“Do. You. Understand. Me?” Tabitha told me I could do the black eyes trick whenever I wanted, so I give it a whirl. From the kid’s own widening eyes and stammer, I’d say it worked. “Well?”

“I—I understand,” he says, shaking. I let my eyes go back to normal. He calms a little, but just about runs once I let him have the keys.

That was mean. And he’s got a shitty job. Parking cars in this weather for these assholes? But I guarantee I won’t be the biggest dick at this party, and if I can get some kid to say “fuck this job” and not be here when things go bad, I’ll have done my good deed for the year.

“Hey,” I say and he freezes in place. I storm up to him. He’s shaking so hard he almost drops my keys. I shove a wad of hundred dollar bills in his vest pocket. I lean in, voice barely a whisper. “When the shit hits the fan,” I say, “you run. Got me?”

“I—what?”

“Trust me, you’ll know it when it happens.” I leave him staring at my back as I head to the door where an attractive young lady and an intimidatingly muscular gentleman check invites and let people inside.

The looks on their faces when I step up are dubious at best. The way I look, bandages, bruises, my messenger bag slung over one shoulder, a thick metal briefcase in my hand—I’d look at me funny, too.

The woman recovers first. “Good evening, sir,” she says. “May I see your invitation?”

“Don’t have one, sorry. But I am wearing a tie. And I’m kind of a dick. That’s gotta put me into the same category as at least some of these people.”

I can feel magic on both of them. She’s got some sort of protective charms, and his feel like they might make him bulletproof. From the look of them, stance, posture, they both have some military training and combat expertise. Gotta hand it to him, Chu does know how to recruit good people.

“Then I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the young man says, stepping forward.

“Tell Councilman Chu—or since he’s probably busy, that puppy that keeps following him around and shitting on the carpet, Peter something—that I’m here and I have the thing he asked me about.”

“Sir,” the woman starts.

“Tell him it’s Eric Carter.” They both take an involuntary step back, eyes widening a fraction. Is my reputation that scary?

“I thought you’d be bigger,” the man says.

“I am,” I say, giving him a wink. “Where it counts. Come on. I don’t have an army of the dead in my back pocket to toss at this place. I just need someone to tell Chu that I’m here and—”