What is it you do there?" "I fix things," I mumbled to my plate.
"Things?" He sounded intrigued, just the opposite of what I'd hoped.
"Cars.
Meet Mercedes the VW mechanic," said Amber with a touch of the sharpness that had been her trademark in the old days.
"But I bet I can still get her going on the royal families of Europe or the name of Hitler's German shepherd." She smiled at James Blackwood, the Monster who kept his territory free of vampires or anything else that might challenge him.
A coyote wouldn't be much of a challenge.
Amber chatted on ...
almost nervously.
Maybe she thought I'd jump up and tell her husband's valuable client that they'd brought me over to catch a ghost in the act.
She wouldn't be worried about it if she knew what he was.
"You'd have thought with her background--she's half-Blackfoot ...
or is that Blackfeet? ...
Anyway, she never studied Native American history, just the European stuff." "I don't like wallowing in tragedy," I told her, trying desperately to sound uninteresting.
"And that's what Native American history is mostly.
But now I just fix cars." "Blondi," said Corban, "was the name of the dog." "Someone told me she was named after the comic strip Blondie," I added.
That supposition had led to many arguments among the Nazi trivia buffs I knew.
I was hoping the conversation would devolve to Hitler.
He was dead and could do no more harm--unlike the dead man in the room.
"You are Native American?" asked the vampire.
Had he tried to catch my eyes? I was very good at keeping my gaze from meeting other people's unless it was on purpose--a useful skill around the wolves.
I looked at his jaw, and said, "Half.
My father.
I never knew him, though." He shook his head.
"I'm very sorry." "Old news," I said.
Deciding that if Hitler wasn't going to distract him from me, maybe business would.
It always worked with my stepfather.
"I take it Corban is keeping your company safely out of the courts?" "He's very good at his job," said the vampire with a pleased and possessive smile.
"With him beside me, Blackwood Industries will stay afloat for a few more months, eh?" Corban gave a hearty, and heartfelt, laugh.
"Oh, I think a few months at the least." "To making money," said Amber, holding up her glass.
"Lots of it." I pretended to sip the wine with the rest of them and was pretty sure that my idea of making money was several orders of magnitude less than theirs.