I point at his nose.

--You might want to straighten that out before the cartilage knits. It'll stay crooked if you don't.

He touches it with his index finger.

--I thought I'd leave it as is. The girls like it.

--Sorry about the teeth. Those won't grow back.

He smiles, shows me the gaps.

--Well, it wasn't fun getting this way, but I'm gonna make the most of it. Thought I'd get some gold caps. Do the gangsta thing. Work on my street cred.

He flexes his shoulders, arms akimbo, hands flashing in front of his chest hip hop style. He laughs.

--Anyway, it's no big. I had a role to play. I played it. Gotta admit, I played it all the way.

I nod.

--Yep.

--Terry fill you in on the whole thing?

--Most of it. He said there were some details I could get from you.

--Cool. That's cool. So, where do you want to?

--Vandewater?

--OK. So, this is pretty fucked-up shit, funny fucked up. You're gonna love some of this. OK.

Poncho has been rolling him a smoke, she puts it between her lips, lights it, moves it to his. He takes a drag and she removes it, his hands occupied with petting the girls' heads in his lap.

--So, do you know what she does up there?

--Besides make anathema and spin fucked-up plots to stir up shit that will get us all killed? No.

--She makes enforcers. Really, man. That's what she's there for. Predo sends them to her. Sends her the raw recruits, and she sends back little order-following assassin robots. She's the chief programmer. She's been doing it forever.

--You mean that literally?

He shakes his head.

--Well, no, man. But a long damn time.

--Uh-huh. And you?

He grins.

--Me. Well, that was me. Funny as it sounds, man, I'm an enforcer. Anyway, I was supposed to be. She, like, handpicked me. I mean, I was really up there, pre-med and all, and she has these scouts, kids on campus, recruiters like? Mostly they're looking for kids they can snatch, for the, you know, for the stuff?

--The anathema.

--Yeah, man. Like, raw material for the anathema. But sometimes, if they spot someone promising, they may try to recruit them. Nothing too obvious, right? No, Hey, man, what do you think of vampires? But she's got a profile she looks for, something she's put together. Traits she thinks you need to have. If you have them, and if you're vulnerable to a snatch, she has you snatched. Has you infected. Or, tries to anyway. Sometimes it just don't take. You know.

--But it took with you.

--Oh, man, did it ever. All of it. I don't know what it is she looks for, but I have it. I took to this shit. The life. I know that bugs you, like the way you went all Raging Bull on my head, I know you don't want to hear that kind of thing, but it's the truth. I just plain took to it. And, I got to admit, I like it. I like the way it makes me feel. And, sure, I got it easier than most. The money, that makes a difference. And that shit I told you about mom and dad cutting me off? That was bull. Mom and dad divorced years ago. From each other and from me. All they want is not to know I exist. It might remind them of how old they really are. My trust fund ain't going anywhere anytime, not unless people stop buying gas. I'm set. So, yeah, I'm spoiled fucking rotten. And I love it, by the way.

Poncho feeds him another drag.

--So I had whatever kind of crazy she was looking for. Not for, like, the standard enforcer thing, but for this special gig she had cooked up. This infiltration.

He moves his hands like cat's paws.

--A lone agento secreto in the heart of the Society, carrying out a plot to subvert the youth of the Clan. Cool, huh? I mean, who wouldn't love a gig like that?