Saracen nodded to a narrow stairwell ahead of them. “That leads to Jackie Earl,” he said. “He’s in his office, alone. One man with a gun between us and him.”

“Then let’s go have a chat,” said Vex. “The rest of you stay down here, keep an eye on these nice Necromancers. If they wake up, kick them until they go back to sleep again.”

With Saracen behind him, Vex walked up the stairs. They got to a long corridor, and Saracen nodded to the corner up ahead.

“Hi there,” said Vex loudly. “How’re you doing? Having a good night? Probably not, all things considered. Yeah, we know you’re there. We know you’re there, armed with a... Saracen, what is it?”

“Some kind of machine pistol,” said Saracen.

“See that?” said Vex. “We know you’re behind the corner, holding some kind of machine pistol, ready to pop out and shoot us. But you know what we are, don’t you? You know we have magic. You can’t kill us, my friend. Bullets only make us mad.”

“If you shoot a hole through my shirt,” Saracen said, “I’m going to rip your head off.”

“Hear that?” said Vex. “He’ll do it, too. I’ve seen it happen.”

No answer from beyond the corner.

“We know you’re nervous,” said Saracen. “We know you’ve got a dry mouth. You’re licking your lips right now. And now you’ve stopped. And now you’re looking surprised. No, there’s no one behind you. I just know things. For instance, I know there’s a window opposite you. It’s narrow, but I’m sure you could squeeze through if you really wanted to, and get the hell away from here. You’d have to drop your gun, of course. We can’t let you leave with your gun.”

“Might be the wisest option,” said Vex. “And no one would think any less of you. We are scary individuals, after all. My friend Saracen here, the one who knows things, he’s technically a monster. He’s ten foot tall and he has extremely sharp teeth and two heads. Do you really want to face that? Really? Better run now, while you still have a—”

“He’s gone,” said Saracen.

They walked to the corner. On the ground beneath the open window was a machine pistol. They passed it, walked to the door at the end of the corridor. Vex waited for Saracen to give him the all-clear, then he opened the door and they walked in.

Jackie Earl sat in his swivel chair, both hands flat on the desk. To his right was a bottle of whiskey. “I don’t want no trouble,” he said.

Vex raised an eyebrow. “Some of your boys tried to kill us just there.”

“You broke in. This is private property. They were just doing their jobs. I hope you didn’t kill any of them.”