Chu almost leaps over the desk to get it, but I pull it out of his reach. “Why, Councilman Chu, you seem awfully eager to get your hands on this. Why might that be?”

“You fuck, I will take that thing off your goddamn corpse.” I’m so focused on Chu that I don’t notice that Peter has come around the edge of the desk until it’s too late.

I get my shield spell up in time to block a bolt of energy, but there’s enough power behind it that I stagger back and drop the bottle. There was something weird about that bolt. And then I realize. It was completely silent. They’ve got a crowd of Senators, celebrities out there. Normals. Whatever they do in here, they have to be quiet about it. I, on the other hand, do not.

This spell’s more flash than substance, though it’ll slow them down a bit. I open my mouth wide and let loose a Banshee’s wail, the keening shattering glass and knocking Peter to the floor. Before he can get back up, I run over and kick him in the face until he’s puking up blood and teeth.

The spell hit Chu, too, but he only caught the edge of it. It’s shoved him into a corner, knocking him down. He pulls himself up and makes a run for the bottle. I use a pull spell and it springs out of his reach toward me. Mages don’t use that one against each other often, and Chu reminds me why when he throws out one of his own.

The bottle hangs in the air between us. I consider pulling out the Browning and shooting him, but that kind of defeats the purpose here. I’m trying to figure out what to do when the door opens and Letitia rushes into the room. The distraction is all I need. Chu loses his grip on the bottle and it flies into my outstretched hand.

“The hell is going on?” Letitia says. I’m about to explain, but then I don’t have to after Chu uses the same pull spell and yanks Letitia’s Glock out of the holster at the small of her back, pulling her over as he does it.

He points the gun at me. “You’re gonna give me that bottle or I’m gonna put a hole in you big enough to drive a car through.”

“Why do you want it so bad, Councilman? It’s just a bottle to catch Quetzalcoatl in. You’re acting like it’s the Holy Grail.”

“You already know why,” he says, “or you wouldn’t have been acting like an asshole out there, trying to get me in here. That bottle changes everything. What are you going to do with it? Hide it away? Lock it up?”