would we change my partner's color with make-up, but
that it would also be necessary to change his sex.
"Does this, perchance, have something to do with
your disguise?" I inquired, trying to keep a straight
face.
"Yes, it has something to do with my disguise," he
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Robert Asprin
mimicked, "and, so help me, partner or no, if you let
that smile get away, I'll punch your lights out. Under-
stand?"
With a great effort I sucked my cheeks in and bit my
lower lip.
"Seriously, though," he said, almost pleading, "a
joke's a joke, but you don't really expect me to go out in
public looking like this, do you?"
In addition to the aforementioned make-up, Aahz's
disguise required a dress and a wig. Because of the size
of his head (a problem Vilhelm had wisely down-played
as much as possible) the selection of wigs available had
been understandably small. In fact, the only available in
his size was a number called "Lady Go-GoDiva," which
involved a high blonde beehive style offset by a long
ponytail that hung down to his knees. Actually, the
ponytail turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the
dark blue dress Vilhelm had selected for my partner
turned out to have an exceptionally low neckline, and
the hair draped over his shoulder helped hide the prob-
lem we had had finding ample or suitable material to
stuff his bosom with.
"As my wise old mentor once told me when I was
faced with a similar dilemma," I said sagely, "what
does it matter what people think of you? They aren't
supposed to know it's you, anyway. That's the whole
idea of a disguise."
"But this get-up is humiliating!"
"My words precisely when someone else I could name
deemed it necessary for me to dress up as a girl, remem-
ber?"
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Aahz glowered,
peering at me suspiciously.
"Well, there are a couple of other options," I ad-
mitted.
MYTH-ING PERSONS 143
"That's more like it!" he grinned, reaching for his
wig.
"You could stay behind. ..."
His hand stopped just short of its mission.
"... or we could forget the whole thing and pay the
fine ourselves."
The hand retreated as my partner's shoulders sagged
in defeat. I felt no joy at the victory. If anything, I had
been half hoping he would be embarrassed enough to
take me up on my suggestion of abandoning the project.
I should have known better. When there's money in-
volved, it takes more than embarrassment to throw
Aahz off the scent....hether the embarrassment is his
own or someone else's.
"All right, everybody,"- I called, hiding my disap-
pointment. "Are we ready to go?"
"Remember your sunglasses!" Tananda added.
That was the final touch to our disguises. To hide our
non-red eyes, each of us donned a pair of sunglasses.
Surveying the final result, I had to admit that aside from
Tananda and Chumley, we didn't look like us. Exactly
what we did look like I wouldn't venture to say, but we
sure didn't look like usi
"Okay," Aahz chimed in, his discomfort apparently
behind him. "Does everyone have their marching
orders? Vilhelm? Are you sure you can track us on that
thing?"
"No problem," the little vampire nodded. "When
things get slow around here I use this rig to do a little
window peeking right here in town. Covering the streets
is even easier."
"Remember," I told him, "watch for our signal.
When we catch up with this Vic character, we're going
to want you to get some responsible local witnesses there
chop-chop."
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Robert Asprin
"Well now," Aahz grinned evilly, "you don't have to
be too quick about it. I wouldn't mind having a little
time alone with him before we turn him over to the
authorities."
My heart sank a little. Aahz sounded determined to
exact a bit of vengeance out of this hunt, and I wasn't at
all sure he would restrict himself to Vic when it came
time to express his ire.
I think Tananda noticed my concern.
"Ease up a little, Aahz," she said casually. "I don't
mind helping you out of a tight spot, but count me out
when it comes to excessive force for the sake of venge-
ance. It lacks class."
"Since when did you worry about excessive vio-
lence?" Aahz growled, then shrugged his acceptance.
"Okay. But maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe he'll resist ar-
rest."
I was still worried, but realized that that was about
the most restraint I would get out of my partner.
."Now that that's settled," I said, producing Lu-
anna's scarf, "Pepe, take a whiff of this."
"Enchanting," he smiled, nuzzling the piece of cloth.
"A young lady, no? Eef ze body is as good as ze aroma,
I will follow her to the end of ze world whether you ac-
company me or not."
I resisted an impulse to wrap the scarf around his
neck and pull.
"All right, everybody," I said, retrieving the scarf
and tucking it back into my tunic in what I hoped was a
casual manner. "Let's go catch us a renegade vampire."
Chapter Seventeen:
"The trail's got to be 'round here some-
where!"
—D. BOONE
IT was only a few hours short of sunset as we set out on
our quest, a nagging reminder of exactly how long our
efforts at physical disguise had taken. We had agreed to
avoid following Pepe as a group so as not to attract at-
tention. Instead, we moved singly or in groups of two,
using both sides of the street and deliberately walking at
different paces. The faster walkers averaged their prog-
ress with the slower by occasionally stopping to look
into shop windows, thereby keeping our group together
without actually appearing to. Tananda pointed out
that not only would this procedure lessen our chances of
being noticed, but also that it would maximize our
chances for at least some of the group's escape if one of
us should be discovered ... a truly comforting thought.
Even though Luanna had claimed to have been
watching for us at the Dispatcher's, it had been so long
ago I fully expected her scent would have long since
dissipated or at least been masked by the passage of
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MYTH-ING PERSONS 147
Robert Asprin
numerous others. As such, I was moderately surprised
when the werewolf signaled almost immediately that he
had found the trail and headed off with a determined
air. Either her scent was stronger than I had thought, or
I bad grossly underestimated Pepe's tracking ability.
The trail wound up and down the cobblestoned
streets, and we followed as quickly as we could without
abandoning our pretense of being casual strollers who
did not know each other. For a while, our group made
up the majority of the beings visible, causing me to