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with their trains of yaks to trade their unusual silk and blood-red rubies for onyx. That day, however, a black galley had come into port in early afternoon; news of its arrival flew up the city faster than people could deliver it. The captain and his mates entered the inn soon after the news had reached the common room, and took a table along one wall. One of the mates removed a thin leather case and a bottle that appeared to be carved from a large example of their trade rubies from a canvas satchel he carried. He passed the bottle to the other mates and the case to the captain, who opened it and began setting up a backgammon board. Finally the captain placed a full purse the size of an apple on the table beside the board, and looked out over the common room with a toothy grin on his wide frog-like mouth in his round apish face. Though his apparel appeared more luxurious than that of his mates, they were all dressed the same: tunic and trousers secured with a sash, under an open robe, with curious-shaped boots and bulbous turbans. However, she understood that the attire was a disguise, to hide the fact that they were not human, but more akin to the satyr of Greek mythology, complete with cloven-hoofed feet and goat horns and ears.

  "Ach, what do make of that?" she asked her companions.

  Conaed wriggled his nose tendrils. "It would appear that hopes to fleece a few suckers. That is the right word, is it not?"

  She flashed a smirk. "No, I meant why do you suppose they came to this inn?"

  Creme flicked his ears. "If the Leng Men were involved in taking the idol, they could be here to stop you."

  "How would they know we are trying to find it?"

  He looked up at her with a half-lidded expression. "Anyone watching us will have noted that we have been here a fairly long time, yet you have not engaged in any business other than sightseeing and enjoying yourself. They may not be able to discount the possibility you are simply on vacation, but neither can they take the chance you are not."

  "His reasoning is sound, Lady," Conaed said.

  She nodded. "I agree. Even so, there is only one way to find out. If you are correct, they will wait for an opportunity to abduct me. So, I shall give them one. Teehar."

  The bird eyed her in an eager fashion. By mutual agreement, he did not speak in the common room, so as not to give anyone the suspicion that he was intelligent.

  "If they take the chance I offer, I will not resist, but let them take me out. You follow, and find out where they take me, then return and inform Runt and Creme. Understand?"

  He flicked his crest to indicate that he did.

  "Good. Now, let us see what develops."

  She watched as over the following three hours the captain defeated six opponents and claimed their stakes for his winnings. At first she wondered if Conaed might have been right after all, and he had no nefarious motive beyond relieving overconfident seamen of their hard-earned pay, but by the end she realized that he was cheating, and she discerned how he accomplished it.

  When after the sixth player no one else seemed willing to challenge the captain, and he made to close the board and put it away, she stood up and approached their table, removing her purse from her belt. One of the mates elbowed him in the ribs and he looked up at her.

  "Care to try your luck, my bountiful slut?"

  With her free hand she whipped out her dirk and slammed the point of the long, thick, double-edged blade into the tabletop with one fluid move too fast for the eye to follow. Though she kept her expression neutral and she sat down to show she accepted his invitation, the startled and astonished look on his face assured her that her implied threat had sunk in.

  She called out to the innkeeper for a fresh goblet of mead and a bowl. One of his daughters brought both in short order, then departed even faster.

  She opened her purse. "I will wager part or all of this." And she poured its contents--two dozen gold crowns from Celephais--into the bowl.

  His grin widened. "Done. We roll to see who goes first." He threw his crooked dice, getting a double six.

  "I concede; make your move."

  He chortled as he tossed the dice, and received another double six.

  The game did not last long, given the circumstances, and the captain won easily. "One hundred and fifty tahlers, please."

  She dug three crowns out of the bowl and gave them to him.

  "Another game?"

  She flashed a half-smile. "Why not? I have time before supper. Same stakes?" That would make the wager 300 tahlers.

  "Of course."

  "Shall we double it?"

  The captain glanced at his mates, and they all chuckled. "By all means," he replied, spreading his arms.

  "What if you loose?"

  "I can make good any bet out of our cargo of rubies."

  "Very well; let us proceed."

  He made to roll to determine which of them started, but she forestalled him with a raised hand before he could even shake the dice. "I concede; please begin."

