"Oh, all right," he said, apparently pulling a .45ACP Kriss Vector submachine gun out of midair.

He turned to the chupacabra and commanded, "Fido! Sit! Alert! Stay!" and headed for the stairs. Back flat against the right hand wall he moved like a shadow up, every sense alert and firearm poised for instant use.

At the top of the stairs he crouched and then disappeared in the hallway to the right.

****

There was the sound of a door being violently flung open and a series of garbled commands was heard downstairs. A few moments of silence, and then he appeared at the top of the stairs holding a lanky man by the collar.

He casually threw him down the stairs and started down himself. Halfway down, he announced, "Cancel the mudcops. Just another troll shooting a "VR" into the wall above the mantel. Then he tripped and fell, knocking himself out on the fender. Apologize to all of these nice people, Sherlock, and buy a round for the house." The Vector moved menacingly, the green dot of the laser aiming system bright against the houndstooth deerstalker.

The chupacabra slumped, disappointed.