Moonlight's Ambassador (Aileen Travers Book 3)(35)

"Nathan, what is it?"

I could hear Liam just fine, despite the phone not being on speaker. I guess in addition to being able to tolerate the sun now, I also got a bump in my hearing.

"Liam, the yearling is telling me you gave her permission to work tonight." Nathan raised an eyebrow in my direction and smirked, fully anticipating his win. I gave him a tight smile back.

Liam sighed. "Not in so many words, but I did tell her we wouldn't get in the way of her making a living."

That wiped the smirk off Nathan's lips. My smile widened.

"She can't be unsupervised," Nathan said, turning away as if that would keep me from hearing the conversation. "The wolf is still missing, and you know Brax will take any reason to snatch Aileen off the street to take her out of the equation."

"I’m aware of all that. You're just going to have to accompany her on her courier runs."

Nathan's head jerked, and he glared at me over his shoulder. Heh. Looked like it was Aileen 1, vampire babysitter 0.

He hung up without saying another word, not taking his eyes off me.

I sauntered past him. "You might want to wear comfortable shoes for this."

"We're taking the car, Aileen. I'm not chasing you down while you ride along on your bike," he yelled at my back.

I waved. That worked for me. It meant an easy night of being chauffeured from client to client. Compared to a normal night on the bike, that was practically a vacation.

*

"What is this place?" Nathan asked, observing the teeming mass of humanity before us with a scowl. He'd come by his grumpiness honestly. The night had not been an easy one for him as he traipsed behind me on each of my deliveries, some of them in the not-so-good parts of the city. One of them had been to a downtown sewer. That had reeked, and he'd complained over the last few hours that he could still smell its stench on his clothes.

At each delivery, he had to sit through comments and derision directed his way by my clients—most of whom had grown used to and tolerated my presence. The addition of another, new vampire, had been enough to bring some of the old prejudices to the forefront, most of which had been directed at him.

Vampires were not popular with many other spooks. Because they were so powerful, vampires sat at the top of the food chain and didn't concern themselves about the little guys. As a result, much of the spook world feared them, but also didn't like them. Since Nathan was with me, they'd assumed he was as powerless as I was. Hence the insults. Something I'm sure the enforcer had not encountered in many, many decades.

It had been an education for him. One I had enjoyed immensely, since he couldn't retaliate against any of my clients. Not without jeopardizing my job, which I'd made sure he knew was not allowed.

The latest delivery on my schedule was set to be dropped off at the annual summer food truck festival, which was located on the green in front of the Commons. Whoever planned this event always misjudged the amount of people attending. There were over a hundred food trucks crammed on a little bitty green square packed with scores of people sampling the different cuisines.

We stood on the outskirts, watching as a band played on the stage to our right and people elbowed their way to the front of the lines. Say what you'd like about Columbus, but we took our food very seriously. I'd never lived anywhere else that had the variety and number of amazing restaurants. Whatever type of cuisine you wanted, you could find it here. We were a test market for many restaurant chains and a surprising number of franchises had sprung from our little city.

Another reason my turn hadn't been welcome. It was impossible to enjoy living in a city with such a diverse culinary scene when I couldn't fully avail myself of the delights.

"It's a food truck festival," I told Nathan.

"A what?"

I sighed. He was so knowledgeable about modern American life, it was hard to believe that this was what made him show his considerable age.

I pointed at the trucks. "They cook and serve food out of their trucks. Most of these are from Columbus, but some come from different parts of the state to participate."

"Why would they want to cook out of a truck? Wouldn't it be cramped? And unsanitary?"

I shrugged. "Cramped, probably. Unsanitary, unlikely. These trucks are basically mobile kitchens with the same health requirements. The overhead is lower than a brick and mortar restaurant, and they can go to their customer base rather than waiting for it to come to them."

Plus, they charged an arm and a leg for the experience.

"Why are we here?"

I pointed at my bag. "The recipient is in one of these trucks. I need to find him and deliver the package."

"It can't wait until this," he waved at the roiling crowd, "has dispersed?"

I shook my head. "The deadline will have passed by then, and the punishment clause will kick in. I'd prefer not to be a dishwasher for the next week."

As a punishment, it wasn't so bad. Definitely not the worst one I'd faced. Still, I had better things to do than wash dishes, and I refused to have a black mark on my record for a tardy delivery.

"Just follow me and don't bite anyone." I didn't wait for a response, setting off into the crowd. The brief had said the truck would be bright yellow and have big letters spelling out The Hungry Satyr. I glanced down at the map that had the truck’s location highlighted on it. Nathan staggered out of the crowd, his brow furrowed, as he looked around him with extreme dislike.