That brought me to the question that had been nagging at my mind since I started this wild chase.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you just change into mist and drift away? We could never have caught you then.”
Vic gave a short, bitter laugh.
“Do you know how rough it is to turn into mist? Well, you’re a magician. Maybe you do know. Anyway, you might as well know the truth. I’m not much in the magic department . . . in fact, I’m pretty much a bust as a vampire. I can’t even change all the way into a bat! These wings are the best I’ve been able to do. That’s why I was looking for a new life in the Bazaar. I’d rather be a first-class anything than a third-rate vampire. I mean, I don’t even like blood!”
“You should meet my bodyguard.” I grinned despite myself. “He’s a gangster who’s allergic to garlic.”
“Garlic? I love garlic.”
I opened my mouth to offer him Guido’s job, then shut it rapidly. If this character was half as desperate as he sounded, he’d probably take the offer seriously and accept, and then where would I be? All we needed to complete our menagerie was a magic-poor vampire.
“Well,” I said instead, “I guess that answers all my questions except one. Now that you know we aren’t trying to kill you, are you ready to quit running and face the music?”
The vampire gnawed his lower lip as he thought.
“You’re sure it will be all right?”
“I can’t say for sure until I talk to my partner,” I admitted, “but I’m pretty sure things will be amenable. The main problem is to get the murder charges against him dropped . . . which I think we’ve already accomplished. As for you, I think the only thing they could have against you is false arrest, and there’s no way Aahz will press charges on that one.”