“Together on one horse?”

He grinned.

“You’re a dirty volhv,” I told him.

“Okay, okay, I’ll walk.”

“No, it’s your horse. Besides, I’m a big girl. I can make it home on my own.”

“No.” He shook his head. “If you walk away, I’ll just follow you. I’m going to see you home safe.”

His jaw muscles were set, giving his face that telltale stubborn expression. Great. My dark volhv turned out to be a Southern gentleman. I had struck some sort of uniquely male chord in his soul. In his head, abandoning me alone on a night street clearly did not compute.

“There are some women who’d be offended in my place,” I told him. “I’m not helpless and I turn into a monster.”

“Maybe I’m afraid and I want company.” He pretended to shiver. “I may need a big strong monster to protect me. You wouldn’t leave a defenseless attractive man out on the streets alone, would you?”

I laughed. “Okay. You win.”

Soon the two staves rested securely in a leather holder attached to the saddle and my tower was packed into a saddlebag. We walked, Roman with his hand on the horse’s black leather reins embroidered with silver thread and I next to him, carrying a compound bow and a quiver of arrows I had gotten out of the car.

“So why the Chernobog?” I asked. “I’m sure Russians have other gods, besides the deity of cold, evil, and death.”

“It’s the family trade. Our pantheon is all about balance. Where there is light, there must be darkness. Life is followed by death and the decay nourishes new life. Belobog, the white god, and Chernobog, they are brother gods, you see. My uncle is a white volhv, one of his sons will likely be a white volhv, too, and our side is the black volhvs. So that’s why I’m Chernobog’s priest.” He turned to me and grinned. “And also for the chicks.”

Ha! “The chicks?”

“Mhm.” He nodded, completely serious. “Women like a man in black.”

I laughed.

“Admit you were impressed,” he said.

I kept laughing.

“A little bit?” He held up his index finger and his thumb about an inch away from each other. “Not even a little bit?”

“I was impressed.”

“See?”

“It’s just you seem really funny and easygoing.”

“I do enough bad shit to keep ten city blocks awake at night wrapped up in nightmares. I don’t need to maintain an image. At least not all the time.” He glanced at me. “I’m really quite a nice fellow in my time off. I even cook.”