Page 113 of Hoofin’ It

I’d never qualified to serve on the bomb squad, but I’d done my research. If someone had used a sticker, he was better than an amateur but not as good as a pro, or he’d been paid enough to ignore his professional pride and take on a quick, dirty job.

Most of the real professionals wouldn’t touch ex-cops, not without leaving their mark.

I could only nod in agreement with Quinton’s assessment.

“Papa would have my head on a platter if I did such an inelegant job.”

Of course Ernesto would. When Ernesto made people disappear, he went to extremes—or had Donovan go to extremes. If he found out who’d been responsible for the destruction of his daughter’s precious restaurant, the panty incident on the Franklin Street bridge would pale in comparison. The bodies of all involved would be found, and their guilt would be made known in as humiliating a fashion as possible.

I wanted to find the bomber myself. I could deal with someone coming after me, but he’d hurt Marian. Her choice of career told me she could take care of herself.

I didn’t care.

Someone had hurt her trying to get me, and I couldn’t forgive that. In that, I was my father’s son. It began to truly sink in that someone hadn’t just tried to kill me—they had succeeded. Without the magic of my first shift, I would have died.

If the grate hadn’t broken, I probably would have drowned. Even if it hadn’t, I’d heard Dr. Valentine’s assessment.

Magic had kept me breathing, and I wouldn’t get so lucky a second time.

“All right, Gibby. You’ll want to hold your breath for a moment. I’d rather not have to explain to Papa you drowned. Since someone conveniently left the grate open, I see no need to take the harder way.”

Curiosity consumed me as the vampire’s words confirmed there was a way to the third level without going through the canal. I supposed it was better I didn’t learn what it was.

I had a rather bad habit of poking my nose in places I didn’t belong.

Quinton strolled along the canal to the hole in the grate. While the police had set up a tape cordon, but no one guarded it. I found their negligence both tiresome and amusing. No one in their right mind deliberately went into the abyss, so why waste manpower guarding a hole in the canal’s grate? The locals knew corpses rotted in the water, no one in their right mind wanted to fall in.

I suspected Quinton used some sort of vampire magic to keep people from noticing us. He held me to his chest with one hand, his grip firm enough I couldn’t escape if I wanted to. “Hold your breath.”

I took a deep breath and bobbed my head.

Quinton speared into the water feet first, angling for the canal’s side to avoid the jagged, blasted metal. The chill water closed over us, and we emerged on the other side moments later. Smacking into the concrete slide feet first, the vampire took the full force of the landing, and his laughter rang out.

Unlike my haphazard descent, Quinton shot down the slick slope. My second trip down the spillway reinforced my initial impression a mad scientist and an engineer had gotten together to design the damned thing.

After the first loop-de-loop, I was glad Quinton had suggested I wait to eat until after our descent to the third level. The second loop left my head spinning, and by the time Quinton shot out of the third one into the air, I swore to get revenge on the entire Saven brood.

No net broke our fall, but Quinton entered the water feet first at an angle and lost his hold on me, leaving me to fend for myself in the utter darkness. I had no idea how an otter swam, but I discovered I could use my paws, tail, and long body to cut through the water after a few strokes.

I didn’t go far before a hand grabbed my tail and yanked me out of the water. I yowled once and writhed before the vampire flipped me over to hold me under my forelegs. “Sorry. Didn’t want to lose you in the current. Wasn’t that fun?”

We bobbed in the water, and I slapped my head in the universal expression of disgust.

“You can’t see a thing down here, can you?”

Flipping my middle finger might become my default mode of communication.

“All right, keep your pants on. Unless you want to take a one-way trip straight to hell, you should ride on my shoulders until I get us to shore. I can see down here. You’d probably find the one way to get sucked into the underground river and get killed. I can’t tell if you’re cursed or lucky sometimes.”

Dumb vampires and their magical talents. Resenting him for his vision was ridiculous, but I couldn’t help my feelings. My awareness of what I couldn’t do as well hung over me every day. Grunting, I wiggled in his hold and scrambled along his arm to his shoulders, clinging to his jacket with my claws.

Quinton reached the shore and walked out of the water, one hand pressed to my back to keep me from falling from my perch. “We’re close to the end of the darkness zone, so you may want to shut your eyes. It’s rather bright on the other side.”

I closed my left eye since the light wouldn’t bother my fake one.

“It’s really creepy when you do that. Have I told you that? While the color is rather interesting, knowing you can’t see with it makes my skin crawl when it’s the only one open. Have a little mercy.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and left my right eye open.