Страница 33 из 40
"My words precisely when someone else I could name
deemed it necessary for me to dress up as a girl, remem-
ber?"
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Aahz glowered,
peering at me suspiciously.
"Well, there are a couple of other options," I ad-
mitted.
MYTH-ING PERSONS 143
"That's more like it!" he gri
wig.
"You could stay behind. ..."
His hand stopped just short of its mission.
"... or we could forget the whole thing and pay the
fine ourselves."
The hand retreated as my partner's shoulders sagged
in defeat. I felt no joy at the victory. If anything, I had
been half hoping he would be embarrassed enough to
take me up on my suggestion of abandoning the project.
I should have known better. When there's money in-
volved, it takes more than embarrassment to throw
Aahz off the scent....hether the embarrassment is his
own or someone else's.
"All right, everybody,"- I called, hiding my disap-
pointment. "Are we ready to go?"
"Remember your sunglasses!" Tananda added.
That was the final touch to our disguises. To hide our
non-red eyes, each of us do
Surveying the final result, I had to admit that aside from
Tananda and Chumley, we didn't look like us. Exactly
what we did look like I wouldn't venture to say, but we
sure didn't look like usi
"Okay," Aahz chimed in, his discomfort apparently
behind him. "Does everyone have their marching
orders? Vilhelm? Are you sure you can track us on that
thing?"
"No problem," the little vampire nodded. "When
things get slow around here I use this rig to do a little
window peeking right here in town. Covering the streets
is even easier."
"Remember," I told him, "watch for our signal.
When we catch up with this Vic character, we're going
to want you to get some responsible local witnesses there
chop-chop."
144
Robert Asprin
"Well now," Aahz gri
be too quick about it. I wouldn't mind having a little
time alone with him before we turn him over to the
authorities."
My heart sank a little. Aahz sounded determined to
exact a bit of vengeance out of this hunt, and I wasn't at
all sure he would restrict himself to Vic when it came
time to express his ire.
I think Tananda noticed my concern.
"Ease up a little, Aahz," she said casually. "I don't
mind helping you out of a tight spot, but count me out
when it comes to excessive force for the sake of venge-
ance. It lacks class."
"Since when did you worry about excessive vio-
lence?" Aahz growled, then shrugged his acceptance.
"Okay. But maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe he'll resist ar-
rest."
I was still worried, but realized that that was about
the most restraint I would get out of my partner.
."Now that that's settled," I said, producing Lu-
a
"Enchanting," he smiled, nuzzling the piece of cloth.
"A young lady, no? Eef ze body is as good as ze aroma,
I will follow her to the end of ze world whether you ac-
company me or not."
I resisted an impulse to wrap the scarf around his
neck and pull.
"All right, everybody," I said, retrieving the scarf
and tucking it back into my tunic in what I hoped was a
casual ma