The vampire with two eyes rushed to Ben, crouching over him, his fangs almost in Ben’s neck before Ben was able to bring his knife up. He forced the blade under the vampire’s ribs just as a flying head collided with his attacker’s temple, blood and brain matter spattering the bricks as the vampire released Ben.
Ben spit something he didn’t want to think about out of his mouth as he rolled to his back, bringing his legs up and punching them into the torso of the vampire still on top of him. The kick drove the dagger in deeper. It caught in the immortal’s ribs, and Ben heard a soft crack.
The two vampires were still shouting. Then it was only one. Ben’s head whipped around to see the vampire with the bloody eye in a heap on the bricks. This time, it took three thwacks to decapitate him.
Ben felt his stomach lurch.
Then it was done and only one was left. Tenzin walked over, her blood-drenched tunic flapping as she approached him.
“Are you injured?”
“No. Just… trying not to puke.”
Tenzin grabbed the last vampire by the hair, batting off the square hat the man wore and bringing up the dagger she held. “Ben, this is a good lesson on why you do not let your blades become dull. Obviously, it creates greater mess when you have to use them and can be to your detriment in a fight.”
Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up.
“Got it, Tenzin.”
Ben pulled off his bloody shirt and wiped his face, but he wasn’t sure if it cleaned anything or just spread the blood around.
He didn’t throw up.
Tenzin flew up, dragging the vampire to the balcony on the second floor of the house. Ben sure as hell hoped no one was looking over the wall, especially since there’d been so much noise. She sat on the edge of the balcony, kicking her legs back and forth and dangling the bloody stranger in front of her.
“Who is your master?” she asked in her most reasonable tone. She was using Mandarin and he wasn’t sure why. Tenzin spoke Uyghur. Was it for his benefit?
“Are you going to kill me?”
“Yes. But I will kill you at a later time if you tell me who your master is.”
“Eh…”
Obviously, this wasn’t what the vampire wanted to hear.
Tenzin explained. “I am very old. So it’s quite possible I’ll forget about you for decades. Though I will kill you eventually.”
“My sire is Aqpasha.”
“Well,” she said with a snort, “he thinks a lot of himself, doesn’t he?”
“What?”
“Never mind. I am Tenzin. Have you heard my name, even if you obviously haven’t seen my mark?”
The vampire nodded.
“Then you know you should never try to take what is mine. Benjamin, there is a brick in one of the men’s pockets, grab it please.”
“Since you said please…,” Ben muttered, rolling his shoulders and trying to ignore the bruises on his back he could feel forming.
“Now, vampire, what is your name—never mind, it is not important and you’ll probably lie to me so I can’t find you again.” She pulled him closer and snarled. “It won’t work. I have your smell. So tell me, did Aqpasha send you or were you exploring?”
He muttered something in Uyghur and Ben tuned out the conversation. After a few more pointed questions, she dropped him. The bloody vampire fell in the courtyard below, eyeing Ben with bitter eyes as he pulled out the knife still lodged in his ribs. Ben raised one eyebrow at the vampire as he threw the knife at Ben’s feet.
“Pick the knife up, clean it, and hand it to my human,” Tenzin called. She was examining the bodies of the other vampires, kicking them to the walls as their blood filled the cracks between the cobblestones, slowly creeping toward the cistern. She picked up Ben’s other knife that had dropped near the crates and tossed it to him.
Ben caught it with a wince, slicing his finger open on the edge of the blade. “Careful, Tenzin.”
The remaining vampire lunged toward the scent of Ben’s blood, but before he could reach him, Tenzin tossed one of the severed heads at the vampire’s ankles, tripping him so he tumbled at Ben’s feet. Then she flew over, leaned down, and whispered in the man’s ear before she cut his throat.
“I suppose it’s later.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“When are you going to start speaking to me again?” Tenzin asked, sitting uneasily across from Ben in the truck. It wasn’t his anger making her uneasy. It was his driving. She was completely at ease with his anger.
Whatever.
“This is going to be a very long trip,” she continued, “if you refuse to speak to me.”
Ben said nothing. He was pissed. More than pissed. Actually angry. Because they’d killed three vampires who belonged to someone he assumed was important, they’d sped out of Kashgar as soon as the truck was loaded. They didn’t go back to his hostel. They didn’t see the Apak Hoja Mausoleum like he’d wanted to. They didn’t get to visit the market or the central mosque. And all of his things, including his books, were left at the hostel. All he had on him was the bag with his computer, wallet, and passport. And his weapons.
Fucking Tenzin.
It wasn’t the first time she’d pulled him into some shit she dreamed up or sought out. And while she’d saved his life, he was fairly convinced a little strong-arming and verbal intimidation of the VIC would have avoided the entire mess. But why find the vampire in charge and negotiate when you could just kill a bunch of people you didn’t care about? And if your traveling companion had a little brain matter splattered across his face and had to knife someone in the gut, what was the big deal?