Arturo, who’d acted like the king of his own little world, had made the room a baroque fantasy, with tapestries on the walls, Persian rugs, and big red velvet and gilt chairs. Rick’s decoration, practical and welcoming, almost made the place look like home. I might actually start to like spending time here.
On the far end, where Arturo had had what was essentially a throne on a dais, Rick had kept the dais but put a desk and big leather chair on it, turning it into an office. On top of the desk was a computer.
“Ooh!” I said, admiring it. “So vampires aren’t allergic to technology.”
He slid into the chair behind the desk and leaned back—very much like Arturo used to do in his plush and gilt monstrosity—and gave me a look.
I continued, “Now, what does a vampire do with a computer? Keep track of investments? Send e-mail to other vampires as you all plot to take over the world?”
“I spend a lot of time on Wikipedia making corrections to the entries of historical figures I’ve known.”
I blinked at him. “Really?”
“No, Kitty. That was a joke.”
“Oh. Because, you know, maybe you should.”
“What’s wrong? You wouldn’t have come here to talk to me unless something’s happened.”
I pulled out yet another jar of Odysseus Grant’s potion and set it on his desk.
He wrinkled his nose in disgust at it, even as he leaned forward for a closer look.
“What in the world is that?”
I shrugged. I was putting a lot of faith in this. “Ancient Egyptian protection spell. My attacker’s been active the last couple of days.”
“Yes. I heard about New Moon. Is everything going to be all right?”
“I think so. But I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. I don’t want to take any chances, so—here. If you want it.”
He didn’t seem any more enthusiastic about it, staring at the jar, vaguely repulsed. “We’re resorting to witchcraft now?”
“You say it like you don’t believe it’ll work.”
“It won’t, against a vampire.” Spoken with true vampi
re smugness.
I was starting to lose patience with him—it was like he wasn’t listening to me. “I know you think this is part of some vampire plot. But it wasn’t a vampire that tipped that van over or tried to burn down New Moon. This is something else entirely, and I could really use your help.”
“Kitty, I promise, I’m doing everything I can.”
“Like what? What are you doing? Pulling the Batman stunt on the tops of skyscrapers waiting for someone to walk along wearing a sign that says ‘I’m the bad guy’? Do you have minions scouring the far corners of the globe for information? What are you doing?”
He studied me, calm and unflustered. Very little flustered Rick. When it did, he didn’t panic. He just got angry. Calmly and pointedly angry.
“Here’s what I know: This thing is invisible. It displays sentience and motivation. It’s chosen the moments of its attacks carefully. The attacks are elemental, tied to fire. That makes it an old kind of magic—the kind of magic a vampire might use.”
I tried to be calm like Rick. Calm like a vampire. “You’re hunting for vampires. But what if this has nothing to do with vampire politics? This isn’t about vampires, it’s about revenge against me.”
“A group led by a vampire is making attacks in my territory. This may not have begun with vampire politics, but I find it hard to ignore the implications. Magic like this doesn’t come cheap. Is all this really a simple revenge plot?”
I had assumed it was pure revenge. We’d killed their head lycanthrope and several members of their cult and ruined their ritual. Revenge seemed like a good enough reason. “Now who’s being paranoid?”
“When vampires are involved, the web is more tangled than you think,” he said.
He had a point. Damn stupid vampires and their stupid sense of stupid superiority—