  The game lasted a little longer that time; she suspected he was toying with her. Nonetheless, he still won, and she handed over twelve crowns.

  "Another game?"

  "Naturally, and double the previous stake."

  "You do not have enough coins; what if you lose?"

  She returned a grin of her own. "Then I offer myself; I shall return with you to your galley and service the entire crew."

  He threw her an amused and malevolent leer. "All of us?"

  She returned a wicked mirthful leer of her own. "Of course."

  The mates laughed boisterously as the captain shouted, "Agreed!"

  She took a moment to drain her goblet as the captain made his first role, and turned in her chair to call for more.

  "Why not try some of ours?" a mate asked.

  She turned back, and saw him holding up their bottle.

  About time, she thought. She had speculated that their primary plan would be to get her drunk on a powerful alcoholic beverage, though she assumed they had contingency plans in case she failed to take their bait. That they offered her the same beverage they had been drinking all afternoon did not surprise her, being as many cultures made powerful moonshines that barely affected them, but could make anyone uninitiated intoxicated very quickly.

  Except her; she could consume enough of any liquor to get ten full-grown men inebriated, and feel little.

  "Ach, yes, thank you." She accepted their bottle, which she saw had indeed been carved from a single ruby. She pulled the stopper and sniffed; it smelled of herbal extracts and tannins. She poured a generous libation and passed it back, then took a deep draught. It tasted sharp, foul, and heady with alcohol, but she expected that, and she sipped at it as she played. Sure enough, she could feel the liquor's effects creep over her body almost immediately, and she pretended to become inebriated. She deliberately made mistakes in judgment as she fumbled her coordination, and she knew she had them fooled when the captain stopped cheating. Two-thirds of the way through the game she pretended to collapse unconscious on the tabletop, spilling her goblet and scattering the pieces on the board. She heard the Leng Men laugh in an evil fashion as they packed up their game and collected her money along with their winnings. Finally she felt them pick her up by her limbs and carry her out of the inn. No one tried to stop them, and she imagined the innkeeper family and the other patrons watching helplessly as she was bourn away.

  From "The Christmas Vampires"

  Angela moved so fast that Connie soon lost sight of her, but she kept running in the same direction until she reached a two-story mausoleum with huge brass-covered doors. She stopped and looked around, trying to find the child Vampire.

  "Over here."

  Connie looked and found her standing on the peak of an obelisk, balancing on one foot.

  "That was so cool!"

  Angela jumped down, grinning at her. "I am glad you liked it. What do you think of this?" She walked over to a stone bench, slipped one hand underneath the seat, and lifted it off the ground over her head.

  "Whoa! Will I be able to do that when I'm
a Vampire?"

  Angela set the bench back down. "Not at first, though you will be stronger than you are now, but the longer you live, the stronger you will become."

  "What else can you do? Can you fly?"

  "No, I cannot, but I can do this." She sprinted towards the mausoleum, and then jumped, not all the way to the roof, but about a third of the way up. She landed on the wall, touching it with the palms of her hands and her toes, but she didn't fall. Then she scrambled up like she was crawling across the ground, and over onto the roof, before she turned over onto her back.

  "Wow! That's totally wicked!"

  "Is that good?" Angela sat perched on the edge of the roof, dangling and swinging her feet.

  "It's way better than good! It's awesome!"

  Angela hopped down. "You asked me to help you improve your vocabulary, but I believe there are things you can teach me as well."

  "Like what?"

  "Like, about this time and how to fit in better."

  "Well, yeah, sure! I mean, after I'm a Vampire, we'll be friends. We'll spend all sorts of time together and teach each other all kinds of neat stuff."

  "Vampires do not have friends."

  "None at all?" Connie couldn't imagine not having friends.

  "We hunt for our blood. That means we hold territories, alone. Any other Vampire who enters our territory is a threat and must be chased off or destroyed."

  "But what about Rosie and Giovanna?"

  "Rosalie is twice my chronological age, and Giovanna is 500 years old. They are my elders and masters, not my friends. They look out for me