tapestry of images in my head, I pictured him standing on stage in front of an adoring crowd, as a soldier running across a battlefield, wearing the full Indiana Jones outfit and the whip.
I would file the Indiana Jones image away for later.
He’d been to so many places, had so many adventures. By comparison, my life felt small and half-lived. How was I possibly going to keep him interested when he’d seen so much?
“Did you meet anyone famous? Like Mozart?”
He grinned.
“What?”
“It’s just so interesting that you would ask the same sort of question a human would. It’s a common misconception. Just because we’ve lived longer than the average person doesn’t mean we’re more likely to meet famous people.”
“Well, you’re more likely to meet famous people than I would be!” I objected.
“I saw Mozart play once,” he confessed. “From the nosebleed section in a concert hall in Amsterdam. He was only a child, but he was a genius. It was obvious, even then. In a way, I suppose that was what inspired me to teach, seeing such potential in a musician so young. I knew I would never reach that level myself, but maybe I could help someone else find it.”
“So how did you end up here in the Hollow?”
“Those local friends I mentioned,” he said. “In all that ‘wandering’ as you put it, I’ve never had a home. I’ve never really wanted one. I enjoyed chasing one adventure to the next. To put a vulgar point on it, over the years I have built considerable wealth—certainly not from music, just solid investments and a lot of time to let them build up—but not much else. I have no home, no family, not even nestmates. If I were to be dusted, I would leave no mark on the world. And I find myself longing for…permanence.”
“And yet, you seem to be resisting the very idea,” I said, snickering.
“I talked to Cal and Nik over the last few years. They seem so contented, having found their place with people they love. And I wanted it for myself, that security, the feeling of belonging somewhere,” he said. “Maybe that sounds a little strange, but one can only face near-death so many times before it’s no longer thrilling. I wanted to wake up in the same place every night and know that I didn’t have to be ready to pack up and leave at any moment. I wanted to know people. Other than Cal and Nik, I didn’t have friends. I could go months without speaking to anyone and that seemed wrong.”
I thought that I would love going months without speaking to anyone, but I thought it would come across as anti-social if I said so. “If I ask more questions about music, can we come back to that?”
He chuckled. “Sure, but I would like to talk about you.”
“I’ve had twenty-four years and I have never worked on a ship, fought in a war, or dug up anything interesting. My life is pretty quiet, boring really.”
“You’re a werewolf,” he countered.
I burst out laughing, and Dick seemed to relax ever so slightly.
“Not a very good one, ask anybody,” I snorted. “So, is it difficult, getting students here? We don’t exactly have a symphony orchestra in the Hollow.”
“It took some time for the parents to get used to the idea of a vampire teaching their children,” Alex said. “But it helps that there are so few instructors in the area for string instruments. They don’t have many options. If they have the interest and they don’t want to travel to Nashville or Louisville just for lessons, they come to me.”
He pronounced Louisville all wrong, calling it “Lewisville,” in a way that would make most locals mock him. But he was so earnest about it, I just didn’t have the heart to correct him.
“Music teaches focus, discipline, patience, cooperation. Not to mention the studies that show how involvement in the arts improves a child’s academic performance. I wish those had been around when I was a child. Children need that and I think their parents recognize it. And I’m told it’s much more interesting to put on your college applications than the recorder.”
“Having attended a few recorder concerts for my younger cousins, I can confirm,” I said, shuddering. “Did you realize my niece and nephew were werewolves?”
He shot me a confused smile. “Of course, I did.”
“And you still taught them?” I asked.
“Why wouldn’t I? They’re eager to learn, well-behaved, and they have talent. That’s what I set out