Housecoat in hand, Leo slipped out the small door Sam had come in through.
“Rynn?” Trisk said, not knowing if that was another vampire, or maybe his dog. “Piscary, why are we here?” she asked again, and he turned to her, still adjusting his suit.
“To prevent what happened in Detroit,” he said as he ran a hand over his bare skull.
“They destroyed Detroit,” Daniel whispered, and Orchid dusted a pale pink.
Piscary’s smile took on an anticipatory gleam. “Which is why I lured not just the elven enclave to me, but the witches’ coven of moral and ethical standards. The Weres haven’t had a ruling body since they lost the focus, but by an incredible stroke of luck, I obtained the ear of the only Were who might speak for all, having followed Dr. Plank’s virus from its onset.”
“Colonel Wolfe?” Daniel guessed.
Piscary beamed as if he thought Daniel incredibly clever. “The same.” He turned his gaze to Orchid, and the tiny woman’s wings faltered. “We even have a pixy to weigh in. The rest can decide collectively what to do.” He turned to go, pausing to add, “If the majority of us agree on my proposed course of action, that is.”
“And what is that?” Orchid asked, and Piscary stopped at the small door.
“Agree to break the silence,” he said, and Trisk felt a wash of both fear and desire that made Piscary’s eyes flash black. “I want us to reveal ourselves to save humanity,” he added carefully. “And in the process, save ourselves. And, incidentally, your life, Dr. Plank.”
“Oh, is that all?” Daniel said breathlessly, but Piscary was gone.
35
The small door shut behind Piscary with the sound of a lock sliding into place. Trisk was sure the other doors set in the corners and behind the bar would be locked as well, and she didn’t insult their host by trying them. Instead, she sat at the bar and drank her lemonade down to the ice. What have I done to Daniel?
“Lemonade.” Oblivious to the danger, Daniel went behind the bar to find the pitcher and refill her glass. Shaking his head, he began to laugh weakly. “I am standing in a vampire’s lair, and he serves me lemonade.”
Trisk set her glass down and he filled it tinkling to the rim. “I’ve heard citrus helps vampires maintain control of their bloodlust. Covers the ‘I’m scared’ pheromones.”
Daniel looked at Orchid, and the pixy nodded, even as she poked a hole in a sugar packet and delicately fingered the sweet grains right off her sword tip.
Something stronger would have been welcome, but Trisk didn’t dare, even if liquor was tastefully displayed behind the bar in neat rows, the expensive labels under spotlights. Ulbrine was somewhere close. She could almost smell him.
Daniel’s laugh turned into a sigh as he leaned into the counter toward her. “I’m a scientist, Trisk. Vampires, witches, werewolves, elves?” He winced as Orchid’s dust turned a happy silver. “Pixies,” he added. “You’re all real. And you’re ruling the world.”
“Not really, but after this?” She winced. Something was going to break, and break hard.
But Daniel seemed comfortable behind the bar, even if his hair was untidy and his conservative vest and slacks were dirty from riding cross-country in a boxcar, followed by sleeping on the floor of a band’s van. Though not as suave or continental as Kal, he had an air of adaptable confidence, even with the stubble on his cheeks. I still don’t know what happened to his dress shoes, she thought as she slipped out of her coat and set it carefully on the stool beside her.
They all looked up at the faint click of a distant door, and a man in brown slacks, a button-down shirt, and a homey-looking brown sweater-vest came in. He was clean-shaven, average height, perhaps a little thick from being behind a desk too much. But his brown eyes quickly took them in as he paced eagerly forward with a contagious enthusiasm.
Orchid rose up, brushing the sugar from her as if embarrassed to have been eating it. “Hey, hi,” she said, her dust a faint pink. “You must be Rynn Cormel.”
“Senator Cormel, actually, but call me Rynn,” he said, a slight Bronx accent making him seem even more easygoing. “Piscary asked me to keep you company and answer any questions while he’s attending his other guests.”
Trisk’s first worry vanished as she decided he was a living vampire, not a dead one. “Ulbrine,” she said, and Cormel nodded. He looked exactly like a politician, young, idealistic, and clever with words.
“Among others,” Cormel said, reaching across the bar to Daniel to shake his hand. “Dr. Plank,” he said before taking Trisk’s, the rings on his fingers glinting. “Dr. Cambri.”
Cormel turned to Kal, asleep on the couch, and Orchid piped up. “Dr. Dumb-Ass,” she said, and the living vampire chuckled to show his small but pointy canines.