“What, you want me to—”

“Yes, Bob, I rather thought entity-relationship diagrams were your sort of thing. You’re the expert in Visio, aren’t you? Drawing up UML diagrams of fictional vampire brood hierarchies should keep you out of trouble for a while.” His momentary grin is utterly lacking in human warmth. “I’ll call you when I have something to pass on. Now do piss off; don’t you have some in-placement recruits to be monitoring, or something?”

• • •

“GOOD EVENING, EMMA.” OSCAR MENENDEZ IS EXPANSIVE bonhomie personified as he marches into Emma MacDougal’s den and looks around. It’s well after five, and HR are usually punctilious about observing core office hours and minimizing overtime, but he shows no sign of recognizing the special honor that he has been accorded. Addison Lee minivans with blacked-out windows might be normal in the City, but they raise eyebrows if sighted on a government expenses report without a good reason. Emma has signed off on them for Mhari’s new recruits on grounds of medical necessity, but if Oscar thinks he can take her approval for granted he’s in line for a nasty shock.

“Good day, Mr. Menendez.” Emma MacDougal smiles from behind the armor of her Dior-framed specs, carefully not showing him her dental work. “Mhari has been filling me in on your people.”

“Yes.” Oscar sits down without being invited, taking the comfortable armchair opposite Emma’s desk as his of right. “We’ve got a number of rather unusual requirements. And while I appreciate your organization’s need to identify and evaluate new talent and find a pigeonhole to file everyone in, the trading arm of one of our nation’s three largest financial institutions depends on the system my team is responsible for developing and supporting. So I hope you can agree that it would be in everybody’s best interests to expedite our in-processing and let us get back to our critical roles as soon as—”

“Mr. Menendez.” Emma’s smile widens, revealing her teeth. They’re not filed to points, but judging by Oscar’s reaction they might as well be. Emma has switched from sanguine to sanguinary in a matter of seconds, and in Oscar’s experience that’s not supposed to happen; but then, Oscar is not as proficient at manipulating minds as his previous successes have led him to believe. And Oscar has never before tried to use his power of conviction to twist the thoughts of a woman who is wearing a discreet Laundry ward on a silver chain under her blouse. Much less a Laundry Human Resources manager to whom attempts at mind control are as routine as arbitration requests over gender or ethnic harassment allegations. “Stop that at once!”

“Stop what?”

The velvet-skinned smile slips, revealing a glimpse of the steely skull within: “You know perfectly well what you’re doing, Mr. Menendez. You’re new here but you should be aware that it is at a minimum a disciplinary offense, and at worst grounds for prosecution for common assault. We take a very dim view of using a glamour to obtain consent for unlawful activities, and furthermore we are prepared for and defended against it. So I advise you to drop it right now and refrain from doing it ever again in my presence. Do I make myself clear?”