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.