“Eric,” I said, “since I’m all smelly and smoky and covered with fire extinguisher stuff, I don’t think keeping my clothes free of burned hair is a big deal.”

Eric didn’t snort, but he came close. However, he did seem to pick up on my feeling that he was being a total pain, and he shut up and got a hold on himself.

The relief was tremendous.

Immanuel, whose hands were surprisingly steady for someone cooped up in a kitchen with two vampires (one remarkably irritable) and a charred barmaid, combed until my hair was as smooth as it could be. Then he picked up his scissors. I could feel the hairdresser focusing completely on his task. Immanuel was a champion at concentration, I discovered, since his mind lay open to me.

It really didn’t take long. The burned bits drifted to the floor like sad snowflakes.

“You need to go shower now and come back with clean, wet hair,” Immanuel said. “After that, I’ll even it up. Where’s your broom, your dustpan?”

I told him where to find them, and then I went into my bedroom, passing through it to my own bathroom. I wondered if Eric would join me, since I knew from past experience that he liked my shower. The way I felt, it would be far better if he stayed in the kitchen.

I pulled off my smelly clothes and ran the water as hot as I could stand it. It was a relief to step into the tub and let the heat and wetness flow over me. When the warm water hit my legs, it stung. For a few moments I wasn’t appreciative or happy about anything. I just remembered how scared I’d been. But after I’d dealt with that, I had something on my mind.

The figure I’d spotted running toward the bar, bottle in hand—I couldn’t be completely sure, but I suspected it had not been human.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I stuffed my grimy, reeking clothes into the hamper in my bathroom. I’d have to presoak them in some Clorox 2 before I even tried to wash them, but of course I couldn’t just toss them out before they were clean and I could assess the damage. I wasn’t feeling too optimistic about the future of the black pants. I hadn’t noticed they were a little scorched until I pulled them down over my tender thighs and found that my skin was pink. Only then did I remember looking down to see my apron on fire.