"And how do you do that? How do you catch this Rytis?"
He shrugged his jacket back on. "Baby, in this world, I'm the all-powerful Oz and there's not much I can't do."
Oh, this guy was getting irritating. "Stop calling me baby."
He inclined his head to her and moved to a tree. Two seconds later, a sleek dark gray motorcycle appeared out of nowhere.
"Okay, how did you do that?"
"In short, I'm a sorcerer. I can bend every law of physics known to mankind and a few not yet discovered."
She was impressed. "That's some serious talent."
Again that dark, deep laugh. "Baby, if you weren't with Talon, I would show you where my true talents lie."
She just bet he would too.
He handed her a helmet.
"You're calling me baby strictly to irritate me, aren't you?"
"My father always said I was born to be the barnacle up his nether regions. I guess I can't help it."
"Do me a favor. Try.'"
Flashing his dimples, he removed his sunglasses, put them in the inside pocket of his motorcycle jacket, and placed a helmet on his head.
"So tell me," she said. "If you can do all this magic stuff, why are we riding a bike into town? Couldn't you just time-jump us over to the square?"
He fastened his chin strap as he answered her. "I could. But as Acheron so often says, just because you can do something, it doesn't mean you should. Personally, I don't want to be some guy's lab experiment, so I try not to pop in and out of populated areas if I can help it."
That made sense to her. "Since you can time-travel, do you ever think about changing the past?"
"Yes."
"Have you ever done it?"
He shook his head and a dark earnestness came over his face. "There are some powers in this world that are best left alone. Altering someone's destiny is definitely one of them. Believe me, the Fates have a nasty way of putting a hurt on anyone dumb enough to mess with their domain."
His ominous words rang in her ears. He sounded as if he had once made that mistake, and she wanted to ask if he had, but something inside told her to let it be.
Sunshine put her helmet on, then climbed on the back of the motorcycle and did her best to keep some distance between them. Vane was a handsome man, but something about him made her extremely nervous, and it wasn't the fact he was a werewolf or time-walker.
There was something about him she didn't trust.
At her request, he took her to the small art gallery where she kept her cart of artwork locked up and helped her wheel it to Jackson Square.
By the time they got there, it was a little after ten, and there was a huge crowd already gathered.
"I don't get it," Vane said as he wheeled her cart toward Selena's card stand. "Why are you setting up shop if you just want to meet a client?"
"Cameron said he wanted to see everything I sell. If I have to drag it all out for him, I might as well sell it to other people too."
She showed him where to set it up.
Vane did, but he didn't look too pleased about it.
Selena did a double take as she caught sight of them. "Someone new, Sunny?"