Even Vampires Get the Blues by Katie MacAlister Page A

can handle both cases without any difficulty. Clare, another minute of your time, please?”
    Paen walked to the door as I conducted a quick whispered conference with Clare. “You don’t mind if I go check out this statue thing, do you? I was going to swing by Mr. Race’s house to pick up the information about the manuscript he asked his housekeeper to get for me, but I can’t do both tonight. Can you work on the manuscript case by yourself for a bit?”
    â€œOf course. I have arranged for a meeting with a fence in two hours. I can go to Mr. Race’s house first, then meet the fence.”
    â€œA fence!” I stared at Clare.
    â€œYes. Raul the fence. He wouldn’t talk to me on the phone, so I am going to meet him later tonight—”
    â€œHow on earth does an underwear-modeling faery know a fence?”
    Clare gave me a wounded look. “I do wish you would stop being so silly about that faery business. And as for Raul, I met him at a party. He is a very nice man for a criminal.”
    Now, how on earth was I supposed to reason with that sort of an attitude? I didn’t even try.
    â€œBe careful, no matter how nice a criminal he is. I’ll call you in a bit, after I check out Paen. Er . . . check out Paen’s house. It shouldn’t take long, so hopefully I will be back in time to help you with your fence guy.”
    â€œAll right,” she said, her eyes worried. As I started to leave she tugged on my arm, saying in her soft, sweet voice, “Sam, I’m not sure you going to this man’s home by yourself is a smart idea. He’s a vampire! He’s powerful! He could do any number of wicked things to you, and you wouldn’t have any way of stopping him!”
    I sighed as I looked at the dark figure waiting for me in the hallway. “Yeah, I know. Makes me goose bumpily all over just imagining what sorts of wicked things he could do, too. Especially with those delectable lips.”
    â€œSam—”
    â€œDon’t worry, I’ll be fine. Unless I get lucky and Paen tries to seduce me over to the dark side.”
    â€œSam!”
    I laughed and patted her arm as I passed. “Stop making that scandalized face, I’m just teasing you. Nothing is going to happen. Nothing ever happens to me, remember?”
    I really hate it when my own words come back to haunt me.

Chapter 3
    â€œSo, you’re Scottish,” I said by way of making polite (if inane) conversation as Paen drove us to his home.
    â€œYes, I am.”
    â€œA Scottish vampire . . . er . . . Dark One.”
    â€œYes.” He kept his eyes on the road as we drove into the darkness. Night had fallen fully, the air thick with the promise of more rain, the stars and moon obscured by the usual soggy clouds that I’d seen hang over Edinburgh for much of the two years I’d lived there.
    â€œIs that unusual? I mean, I always imagined you guys were from Eastern Europe. Romania, or somewhere like that. Or is that just legend?”
    His silver eyes flashed my way for a moment. “The origins of the Dark Ones are lost to us, but much of our heritage goes back to the Moravian Highlands in what’s now the Czech Republic.”
    â€œHuh. Interesting.” I looked outside at the black nothingness that whizzed by us as he drove beyond the suburbs of Edinburgh into the lowlands, quickly heading into the windswept hills of East Lothian ona long, empty road. “I’m Canadian. And American. Both. My dad is from the US, but my mother is Canadian, and I grew up there. I’ve got a dual citizenship thing going, in case you were wondering. That’s how I was able to open up a business here.”
    He said nothing. I took that to mean he wasn’t wondering about the ins and outs of my heritage.
    â€œDid I thank you for giving me a ride to your house? Clare has a car, but she tends to start writing poetry to the stars or a