Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

reassuring about him. He was the kind of person that you’d want beside you in a courtroom. When he looked at me, he frowned briefly, as if trying to place who I was.
    â€œYou must be Mercedes Thompson,” he said, holding out his hand.
    He had a good handshake, a politician’s handshake—firm and dry.
    â€œCall me Mercy,” I said. “Everyone does.”
    He nodded. “Mercy, this is my friend and client Jim Blackwood. Jim—Mercy Thompson, my wife’s friend who is visiting us this week.”
    Jim was talking to Amber and took just an instant to turn his attention back to Corban and me.
    Jim Blackwood. James Blackwood. How many James Black-woods were there in Spokane, I wondered in dumb panic. Five or six? But I knew—even though the strong cologne he wore kept me from scenting vampire—I knew I wasn’t going to be lucky.
    He’d think I smelled like I had dogs, Bran had assured me. And even if he didn’t, even if he knew what I was—I was just visiting. He couldn’t take offense at that, right?
    I knew better. Vampires could take offense at anything they liked.
    â€œMr. Blackwood,” I greeted him, when he looked away from Amber. Keep it simple. I didn’t know if vampires could sense lies like the wolves could, but I wasn’t going to say, “It’s very good to meet you,” or something similar when I was wishing myself a hundred miles away.
    I did my best to keep a social smile on my face while stupid thoughts began to pile up. How was he going to eat with us? Vampires didn’t. Not that I’d ever seen. What were the chances of a vampire’s showing up and it not being some plot of Marsilia’s?
    Blackwood hadn’t sounded like a vampire who would do anyone’s bidding.
    â€œCall me Jim,” he told me, just a hint of a British accent shading his voice. “I’m sorry to intrude on your visit, but we had some urgent business this afternoon, and Corban insisted on bringing me home.”
    His round face was merry, and his handshake was even more practiced than Corban’s had been. If it weren’t for that little talk I’d had with Bran, I’d never have known what he was.
    â€œShall we go eat now?” Amber suggested, calm and in control now that the preparations were finished. “It’s ready and not going to get better if it sits around. I’m afraid I kept it simple.”
    Simple was pepper steak over rice with salads and fresh rolls followed by homemade apple pie. Somehow, the food disappeared from the vampire’s plate. I never saw him eat or touch his plate—though I kept half an eye on it with morbid fascination. Maybe a little hope. If I’d seen even a single bite go in his mouth, then I’d have believed him to be just what he seemed.
    I stayed quiet while the men talked business—mostly contract language and 401(k)s—and I was very happy to stay unnoticed. Amber slipped in a sentence here and there, just enough to keep the conversation going. I heard Chad sneak by the dining room and into the kitchen. After a while he left again.
    â€œVery good meal as always,” the vampire told Amber. “Beautiful, charming—and a fine cook. As I keep telling Corban, I am going to steal you one of these days.” I felt a chill go down my spine—he wasn’t lying—but Corban and Amber just laughed as if it were an old joke. Just then, he looked at me. “You’ve been awfully quiet tonight. Corban tells me you went to school with Amber and you’re from Kennewick. What is it you do there?”
    â€œI fix things,” I mumbled to my plate.
    â€œThings?” He sounded intrigued, just the opposite of what I’d hoped.
    â€œCars. Meet Mercedes the VW mechanic,” said Amber with a touch of the sharpness that had been her trademark in the old days. “But I bet I can still get her going on the royal families of Europe or the name of Hitler’s German shepherd.” She smiled at James Blackwood, the Monster who kept his territory free of vampires or anything else that might challenge him. A coyote wouldn’t be much of a challenge.
    Amber chatted on ... almost nervously. Maybe she thought I’d jump up and tell her husband’s valuable client that they’d brought me over to catch a ghost in the act. She wouldn’t be worried about it if she knew what he was. “You’d have thought