Dragons Luck

With that, he led the way across the street and up the ramp beside the Jackson Brewery to the Moonwalk. Pausing, he peered up and down the sidewalk that ran along the Mississippi River to the Aquarium of the Americas and the Riverwalk shopping center. The walk was well lit by mock gaslight streetlamps, but there were still patches and stretches of near dark.

“There should be . . . Ah! There.”

The vampire pointed at a rat that was snuffling around the litter at the base of a trash can.

“Now what you do is stare at it for a few moments to fix the image in your mind, then envision what you want it to do . . . like this.”

He stared at the rat, then made a gesture. The rat left off its foraging, advanced several feet toward them, then stopped, sitting up on its haunches.

“That’s neat,” Gustov said.

“Now you try it.” Lowell nodded, stepping back a pace.

The shape-shifter took a deep breath and stared at the rat. Several moments went past. The beast seemed to lose interest in them, sniffing the night air as if trying to locate a new food source.

“It doesn’t seem to be working,” Gustov admitted at last.

“Oh well,” Lowell said. “Maybe it is hereditary. Then again, maybe you just need to practice a bit.”

“What was that gesture you made?” the shape-shifter said.

“Gesture?”

“Yes. A little wave with your hand,” Gustov said. “You did it just now, and before when you were calming the mules.”

“Oh, that.” The vampire shrugged. “It’s just a way to focus your energies. You let the suggestion build, then release the instruction with a gesture. Watch.”

He stared at the rat again, then gestured.

The rat stood up on its hind legs and waved its forelegs as if it were dancing.

Gustov threw back his head and laughed out loud.

“What are you doin’?”

The two men looked around.

A couple was approaching them. Apparently one of the scavenger-hunt teams from the conclave. The woman was one of the changelings, the leggy coltish one they called Tammy. The man was the tall skinny black man who was one of the hosting locals.

“Oh. Hi . . . Slim, is it?” Lowell said. “I was just showing Gustov here some of the basics of influencing animals.”

“Uh-huh,” Slim said. “Looks like a bit beyond the basics. You’ve got that animal doin’ stuff it don’t do normally. Mind letting it go?”

“Oh. Certainly.”

Lowell gestured again, and the rat dropped back to all fours and shook itself.

“Sorry,” the vampire said. “I didn’t mean any harm. Friend of yours?”

There was an ill-muffled snort of laughter from the shape-shifter.

“We’ve worked together before,” Slim said, stiffly. “More like an associate. I try to treat the animals I deal with on a level of respect. I guess that’s one of the differences between you and me.”

“Hey. Lighten up, Slim,” Lowell said. “It’s not like I set him up to swim the Mississippi.”

“No. You just had him dancin’ around like some street-trash hustler. That ain’t somethin’ he’d do normally,” Slim growled, turning away.

“What? It’s beneath his dignity?” The vampire laughed. “C’mon. It’s just a rat.”

“Yeah?” Slim said, returning to the fray. “And you’re a vampire. How’d you like it if someone got into your head and had you dancin’ around just for show.”

“Slim,” Tammy said, warningly, putting a hand on his arm.

“Like there’s anyone at this conclave who could get that much control over me . . . or any other vampire,” Lowell shot back.

“Hey, guys,” Gustov said, stepping between them. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?”

“And you stay out of this,” Slim said, turning on the shape-shifter. “If I want advice, it sure won’t be from the likes of you. What? Has he got a mind hold on you, too? I thought you were further up the food chain than that.”

“What are you doing?” Lowell said, looking at the changeling.

Tammy looked up from her cell phone.

“I’m calling Mr. McCandles,” she said. “This whole thing is getting out of hand.”

“Whistling up the dragon to bail you out of trouble?” the vampire sneered. “Well, he isn’t strong enough to stop me if I really wanted to get into it with Animal Man here. Oh, put that thing away. We aren’t . . .”

He started to reach for Tammy’s phone, but Slim knocked his hand away.

“I don’t care how bad you think you are,” he snarled. “You don’t touch her while she’s with me. Leastwise, not unless she wants you to.”

“And you don’t lay hands on me!” Lowell hissed. “Better men than you have learned to regret taking such liberties.”

Again, Gustov stepped between them.

“Gentlemen,” he said. “There’s no call for . . .”

“And I told you before to back off, Fido,” Slim said.

“Around here, a man fights his own battles once he starts ’em.”

The shape-shifter struck a stance.

“That’s twice you’ve insulted me, Slim,” he snarled. “Both times I was trying to help. But if you . . .”

“What’s going on here?”

Griffen McCandles appeared out of the darkness, striding toward them.

There was a frozen moment, as everyone held his pose in tableau like a bunch of guilty children when the front door opens. Then everyone started talking at once.

“We were just . . .”