"Nothing in particular," Katherine said, glancing at him. "Just exploring." The smell of magic was strong around him, and she had to work to keep her expression clear. Carlos, on the other hand, had to cover a sneeze.

Pritkin nodded and moved over to his desk, sitting on the edge of it to watch them move through the store. He smirked though when Carlos sneezed.

Leila had no such problems and just kept looking around, curious.

Katherine perused the shelves, smirking just slightly when she found a couple of valuable things. A signed first-edition copy of Dracula in particular caught her eye, and she picked it up gently.

Pritkin noted her choice and blinked. Either she had a sense of humor or knew what crap it was, because otherwise most vamps tended to avoid the book.

Katherine glanced at him, and then took the book over to the other two. She nudged Carlos.

"Look," she murmured. Carlos glanced at the book, and snickered.

"Think he got Uncle to sign this one?" he muttered back. Katherine opened the front cover and pointed to one of the signatures. Carlos snickered again, and Katherine gently put the book back on the shelf.

Leila grinned and shook her head, amused.

Pritkin heard the use of "Uncle" and his eyebrows shot up. He'd been around long enough to know who "Uncle" probably was, and he found he was both amused and curious. After all, about half the vampire population didn't actually meet Vlad (as far as his research told him, anyway).

Katherine poked around for a while longer, although she didn't touch anything else. However, she found she couldn't help but glance at the shopkeeper from time to time. He was sort of interesting.

Pritkin met her gaze evenly every time she looked over at him. He didn't mind, and it was better than her hissing or anything.

Eventually, Katherine went over to him.

"You've known since we walked in," she said. It wasn't a question.

"Of course. I wouldn't be a very good mage if I didn't know." Pritkin looked amused, green eyes bright.

"A mage," Katherine repeated. "That would explain the scent." It didn't surprise her at all to find a mage in Ireland; it was practically par for the course.

Pritkin nodded. "Retired warmage." He tilted his head, looking at her. "And I'd guess you're over 300."

"It's rude to ask a lady her age," Katherine replied, just a hint of teasing in her tone. "What makes you think I'm that old? Although you're not far off."

"You can smell magic and you know what it is. You're controlled. You can pass as human pretty easily to most people." Pritkin shrugged. "I can tell you're older than your companion; you have more control than he does."

"He can smell magic, too," Katherine pointed out. "He passes for human." Not as well, granted, but she had to give credit where it was due. "However, you're right, although in truth I'm a bit past three hundred."

Pritkin smirked. Of course he was right. He'd had a long time to figure out things like that.

"So how did your friend find the store?" He nodded to Leila. "Norms can't see the store."

"She's been my friend for a little while, now," Katherine said dismissively. "And she has always been a bit more observant than other humans." She wasn't keen on telling a virtual stranger about the blood binding between Leila and Carlos.

Pritkin nodded. "So she's not quite a norm anymore." He eyed Leila for a few moments before he shrugged and looked at Katherine again. "Sure there isn't something you need any help with?"

"I never said that," Katherine said, in response to the comment that Leila wasn't a norm. "And what makes you think we might need help with anything." It wasn't said harshly at all, Katherine was more curious than anything. This retired warmage seemed to know an awful lot.

"She can't be entirely normal if she's known you for a length of time. And usually people only find this shop when they need something." Pritkin raised an eyebrow at her. "Not always, granted, but usually."

"I see," Katherine said. She didn't comment further, but just looked at him one more time before drifting back over to Carlos and Leila.

Leila grinned as she poked around at a few things.

"So I kind of love this shop."

Katherine grinned.

"I can tell," she said. "It's not a bad place, if you can ignore the magic smell."

Carlos snorted and nodded.

"No kidding," he said, rubbing his nose a bit. "Smells like I tried to snort Pepsi or something."

Leila rolled her eyes at them. She couldn't smell anything, so she didn't care.

"So what did you talk about with the owner?" She raised her eyebrows at Katherine.

"Just exchanging some information," Katherine replied. "He knew what we were the moment we walked in."