Page 92 of Tin God
“…desperate for some new blood.”
“Unless you want to go on a shore excursion with?—”
“Absolutely not. Those Neanderthals…” More words lost to a gust of wind. “…don’t need that kind of…”
“I feel the same way. …just want to live my eternity in peace and not have to hide.”
“The hiding isexhausting.”
The last answer was spoken in a voice that told Carwyn the speaker had never been truly exhausted in her life. He thought it was two women, but he couldn’t be sure.
“Hey,” Gus whispered to Carwyn. “Gonna take us up the side unless you want to stay here.”
“No, let’s go around.” Carwyn was curious to find out who else was on the boat. There were two female vampires from what he could glean from the previous conversation. Were there other vampires too? And where the hell was Ben?
Gus gave Carwyn a low grunt as they approached another set of lit portholes. This time there was more sound of equipment and business than voices. Someone was washing dishes, and another voice was shouting orders at what sounded like servers.
“—grab that tray. Number three is going to want that blood fresh or she’ll…”
“Yes, Chef.”
Chef, huh? Of course Henri Paulson’s vampire safe havens had professional chefs on board. What would hiding from humans be without human servants?
It was one of the chief ironies of immortal life that most vampires considered themselves superior to human beings, but they could not survive without them. It grated on every vampire Carwyn knew, either because they hated having to hunt humans for blood—like his wife—or they hated being dependent on something they considered inferior, which was most of the rest of the immortal world.
Humans provided their chief sustenance, took care of their daily needs, staffed their homes during the day, ran errands and did tasks that vampires couldn’t do because they happened during daylight.
Humans didn’tneedvampires. A good case could be made that vampires offered them nothing of value and their lives would be better if the last bloodsucker died out.
But vampires? Vampires were nothing without humans.
“Sounds like the staff quarters,” Gus muttered. “I hear at least half a dozen.”
Carwyn wondered if any of that staff were from theFlying Dolphin, the missing yacht that had belonged to Henri Paulson.
“On a boat this large, how many crew members would you need?” Carwyn asked.
Gus looked up and down the barge. “Depends on how many passengers. To just pilot the thing? Not that many. You could get by with two or three. But this is a passenger ship now. And passengers need crew.”
“Take it around,” Carwyn said. “I want to see if I can get on deck.”
Gus’s eyebrows went up. “You sure about that?”
“Those two vampires we heard didn’t know what ‘the plan’ was,” Carwyn said. “I want to see if I have better luck figuring it out.”
They founda ladder on the far side of the barge, metal rungs welded to the body of the ship. Carwyn put his finger to his lips and turned to Gus, who nodded and waited for Carwyn to climb the first rung before he drifted the canoe away from the barge.
The water in the cove was calm, but the wind tugged at his clothes, making climbing a challenge. Luckily the ship and the rungs were metal, which had always liked Carwyn.
His elemental energy had always gotten along well with metal. Raw metal in the earth loved him, and even forged and manufactured metal appreciated his touch.
He clung to the side of the ship, crawling up the rungs until he was just under the deck. He paused, waiting for any voices to pass by, but he heard nothing.
Carwyn’s size belied his swiftness. He swung his legs up and heaved his body onto the deck of the barge, immediately crouching down to lower his profile. If any guards were watching, he didn’t want to raise alarms.
Fortunately, the only guard he could see was on the far side of the deck near what looked like an outdoor kitchen covered by a metal shade.
He scanned the deck of the barge, his eyes sweeping from the tip of the ship where it looked like someone was fishing to a wood-clad building in the middle of the deck with steam pouring from the top.