“I think I underestimated how much that satyr can talk.  You think he’ll keep his lips sealed, though?  Despite his talking?”

She shrugged.  “Yeah, though I suppose it’s a risk.  Thing is, satyrs I’ve known – yeah, they’re party animals, they can be annoying, but they’re not stupid.  He knows talking could mess things up, and he doesn’t want to do that.”

I considered that.  “You think maybe he’s actually pretty smart and the reason he talks so much is his brain works faster than most people’s, so he just has a lot going on in there?”

“I’d say no, I’d think it was more like the opposite, but he did surprise me tonight.”  Alessia looked thoughtful.  “I mean, it wouldn’t be impossible for his extremely talkative exterior to be a front.  A smart one, really, because people don’t take him seriously and could underestimate him.  On the other hand,” she rolled her eyes, “he could just be what he appears, and lightning strikes every now and then anyway.”

It was an interesting puzzle, but near as I could tell, either way it wasn’t a problem.  He wasn’t working for my enemies – I’d had the techno vampire I routinely hired run a background check on him just in case, cross-referencing contacts and everything – and he seemed invested in our cause, so I didn’t really care, honestly, if he was smart and hiding it or just as flighty as he came across.

I headed home, taking with me the diagrams and pictures that I’d gotten based on the information the techno vampire had found.  I was still waiting for some more information from them, hoping we could narrow down when we would attack.

And then, once we finally got this out of the way, then I could consider letting Ambrose into my life properly.  That was worth all this hassle.

It would really be nice to have him in my life again.