Page 131 of Night's Reckoning
“I’m trying to contact a person on the boat. Family emergency.”
The man still looked reluctant, so Tenzin stepped closer, making herself look as innocent as she could. She tucked her hair behind her ears and smiled sweetly. That usually set human men at ease.
“I promise.” She got close enough to feel his body heat and smell his blood. “I’m really trying to contact them for a good reason. They don’t have a satellite phone and—”
“If you know the family, there must be a way—”
Tenzin grabbed his arm, gripping her fingers around his wrist and letting her influence work up his skin and into his mind.
“I didn’t want to do this,” she murmured. “But tell me everything you know aboutArion’s Flight.”
“Strange people,” he murmured. “Never saw the owners. Crew disembarked. They had only been hired in Hong Kong. Flying back.”
“They hired new crew?”
“Yessss.” The man began to slur. “Short trip to…”
“Short trip where?”
“Phil…lippines. Good money. Flight back.”
“They were going to the Philippines? To Manila?”
“Not Manila. Mm…”
“Mwhat?
“Mm-indoro. R-right across from… Batangas. Bay there. Weather coming.”
Ah yes, the unpredictable storm season in the South China Sea. If there was a natural bay in the Philippine Islands, the boat would have to take shelter there. Not even vampires were invulnerable to typhoons.
Well, except Tenzin.
“Thank you.” She let go of his arm. “You’ve been an enormous help.”
* * *
The storm systemmoved across the ocean like a slow-moving shroud. Tenzin flew above it, watching the billowing grey clouds bunch up like a mountain range, battering the sea beneath them with the power of the wind and rain.
She waited in a cloud of calm air, having spotted the bay the night before. There weren’t many yachts in the harbor, and most of those would have been protected and anchored while the humans aboard took shelter on land.
ButArion’s Flightwasn’t an ordinary luxury yacht. There would be humans and there would be vampires. They were carrying a symbol that could bring peace or spark war. Protecting it was the only option they had.
Tenzin flew down into the storm, letting herself whip through the torrent and twist in the roiling power. She was soaked to the skin, but that didn’t matter when the wind was so intense. She was hooked up to a live current, her amnis growing bigger and bigger, nearly bursting through her skin.
She halted in the middle of the storm, pushing her hands outward and creating a bubble of silence in the midst of the typhoon.
She closed her eyes and saw butterflies—every wing the color of blood—in a riot surrounding her, spiraling up and over the typhoon, thrown by the wind across the endless sky.
“You blew on that. Doesn’t count.”
Tenzin exhaled, adding her own breath to the storm. She hovered over the churning bay as boats rocked in their moorings and the humans huddled in their caves.
“You blew on that. Doesn’t count.”
“It’s the only thing that counts. A butterfly flaps her wings and all your preparation and work mean nothing.”
“So what’s the point of playing the game? What’s the point of any game?”
