to improvise in some pretty hairy situations myself.
"Wait a minute!" I growled. "Speaking of killer de-
mons, what was that bit with you dangling Luanna over
the edge of the building back there?"
"I was bluffing," the vampire shrugged. "Your
friends were threatening to shoot me if I tried to fly
away, and it was the only thing I could think of to try to
get them to back off. I wouldn't deliberately hurt any-
one... especially Luanna. She's sweet. That's why I
was trying to help her escape with me after they caught
Matt."
That brought me to the question that had been nag-
ging 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 vam-
pire. 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 try-
ing to kill you, are you ready to quit running and face
the music?"
168 Robert Asprin
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 ad-
mitted, "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 accom-
plished. 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."
"Why not?"
I gave him my best grin.
"Because if he did, we couldn't take you back to
Deva to deal with the swindling charge. Believe me, if
given a chance between revenge and saving money, you
can trust Aahz to be forgiving every time."
Vic thought about it for a few more moments, then
shrugged.
"Embarrassment I'm used to dealing with, and I
think I can beat the swindling rap. C'mon, Skeeve. Let's
get this thing over with."
Having finally reached a truce, however temporary,
we descended together to face the waiting crowd.