I pivoted so I could watch the pub patrons in case any of them were feeling filled with righteous justice. “Yeah.”
“Got it.” Tetiana peered back over her shoulder, addressing the male bartender hovering nearby. “Is he all squared up—his tab is closed?”
The bartender nodded. “He can go.”
“Great. Come on, Twilight,” Brody drawled as he grabbed the fake-vampire by the shoulders and frog marched him towards the door.
I followed, still watching the crowd, and Tetiana strolled along beside me—though she wasn’t half as casual as she appeared based on the sharpness in her red eyes. She turned to the bar to nod to the bartender who had called the Cloisters.
The bartender had braced herself against the bar but waved when she saw Tetiana look her way. “Thank you,” she mouthed to us—she wasn’t audible over the music and the buzz of the crowd.
We stepped out into the cold night air. When the door swung shut behind us, it cut out most of the noise—I could hear only the faintest chords of music escaping The Lucky Clover.
“P-please let me go,” the fake-vampire said, choked up in his fear and desperation. “I promise I won’t do this again!”
Brody pressed him against the pub’s wall, then turned to look back at me.
I shrugged—despite our act there wasn’t much we could do. Humans breaking supernatural law was usually something the human police handled, and as we’d stopped him before he’d actually done anything I didn’t think they’d be able to charge him.
Brody then turned to Tetiana, who chewed on her lip as she studied the shivering human. To my surprise, she abruptly leaned into my direction, then whispered, “If you don’t mind following my lead, Blood?”
“Have at it,” I said.
Tetiana nodded, then sidled up to Brody’s side. She tilted her head back, lowering her eyes to half-mast so she looked arrogantly down at the human. “We’ll let you go, human, with this warning. If you try this little charade again, the Curia Cloisters will respond to you as the threat you claim to be not the threat you actually are. And disobedient vampires are our slayer’s priority. She solves things with bullets and daggers, and she doesn’t stop to ask questions.”
The human’s eyes flickered from Tetiana to me.
Prepared for my role, I plucked two daggers from my belt—one for each hand—and spun them in my fingers. It was a basic party trick, but matched with Tetiana’s words, my blank mask, and the dark night, I looked like I’d stepped out of a human horror flick.
The fake vampire must have thought so, too. He squealed and shook so hard he mashed flat the wax he’d used on his canine teeth to make them look fang-like.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he shrieked, repeating it like a mantra.
“Don’t do this again,” Brody growled. “Understood?”
“Understood, understood, understood,” the fake vampire chanted.
Brody let him go and the guy sprinted down the sidewalk, his baggy suitcoat flopping on his shoulders.
Brody waited until he was almost a block down before turning to Tetiana. “That was fun.”
“It was insulting.” Tetiana frowned and folded her arms across her chest.
“Oh, you mean because he absolutely nailed how whiny vampires are?” Brody asked.
Tetiana rolled her eyes. “He was as convincing as a vampire as a house dog is a werewolf. I cannot believe anyone actually believed him!”
I put my daggers away as I watched the thoroughly terrified human unlock his car and fling himself into it. While I was focused on him, I was still listening to Brody and Tetiana’s exchange.
I wish I could be so casual, but I get the feeling that if I said anything negative about vampires, it would come off as judgy.
“And why is it always that people think the most impressive part about being a vampire is our money and air of mystery?” Tetiana continued her rant. “No one ever admires our history chops or our knowledge of historic geography.”
“That’s because what you know is old and outdated,” Brody said.
“Oh, as if you can talk,” Tetiana scoffed. “Werewolves are only known among humans for their rippling muscles and wolf forms.”
“At least that means humans like us for who we are and not for our money,” Brody said.
My slayer senses kicked up, and I felt a vampire enter my range. “Vampire,” I said in a lowered tone. “Just showed up.”
Brody growled. “What’s the likelihood it’s Ruin?”