you're not letting any vampires through at all?"
"No. We're not taking any chances." He held up his wand. "Who's first?"
I shrugged. "Me, I guess."
The man said a magic phrase sounding suspiciously like "Scabadee Scoo" and ran the wand up and down my body. He frowned as results floated in the air before us. "You're spawn."
"Daemos," I said, deciding I'd suffered enough discrimination for the day.
He tutted. "Yes, yes, whatever." His nose wrinkled, but apparently there was no edict preventing my kind from entering. "There's something very strange about these readings," he said, looking back at them. I suspected it had to do with the big red word blinking at him beneath the breakdown of my supernatural lineage. Even though the words floated in the air in reverse before the man, I read Daemos, UNKNOWN, AP-ERROR .
"It doesn't say vampire, does it?"
He grudgingly shook his head. "I suppose not." The man looked at Shelton. "And now for you."
Shelton seemed to go through a fistfight with his conscience before growling assent. "Fine."
This time, the results came back as Human, AP-17 . The security officer's eyes flashed wide. He looked Shelton up and down and muttered, "Unbelievable." After a long-suffering sigh, he gave a signal to the guards and motioned us inside. "Please enjoy your visit." His tone seemed to indicate he actually hoped otherwise.
If we ran into more bungholes like him and Dean Buckley, our visit certainly would suck.
"What's the 'AP' stand for?" I asked Shelton as the guards closed the doors behind us.
"Just some classification crap they like to throw around."
I guessed Shelton didn't care much for being classified, and I had to admit it was a bit hard to pin him with any designation except the "jackass who likes to keep everybody guessing."
We stood on a wide yellow brick road which wound its way toward a city nestled in a valley between two towering mountains. An adorable little cottage sat to one side of the yellow brick road, and something that looked like a shiny rocket ship from a nineteen fifties sci-fi movie sat to our right.
I took in the steep rocky summits on either side of the town. The base of each mountain started as gentle green slopes which gave the valley a bowl shape. A cityscape like something from Victorian-era London stretched between the two mountains. Tudor-style houses dotted the green landscape up to the perimeter of the city where lines of antiquated row-houses stretched the expanse. A huge clock tower rose above the rest of the city, flanked on either side by the tops of domed buildings.
At the edge of the valley bowl, mountainsides turned to craggy cliffs tufted with bits of grass and tenacious bushes, climbing toward the sky until they ended in plateaus, with one mountain terminating slightly higher than the other. At the other end of the valley, I saw where the mountains joined into one steep cliff.
"Amazing," I breathed.
"It's a sight, all right," Shelton said.
"Is the university up there?" I asked.
"Yep. We'll take the sky car," Shelton said, pointing toward the cottage. He led me around the side to a bright red cable car sitting atop a slab of polished obsidian.
I looked up the steep cliffs to either side of us and glanced back. The doors from the archway station were built into a solid rock wall which rose at a ninety-degree angle from the floor of the valley. It seemed hewn from the side of another mountain, which joined with the others to box in the valley. I gazed at the plateaus atop the mountains, but the university and academy were hidden from sight. Another thing I did not see was a single cable designed to allow a cable car to ascend those heights.
Then again, who needed cables when you had magic? "What's up with the rocket ship?" I asked.
Shelton grinned and led me to it. "The techies take this to Science Academy." He opened a hatch on the side of the vessel. Inside were shiny chrome bench seats occupied by several students—a young man with a
"No. We're not taking any chances." He held up his wand. "Who's first?"
I shrugged. "Me, I guess."
The man said a magic phrase sounding suspiciously like "Scabadee Scoo" and ran the wand up and down my body. He frowned as results floated in the air before us. "You're spawn."
"Daemos," I said, deciding I'd suffered enough discrimination for the day.
He tutted. "Yes, yes, whatever." His nose wrinkled, but apparently there was no edict preventing my kind from entering. "There's something very strange about these readings," he said, looking back at them. I suspected it had to do with the big red word blinking at him beneath the breakdown of my supernatural lineage. Even though the words floated in the air in reverse before the man, I read Daemos, UNKNOWN, AP-ERROR .
"It doesn't say vampire, does it?"
He grudgingly shook his head. "I suppose not." The man looked at Shelton. "And now for you."
Shelton seemed to go through a fistfight with his conscience before growling assent. "Fine."
This time, the results came back as Human, AP-17 . The security officer's eyes flashed wide. He looked Shelton up and down and muttered, "Unbelievable." After a long-suffering sigh, he gave a signal to the guards and motioned us inside. "Please enjoy your visit." His tone seemed to indicate he actually hoped otherwise.
If we ran into more bungholes like him and Dean Buckley, our visit certainly would suck.
"What's the 'AP' stand for?" I asked Shelton as the guards closed the doors behind us.
"Just some classification crap they like to throw around."
I guessed Shelton didn't care much for being classified, and I had to admit it was a bit hard to pin him with any designation except the "jackass who likes to keep everybody guessing."
We stood on a wide yellow brick road which wound its way toward a city nestled in a valley between two towering mountains. An adorable little cottage sat to one side of the yellow brick road, and something that looked like a shiny rocket ship from a nineteen fifties sci-fi movie sat to our right.
I took in the steep rocky summits on either side of the town. The base of each mountain started as gentle green slopes which gave the valley a bowl shape. A cityscape like something from Victorian-era London stretched between the two mountains. Tudor-style houses dotted the green landscape up to the perimeter of the city where lines of antiquated row-houses stretched the expanse. A huge clock tower rose above the rest of the city, flanked on either side by the tops of domed buildings.
At the edge of the valley bowl, mountainsides turned to craggy cliffs tufted with bits of grass and tenacious bushes, climbing toward the sky until they ended in plateaus, with one mountain terminating slightly higher than the other. At the other end of the valley, I saw where the mountains joined into one steep cliff.
"Amazing," I breathed.
"It's a sight, all right," Shelton said.
"Is the university up there?" I asked.
"Yep. We'll take the sky car," Shelton said, pointing toward the cottage. He led me around the side to a bright red cable car sitting atop a slab of polished obsidian.
I looked up the steep cliffs to either side of us and glanced back. The doors from the archway station were built into a solid rock wall which rose at a ninety-degree angle from the floor of the valley. It seemed hewn from the side of another mountain, which joined with the others to box in the valley. I gazed at the plateaus atop the mountains, but the university and academy were hidden from sight. Another thing I did not see was a single cable designed to allow a cable car to ascend those heights.
Then again, who needed cables when you had magic? "What's up with the rocket ship?" I asked.
Shelton grinned and led me to it. "The techies take this to Science Academy." He opened a hatch on the side of the vessel. Inside were shiny chrome bench seats occupied by several students—a young man with a
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