After practice, we went to a hipster restaurant in downtown Decatur for some real food.
"Do dhampyrs hate us?" I asked Dad as we ate.
He pursed his lips. "I would imagine that each individual has his or her own opinion of our kind much as ordinary humans do. In general, though, spawn have earned their bad reputation."
"Elyssa's mom is a hair stylist," I said. "A hair stylist! I would never think someone like her was a dhampyr."
"Like anyone else, they've got to earn a living."
He made it sound so mundane. How many people could say their hairstylist was a half-human vampire? I sighed. "So there's probably no chance of Elyssa and I getting back together."
"Ah, to be young and foolish," Dad said. "I hate to say it, son, but it sounds like she has some prejudiced feelings that will be hard to overcome."
I tried not to hang my head, but the weight of his words hit me like a hammer, even if Elyssa had already told me in no uncertain terms how she felt about what I was. But there was nothing I could do about it. Just like I couldn't change my skin color or where I was born. Then again, dating demon spawn was probably more extreme than most people wanted to deal with.
We left the restaurant and walked down an alley formed by the restaurant and a neighboring pub. Shattered glass littered the pavement and crunched underfoot. A stray dog trotted past us, something hanging from its mouth. We reached the junction of a service entrance where four buildings backed up to each other. Dumpsters lined the paved strip. Steam escaped the sewage covers in the middle of the service alley. I wrinkled my nose at the unwelcome odor pervading an otherwise crisp autumn evening.
A crackle and a low hum filled my ears. I stopped and looked around, half expecting a power transformer to explode. Dad took a couple of steps forward. He bounced back as if he'd hit a wall.
"Oh crap." He lunged forward and rebounded again. He pressed against the air like a mime touching an invisible wall.
"What is it?"
"We've got a problem."
I still wasn't sure what the hell was going on. "What are you doing? There's nothing there."
"It's a confinement circle."
A young man, probably in his twenties, came from around the corner and gave us a triumphant look. "Well that was easy."
"What do you want?" Dad asked.
"The bounty, of course," replied the man. He strutted over like he was the cock of the walk and studied me. "You must be the little monster everyone's so worked up about." He looked at my dad. "You, on the other hand, are wanted by the Conroys. I guess it's for the best if I turn you in with your 'son'." He flashed air quotes to demonstrate exactly what he thought about our family relations. "I'll let the authorities sort it all out." I hadn't known this guy for thirty seconds and I already hated him.
Dad clenched his fists. "The Conroys put a bounty on me? Who put a bounty on my son?"
The man shrugged. "I don't know. I just turn the monsters in to the Conclave and let them sort it out." He rubbed his hands together. "Now, if you'll just cooperate, I promise things will go smoothly."
I was getting really tired of this dude's insinuations that my dad and I were nothing more than monsters for him to ship off.
I stepped forward. Dad stopped me. "You can't break through it, son. It's a circle."
"A circle?"
"It's what sorcerers use to trap demon spawn." He pointed to a chalk outline on the ground.
"A chalk circle?" I pshawed. "That's stupid. Who in the world came up with that rule?"
The man listened to us with an amused expression on his face then lifted a large rune-covered staff and waved it around in a way that probably wasn't good for our near future.
I knew something horrible was about to happen to Dad. Before I could think, I blurred forward and snatched the staff from the man. I snapped it into four pieces. Threw the pieces to the ground. I grabbed the man by the neck. He squealed like a pig—probably just like Coach Wise preferred—as I chucked him at the dumpster. He bounced off the open lid and landed inside with a metallic clang. I blurred over to him and looked inside. He was out cold.
I approached the oh-so-dangerous chalk circle and rubbed out a section with my shoe. Dad stepped across, staring at me with amazement.
"How did you do that?" he asked.
"I, uh, just walked across it," I said. "I felt a little static in the air, but that was it."
"You know what this means?" he said.
"That I can step across a chalk line?"
He shook his head. "You are part human."
"So I'm not a demon spawn after all?"
He grinned. "Oh, you're definitely demon spawn, but you have a human side too." He whistled. "And they thought half-breeds were impossible."
"The Conroys must have known something if they took Ivy."
"Maybe. Or perhaps they're just evil people."
