Late one afternoon before the spring day Leila and Jeremy had decided to set their marriage, when Leila and Beth were working the bar and Ian was out helping Jeremy in his shop, a tall, gruff giant-of-a-stranger walked into the inn, muttering under his breath. Leila could just make out that he was stringing together a colorful line of swears at his apparently broken vehicle.

Beth raised an eyebrow at Leila, who nodded and addressed the man. "Hello, sir. Can I help you find anything?"

The man looked up from unbuttoning his coat and shook out his shaggy mane. Underneath, Leila recognized the clothing of a Hunter, though it was not quite vampire from the looks of him: she guessed it was werewolf. "Damn Were' ran my car off the road. I got the fucker, but at expense of my front iron… town wouldn't happen to have a good mechanics shop, would it?"

Beth had come up beside Leila and laid her hand on her friend's shoulder. "There's no shop, but Leila here happens to be one of the best mechanics there is."

The man surveyed the women and shrugged. "If this town has no mechanic, you're welcome to try it – can't get any worse – but keep in mind it's racked up pretty bad and I'd hate to see you getting all dirty."

Beth laughed and gestured at Leila. "Leila's best friend used to be her battle car. You should stick around after she fixes your car to hear her stories of her Hunter days. Makes for quite an exciting tale."

The man now turned to really survey Leila, looking far more impressed than he had looked a few seconds earlier. "What'd you hunt? Mist devils? Lesser dragons?" He paused at the non-responses he kept getting then, as though startled by the audacity of his own comment, suggested, "Weres?"

Without blinking or making any move to make it sound impressive, Leila answered, "Vampires."

She got a whistle in response then a blink of confusion. "Around here? Alone?"

"I'm a stranger to these parts too, traveler. My brothers died on our last mission out, and I found myself having to look for a different job." It still amazed her that she could say it without emotion, and it surprised Beth as well. The old Were-Hunter, however, just nodded, as though he wasn't expecting any different.

He started taking off his coat and stopped, as though remembering something, then stared at Leila with a hard gaze. "You human?" he asked.

Leila smiled and nodded. "My mother, she was killed…"

"Ah." The man winced, sitting down at the bar. "Just had to be sure, you know?"

Leila nodded, remembering that she had once held half-breeds in the same scorn before…

"They say there's a Hunter with incredible skill who can move faster than human eyes can see."

Leila sat up as though shocked.

"You heard of him?" asked the Were-Hunter. Behind the counter where she stood drying the glasses from lunch, Beth had a similar reaction.

Leila shrugged, picking out a glass and filling it.

"Say he's a dhampir, goes by the name of D."

"Yes, I know him. My brothers and him were competition our last mission." She set the glass down in front of him.

He grunted, picked up the mug and took a gulp. "Damn dhampirs. 'F it was up to me, I say kill 'em all."

Leila nodded absently.

"This is good beer, by the way," the Were-Hunter said, having forgotten all about his mention of dhampirs already.

Leila decided to do the same. "After you finish it, let's take a look at your car."

It ended up being a small problem, not much more than the daily wear and tear she had put on her battle car, and easy to fix. When all was said and done, she had it running again with the frame back in place in two hours tops. She even added a strengthening layer to the front so it could handle scrapes like this one and not stop running.

When she had it finished, the man insisted on paying her. "You should start a machine shop here in town," he explained. Beth agreed, and later that evening, once Ian and Jeremy had come in and after the old Were-Hunter had gone up, the plan was discussed. Jeremy and Ian would help her open a shop in the old inn barn. It would be up to her to fix it up and make it work, but she was itching to try her hand at her beloved hobby again. She would make it work.