The city stretched out before us, and it was breathtaking. A few blocks away, a bay glittered with the reflection of a hundred lights. Boats bobbed on the water like toy ships. Salsa music drifted on the brine-scented breeze. The humidity from earlier was all but gone, the night air pleasantly cool.

“People knock Miami, but they’re just envious,” Jaz said. “Look at it. Sand, surf, sun every day of the year. Goddamned perfect.”

He went quiet for a moment, then stretched out his hand, pointing to the skyscrapers ringing the bay. “You see that one? Third left from the tallest? You know what that is?”

“No.”

“Cortez Cabal headquarters. I bet if you had binoculars, you could see Benicio himself, up in his penthouse office, counting his billions.”

I laughed.

“Can you imagine working there?” Jaz said. “A waterfront view from every window? How much does real estate like that even cost? And that’s only the location. I hear they have marble floors in the damned bathrooms. The toilets probably run on Evian.”

“Perrier, I think,” Sonny said.

“You know what I mean. All that money. All that power. And where do the Cortezes get it? Not by casting their own spells, that’s for sure. They use our powers to line their coffers. The supernaturals working for them think they’ve got it made. Like our parents, Sonny. Never a bad thing to say about the St. Clouds, no matter what the bastards did to them. They were just happy to have a job. Used them up and spit them out. Like slaves in the cotton fields, pouring out their lifeblood for the masters.”

“You’ve been hanging out with Guy too long,” Sonny said.

I knew we should be going, but neither seemed in any hurry, and sitting out here, when our mark could return anytime, set my heart tripping with a steady stream of chaos.

As I glanced at the distant Cabal headquarters, I found my excuse for staying longer: using the opening about the Cabals to get information.

“So Guy doesn’t care for the Cabals?” I said. “I can see his point. They make life cushy for supernaturals—access to health care, special education for our kids, a community that understands us—but the employees pay for those perks. Still, it’s not really much different from any corporation. They use your skills and give you a sweet benefits package in return.”

“But in a corporation, if you screw up, they don’t kill you. Unless you work for the Mafia.”

“Which is what some say a Cabal really is. So that’s what bothers Guy, then? The abuses of power?”