Even Vampires Get the Blues by Katie MacAlister Page A

area around a cluster of trailers. Beyond, half hidden by a couple of scrawny trees, blinding arc lights cut through the night as someone yelled instructions via a bullhorn for people to charge and retreat at specific cues. I paused, trying to see into the darkness. Something tugged at my consciousness, as if it was trying to get my attention. I scanned the area, slowly turning to locate whatever it was that called to me, then decided it was the location itself. Like my office, this land was founded.
    â€œCan anyone tell you why what?” Clare asked.
    â€œHmm? Oh, why were you wearing a Versace gown to meet with a fence? On a movie set, yet?”
    â€œThey’re having a ceilidh here after the battle shooting.”
    â€œCeilidh? Oh, a party?”
    â€œYes. They’ve been making some sort of a Scottish historical movie, and since it’s almost over, the movie people are letting the extras use the area for ceilidhs for the next couple of nights before they leave,” Clare answered, waving toward the man next to her. “But I can’t let anyone see the dress like this! Just look at it! Even if I could pretend the bullet holes were meant to be there, the blood has stained the fabric!”
    â€œHi, Finn,” I said, smiling at Paen’s brother. I’d only met him briefly before, just a quick introduction before we had set off for the castle, but now I had a chance to study him covertly. I could see a physical resemblance between him and Paen—they both had the same forehead, and similar dark, curly hair, but the fundamental difference was something not quite so obvious.
    Finn had a soul.
    Why does your brother have a soul? I thought Dark Ones didn’t have them?
    Paen shot me a glance, but didn’t answer. I wanted to ask him again what the problem was with mind-talking, but since it made him so uncomfortable, I let it pass.
    â€œHello, Sam. What did you think of Castle de Ath?”
    â€œIt’s big. And old. But nice. I liked it. Clare, what exactly happened?”
    Clare wrung her hands in a delicately helpless manner that had Finn murmuring soft little platitudes in her ear. “Oh, it was awful, Sam, just awful! I arranged to meet Raul the fence, and he turned up with another man, a very evil man.”
    â€œThe evil man shot you?” I asked, eyeing her. She had obviously borrowed a spare costume from an extra, since she was clad in a plain-spun ankle-length skirt and green bodice.
    â€œHe shot my dress, yes.” Clare nodded. “Oh, stop making that face. Yes, I realize he meant to shoot me and not the dress, but you know how I am with wounds—I heal so quickly that the bullets did more damage to the dress than me.”
    â€œIt’s because you’re a faery, Clare. Immortal. It’s not that you heal fast—you just don’t get injured.”
    Clare glanced quickly at Finn. “You’ll have to excuse my cousin. She’s normally very nice, but there are times when she’s absolutely unreasonable.”
    â€œAh?” Finn asked, looking at me.
    I rolled my eyes and turned to Paen. “Is Clare a faery?”
    â€œYes,” Paen said, poking a finger through a hole in the dress.
    â€œOh!” Clare gasped, her silvery eyebrows pulling together in a frown as she glared at Paen. “Do you think I’m going to listen to the opinion of a vampire? ”
    â€œMoving on,” I said, not bothering to argue the obvious with her. “Who was the man who shot you? And why exactly did he try to kill you?”
    â€œI don’t know who he was, but I wrote up a report for you while Finn was sweet-talking the wardrobe mistress in order to get some club soda to remove the bloodstains. I know how you like reports,” Clare said, pulling from her purse a small notepad.
    â€œHmm,” I said, quickly scanning the pages. Paen moved to stand behind my shoulder so he could read it as well. I was momentarily