Mything Persons

Anyway, he's hiding out until the whole thing's resolved

one way or another. I don't think even Matt knows

where he is. Vampires are normally suspicious, and

after I sneaked out the first time, he's even gotten cagey

around us. He just drops in from time to time to see

how we're doing."

Now I knew I wanted to meet friend Vic. If I was

lucky, I'd meet him before Aahz did.

"Well, I do appreciate you filling me in on the prob-

lem. Now, if you'll just come back to Blut with us and

explain things to the authorities, my gratitude will be

complete."

Luanna started as if I had stuck her with a pin.

"Hold on a minute! Who said anything about going

to the authorities? I can't do that! That would be dou-

blecrossing my partners. I don't want to see you or your

friends get hurt, but I can't sacrifice my own to save

them."

An honest crook is both incongruous and infuriating.

Aahz had often pointed this out to me when some point

in my ethic kept me from going along with one of his

schemes, and now I was starting to understand what he

was talking about.

"But then why are you here?"

"I wanted to warn you. Vic has been thinking that

76 Robert Asprin MYTH-ING PERSONS 77

you might come into Limbo after your partner, and he's

setting up some kind of trap if you did. If he was right,

I thought you should know that you're walking into

trouble. I figured that if you came, you'd look up the

Dispatcher, so I waited there and followed you when

you showed up. I just wanted to warn you is all. That

and...."

She dropped her eyes again and lowered her voice

until I could hardly hear her.

"... I wanted to see you again. I know it's silly,

but...."

As flattering as it was, this time I was unimpressed.

"Yeah, sure." I interrupted. "You're so interested in

me you're willing to let my partner sit on a murder rap

just so you can watch me go through my paces."

"I already explained about that," she said fiercely,

stepping forward to lay a hand on my arm.

I stared at it pointedly until she removed it.

"Well," she said in a small voice. "I can see that

there's nothing more I can say. But, Skeeve? Promise

me that you won't follow me when I leave? You or your

friends? I took a big risk finding you. Please don't make

me regret it."

I stared at her for a long moment, then looked away

and nodded.

"I know you're disappointed in me, Skeeve," came

her voice, "but I can't go against my partners. Haven't

"you ever had to do something you didn't want to do to

support your partner?"

That hit home ... painfully.

"Yes, I have," I said, drawing a ragged breath. "I'm

sorry, Luanna. I'm just Worried about Aahz, that's all.

Tell you what. Just to show there're no hard feelings,

can I have a token or something? Something to remem-

ber you by until I see you again?"

She hesitated, then pulled a gossamer-thin scarf from

somewhere inside her outfit. Stepping close, she tucked

it into my tunic, then rose on her tiptoes and kissed me

softly.

"It's nice of you to ask," she said. "Even if I don't

mean anything to you at all, it's nice of you to ask."

With that, she turned and sprinted off down the road

into the darkness.

I stared after her.

"You're letting her go!?"

Suddenly Massha was at my side, flanked by Guido.

"C'mon, Boss. We gotta catch her. She's your

partner's ticket off death row. Where's she goin'?"

"To meet up with her partners in crime," I said.

"Including a surprisingly lively guy named Vic ...

surprising since he's the one that Aahz is supposed to

have killed."

"So we can catch 'em all together. Nice work, Hot

Stuff. Okay, let's follow her and...."

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because I promised her."

There was a deathly silence as my assistants digested

this information.

"So she walks and Green and Scaly dies, is that it?"

"You're sellin' out your partner for a skirt? That

musta been some kiss."

I slowly turned to face them, and, mad as they were,

they fell silent.

"Now listen close," I said quietly, "because I'm not

going to go over it again. If we tried to follow her back

to their hideout, and she spotted us, she'd lead us on a

wild goose chase and we'd never catch up with them ...

and we need that so-called corpse. I don't think her

testimony alone will swing the verdict."

Robert Asprin

78

"But Boss, if we let her get away...."

"We'll find them," I said. "Without us dogging her

footsteps, she'll head right back to her partners."

"But how will we...."

In answer, I pulled Luanna's scarf from my tunic.

"Fortunately, she was kind enough to provide us with

a means to track her, once we recruit the necessary were-

wolf."

Guido gave my back a slap that almost staggered me.

"Way to go, Boss," he crowed. "You really had me

goin' for a minute. I thought that chickie had really

snowed you."

I looked up to find Massha eyeing me suspiciously.

"That was quite a kiss. Hot Stuff," she said. "If I

didn't know better, I'd think that young lady is more

than a little stuck on you... and you just took

advantage of it."

I averted my eyes, and found myself staring down the

road again.

"As a wise woman once told me," I said, "sometimes

you have to do things you don't like to support your