"Unfortunately, Detective, it isn't just the hunting, it's all contact. I have shared cities in the past, but there have been very clear boundaries drawn with neutral areas in between. Our paths never crossed."
Vicki broke in before Celluci could respond. "Wouldn't work, Mike. If I'm going to find out who offed our restless spirit, the restrictions of the night will be more than enough. I don't know, can't know, where leads are going to take me until I'm there, and very clear boundaries will only get in the way."
"Uh, I've got an idea that might help."
Vicki spun around, then glared, not at Tony but at the other two men. "Why didn't you tell me he was there? Both of you were facing the kitchen!"
"Very careless, Vicki." Henry fell easily back into his role of teacher and guide because at least that role had parameters he understood. "You should have known he was there. Caught his scent. Heard his heartbeat."
"His scent permeates this apartment. And his heart?beat got lost in the sound'of the dishwasher."
"The perils of the modern vampire," Celluci muttered.
Tony grinned as he stepped forward. "And that's my point. You guys are modern vampires. I mean this not sharing a territory stuff probably made sense back in the Middle Ages when villages were only like a couple hundred people and more than one vampire would be kind of noticeable, but this city has nearly three million people in it."
"He has a point," Vicki allowed. "There're proba?bly as many people in this condominium complex as in a good-sized village of the 1500s."
"But it is my city... "
"Jeez, Henry, you've never even been to West Van?couver. There could be another vampire, six ghouls, and a family of aliens over there for all you know, and you already said cities can be divided. That has nothing to do with this.
"Look, it's an attitude thing." Tony stopped just outside the perimeter of the triangle. "You've said it yourself, Henry, times don't change you, so you have to change with them or be left behind. And when you get left far enough behind, well, the next thing you know, you're spreading your towel for that last sun tan."
"Last suntan?" Vicki repeated with an incredulous look at Henry.
"I never said that."
"Maybe not those exact words," Tony admitted, "but that was what you meant." He grew suddenly solemn and fixed both Vicki and Henry with an intent, worried stare. "Change or die, guys."
After a long moment, Vicki shrugged. "Look, I'm not trying to take over your territory, and there's plenty of food here for both of us, so we can't logically be a threat to each other. There's no reason we can't put up with each other for the duration."
"Listen to your blood and tell me you believe that."
"I'm listening to my brain, Henry. You should try it some time."
He growled. She echoed it. They each took a step forward.
"HEY!" Celluci's voice didn't so much cut through the tension as smash it aside. "Get a grip! I expect this sort of thing from mongrel dogs but not from two supposedly sentient people." No longer able to blush, they both suddenly became interested in the toes of their shoes. "Times change. Change with them, or admit you can't and stop wasting my time-I've a hell of a lot less of it than you do."
Gaze still on the floor, Vicki murmured, "Tell you what, Henry. I promise to not go on a childish ram?page through your territory if you promise to let go a little."
"It won't be easy."
"Nothing worthwhile ever is."
"Oh, spare me," Celluci muttered.
Henry stepped away from the window and Vicki backed up, carefully maintaining the distance between them. He paused for a moment, as though testing their relative positions. When neither of them seemed in?clined to move closer, he said, a little wearily, "I've got the supplies you'll need to secure that window down in my locker. Why don't you two check out your accommodations while Tony and I go get them?"
Barely suppressing the urge to snarl as he went by, Vicki nodded, not trusting her voice. Celluci took one look at her face and pulled her carefully to his side. She jerked her arm free but remained close, using his scent to mask Henry's.
"There," she said when the door closed and they were alone, "that wasn't so bad. We've definitely made progress."
"So unclench your teeth."
A muscle jumped in her jaw. "Not yet."
When it seemed that time enough had passed to give them a clear path out the door and down the hall, they made their way to number 1409.