Chapter Twenty-Eight

She flew over the dark ocean, scanning the surface of the pitch-black water, looking for anything that stood out.

"It's no good," she told Ben. "I hate to say they were right, but the ocean is too big."

"That's why Gavin and Katya sent people to Vancouver. Once we narrow down where the cash is going?—"

"How long will that take?" It had already been nearly two weeks since Zasha's last attack. They wouldn't wait much longer. "Zasha offered to give up if Brigid killed me. They said they would walk into the sun if Brigid delivered my head."

Ben halted midair, froze as if the wind wasn't even battering him. Tenzin turned and looked back at her mate, and what she saw reminded her that Ben was far more powerful than he even realized.

Water dripped down his face, flowing from the black hair that fell onto his forehead. His beautiful mouth was a thin line, and his silver eyes stared with flat fury.

But though a storm pressed into the coast of Alaska, bringing ice, rain, and ferocious wind, the air around Ben was calm, absolutely still, as if waiting for his command.

"She wouldn't," Tenzin said. "Obviously I wouldn't let her."

"Zasha is evil."

"They're…" Evil was a moral judgment, and Tenzin didn't know what belief system Zasha was raised to adhere to in their human life. What was permissible in one moral code could be reprehensible in another. "Zasha is practical. They have an aim—to kill me and destroy my life—and pitting those who consider me a friend against each other would be an effective tactic to achieve that goal."

"I would kill her," he said. "If Brigid killed you, I would?—"

"Yes." Tenzin flew to him and put a hand on his cheek. "Which is exactly what Zasha would want. And then Carwyn would try to kill you, pitting him against your uncle, his oldest friend, and it would all spiral into a very horrible storm that Zasha could sit back and watch."

The corner of his lip twitched and Tenzin saw his fangs, fully extended and red with blood where he'd cut his lip. "Benjamin."

He reached out, put his hand at the small of her back, and pulled her to his body.

She felt his amnis riot, then calm as it recognized her own. "I did not tell you this to anger you."

"You know how to survive." His voice was soft. "You need to survive."

"I don't." Tenzin was far from sentimental about her own immortality. "Not really. I have had so much time. But you do, and you seem happier when you have me, so I will be less careless about my safety."

His gaze finally unfroze, and his eyes moved to meet hers. "Less careless? Like not flying off into the Alaskan wilderness and leaving me in order to meet a vampire who might have killed you?"

Tenzin kept her hand on his cheek. "She wouldn't have killed me. Her moral code wouldn't permit it."

"You're right." He blinked. "You're right." Ben took a deliberate breath. "My reaction is exactly what Zasha wants. They want to divide us."

"Like I said, Brigid's moral code would not permit it, and mine would not sacrifice myself because it would be detrimental to you."

Ben's eyes turned from rage-filled to calculating. "I wonder what Henri Paulson would have said if Brigid did kill you and then Zasha killed themself."

"I suspect he would not like it. He probably thinks Zasha is required to follow his directions."

"Zasha never follows directions," Ben muttered. "That's what killed the Ankers' plans."

Tenzin frowned. "Why did Paulson recruit Zasha? Is his ego really that big that he thinks Zasha Sokholov would do his bidding?"

"I'm guessing that Paulson thinks like other rich vampires. Well, rich vampires other than you."

She slid her hand from his cheek to his palm, knit their fingers together, and nudged him to fly next to her as they made their way south to Vancouver. "What do you mean?"

"Rich people love money. They're motivated by it."

Tenzin nodded. "I do like money."

"Why?"

Tenzin considered the question. "Because I can do whatever I want if I have money, and I can acquire the things I want."

"Yes. And if you had enough money to do all that, would you still want more?"

She closed her eyes and let her mind drift to the wind caressing her skin and threading through her scalp.

"Tenzin?"

"Why would I want more if I have enough to get what I want? Money isn't interesting anymore. Now it's only numbers that Cara reads off when I ask her." She curled her lip. "Boring."

Ben smiled. "You're adorable."

"Unless it's gold." She smiled. "I like gold."

"Gold is a shiny thing for you," Ben said. "But it's not really money these days."

She was glad he understood that, because she sometimes became concerned he didn't realize how fleeting modern human civilization was. "Because money is a human construct that means nothing."

"I know."

"And gold is gold."

"Exactly."

She quickly added, "And paintings are inherently worthless."

"Can we focus?"

The thread of irritation in his voice made her smile. "I know what you're saying. Paulson isn't like me. He likes the numbers on the screen."

