Page 128 of Dawn Caravan
“It’s yours.” She twisted her wrists and snapped the plastic ties that bound her hands. “I wouldn’t suggest it for bedsheets.”
Minutes later, Tenzin was free as a bird and sitting on the ground, staring at the door that Vano had locked. “His people are going to do something to the trailer during the day. Break it possibly. Try to drag me out.”
René’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know?”
“Why else would he tie me up in a trailer?”
“I can think of a few reasons to tie you up, but none of them involve murder.”
“Boring,” she snapped.
“Murder?”
“Your flirting,” she said. “It used to be amusing. It’s not anymore.”
He muttered something in French that she didn’t care about translating.
Tenzin spoke to herself. “He doesn’t know I don’t sleep. Why would he?”
René’s eyes went wide. “At all? You don’t sleep at all?”
“You didn’t know that?” Tenzin frowned. “I suppose not—why would you?”
He sounded nervous. “So the past few nights when you’d been asking me to sleep here—”
“I’ve been awake all day, yes.” Something was tingling. Some unknown sense was setting off alarms. “Don’t worry; I don’t stare. Much.”
“How the fuck—”
“Shhhh.” She threw a pillow from the couch at him. “Shut up.”
What was it? Vano clearly had a plan to get rid of her, so what was it?
René sulked in the corner. “Your caravan is much nicer than mine.”
“I’m sure it is. Ben’s is nicer still.”
He rocked back and forth. “It doesn’t shake as much as mine does.”
“That’s because—” Oh.
Oooooh.
She heard it then, the whisper-quiet business of the camp. The sun would be up within half an hour, which meant the darigan were setting about their business, retracting the braces that kept the trailers even, readying for the camp to move.
Except her trailer. No one was readying her trailer to move.
Tenzin smiled. “He’s going to leave us.”
René jumped to his feet. “What?”
“Relax.” She waved him back. “This complicates things, but it’s not the end of the world.”
“Some of us can’t fly, Tenzin!” René was fuming. “Some of us have plans we’ve been working on for weeks that are more important your little feuds with Vano and Ben.”
“You’ll get your treasure,” Tenzin said. “Didn’t I promise?”
“Your deal was that I stayed in here during the day for some reason I now realize wasnottrying to make Vecchio jealous.” René began to pace. “The deal wasnotlosing the biggest potential score of my immortal life because you pissed off the wrong vampire.” He started toward the door, but Tenzin was on him. She throttled him and sent him flying back into the bed.
