“What’s her name?”
“Christine something. She’s from Dallas, she lived in a vampire nest there. Lemuel has nothing to do with them, especially Joseph, the leader.”
“How did he know Lemuel needed an Etruscan speaker?” Fiji was confused.
“He didn’t until we showed up asking for one. We found Christine in the Vampire Directory. So we gave Joseph, the sheriff, a present, and he gave us Christine. Whose maker was Dr. Parker Quigley.”
“Am I supposed to recognize that name?” Fiji was embarrassed. “I don’t.”
“I didn’t, either,” Olivia said. “Don’t feel bad. As I’ve since found out, Dr. Quigley was a kind of shady and scary guy in his day—surprise, surprise. Because of his research into ancient Egyptians and ancient Roman burial customs and rituals. Anyway, while he was doing more research he eventually ran across an Etruscan vampire named Arria Auclina.” Olivia pronounced the name carefully: Ar-REE-ah Aw-CLEE-nah.
“And this Arria Auclina made him a vampire.”
“You got it. She was pretty excited that someone was interested in her people. And she taught Dr. Quigley Etruscan, to keep the language alive. And then he taught Christine. In another huge enormous totally unbelievable coincidence, Dr. Quigley was the vampire Lemuel ran across in New Orleans. He gave him a dictionary, to help in translation. But the dictionary was pretty crappy, as it turns out, so that’s one reason Lemuel’s had such slow going getting the book translated.”
“This is kind of convoluted,” Fiji said.
“No shit. Joseph, who evidently is Christine’s boss, decided she was expendable. Turns out the vampires of Dallas have been feeling ‘bad emanations’ from Midnight.”
“That’s a lot of vampires thinking about us. I’ve always been glad Lemuel kept them away from here,” Fiji said. “When the daytime people were here looking for Barry, it made my skin crawl.”
Olivia looked at Fiji doubtfully. “You’re not saying Lemuel makes your skin crawl,” she said, in the tone of someone who is just making certain of a fact.
“No, I’m used to Lemuel and I talk to him the same way I talk to anyone else.” Though I almost always think before I speak, with Lemuel, Fiji added silently.
“He’s one of a kind,” Olivia said proudly. “Almost literally. At least, he’s really rare.”
Fiji carried the plates and her bowl over to the sink. “So I guess you have a goal in coming to visit? Not that I’m not glad to see you and share lunch and a good story with you,” she said over her shoulder.
“I do have a purpose,” Olivia admitted promptly. “Lemuel happened to be outside Teacher and Madonna’s trailer last night, and he heard them talking about you. Teacher said he’d been in your house, and you’d caught him, and then evidently you paid him back?”
“I did both those things.” Fiji sat down opposite Olivia. She didn’t exactly feel defensive, but she definitely felt wary. “So?”
“Hey, I’m not critical! Because it turns out that the Reeds seem to have come here to spy on me.”
This was unexpected news. “Sure you’re not being paranoid?” Fiji asked gently. “Because he searched my house.”
Olivia gaped at her. “Really? But I have to tell you, I’m pretty sure he’s here because of my family.”
“You have a—an unpleasant family background?”
“Yeah. I’ve got family issues. No big surprise there, huh?” Olivia’s smile was bitter.
“Don’t we all? You met my sister.” Fiji waited for further revelations. This was sure a day for them.
“She was a piece of work, sure enough. But my father . . . well, he’s rich and he’s powerful. So it’s most probable the Reeds are working for my dad.”
“It might not be your dad?” Fiji was dazzled. The mysterious Olivia was finally unburdening herself.
“My father has a right-hand man, Ellery McGuire. My father would never believe it, but Ellery has been trying for years to position himself to take over the company. My dad is old, and he never has been great at inspiring love and loyalty; I’ll just put it that way. My brother is dead, killed a few years ago in a ski accident.”
“I never knew you had a brother,” Fiji said, spellbound by the sudden spate of revelation. “Your family’s really rich?” She thought that explained a lot about Olivia’s confidence level. And maybe her ruthlessness.
“Yeah. Really, really rich.” Olivia nodded.
“And you don’t hang with them because?”