Page 74 of Tin God
Not Tenzin.
“An unfortunate loss for you.” Tenzin was debating her next move. “My condolences.”
“Poor Josef.” The vampire kept looking between her and the body; she caught a glimpse of dark eyes and pale skin, not unusual for immortals who couldn’t survive sun. “Didyouknow him?”
“No.”
“Then what are you doing here?” The corner of his mouth turned up. “Just passing by?”
Tenzin looked up at the balcony, but there was another person now. She’d been planning to use that balcony as an entry point for the theft, but now that was definitely out of the question for the night.
She wasn’t going to follow her plan anymore, so there was no harm in telling the stranger. “I was supposed to be stealing a particularly beautiful clock from this human’s house.”
“I see.” The vampire nodded. “The gold Boulle on the third floor?”
“Yes, exactly.” Tenzin moved her foot as the human’s blood seeped down the channel between the cobblestones. “I have a client in Paris who would like to retrieve it. It was given to this human without their permission.”
“So irritating when that happens.” The vampire’s tone was casual. “The Boulle is a lovely piece.”
She nodded. “I saw the drawings, but I haven’t seen it in person.”
Voices rose from down the street, and a few doors opened and slammed shut. Someone rang a bell in the distance, and the distant sound of carriage wheels made Tenzin go on alert.
She hated carriages.
“You wouldn’t miss it,” the other vampire said. “He kept in on the mantelpiece in the upstairs library.”
Tenzin narrowed her eyes and looked at the balcony again, where three people were shouting. “I think the humans are coming. I should retrieve it another time.”
“Not a bad idea. Perhaps tomorrow night?”
I’m not telling you when I’m coming back.She couldn’t see the vampire fully, but she didn’t trust him. His clumsily cloaked amnis put her on edge. “Perhaps.”
“They call you Tenzin, don’t they?”
She kept her face carefully blank as she looked at him from the corner of her eye. Her faithful bronze blade was secured in a pocket built into her skirts, she had a garrote in her waist pocket, and a thin blade was tucked in her hair, disguised as a hatpin.
She kept her voice low. “Some call me that.”
“I mean no offense.” He clicked his heels together and bowed a little bit. “Your reputation precedes you.”
She had no idea if that was a compliment or a threat. She wanted to see more of the stranger’s face, but the vampire kept it hidden, and he was too tall to make out his features clearly. “Are you native to this city?”
“No.” The stranger bent down, swiped a finger through the blood pooling under the broken body of the human, and licked the viscous red liquid that was quickly turning black. “I enjoyed the sex. And the blood.”
Tenzin watched the cloaked figure straighten to his full height. She took a step back, unnerved by the vampire who was so casually acting inhuman in public.
Physical strength wasn’t as important to immortals as it was to humans, but it wasn’t nothing. The vampire beside her dwarfed her tiny frame, and he was physical in a way that made Tenzin think he might be an earth vampire. He had broad shoulders, a long neck, and long arms. He would run faster than her; he could reach farther.
Tenzin survived by hiding, and this immortal’s actions tempted discovery.
“Good night to you.” She took another step back. “Perhaps I’ll tell my client that this job must wait.”
Tenzin turned and slipped into the shadows, taking to the sky as quickly as she could.
Once she reached the roof of a nearby building, she crouched behind a brick chimney and peered over the edge at the tall vampire, who had remained in the crowd gathered around the dead man.
There was something familiar about him. Something that tickled her vast memory.