As the meeting starts and the mosaic of faces appears on screen one-by-one, the excitement in the room is palpable. Besides bardia from three different locations in Paris and throughout France, we have Charles, Uta, Faust and their clan tuning in from Berlin.

Uta’s band of German revenants came to Paris on that fatal day five years ago. It was the afternoon before the Final Battle. The Paris bardia were losing a skirmish against me and my numa clan, when this scary-looking gang of pierced, tatted and fluorescent-haired punks showed up carrying ghetto blasters blaring speed-metal. They turned the tables and won the fight, then hung around La Maison until that night, when they joined Kate and her forces in the Final Battle. So, I had seen enough of them to be prepared for Uta’s current look: a swoop of fluorescent green hair and multiple face-piercings.

I’ve heard of Faust. He accompanied Jules and Ava from New York, where he had been a New York City firefighter who died saving lives on 9/11. The moment Uta laid eyes on him, she decided he was hers. And despite their completely opposite styles (he has that typical “clean-cut bodybuilder” fireman style) they were a match made in...well, La Maison.

But I don’t even recognize Charles. The last I saw him he had a lion’s mane of black hair with red tips, and now it’s a natural-looking golden red and he’s sporting a short beard. He still has nose, lip and eyebrow rings, but he’s overall less hardcore punk than I remember. He waves to the camera and smiles. “Hi all!”

“Chucky!” Ambrose yells, leaning over to speak directly into the microphone, deafening all of us. “Looking good!”

“You don’t have to press your lips to the microphone,” Charlotte laughs, clasping his hand on the table. “But I agree, twin—looking good!”

Charles grins. “So do all of you! Hey Louis—welcome!”

“Nice to see you again.” I feel suddenly shy. Charles is kind of legendary, both in good and bad ways.

“Shall we commence with the first order of business?” Gaspard skips the niceties and brings the meeting to order.

“It’s really the only order of business,” Kate says. “Our investigation into renewed numa activity in Paris, including our interaction with the Numa Army.”

Charles holds up a copy of our photo of the N.A. tattoo. “I did what you asked and had my guys in the ink world spread the word. We got a few responses from tattoo artists claiming they had been asked for a swastika-style tattoo.”

“So, this is happening in Germany too?” Kate asks.

Charles shakes his head. “Nope. The artists who got those requests are French. Paris area and to the east, like Reims, Laon...”

“Someone should visit them,” Vincent says. “Find the identity of the customers who requested the tattoos.”

“Already done!” Charles says. “Henri take the mic.”