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“Let that pass too.”

I let the Gladius go out and walk over to Janet. The crowd backs up.

They put their arms around me and say, “That was amazing, but please don’t hurt anyone else.”

“They better play nice.”

“They will.” She whispers in my ear, “I’m going to fuck your brains out tonight. You won’t be able to ride your bike until Christmas.”

I give them a squeeze, but I’m still too irritated to do anything more.

I go over to where Juliette is helping Dan.

“What did you do to that shroud eater in there? How did you protect it?”

“You’re not the only one with a bag of magic tricks,” says Juliette.

Dan continues, “We’ve used more than a few over the years.”

He turns to the room.

“Isn’t that right?”

People nod and laugh quietly. I don’t spot any Sub Rosa among the goon squad, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have some on retainer. And then there’s smug Kenny, the

trash wizard. The Lodge has any number of connections to the baleful magic world.

I’m sweating and twitchy for another fight.

“Do I have to break anything else around here? Because I could use a drink.”

“In a few minutes,” says Dan.

“After what you did at the zoo and now with poor, departed Caroline,” Juliette says, glancing back at the other room, “I think we can welcome you into the fold.”

“Congratulations. You’re a member of the Zero Lodge,” says Dan.

“Where there’s zero chance you’ll get out alive,” purrs Juliette.

There’s polite applause from the others. Manimal Mike gives me a big thumbs-up with his good hand.

Dan turns to the room.

“We’re planning a new excursion soon. A very challenging one.”

“What is it?” I say.

“You’ll see,” says Juliette. “But no tricks without permission.”

“They’re right,” says Janet. “Where’s the kick if you can just poof us out of danger any time you want?”

I wipe some vampire dust off my coat.

“Fine. No poofing.”

“Yay,” they say quietly.

It’s clear now that this bunch—and Dan and Juliette in particular—are into far weirder stuff than an armor-plated vampire and some danger games. But the fact they put such a powerful charm on the vampire is interesting. I’ll stick around for now to protect Janet. But I’m not sure how long I can stand the rest of these fools.