She blinked. “I have no idea who you are, so no, I don’t think so.”
He frowned. “That’s not very friendly.”
“I never claimed to be nice,” she said. “Not all women are looking for a man and I happen to be one of them. Now, please, leave us alone.”
“Frigid bitch,” he muttered. With a sullen glare, he turned and stomped back to the counter.
“That is one unhappy man,” I said.
“That is one giant asshole,” she said. “Anyway, back to our discussion.”
We chatted through our dinner, and then dessert. There seemed to be an unspoken connection between us , and I welcomed it. I had few friends. Dante, who had managed to get me off the streets when I was fourteen and homeless, was my closest friend. But other than him, everybody else seemed to stop at the acquaintance level. There was also Benny, a goblin I’d met not long ago, but goblins were sneaky and I didn’t trust him farther than I could throw him, even though he could make me laugh.
We exchanged phone numbers and Penn headed toward the door, leaving a twenty with her check. I wasn’t quite ready to go. But as she pushed through the swinging door, her would-be lothario tossed some money on the counter and headed after her.
Oops, that wasn’t good. I quickly pulled out another twenty, tossed it on the table, then hurried to follow him. As I entered the parking lot, I saw Penn, near her car, trying to get away from him. He’d caught up to her and he was trying to drag her toward a patch of bushes in the lot next to the diner.
I immediately sprang into action and raced over to her side. I’d been training in martial arts since Dante first got me settled in his home. I grabbed the man by the shoulder and—squeezing hard enough to make him yelp—I yanked him off of her and sent him flying backward, towards the asphalt.
He roared, turning toward me. At that moment, I caught the crimson rings around his eyes, which were black as night. Crap, he was a vampire!
“You little cunt—mind your own business.” He rose up, unhurt by the fall.
Penn gasped and yanked open the passenger door of her car as I rounded, landing another kick on him. This time, he was ready, and though I was strong—he was able to stand firm under my attack.
I had thought Penn was going to slam the door to protect herself, but instead she came back out of the car, and I caught sight of a stake in her hand.
“Hey, big boy, you should play with someone who can match you,” I shouted, trying to distract him.
He cocked his head, giving me an almost quizzical look. “Really? You think you can take me on?” Moving toward me, he bared his fangs and I could sense the blood lust coming from him.
“Why don’t you try me?” I said, beckoning him like Bruce Lee, to come at me.
That gave Penn the time she needed. She lunged forward, forcing the razor-tip spike through his back. He froze for a second, then shattered into ash. The powdered ash fell to the ground, and then, the breeze carried it away.
I stared at Penn. She was holding the stake, and she stared at me, her eyes wide.
“You saved my life. I couldn’t get away from him. I had no idea he was a vampire back in the restaurant.” She leaned against her car, trembling.
“Hey, it’s hard to tell with vampires,” I said. “If you’d given him your address, he would have found you. Most vampires abide by the treaties, so he had to be rogue. You did the world a favor by dispatching him, so don’t feel bad.” I didn’t want her to dwell on the fact that she had just killed someone.
But Penn didn’t seem distraught. “I don’t. He deserved what he got. I seldom ever regret decisions I make—and I certainly don’t regret taking him out. But thank you. I couldn’t have managed it without your help.”
“I’m just glad I was here.” I realized that I had just helped her in a similar way that Dante had helped me, four years before. “Hey, you want to go have a glass of wine somewhere? I’m still feeling the adrenaline rush.”
Penn let out a long breath. “That, sounds like a good idea.”
And from that day on, Penn became my second best friend.
Penn refused to let me eat the cold food. She swept it back into the kitchen and slipped it in the microwave. I pulled out a couple sodas from the fridge. We drank, but not a lot, and more often than not, if it wasn’t coffee, I preferred root beer.
“Here,” I said, handing her a can. “So, we’ve got an odd case.” I told her about Wendy and Mark Ryle. “Have you ever heard of the Tetrachordian Temple?”
Penn frowned, thinking. “For some reason, it rings a bell, but I can’t recall where—or why—I heard about it. It’s not a magical thing, that I can tell you. But…” She paused. “Hold on, let me look something up.”
She handed me the plate of fish and chips and then pulled out her tablet and brought up her email. As she sifted through it, I bit into the fish. A few drops of water on the plate had kept it from getting dry. I carried the plate and chips to one of the stools by the counter and shifted onto it. At that moment, Jangles jumped up on the table.
I had two cats—Jangles, who I’d found as a kitten, and Murdoch—who I’d taken in after his owner died. They were best buddies now, and I’d discovered that Murdoch was, more or less, a familiar. He didn’t bond with me in that way—he’d been the familiar for his owner—but he had a magical streak that I was slowly discovering was stronger than I had expected possible.
