I beheld. It looked just like a normal, a somewhat grimy, engine.

“No modifications?” Arland asked.

“None,” Hardwir said.

Arland peered at him. “Are you sure? I know you. You didn’t improve on it at all? In any way?”

“No improvements.” Hardwir spat to the side. “Just as ugly and poisonous as it came to me.”

I checked the hood, the inside, and the trunk. Everything seemed to be in order. The car looked exactly as it had before it was hit with a blood axe.

I turned to Arland. “Would you mind helping me? I have to leave the inn grounds and position Officer Marais in the car and he is heavy.”

Arland nodded at me, his face grave. “It would be my honor.”

Something was wrong. He normally wasn’t this somber. “I may need you to change clothes.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “Of course.”

I stepped out and returned with a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and size 14 athletic shoes. Arland arched his thick eyebrows. He had worn this outfit during his last visit when he pretended to be human. He took the clothes and went to change behind the cruiser.

I turned to Hardwir and Nuan Cee’s niece. “Please don’t leave the stables.”

“You have my word,” Hardwir said. “We will stay put. I was never a good swimmer. Besides, I will watch over the Marshall’s armor.”

“I will stay as well,” Nuan Cee’s niece said. “I’m weak and helpless and I don’t want to be punished.”

Weak and helpless, sure. Next thing she would try to sell me a lovely coastal villa in Kansas.

Arland emerged, camouflaged as a very large human. The camouflage wasn’t exactly working. Dressing Arland in Earth clothes was like putting bunny ears on a tiger. The ears were cute, but the tiger was still scary. The T-shirt stretched on his shoulders, too small for his arms. He was built like a bear: broad shoulders, carved arms, a wide chest, and flat hard stomach. It was the kind of frame that could effortlessly support the weight of vampire armor and let him swing a heavy weapon for hours without slowing down. If an NFL linebacker ran full speed at Arland, he would just bounce off.

The marshall picked up Officer Marais as if the fully grown man was a child, put him in the back seat, and slid into the passenger seat. I got in on the driver’s side and held my hand out. The wall spat the dashboard camera at me. I put it in my lap, started the engine, put the car in reverse, and drove backward slowly. The walls slipped out of the way. A moment and we slid into my driveway, the rear of the car facing the street. I killed the engine and sat quietly, listening. It was ten past midnight and the subdivision lay silent. This plan hinged on having no witnesses.

The night lay silent. I eased the cruiser into neutral and let the slight incline of the driveway do the rest. Whisper-quiet, the cruiser rolled out of the driveway, across the street, and down Camelot Road. I gently steered it back to the spot where Marais had parked before the whole affair had started. I opened the dashboard camera, extracted the SD card, rolled down the window and pulled with my magic. I only had a fraction of my power outside the inn’s boundaries, but a fraction would be enough.

A small camera floated into my hand, a mirrored sphere about the size of a ping-pong ball. I squeezed the sphere. A thin metal tendril snaked out and flowed over the SD card. The sphere pulsed once and the tendril slithered back into it. I slipped the card back into its place and returned the camera back to its mount.

The neighborhood was still empty. Great. I stepped out of the car and nodded to Arland. He opened his door, picked up Officer Marais, and sat him in the driver seat. I locked his seat belt in place, reached through the open window, careful to stay away from any mirrors, and pushed record on the camera. We quietly moved to the side and went deeper into the subdivision.

“What are we doing?” Arland murmured, looming next to me.

“We’re going to make a big circle and come into the inn through the back, so the camera doesn’t see us.”

“Won’t there be a break in recording?”

I shook my head. “My camera recorded over four hours of video and then looped it into seven hours of footage, using a random algorithm complete with a false time stamp. It overwrote your arrival completely. Right now the real dashboard camera is recording over that video. By the time he wakes up, the tail end of the looped footage will be overwritten with the real video as well. When Officer Marais watches it, he will see hours and hours of the inn sitting there with no activity.”

“Clever,” Arland said.

Yes, clever and very expensive. The remote camera cost me a lot of money and a favor that had been difficult to repay.

We turned right on Bedivere Road.

“Dina,” Arland said. His voice had a slightly rough quality to it. Not Lady Dina, but Dina. He was up to something. That wasn’t good.

“Yes?”

“I’m but a humble soldier.”

Here we go. He had given me a version of this speech before. This definitely wasn’t good.

“You and I, we have a history.”

Okay, what could he possibly be upset about?

“We were comrades at arms, fighting at each other’s side for the common goal. We have broken bread together.”

Was this about the food? Was he upset that we didn’t serve red meat at dinner? But we told them not to expect a big meal the first day, because separate meals would be served at their quarters. We would not set up the big dinner until tomorrow.

“That kind of connection, it stays with you.”

Was he offended because I let the otrokari fire a weapon? Was it because the otrokari were scheduled to be the first to arrive to the inn and the vampires were last? But we had compensated the Holy Anocracy by inviting them to be the first to officially enter the ballroom.

“Dina…”

He dipped his head and looked into my eyes. A small shiver ran down my spine. Arland had focused completely on me. His face was handsome, but his eyes were breathtaking. Deep intense blue, they usually communicated power or aggression, but right now they were warm, softened by emotion until they seemed almost velvet. He reached over and took my hand into his, the calluses on his strong fingers scraping against my skin.

I realized we had stopped under an oak by some house. The night was suddenly very small and Arland had filled it completely.

I had left my broom at the inn. It was just me, the darkness, and the vampire knight.