it. But it takes me a long time to find the pieces that will work with my special touch.” He wiggled his fingers to indicate the enchantments his dwarven blood had allowed him to learn.
Nin returned with a brochure and several business cards. “Please give these to Zoltan and let him know that if he needs any weapons made, or if any of his fellow vampires need them made, I can accommodate him. Also, I am thinking of branching out into magical armor.”
“If he doesn’t try to bite my neck the instant we meet, I’ll give these to him.”
“Of course he will try to bite your neck. You are the hated Mythic Murderer. But please also give him my brochure as a favor to me. And then I will do a favor for you. This is how networking works.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Nin kept me in guns and ammo. If she wanted me to hand out business cards to vampires, I would do it.
“Thank you.” Nin waved to me and smiled shyly at Dimitri.
I wondered if he liked girls with blue hair. And if he was paying attention to her marketing tactics. Clearly, he needed to make brochures and hand them out.
“Mythic Murderer?” Dimitri asked as we walked back to the van.
“I hadn’t encountered that one before. Lovely to hear that there are so many variations of my nickname.”
“Are we driving to Woodinville tonight?”
“Yes.” I imagined Willard hooked up to IVs with electrodes attached to her chest.
“Is night the best time to visit a vampire?” Dimitri climbed into the driver’s seat.
“If you want him to be awake, probably.”
“And we want that?”
“It’s hard to question someone locked in a coffin.”
Dimitri put the keys in the ignition as I buckled in next to him, but then held up a finger. “One second.”
He ducked into the back and rummaged around in the crate under the bobblehead doll. He returned with…
“Why do you have a cervical collar?” I asked.
“My attempt to learn to snowboard last winter was problematic.” He buckled it around his neck. All he needed was a backboard, and he would look like someone about to be carted out of a swimming pool for a diving-board injury. “There. My neck will be safe tonight.”
As he drove off, I didn’t point out that vampires could probably use any vein to suck blood. It wouldn’t matter. Zoltan was sure to go for the Mythic Murderer first.
14
“This is a nice neighborhood for a vampire,” Dimitri remarked as we drove along winding roads that had once been out in the country but were now lined with well-lit McMansions with impeccable grassy lawns and immaculately trimmed hedges.
“Vampires are usually a few hundred years old. That’s a long time to accumulate wealth. Though it sounds like the house is vacant and he may be a freeloader.” I pointed to a driveway with a real-estate sign staked into the grass next to it. “That’s it. Park anywhere. Nin said the vampire lives in the barn out back.”
“You sure it’s vacant? All the lights are on, and there are two cars in the driveway.”
“I suppose just because it’s for sale doesn’t mean that it’s vacant. Park over there. It looks like someone’s having a party.” I waved to the house across the street with cars filling the driveway and parked along the curb. “We’ll do our best to avoid notice. Insomuch as we can in this van.”
“What’s wrong with Bessy?” Dimitri pulled up behind a Tesla.
“It’s not part of the neighborhood’s typical auto demographic.”
I left the smelly hooded jacket in the car, doubting we’d run into the police out here, and crossed the street. Dimitri caught up with me as I headed up the long driveway. The grass was wet from an earlier rain, so I didn’t want to walk on it and hoped for a path around the house farther up.
“You and your cervical collar don’t have to come.” I sensed the aura of someone magical in the distance, out back behind the house somewhere. The vampire was home.
“I’m still waiting to see the tiger. You’ll have to bring him out if a vampire tries to bite your neck.”
“True. I’m thinking of bringing him out right now.” I reached for the figurine.
Once Dimitri rubbed Sindari’s ears, I could send him back to the van. Even though he didn’t look like the damsel-in-distress type, it would be stupid to take him to see a vampire. He wasn’t even armed.
As I was about to call Sindari forth, the front door