“Revenance is a vampire,” I said loudly, and the officers around me pricked up and listened-but made no move towards my friend, trapped in that nest of bloody wire and thorned vines. “He needs protection from the sun right now!”

“You know this guy?” one of them said uneasily. He stood his ground, but several of the other officers began backing further away. “I mean, is he really a-”

“Vampire,” I confirmed, and more officers backed off. Pathetic. OK, I once felt the same about vamps, but Revenance was the nicest vampire I knew. True, he looked like a biker-OK, he was a biker-but he acted like a perfect gentleman. I even got on well with his girlfriend; she was down to earth, with none of the nonsense of a typical vampire flunky. If any vampire deserved to be saved, he did. “Did you hear me? Get him out of there! Protect and serve, man-”

“We, uh, tried,” the officer began, starting forward, then halting. “But those vines are vicious! They damn near tore Lee apart when she tried to check on him.”

“Oh, crap,” I said, staring at the sky. The sun was beginning to break through the clouds.

“Oh jeez, jeez, that’s Revy! ” Cinnamon said, suddenly getting it. She took a step forward, and the vines seemed to twist, to bunch in anticipation of her approach, making Revy moan. “Wait, wait-one thing atta. If the sun pops out, just for a second, it’ll kill ’im!”

“Yeah,” I said, scowling. “We need something to shield against the sun.”