I have Kevin roll himself off and let go of my control. The body lands next to Dan with a wet plop. Dan takes a deep breath and starts coughing up chunks of Kevin meat, his face smeared with blood and brain matter and fuck knows what else.

“Since the last time we met I’ve heard some things about you, Dan.” He freezes, eyes going wide. “Oh, yeah, I know your name. I also know what you’ve been doing with your little poison tricks.” I press the Browning against his head. “You might not want to try any of them at the moment, by the way. I got an itchy trigger finger.”

“The fuck is it to you?” he says. “There are mages in this town who do worse. Shit, there are normals that do worse.”

“Lot of ’em, yeah. I’ve known a few. But we’re talking about you. The folks you’ve killed. You do it here in L.A.? Or you go out of town?”

“Motherfucker, I do it right here under everybody’s goddamn nose.”

This is not news to me. I’ve been so focused on our own little drama that I hadn’t noticed the fifteen, maybe twenty Wanderers, that have shown up, with more pouring in. Men, women, old, young. They stand around us in a circle staring at Dan, some with rage on their faces, others with confusion, like they just walked into a room and can’t remember why. I have a pretty good idea why they’re here, though.

“I kinda thought so. Killed a lot of people, have you?” He laughs. He doesn’t care about the gun against his head, the gore he’s still coughing up. He’s proud of his work.

I’m not sure who I’m more pissed off at, Dan for being a fucking serial killer, or all the mages in this town powerful enough to take him out who didn’t. But hey, he didn’t come after one of us, so why should we care, right?

“I’ve killed dozens. I know how to get away with it. Who gives a fuck about a bunch of normals? They’re not mages. They’re not us. They’re fucking toys. I can do whatever the hell I want with them. Long as I don’t cross the line, nobody fucks with me.”

Yeah. The Line. Always had a problem with that.

It’s a balance of power thing. The last thing anybody wants is a mage war on the streets of L.A. It’d make hunting me down look like a stroll in the park. So we don’t fuck with each other. Everybody leaves each other to do their own thing, and fuck the people who get in the way. You leave them alone, they leave you alone. Don’t cross The Line.

Fuck The Line.