La Brume has barely opened when I arrive. There’s a bouncer up front. I haven’t seen his face before. He’s new, and that’s bad news. It’s going to make speaking with Solenn complicated, because there’s no way he’ll let me in before the rest of the crowd that’s waiting not too far away, in the abandoned factory raised tall at the opposite end of the bar’s building.

“Great,” I mutter as I stuff my hands back into my pockets, and walk far from the neon sign that blinks on and off like thunder: a faded beat. So much for secretly getting my intel.

I reach for another cigarette in my pocket, but a guy walks up to me. He holds out his hand. “Give it to me,” he says. I can’t see his face because he’s wearing a mask; it’s nothing special. Just some black bonnet with holes for his eyes that he’s pulled over his features.

As I hold back an irritated sigh, I pause. I guess being out of my usual attire does tend to be less intimidating. He probably thinks I’m an average goon working under some lowlife’s orders, and that’s great, I need to keep it that way. He has no business knowing who I am. However, I still really want this smoke, and if I show him that I’m willing to give him one thing, then I have no doubt he’ll come for my bag as well.

“How about”—I wave the cigarette before his face, without averting my gaze—“we share?”

The man stomps toward me. His lip twitches. He frowns. “Is that a joke?” he mutters, as he towers over my figure. I hate to admit it, but I’m not the tallest guy around, and it’s never helpful in situations like these.

Although… I smirk, then pull the cigarette back again. It does have its advantages, too. Like the element of surprise, for one, that always comes next after they start with their snarky remarks. “And what do I get in return?” I eye him up and down, in a manner so obvious that makes it so he knows I’m looking. “You don’t look like you have anything on you, and unfortunately for you,” I cringe, “you’re not my type either.”

“You get nothing,” he grunts, then reaches out in an attempt to grab the cigarette from me. “You’re gonna wish you gave me that thing,” the man shouts, once he realizes I’m not giving in.

“How about I pay you a drink and we forget about the cigarette?” I say.

He pauses to stare at my backpack, and of course he would. I don’t usually keep this thing on me, that’s like asking for trouble. I was supposed to directly enter the bar and meet Solenn inside La Brume to deposit it there. But whatever, screw my awful luck, I guess I’ll just have to make do with what I have.

“So you have more than just a cigarette?” He cracks his knuckles and chuckles. “Interesting.” The man holds out his hand again, just like before. “Why don’t you lend me that bag for a second there?”

This guy’s seriously getting on my nerves. “I said, I’ll pay you a drink.”

The man grunts. He whistles, and waves over a group of his men, who’d been on standby in that damned factory. “And I told you to give me the—”

I don’t wait. I reach into my pocket and take out the pocket knife I snatched earlier from inside Fletcher’s garage. I grab the man around his throat and press the glass to his groin.

His eyes widen. A small, whimper leaves his lips as he stares down at me with rage burning in his glare. “You little—”

Whatever he has to say doesn’t matter. I clear my throat and laugh, casually, as if I were out with a friend or two and messing about. “Sorry,” I tell him, as I lean my weight against his body. “Apparently, there’s been a misunderstanding, and you didn’t hear me the first time. I want to buy you a drink out of the kindness of my heart, and I think it would be nice if you accepted, left your little buddies behind in that factory, and followed me into La Brume. What do you think? Sounds like a tempting offer”—I press the glass into the fabric of his jeans—“doesn’t it?”

There’s a sharp pop to my right as a light sizzles out. My eyes drift over to the railing of an old decaying apartment complex, before I fixate on the man’s eyes again. “Oh,” I scoff. “And take that mask off, while you’re at it. It’s hideous. You’ll make us look suspicious.”

The only sound that can be heard echoing throughout the ancient parking lot is an insect being burned, as it bashes its tiny body against a withering stoplight.

The man grunts. He takes off his mask. There’s a scar running up his left eyebrow. His skin has flushed a deep red; I can tell he wants nothing more than to punch me, but unfortunately for him, that won’t be happening tonight. “Come on,” I wrap my arm around his waist and lead him toward La Brume’s building, all the while keeping my weapon close to his back. “Let’s go have some fun, you and I.”

Rain starts to pour from the sky and lands onto nearby trashcans in the forms of heavy plunks and rust-stained tears. His gang members are still eyeing us from behind, and I know I’ll definitely be asking Solenn for the keys to the club’s back door once I leave tonight—I’ve seen, and lived through enough of these brawls to know where I would end up, if I were to go about my business after pulling this stunt. With how persistent they’re being, it’s likely they’d wait for my return and teach me a lesson then. But this was necessary, I think.

If I hadn’t taken one of them hostage, they would have acted first, and I’m keen on not being one of the people that have been mysteriously disappearing lately.

Once I notice the bouncer’s finally letting people in, the tension in my shoulders dissipates. I walk up stone steps and lead the man beneath an alcove, where another door lies in wait at the end of a tunnel—La Brume’s entrance.

A couple people linger in the hallway, but I’ve no way of figuring out their identities when we’re all doused in such bleak light.

My captive’s beginning to grow impatient as he squirms against me, I click my tongue. I should rid myself of his presence once we make it inside. I don’t want him to stir up anymore trouble than necessary.

I think of Fletcher. Too many strange occurrences have happened around here lately—especially since Saki’s disappearance—and I don’t like it. It gives me the creeps.

When I shiver, I convince myself it is from the cold.