"But if you threw a drink in a human's face and lit it, it would only burn until the liquor was gone. A whoosh and it would be all over. A human would leave you alone after that, though they'd be hurt. Weren't you afraid that you'd just make the vampire more angry?"
"But vampires are very combustible, you said it yourself," Vicki said.
My smile widened. "So you knew he'd go up in flames?"
"Yes," she said, clutching me, willing me to understand her plight.
Dolph said, "I thought you didn't know the vampire would go up in flames, Ms. Pierce."
"I didn't, not until he burned like that," she said.
I patted her hand. "But, Vicki dear, you just said you knew he was combustible."
"But you said it first."
"Vicki, you just said you knew he'd go up in flames when you lit him up."
"I didn't."
I nodded. "Yes, you did."
She drew her hands away from me, sitting very straight in her chair. "You are trying to confuse me."
I shook my head. "No, Vicki, you're doing that all on your own." I moved away from her while still maintaining eye contact.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked. A little bit of anger peeked through her helpless-damsel act.
"What restaurant was it?" I asked as if I hadn't been there twenty minutes earlier. Interrogations are so often repetitive.
"What?" she asked.
"What was the name of the bar?"
"I don't remember."
"Dolph?" I asked.
"Burnt Offerings," he said.
I laughed. "A notorious vampire hangout."
"It's not in the vampire district," she said. "How was I to know that it was a vampire bar?"
"How about the picture of Christopher Lee as Dracula on the sign outside?" I said.
"It was quite late and nothing else was open."
"In University City on Delmar on a Friday night? Come on, Vicki. You can do better than that," I said.
She touched the bandage on her neck with a delicate, trembling hand. "He bit me." Her voice shook, and more tears trailed down her face.
I walked back to her. I put a hand on either side of her chair and leaned my face into hers. "You're lying, Vicki."
She burst into tears, hiding her face. I put a finger under her chin and lifted her face. "Damn, you're good, but not good enough."
She jerked away from me, standing so suddenly, the chair crashed to the floor. "I was attacked, and you're making me feel like the bad guy. You're a woman. I thought you'd understand."
I shook my head. "Can the universal sisterhood appeal, Vicki. It don't wash."