Tetiana grimaced. “Ah, true. Fine, we can run.” She grumbled some more under her breath but started off at a fast trot.
Brody loped along with her, his stamina helping him keep up, and I brought up the rear, my training making the short run easy.
In no time at all, we reached the Lucky Clover and headed inside.
Brody drew back a little when he opened the door and was blasted with Irish music—fiddles, flutes, drums, and what sounded like a bagpipe to my uncultured ears.
“I’ll lead!” Tetiana offered, plowing past Brody. I waited for Brody to recover and stagger inside, bringing up the rear as usual.
Once I set foot inside the pub, I started taking inventory trying to find the best escape routes so we could block the vamp and eyeing the best places to drag the vampire to if I had to fight.
Despite the low lighting, the Irish pub felt cheerful and full with an elaborately carved bar made of dark wood, matching barstools that boasted the same arched design, and etched glass mugs decorated with shamrocks and Irish musical instruments.
The use of the dark wood and the black and white floor tiling set off the bright green wallpaper that decorated most of the walls—the only exception being the wall the bar was in front of, which was more rustic styled and made of worn brick.
The place was busy, but not crushed, so Tetiana, Brody, and I were all able to stand comfortably in the entrance together.
Brody cringed as he rubbed his ears. “Why do humans insist on blasting music so loud that you can feel it damaging your ear drums?”
I keyed into my senses, trying to track the vamp… but I felt nothing. Tetiana was the only presence.
That’s weird. Did he leave already?
Tetiana stood on her tip toes, craning to scan the pub, her eyes lingering on the live musicians standing on a tiny wooden stage. “Okay, I don’t see any obvious candidates for vampirism—no one is wearing visibly historic clothes. Can you tell where the vampire is, Blood?”
“No,” I paused for a moment to double check my senses but besides the loud music, the only other sensation I was picking up on was the distinctive smell of barley and hops from the alcohol and the wood polish the staff must use to clean the place. “I’m not feeling any besides you in the area right now.”
Brody frowned. “Do you think he realized he’d gotten reported and ran?”
I reflexively checked my belt, toying with the sharpened hair stick I used to wear in my hair whenever I was on an undercover mission with my Family. “I don’t know…”
There were two bartenders—a man and a woman—working—both wearing T-shirts with the pub’s logo emblazed on them.
The woman glanced in our direction, then paused. “There you are!” At least I think that’s what she said—it was too loud to know for sure.
She ducked out from behind the bar and approached us, slapping her hands on the black apron she wore.
It took me a moment to place her large eyes and nice smile as the human that Brody, Tetiana, and I had saved from a couple of unsavory vampires back in September when they’d used their pheromones to dazzle her. （The vampires gave us the slip, but Considine had gotten to them and beaten them unconscious.）
“Hello, thanks for coming so fast,” she said, flashing us a smile.
“Of course.” Tetiana glanced at Brody but he was still rubbing his ears, so Tetiana pasted on a smile and took over. “Were you the one who called the Curia Cloisters?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, then glanced over her shoulder.
“He’s still here?” Tetiana asked.
The bartender nodded. “Seated at the end of the bar, in the suit. He’s standing with two women—my regulars.”
Tetiana and Brody had to be discreet in looking at the vamp, but I—with my mask hiding my face—had plenty of time to study him.
The suit would have made me assume he was a Drake vampire—most vampires don’t care much for modern clothing, and the Drakes were famous for their dark suits and modern aesthetic. Except the suitcoat was a little baggy—not perfectly tailored like the Drakes wore—and draped across his shoulders instead of a tailored fit.
He was handsome with chiseled features, a fresh crewcut, and a smile that flashed a set of pronounced canines.
But even as I memorized and assessed his looks, my senses were quiet.
Is there a magic that can erase his presence like this? I don’t think so. Considine was able to sneak around Magiford, and I only realized he was there when he was practically on top of me, but Considine was older than a lot of empires and the likelihood of a second old powerful elder vampire running around in a suit that wasn’t of high quality was pretty much nil.