"He likes the chase and acquisition of anything and everything. It's his form of hunting," Ben said. "How would you try to bribe someone, Tenzin?"

She turned toward the distant lights of Vancouver and sighed. "I would probably just threaten them. Bribery could be expensive."

"Okay, never mind." Ben tugged her hand and pulled her to float over him, cocooning her in the bubble of quiet he created as he flew. "Paulson likes money. He wants money, so he assumes everyone else does too. He offered Zasha money and thinks the lure of that money will control them."

"That's very stupid," Tenzin said. "Zasha is a living reaction, not a calculation. I doubt they've even considered what they would do with the money if Paulson actually paid them."

"Which he might."

"Which he won't" —Tenzin corrected her mate— "because we're going to kill Zasha."

Ben arched his neck up and kissed her. "Exactly."

They arrived in Vancouver, following the directions Katya had given them until they spotted the building she'd described, a four-story office building in a sea of office buildings on the edge of the commercial district in Vancouver.

"I haven't spent much time here," Ben said. "You?"

"No." Tenzin pointed her chin at the building opposite the one where they were perched. "But this is the gold exchange."

A wind vampire named Raven was already waiting, watching the building with steady eyes. Katya had described the vampire to Ben, and Tenzin had a hard time imagining there were two tall, ridiculously beautiful, Black wind vampires in Vancouver with golden-blond braids.

Ben looked at Tenzin gaping at Raven, and he snickered a little bit. "So if I got blond extensions, that would go over well, huh?"

She shook her head. "You couldn't pull it off."

"And now I'm a little bit hurt." He sent a gust of wind over to Raven, laden with their amnis and their scent.

The wind vampire turned her head, caught sight of them in the distance, and watched them with steady eyes before she pulled out a small device and spoke into it. A moment later, she waved them over.

"Ben Vecchio." Her eyes moved to Tenzin. "And Tenzin?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I've heard of you." Raven's fangs fell a little bit. "I'm a little intimidated to work with you guys if I'm gonna be completely honest."

"You won't be working with us," Tenzin said. "We're here for information."

The young vampire's expression fell. "Oh. Right."

"But obviously, it's really important information," Ben was quick to add. "And we were told you know the city really well, so you were the person to talk to."

"Thanks." Her expression brightened a little bit. "Uh, yeah, so we've been watching for a couple of hours now. Our tech guy, Lang, he's got a hook into their system, I guess. Less than an hour after Summer went in there?—"

"Summer?" Tenzin didn't know a Summer.

"Katya's youngest daughter," Ben said. "Brigid and Carwyn know her."

"Yeah." Raven nodded. "So she went in there, asked some questions. No answers obviously because it's a gold exchange."

"Obviously." Tenzin didn't trust the exchanges to hold her gold as some vampires did, but they were a useful service if you wanted to move money in immortal circles.

"But messages started flying," Raven said. "Lang said there were some back to Amsterdam, which is where Paulson has his gold reserves according to what Katya could find out."

"Matches with what Gavin's people said," Ben muttered. "Anywhere else?"

"Lang said no phone calls other than Amsterdam, but there were messages sent—apparently their messaging security is something like tin cans connected by a string—to a server in Iceland, then it bounced around a couple of times before it landed back here in Vancouver."

Ben frowned. "So the gold exchange sent a message to… itself?"

"No, it didn't go back to the same server, but it did come back to Vancouver before Lang lost it." Raven shrugged. "And that's all we know so far."

"Did you find his day people?"

"That's Summer's job," Raven said. "She's better at interviewing people than I am. Apparently I'm seen as intimidating."

"Clearly that would be an asset," Tenzin said.

"Right?" The girl huffed out a breath. "But no, Katya wanted soft hands for this one. Said she didn't want to scare anyone off."

"We need to track the physical cash," Ben said. "Paulson is paying his people, and it's likely going to be in cash considering where they are."

"Where is Summer?" Tenzin asked. "She was the one you were calling when you saw us?"

"Yeah." She lifted a large phone. "She's got two day people she thinks might have taken gigs for Paulson." Raven looked Ben and Tenzin up and down. "You guys bring anyone who's slightly less…"

"Scary?" Tenzin asked. "Lethal?"

"Vampire-y." Raven looked embarrassed. "If Grim Reapers exist in our world, they would look like the two of you."

Ben muttered, "Fucking flannel shirts."

"You want someone who looks human and nonintimidating?" Tenzin asked. "He's already on a plane."