Page 82 of A Shade of Myself
19
“Is Mr. BatKian around?”I said.
“No. He’s out of town until Saturday. Sit down, Miriam.” Yoshi moved behind the glossy bar without his usual fluidity. His motions were often too fast to perceive and yet incredibly graceful, but today he moved slower, almost carefully. Were vampires subject to aches and pains when they grew old, like the rest of us?
I slid onto a barstool across from him.
Yoshi considered the wall of sake bottles, each one spotlit in its own display cube, before reaching under the counter and pulling out a bottle of red wine. “How do you feel about Malbec?”
“Kindly.”
Chuckling, he produced two wineglasses. “I picked up this bottle when I was in Argentina and have been looking for the right opportunity to open it.”
Why were we having sharing time? I set my purse on the bar.
The wine glowed like the heart of a ruby as the vampire poured it through a small glass aerator, holding the items with strong, elegant fingers. He held up his glass and I clinked mine to it.
“Cheers,” he said.
“L’chaim.” I tried very hard not to think of blood when I took that first small sip. The Malbec was earthy with dark fruity notes and of a much better caliber than I was used to. “It’s delicious.”
Yoshi tasted his wine, making a small noise of satisfaction. “If I couldn’t detect your heartbeat,” he said conversationally, “I’d never know you were nervous. You put up a good front.”
“You locked me in and served me wine. Makes me wonder if I’m being braised for better flavor.”
The warmly lit walls took on the menace of a jaguar’s den penning me in.
He laughed, a lethal feline enjoying my presence. “I see why Zev likes you.”
I kept my eyes on the vampire, my magic at the ready should he make the slightest move out of the ordinary. The beast was playful now, but the fangs could come out in an instant. “‘Like’ might be a stretch.”
“Perhaps it is. I heard you riled up the Carpe Demon kids. You have a knack for leaving lasting impressions.”
I tilted my head, studying him, but his expression didn’t hint at anything other than amusement. “With all due respect, Yoshi, is there a point to this?”
“Would you like to know why you were able to cross the water to their little hideout?”
This felt like a test.
“Not if it’s going to cost me,” I said. “It’s not that interesting a mystery.”
He grinned. “Come on. Humor me. No strings attached. Besides, I heard your breath catch when I offered.”
No point denying it. “Okay, why could I cross when I didn’t have the required hamsa branded on me?”
Yoshi leaned in conspiratorially. “Because it’s not about the hamsa. People put far too much stock in symbols.”
Was that a message of some sort about my curiosity about stars and dominos? But how would he even know about that? “What’s it about, then?”
“I could brand that hamsa all over my body and I couldn’t get across the water.” He had some more wine. “The ferry’s magic discerned that you were on the same side as the demon hunters and allowed you entry.”
“Sides?” I slowly spun my glass, torn between relief that it wasn’t anything more sinister than that and disappointment that I wasn’t some special exception, able to go anywhere.
Wards worked on the basic principle of detecting intent and keeping those planning on causing harm out, but Nav was very sure that the hamsa was necessary for access. Had he been lied to?
Even if the hamsa was irrelevant, I wasn’t on Carpe Demon’s side. In fact, I’d butted heads with them repeatedly. Plus, if whatever cosmic force had allowed my crossing had based its decision on me wanting to stop an alleged demon who turned out to be human, then Carpe Demon needed better security.
“Then just because the Succubus determined I was on the ‘right’ side that once, it doesn’t mean that will happen again.”
