”
“I don’t think anyone could have… I mean, they said the glass shattered, so it’s possible they flew away but?—”