Page 110 of Fire Dancer

The door swung open, and my mother sauntered in. Just like that, as if this were her home and not ours.

“What is this I hear about vampires?”

No hello. No hug. NoOh my goodness. Are you all right, sweetheart?

Edwards lit up like a golden retriever greeting its long-lost owner, but she took no notice until he whispered dreamily.

“Virginia…”

She glanced over, dismissing him in a nanosecond. “Oh. Hello, Todd.”

“Tom,” he murmured.

Textbook proof that hope springs eternal.

Edwards dragged his eyes away from Mom’s svelte figure just long enough to check his hair in the mirror.

“I didn’t know about the vampires when I took the catering job,” I fibbed.

Edwards scratched his chin. “Well, you and your sisters certainly have a way of finding trouble. That was quite a blaze that consumed the property.”

Mom beamed with pride. “So I hear.”

I heaved an inner sigh. All those soccer games I’d played my heart out in as a child… Had she ever shown any interest?

No. Never.

My most beautiful glassworks… Did any of them elicit the slightest hint of approval?

Not a glimmer.

But burning down a multimillion-dollar property — that tickled Mom’s pickle. Maybe that came with descending from generations of fire-breathing dragons — the love of reducing things to ashes.

“It was terrible,” I told Edwards, and it had been. Just not the way he imagined. “All I could do was call for help and do my best to get people out of the building.”

And stake a few vampires along the way,I wished I could add.

“There. You see?” My mother sniffed. “All quite innocent. And there wouldn’t have been any trouble to get caught up in if you had been doing your job at that agency of yours.” She looked at Edwards, all miffed and haughty, like she was the one who’d dedicated her life to public service.

“That washisjob,” he grumbled, pointing at Ingo.

“Not when it came to Jananovich,” Ingo said. “As per your orders, I couldn’t go near him or investigate his activities.”

The sour look on Edwards’s face was priceless.

My mother scoffed. “Vampires.”

As if dragons had such a spotless track record.

Edwards continued his monotone interrogation. “Jananovich is presumed dead, as are several other vampires, including Gregor Hadik. I don’t suppose you saw him there?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t recognize any of them, sorry. Well, one looked like John Lennon…”

Edwards didn’t seem interested. Not in that one anyway.

I shrugged. “It was my first time catering for vampires.”

“First and last,” my mother grumbled.