Chapter Nine
I went to see Immokalee, a Cherokee medicine woman, after leaving the Guild. She spent half an hour making supplies for me and another half-an-hour trying to convince me that going to see the draugr was a Bad Idea. I knew it was a Bad Idea. I just didn't see any way around it.
I got to the office just after noon. The Dude and a cart containing one very sedated deer waited for me in the parking lot. A female shapeshifter I didn't know sat on the cart with a sour expression on her face. It took me only a moment to figure out why. Next to the cart, hiding in the shade, crouched a vampire. It was thin, wiry, and covered in purple sunblock from head to toe, as if some giant bubble of grape bubblegum had exploded over it.
Jim had done it. I felt like jumping up and down. Instead I gave the vamp my flat stare.
"There are more inside," the female shapeshifter informed me.
I stepped into the office. Curran sat at my desk, drinking a Corona from my fridge. In front of him, four vampires sat in a neat row in the middle of the floor. Two matched the purple delight outside, one was Grinch green, and the last one blazed with orange.
"I get the sunblock," I said. "But why do you have to paint them like skittles?"
The orange vamp unhinged its jaws. "The bright color helps to make sure they're completely covered," an unfamiliar female voice explained. "It's easy to miss a spot. When they're young, they have a lot of wrinkles."
Ugh. "What the meaning of this?"
"Kate," the green vamp spoke with Ghastek's voice, "It has come to my attention, that you are planning to see a creature in the Viking territory with the purpose of finding a means to remove the necklace from the child. An undead creature. That explicitly violates the terms of our agreement to resolve this matter jointly."
I looked at Curran. He shrugged.
"And how did you know this?" I asked.
"I have my methods."
How in the world did Jim pull this off? I'd have to buy him all the clipboards in the world.
"Ghastek, this is not a fun trip," Curran said.
"You can't go," I added.
"Why ever not?"
"Because the undead will murder your vampire hit squad and I have no desire to get that bill," Curran said. "Do yourself a favor. Sit this one out."
Wow. He went there.
The vamp's red eyes bulged, struggling to mirror Ghastek's expression.
"Kate, perhaps you need to explain to your significant other that he is in no position to give me orders. Last time I checked, his title was Beast Lord, which is a gentle euphemism for a man who strips nude at night and runs around through the woods hunting small woodland creatures. I'm a premier Master of the Dead. I will go where I please."