Despite the thirty-six handguns, thirty-two knives, four wooden stakes, three collapsible batons, two frags, a block of C4, Lee’s sword cane, and the piano-wire garrote collected by the Las Vegas PD, not a single weapon had been introduced into our brawl by either side, unless you counted the chair that somebody had whacked Shawn Haight over the head with. The good stuff was in case of monsters, not people…Though I felt sorry for any bozo who might decide to try to mug a Monster Hunter.

A jailer stopped at our cell. “Jones and Pitt.” There was a buzzing noise, a loud click, and our cell door rattled open. “You’re free to go.”

That was quick. We had only been here for a few hours and hadn’t even been questioned yet, let alone brought in front of a judge. “Really?” The assorted hoodlums, drug dealers, drunk drivers, and johns that were sharing our holding area looked at us with no small amount of jealousy. “Already?”

“It’s your lucky day. This way.”

Earl Harbinger was in the waiting area. Hands shoved deep into the pockets of his leather jacket, which was what he did when he needed to keep his hands occupied because he was somewhere where he couldn’t smoke. I’d like to be able to say that he seemed relieved to see us, but on the contrary, my boss was rather perturbed.

“Hey, Earl. Thanks for—”

He cut me right off. “You have any idea how many favors I had to call in to keep anyone from pressing charges on you idiots?” The more annoyed Earl was, the more southern he sounded, and right about then, he sounded like he was ready to fry up some catfish and watch some NASCAR.

I looked to Trip, who shrugged. “Lots?”

“Lots? Funny, that’s the exact same word the casino’s lawyers told me when I asked how much the damages were going to be.”

“That bad?”

“Wait until you see the invoice. It’s the size of a phone book.” Earl rolled his eyes. “I thought charging us for an ice sculpture that was gonna melt anyways was a bit of overkill. They’ve got nothing on the law though. MHI has done jobs for the city before. They still owed us for taking out one of the nastiest ever vampire infestations a few years back, so they didn’t bend us over too bad, but the next time Las Vegas needs our services, we’re basically working for free. You know how much that offends me in principle? Ruthless bargainers there. I’ve got Julie and Eddings working up the new contract now.”

Eddings was our team leader in Las Vegas, and from what I had heard about him, he wasn’t going to like working pro bono. “I’m really sorry, Earl.”