Deputy Police Chief Julius Paxton waited inside. He gave a bear trap smile. "Look what floated up the sewer."

"Kacy doesn't smell that bad," I said.

Paxton's hand shot at me with lightning speed. His fist smashed into my gut.

The blow stunned my kundalini noir. Electric bolts of pain shot through my limbs. The guards grabbed my arms and wrenched my shoulders back.

Paxton's fangs extended from under his upper lip like two ivory stalactites. He clenched and unclenched his right fist. His arm drew back. I saw the second blow coming like a boulder crashing down the mountain but I was helpless to move out of the way.

His fist hit the same spot as before. My insides were torn apart by an explosion of pain. I doubled over.

The guards let go and I dropped to the floor. Paxton kicked my ribs. Blinded with agony, I curled into a ball and lay on my side.

Paxton dug his shoe into my throat and levered my chin up with his heel. He rubbed the sole of his shoe against my Adam's apple.

"I've got the ass with you, smart guy." His voice sounded like words dragged over sandpaper. "Twice you've escaped. First in Pacoima. Today at Trixie's. So that's two times you made me look bad. I can't kill you now because the council-woman wants an audience. But the third time will be a charm."

Paxton withdrew his shoe. He nodded to the guards, who pulled me upright. I leaned against the wall and waited for the nausea to pass.

My sunglasses sat askew on my nose and the Chicano guard adjusted them. "Tough luck, ese."

An air conditioner hummed and a gust of cool air brushed against me. It took a moment to get the strength to say something. "Paxton, so we'll see each other around?"

His fangs retracted. "I wouldn't count on it, shit for brains."

My two escorts took me to an elevator and up to the third floor. We stopped before a door in the middle of the hall. The Chicano guard reached over my shoulder and knocked.

"Enter," answered a woman's voice, sounding brisk and authoritative.

The guard opened the door. Kacy pushed me into a haze of menthol cigarette smoke.

Petale Venin stood behind a desk of polished cherry. She looked exactly like the photos I'd seen of her. A woman in her midforties. Blue, searching irises. Tiny creases around her eyes.

Those eyes. She had a lazy eye. I couldn't decide which one to look at. The left stared at me and the right was a bit off center. Or was it the right eye that stared at me?

A thin, prominent nose was centered between the fleshy cushions of her well-fed face. Skin the color of a manila envelope toasted by the sun. Rouged cheeks. A perfectly normal human, except for the eyes.

Venin toyed with a set of eyeglasses in her manicured hands. She wore a long-sleeved silk blouse. A pleated brown skirt covered her substantial hips. Still a perfectly normal human except for those eyes.

She motioned in a maternal manner to come close. "Felix, you may take off your sunglasses."

I did.

The shock turned my guts into liquid.

A red aura surrounded Petale Venin, a vermillion corona placid as still waters. My naked eyes bore into hers and nothing happened.

Venin was immune to vampire hypnosis. She was definitely more than human.

I clutched the back of the chair to steady myself.

How was it possible that Councilwoman Venin could resist vampire hypnosis? My kundalini noir sputtered and jerked in dismayed confusion.

Kacy retreated, closing the door. The Chicano guard stood behind me, submachine gun at the ready, orange aura shining, his face as impassive as an Aztec statue.

I sat, squeezing the arms of the chair to still my trembling fingers.

Petale Venin was human. Or did she merely have the red aura of a human?

I had only met two other creatures who could resist vampire hypnosis-a delightful forest sprite and a lying, cheating extraterrestrial. The sprite had a green aura, and the alien, yellow.

So was Venin human? Or a mutant hybrid between natural and supernatural? Or something else completely?

"Felix, welcome." Venin sat and put her eyeglasses on. Both pupils latched onto me, walleyed behind the thick lenses. Her wavy black hair was so stiff it looked chiseled. Silver and henna highlights marbled the dark glossy locks. "Thank you for agreeing to visit me."

"What did you mean, 'agreeing'? I wasn't given much choice."

"You could've run," she said. "Of course, then you'd be dead and I'd be talking to myself right now."

I cleared my throat, stalling for time as I took stock of my situation. Venin wanted something; otherwise, her goons would have pumped me full of silver bullets long ago.

Other than an ashtray, I saw no personal effects of Venin: no nameplate or computer on the desk; no plaques or photos on the wall; even the trash was empty. This wasn't her office, rather a place she came to for «special» business. There was a door to her right, which opened to the hall, or to another room? Did another surprise wait in there?

So here we were-Venin, her crooked eyes, an armed vampire guard, and myself. My Colt automatic and holster remained clipped to the back of my trousers. Why hadn't they searched me? Either they didn't have to-bad news for me-or they were complacent-bad news for them.

"I understand you visited my office yesterday." Her voice had a peppy California accent.

"How do you know?"

"Call it woman's intuition." She gave a motherly grin. "Felix, I understand your confusion. Let me answer the questions you might have. Yes, I am human. And yes, I know you are a vampire."

She admitted knowing the big secret? My grip tightened on the chair. Could she read my aura as well?

"There have been some misunderstandings since you've come to L.A. and I want that you and I"-she paddled her hands back and forth between us-"come to an agreement."

"What misunderstandings?"

"The attempts on your"-she made quote marks with her fingers-"life. What happened in Pacoima and today at the bistro."

"Those were misunderstandings? You weren't trying to kill me?"

"No. Those were Paxton's ideas."

"Was he acting on orders? From you? Or Cragnow Vissoom?"

Venin smiled, the way a snake might if it had lips… and a lazy eye. "Cragnow's afraid of you."

He had good reason. "Then he's the one who ordered the hits on me?"

"Please don't hold anything against him if I say yes. We've moved on since then." She opened a drawer and pulled out a packet of Newports.

"So plan A was me dead. Plan B is this meeting."

"Plan A? Plan B?" Venin looked puzzled. After a moment she gave a tinny laugh. "I get it. Yes, plan B. Here you are. Plan B." She lit a cigarette with a cheap plastic lighter and stared cross-eyed at the flame.

"How did you and Cragnow Vissoom get together?"

"Ah that," she drawled, exhaling smoke. Her painted fingernails clicked on the desktop. "He wanted help with zoning variances concerning his porn business. My staff and I were meeting with him in my council office when he took off his sunglasses and gave us that look."

"The vampire stare?"

Venin nodded. Cigarette smoke surrounded her head. "Everyone else in the room sat fish-mouthed and stupid-looking. But nothing happened to me. Cragnow gave another stare. He showed his big teeth and claws. It would have been a great Halloween gag… except that it was May."

This is how she recalled her introduction to an undead killer? As a joke? "And Cragnow's reaction?"

"He acted more confused that I was."

With those eyes of yours, no shit.

"Afterward, I realized I should have screamed and wet my panties-that is what women are expected to do when they meet a vampire." Venin took a long drag on the Newport. "At the time I was thinking this guy knows how hard it is to schedule a meeting with me and here he was doing a bad impression of BelaLugosi."