I grinned, showing off baby fangs. “Never been slow enough to find out.”
And then a heavy hand fell on the back of my neck, leaving us all standing there in the same pose, like a bunch of idiots.
“Now, here we are,” James said cheerfully. “One big, happy family.”
Mage Number Two cursed. “Not with that thing!”
“Shut it, Tomkins. You’re in enough trouble.” James smiled at me gently. “And so are you.”
“Check it,” I said.
“Check what?”
“My position. With the Senate. Or do you want to have to explain why you have a senator locked up?”
“A senator.”
“Yes.”
“You.”
“Yes!”
“Since when?”
“Since a couple weeks ago,” Fin said, popping back up. “I know. I didn’t believe it, either.”
James just looked at me. “You’re a dhampir.”
I looked back. I wasn’t in the mood for this tonight, I really wasn’t. “Just check it!”
He checked it. And then he checked it again, having whoever was on the other end of the phone make some more calls. And then he just stood there, phone in hand, while his boys made angry sounds because I guess their backs had started to hurt.
“I’ll be damned.”
“Are we done here?” I snapped. If I was going to find Big Blue alive, I needed to move.
“Technically.”
“And that means?”
“You have immunity,” he agreed, reluctantly. “But we don’t have to let you into the scene.”
“I’m on the Senate’s task force for smuggling. I’m trying to help shut them down!”
“Sure, but we still don’t have to let you in.”
I released Huey and Louie, who showed their appreciation by cursing at me. I was gratified to notice a big red mark across their faces, where skin had met door. It didn’t look like I’d broken anything, though.
Pity.
“What do you want?” I asked James.
“I already told you: information. What you know for what we know.”
“I don’t know much.”
“But you might.”