My sulk was interrupted by the arrival of the wine, slightly warm, as most vamps liked it. It had been opened already, and Ivy took control of the bottle, avoiding my look as she poured three glasses. Jenks made do with the drop on the mouth of the bottle. Still peeved, I settled back with my glass and watched the other guests. I wouldn’t drink it because the sulfur it broke down into tended to wreak havoc with me. I’d have told Ivy, but it was none of her business. It wasn’t a witch thing, just my own personal quirk that gave me headaches and made me so light sensitive that I had to hide in my room with a washcloth over my eyes. It was an oddly related lingering remnant of a childhood affliction that had me in and out of the hospital until puberty kicked in. I’d take the developed sulfur sensitivity any day in exchange for my misery as a child, weak and sickly as my body tried to kill itself.

The music had started again, and my unease at Piscary slowly filtered away, driven out by the music and background conversations. Everyone could ignore Glenn now that Piscary had talked to us. The rattled human downed his wine as if it were water. Ivy and I exchanged glances as he refilled his glass with shaking hands. I wondered if he was going to drink until he passed out or try to tough it out sober. He took a sip of his next glass, and I smiled. He was going to split the difference.

Glenn gave Ivy a wary glance and leaned close to me. “How could you meet his eyes?” he whispered, hard to hear above the surrounding noise. “Weren’t you afraid he’d be-spell you?”

“The man is over three hundred years old,” I said, realizing Piscary’s accent was Old English. “If he wanted to be-spell me, he wouldn’t have to look into my eyes.”

Face going sallow behind his short beard, Glenn pulled away. Leaving him to mull that around for a bit, I jerked my head to get Jenks’s attention. “Jenks,” I said softly. “Why don’t you take a quick peek in back? Check out the employees’ break room? See what’s up?”

Ivy topped her glass off. “Piscary knows we’re here for a reason,” she said. “He’ll tell us what we want to know. Jenks will only get himself caught.”