We had one more stop before we could go home. We met up with Dack at the bar on Colfax. Or rather the parking lot of the bar, since this time of day the place was closed. It looked plain and derelict in the morning light.
He was alone, driving the SUV that Charlie and Violet had been driving last week. When we arrived, he was leaning against the hood, arms crossed, staring out at the world through a pair of aviator sunglasses. He looked tough and worldly.
“What’s the story?” I asked, getting out of the car.
He shrugged and spoke in his round South African lilt. “Nothing to tell. Nothing happened. The vampires are bedded down for the day, your family’s all right.”
My nerves trembled with relief. “Thank you, Dack,” I said. “Thanks for watching out for me.”
He almost sounded amused. “No problem. What’s next, then?”
“Waiting. See who jumps first. Keep your phone on, be ready to move when something happens. Maybe you should get some sleep for now.”
“Plenty of time for that later,” he said.
He started to get back in the car, but I stopped him. “Dack?”
“Yeah?”
I collected stories. That was how I kept doing the show week after week. There were always new stories to tell, each one stranger than the one before it.
“African wild dog?” I said. “You want to tell me where that came from?”
His smile went crooked. “Don’t know. I’ve only met one other. The one who turned me.”
“Where is he?”
“I killed him.”
Ah. Right. That wasn’t really a surprise. “So you’re the only one?”
“Only one that I know of. Haven’t really gone looking for others.”
“And you met Rick how?”
He grinned. “Rick said you were a nosy one.”
“I talk too much. That’s my superpower. I still want to know why the world’s only were-African wild dog is here working for Rick.”
Dack had hired muscle written all over him: the well-built frame, the wary stance, the attitude of bullheaded confidence. I recognized it from Cormac. This was a guy you’d want watching your back. If you could trust him.
“Vampires are strong,” he said. “It’s a good thing, having a vampire owe you a favor. You want to be with the strongest.”
“And that’s Rick?”
He just smiled.
“Well then,” I said. “On to the rest of the plan, then.”
With that, we zoomed off in our respective cars and charged up our cell phones. I began to think this might turn out all right.
On the drive home, I dozed and kept jerking awake, waiting for a phone call to tell me something had happened, Carl or Arturo or someone under their orders had struck. When the phone finally did ring, I slept through it. I only woke up because Ben stopped the car.
“I wonder what they’re waiting for,” he said, speaking into my phone. I couldn’t hear the voice on the other end of the line. It wouldn’t b
e Rick, not during full daylight. After listening a moment, he said, “We’re going to get some sleep. Call if anything changes.”
He looked at me. Bleary-eyed, I stared back at him. “That was Shaun. No sign of anything.”