The truth was he controlled the sordid criminal underbelly on the entire north side of Neo Atlantis. Soon to control the south side too. He terrified the human and supernatural gangs alike. This pretty man with his pink lips and pink eyes, long white hair, impeccable suits, and cutting eyes was essentially a villainous kingpin...and my friend, of course.

I don’t know why he saw me as a friend. Luck had me find this place and the moment I came in he was suddenly standing at my table, his presence making me suck in a breath and startle.

“Who are you?” He had asked and I’d lied. I would always lie to men in power about what I was.

“Nobody,” I had responded. He had stared me down with his pink eyes. I had no idea what he was, who he was. I’d been a fool because I’d wandered into the den of a god and he could see what I was. However, luck had led me here and so instead of finding myself the new lucky charm for a power-hungry god, I’d found a friend.

Presently, he shoved a fried dumpling in his mouth. His cheek bowed as he maneuvered the food to one side to talk.

“You’ve come for more poison,” he said, eyeing me. He had a way of knowing things. I wasn’t sure if it was power or age, or perhaps just his own uncanny ability to read people. I set the chopsticks down, suddenly full, and tossed the cloth napkin over my plate.

“You aren’t usually one to care or judge.”

“I don’t judge but I do care. Vapor isn’t helping you long term.”

“No shit, Shen. You have a better solution?” I asked, briefly touching my ears where I knew green was. I quickly tugged my hand away and shook my hair to cover it up.

“You need to stop acting like a common crook and become more. Your power demands it,” he said.

“With great power comes great responsibility,” I mumbled before sighing and rubbing my necklace. I relaxed some as the pads of my fingers dragged across the gold. “Why do you care, anyway? It isn’t like you to have friends so why are you friends with me?”

“True but that’s because a god cannot really be friends with lesser beings.”

“Lesser...I’ll try not to be offended,” I huffed, a smirk curling one side of my face. Shen’s eyes bore into me.

“There’s a reason we’re friends, my dear Lacey.”

“It’s not just our similar interests in the finer things?” I asked half-sarcastically. He patted the napkin to his mouth and sat up straight, his face morphing into pretty indifference again. His workers were back.

His pink eyes were like sharp jewels setting atop his angular cheekbones. The waitress came up to the table a moment later, passing me a paper takeout bag that I gripped viciously in my hand. I shook the bag, feeling the vial of fae vapor roll around inside.