Like I said, not much of a change. Just enough so I wouldn’t look dowdy sitting in a club with flashy vampires. I couldn’t see the changes myself, of course, which is one of the few drawbacks of a disguise spell, but I had enough confidence in this, one of my oldest spells, to know it was effective. I knew my date would be able to see the changes. The only question was, would she notice?
I needn’t have worried.
Not that she noticed right away, mind you. Cassandra’s friends had moved on, but she was still quite busy waving and calling to others in the crowd. Apparently she was quite a popular young lady. Not surprising, really.
The fun started when the waiter brought our drinks to the table. Setting them them carefully in front of us, he leaned over to speak directly into my ear.
“This first round is compliments of the manager, sir,” he said, with notably more deference than he had shown when taking the order originally. “He asked me to tell you he’s honored you’re visiting our club, and hopes you enjoy it enough to make it a regular stop.”
“What?” I said, genuinely taken aback. “I don’t understand.”
“I said, the manager …” the ghost started to repeat, but I cut him off.
“No. I mean, why is he buying us a round of drinks?”
“He saw your name on the credit card,” the ghost said, handing the item in question back to me. “I didn’t recognize you on sight, myself . . . I hope you aren’t offended.”
“No. It’s . . . no. No offense,” I managed, still trying to figure out what was going on.
“What was that all about?” Cassandra said, leaning close again. She had noticed my conversation with the waiter, but hadn’t been able to hear the exact words over the music.