and silent.
“Sometimes I play God,” she confessed. “And the Lord bites me in the ass.”
“Like Jason?”
She said nothing, and he seemed content to walk in silence. Sera, one hand on the cufflink and the piece of black silk in her pocket, let her feet lead the way.
Abruptly, she said, “Can he change back?”
“Jason? Of course not. He’s dead.”
She closed her eyes for an instant, but if anything, she walked faster. “And if I stab him with my sharp little stick, will he turn to instant dust like those—creatures in the car park?”
Blair nodded.
“And his spirit?”
“Goes wherever it is spirits go.”
“Is he…?” She broke off, suddenly unable to speak the words aloud to whatever this being was. But it seemed he read her mind anyhow—or at least understood.
“Damned?” he suggested. “Why should he be? He isn’t Jason anymore, not really. He didn’t ask for this.”
“You mean being undead is a curse he’d welcome being released from?”
“Of course, he would,” Blair said bracingly, and in spite of the grim, bizarre nature of the conversation, she found herself smiling.
“You’re a liar. You wouldn’t, would you?”
Blair only shook his head.
“Then why would he?”
“Because I probably am damned. I’ve been a vampire for a very long time.”
“How long?” she asked curiously.
“Since 1751. Are you tracking or just enjoying the fresh air?”
“I don’t know,” Sera admitted with some relish. “I’ve had a tiring day.” She glanced at him. “I did try again with that piece of silk you gave me.”
“Did you find anything?”
“Not until I held Jason’s cufflink at the same time. The owner of the dress and Jason know each other; they’ve been together very recently at C & H. Heads on desk, asleep. And in a house with a bunch of other—creatures like them.”
“You seem to have difficulty with the word ‘vampire,’” Blair observed.
“Trust me, it’s not the word.”
“We might be quite lovable when you get to know us. For someone so at home with the dead, you’re very squeamish.”
“Spirits are natural,” she retorted.
Blair spread his arms wide, mocking her—and yet he wasn’t quite laughing. “And what am I? How do you suppose I came to be?”
“How should I know?”
“Well, it wasn’t in a factory or a mad geneticist’s laboratory. I’m as much a part of the natural world as you and the Siberian tiger and the dead people’s spirits that haunt you.”
“Hey, calm down,” Sera said, regarding him with some curiosity. He appeared to be genuinely offended, which hadn’t been her intention at all. You’d have to be pretty stupid to go around pissing off vampires without a damned good reason. Or a damned good defense. She went so far as to give him a friendly nudge. “I didn’t mean to make you angry.”
His lip curled. “Then what did you mean to do? Explain your own irrationality?”
“No. I meant to tell you about these vampires all together in the house, waiting for instruction.”
She had the satisfaction of finally halting him in his tracks. The half-challenging, half-annoyed glint vanished from his eyes, leaving them surprised and intensely curious. “Instruction?” he repeated.
She kept walking. “Instruction. Or something like that. I had the feeling they were in the middle of some plan or other.”
Blair caught up with her. “That’s bizarre. Vampires don’t make plans. Not with each other, at any rate. They weren’t fighting?”
“Nope. They seemed to be in accord.”
“That’s even weirder.”
“Is it? I don’t like to doubt you, you being the first undead I’ve conversed with, but how well do you actually know your own species?”
“As well as you know yours, I suppose,” he said with a trace of hauteur.
“Yes? Well, I have to go by the evidence.” Clearly, she was pissing him off again, but as they turned into Rose Street, she could only hope the number of people there, milling around and spilling out of the bars for a smoke, would protect her. In any case, it was something that had to be discussed.
She said, “You told me vampires can’t speak except telepathically. But Jason does, and I’m pretty sure that girl at the party must have done too. You say vampires don’t congregate or plan, and yet they’re all in that house together—”
“They came for Jason too,” Blair interrupted, frowning. He didn’t seem annoyed at all. “At the car park. They didn’t come to fight over human scraps. They came to meet Jason, however swiftly they deserted the sinking ship. That really isn’t natural. What do you suppose their plan is?”
“If I overhear them discussing it, I’ll let you know,” she said