"That goes without saying about anyone who'd steal a baby from her parents." I pointed a thumb over my shoulder at the dumpster. "What about him?"
"I don't know what to do about him. This is bad news. If he found us, there will be others looking to collect the bounty."
"Why would magicians need money? Can't they just make it out of thin air?"
He chuckled. "They don't like to be called that. It lumps them in with the ordinary illusionists. Besides, even the best sorcerers can't make things out of thin air." Dad stared vacantly for a moment then narrowed his eyes. "Do you have an internet phone?"
"You mean a smartphone? Yes."
"Let's check the Conclave's website. Maybe they have my bounty posted there."
My eyebrows threatened to fly away. "You must be kidding. They have a website?"
I pulled out my smartphone and typed in the address my dad gave me. Sure enough, it was a website for the Overworld Conclave with slick professionally-designed graphics and everything. The main page listed bounties. Mine and my dad's were at the top of the list. Most of the bounties ran around a thousand bucks. Our bounties were fifty grand each. I almost felt flattered.
"How can sorcerers have a website? I thought magic and technical stuff didn't work very well together."
"Technology and magic work very well together," he said. "Some of the things they can do nowadays would scare your pants off. Besides, this isn't the Arcane Council's website. The Overworld Conclave governs all supernatural beings. Or at least it tries to."
"Tries to?"
"Every faction complains that other factions have too much power. Most of the time nothing gets done. About the only thing most factions agree on is keeping the supernatural set out of the limelight. Anyone caught breaking that rule is usually dealt with quickly and efficiently."
I gulped. Had I stepped over the line? Stupid question. I had dived over the line with football. That had to be the reason the Conclave had listed a bounty on me.
I went to the dumpster and, despite the horrible odor, pulled out the unconscious sorcerer. A few shreds of moldy lettuce fell off his brown leather duster. I patted him on the cheek a couple of times. He jerked awake, mumbling something about remembering his gym shorts. When his eyes settled on me, they hardened.
"How did you break the circle?"
"I'll be asking the questions," I said. "How did you find us?"
"A lot of detective work."
"Tracking spells?" Dad asked.
He shook his head. "Didn't have blood or anything to track you with."
I wasn't really sure what the limits of magic were in that regard. For all I knew he could wave a magic wand around and teleport to us.
"You two should just come with me," the sorcerer said. "It'll be a lot easier on you that way."
I gave him a yeah-right look. "How about you leave us alone and go away?"
He snorted. "I'm the least of your worries. Ever since the bounties on you two went public, all sorts of supers are looking for you."
"Vampires?" Dad asked, worry creasing his forehead.
The sorcerer pushed himself to his feet and looked at the splintered mess I'd made of his staff. "Do you know how long it takes to make one of those?" He shook his head. "No, of course you don't."
Something rustled. A bit of broken roof tile fell onto the alley floor from two stories up. Dad cursed. The sorcerer dug in his trench coat and whipped out a smooth ebony stick about twelve inches long. Something cold prickled at the edge of my senses, almost the same way it did when Stacey was around. But this felt cold and hostile rather than hot and stalkerish.
"I just knew those sons of bitches were following me," the sorcerer said. "Lazy bastards were probably waiting for me to put you in sleepers."
I gulped. "Um, who's following you?"
Dark forms dropped from above and landed in front and behind us. I counted six. One shadowy figure stepped into the dim light of a lamp. He looked pretty ordinary to me aside from his abnormally ice-hued skin and his Fabio-length brown hair. He smiled. His canines lengthened into ivory-colored fangs.
I had just met my first "normal" vampire.
Chapter 26
The vampire's fangs reminded me of Elyssa's, except her straight white teeth and full lips complemented hers and drove the sexiness factor through the roof. This guy wasn't ugly, but the large gap between his two front teeth gave him an almost comical appearance. He really needed an orthodontist and some titanium braces to fix those ugly chompers. Apparently, becoming a vampire didn't fix your teeth.
"It's him," said a tall thin vampire as he stepped from the shadows and pointed at me. Light danced menacingly in his ruby-colored irises.
"Oh yes, the football star," said a shorter vampire with a slight lisp who stood next to the other. I recognized both their faces even though they'd worn hoodies while watching me at football practice.
