He gave another precise bow. “Grazie, signora.”
Inside, he looked over Ben and Shaun and passed them by to sit at a table in the middle of the room. Ben and I lingered by the bar.
We waited.
* * *
I HELPED Shaun close up the restaurant, and after the kitchen staff was done cleaning up, I sent everyone home. Ben kept his eye on the vampire, who didn’t move, didn’t speak. Didn’t make trouble, at least. He might have been meditating.
When I got back to the front, I tried to start a conversation.
“So. How old are you?”
Columban only raised an eyebrow at me, as if asking how I could possibly be serious. I looked back expectantly. He didn’t say a word. Ah well.
A tapping at the locked front door drew our attention. Rick smiled at me through the glass and glanced with interest at the other vampire. Columban stood, fingertips resting on the table. I opened the door for the Master of Denver.
Rick swept into the restaurant in a puff of cool night air, his coattails fluttering around his knees. He paused as the door closed behind him, gazing around the place. Chairs had been put upside down on tables, the floor had been swept.
“Hello,” Rick said, regarding us all, his expression calm. Columban bowed his head the barest inch. Neither made a move.
We might have stood there all night, nobody saying anything. Except I wasn’t going to let that happen.
“Rick, he says he’s Father Columban,” I started the introductions. “And this is Rick.” I figured after that, my work here was done. I could be a spectator.
Rick waited a long time for Columban to say something, but the self-proclaimed priest just stood there, studying him.
“Shall we sit?” Rick finally said, gesturing to the table.
The man looked at Ben and me, standing off to the side. “Should they remain here while we talk?”
“It’s their restaurant.”
“Then you allow wolves to learn your secrets?”
“Not only that, I feel better with them watching my back.” Rick gave me a quick look, nodding. I straightened, pleased with the vote of confidence.
Columban’s expression darkened, as if he’d discovered a part of the universe had fallen out of alignment. “Very well,” he said, with a pointed sigh, as he sank back into his chair.
Rick sat across from him, and I inched over to Ben. The two of us stayed standing, where we could at least pretend like we had some dominance over the situation.
Columban continued. “I suppose I should thank you, then, for speaking with me at all.” His voice held something like wonder, or maybe confusion.
“Father Columban. That’s an affectation, of course,” Rick answered.
“I assure you, it isn’t.”
“Then you were a priest before. I know priests can be turned—”
“No. I became a priest after.”
“How?” Rick said, curt and disbelieving. “Surely you don’t carry or wear a crucifix—”
“I carry the symbols in my heart. Before I answer your questions, may I ask a question or two about you? I have heard only a little. You are Spanish, yes? From the seventeenth century?”
Rick hesitated, looking as if he was about to lay down a hand in a game of poker. “Sixteenth.”
“How long have you been in the Americas?”