Page 77 of Tin God
She shook her head. “You and Carwyn. Exactly the same.” Brigid stood and walked to the door.
Mika met her and the two put their heads together, speaking in low tones that Tenzin didn’t care to interpret.
Tenzin remained in her chair, staring at Oleg.
The fire vampire turned his eyes to her. “Khazar.”
“Varangian.”
Oleg looked at the guard at the door, and within moments, every human and vampire in the place disappeared.
The corner of Oleg’s mouth turned up. “What do you want?”
“You’ve been oddly cooperative. What is your angle?”
“Angle?” Oleg raised a cutting eyebrow. “I don’t have one. One might say that I owed you a very old debt that’s now been repaid.”
“We were hired to kill him.” Tenzin turned her eyes to the fire. “The fact that you assisted us has never been an issue.”
“Fine then. I don’t want Zasha killing harmless people. It’s bad for business and my reputation.”
“And you want Alaska back.”
He lifted one thick shoulder. “There are opportunities I might pursue if Zasha was no longer a problem.”
“The last time I saw you, you were glaring at the pretty new leader of the Poshani caravan.”
“Your memory is… interesting. Do you think she’s pretty?”
Tenzin said, “If I weren’t a mated vampire, you’d be out of luck.”
That made him smirk. “What do you want, Tenzin?”
She wasn’t sure, but she felt like her business with the Russian was far from concluded.
“Tell me how to kill Zasha,” she said. “You know them better than I do.”
“No.” Oleg shook his head. “No one ever knew Zasha. We weren’t allowed.”
“Why?”
“Because our sire kept Zasha like a pet. They were a curiosity, and they weren’t allowed to have normal relationships with anyone. They never had a friend. Never had a lover. Nothing was allowed.”
“And after you killed your sire?”
Oleg shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation. “After Truvor was dead, I killed all those who tried to defend him, and then I killed everyone who challenged my claim on his territories. It was a very bloody few weeks in Irbosk.”
“Zasha wasn’t one of those challengers.”
“Of course not.” His reply came quickly. “At that time, Zasha was nothing. A shy dog kicked too often. They were happy to leave, so I let them.” He shrugged. “I had no idea that Zasha would become a gadfly the way that they have.”
“Why not kill them yourself?”
A flicker of guilt in Oleg’s eyes was all that Tenzin needed to understand the vampire’s thinking.
She rose and looked down at Oleg. “You are not responsible for the monster Zasha has become. I know what they suffered, but I also know that Zasha made choices. Those choices are what made them who they are now,notthe violence they survived.”
Oleg folded his hands and rested his chin on them. “Didn’t you kill everyone in your clan in judgment for their actions?”