Marion was Sanguinarius Meyerii, from the Twilight series. Her particular species of vampire was better known as sparklers. Marion had been a diehard fan of the books, no pun intended. Last year, after learning magic and vampires were real, she’d snuck across the border and paid a Mexican vampire nest to convert her.

She was damn lucky she hadn’t gotten herself killed. Sparkler venom was nasty, dangerous stuff.

Her life as a vampire hadn’t worked out as well as she’d hoped. Skin that glittered in the sun wasn’t easy to hide, and she soon lost her job as a middle school English teacher. She’d ended up working at a junkyard near Reno. When New Millennium announced we’d be hiring humans and nonhumans alike, Marion was first in line with her resume.

She was a pleasant enough woman who’d taken it upon herself to organize a weekly BINGO game among the staff. She was also strong enough to flip my truck one-handed if she decided I didn’t belong here.

Marion glanced at a second vampire behind her. My head throbbed softly as he checked my emotions.

She returned my badge. “Welcome back, Mr. Vainio. How was Washington?”

“One more day and I’d have turned a U.S. senator into an earthworm and fed him to Smudge.”

Marion smiled and peeked in at Smudge. “Aside from the fire-spider, do you have anything magical with you?”

“Half a vial of healing potion. Catalog number CSL1950-8.”

She typed a quick note on the computer. “Weren’t they fixing your niece’s leg this morning?”

I wondered if her partner could sense my frustration. “That’s right.”

“Well, you tell that little angel I said hello!”

The gate slid open a moment later. I pulled through and followed the winding blacktop to the left. In the week I’d been away, they had erected a second security booth inside the wall. Another armed guard, a human this time, nodded at me as I passed.

Most of the grounds were landscaped with orange and gray stone. Cacti and palm trees bordered walking paths between the four towers and various smaller buildings. Silver and black road signs guided visitors to housing, a small food court and general store, supply warehouses, and of course the ten-story towers spread out at the corners of a rough square: Medical, Admin, Research, and Library.

The Johannes Gutenberg Memorial Library Tower was the real treasure. The building housed the contents of six former Porter archives along with an additional twenty thousand titles, including some from Gutenberg’s private collection. Given the choice, I would have happily abandoned my studio apartment in the eastern housing building to live full-time in Gutenberg Tower.