“Well now,” Aahz grinned evilly, “you don’t have to be too quick about it. I wouldn’t mind having a little time alone with him before we turn him over to the authorities.”
My heart sank a little. Aahz sounded determined to exact a bit of vengeance out of this hunt, and I wasn’t at all sure he would restrict himself to Vic when it came time to express his ire. I think Tananda noticed my concern.
“Ease up a little, Aahz,” she said casually. “I don’t mind helping you out of a tight spot, but count me out when it comes to excessive force for the sake of vengeance. It lacks class.”
“Since when did you worry about excessive violence?” Aahz growled, then shrugged his acceptance. “Okay. But maybe we’ll get lucky. Maybe he’ll resist arrest.”
I was still worried, but realized that that was about the most restraint I would get out of my partner.
“Now that that’s settled,” I said, producing Luanna’s scarf, “Pepe, take a whiff of this.”
“Enchanting,” he smiled, nuzzling the piece of cloth. “A young lady, no? Eef ze body is as good as ze aroma, I will follow her to the end of ze world whether you accompany me or not.”
I resisted an impulse to wrap the scarf around his neck and pull.
“All right, everybody,” I said, retrieving the scarf and tucking it back into my tunic in what I hoped was a casual manner. “Let’s go catch us a renegade vampire.”
Chapter Seventeen:
“The trail’s got to be ’round here somewhere!”
-D. BOONE
IT was only a few hours short of sunset as we set out on our quest, a nagging reminder of exactly how long our efforts at physical disguise had taken. We had agreed to avoid following Pepe as a group so as not to attract attention. Instead, we moved singly or in groups of two, using both sides of the street and deliberately walking at different paces. The faster walkers averaged their progress with the slower by occasionally stopping to look into shop windows, thereby keeping our group together without actually appearing to. Tananda pointed out that not only would this procedure lessen our chances of being noticed, but also that it would maximize our chances for at least some of the group’s escape if one of us should be discovered … a truly comforting thought.