Someone barges through the double doors before you can reach them, tugging the collar of his jacket up. He stops dead when he sees you. Then he smiles.

“Pride!” You rush forward to hug the man, who you’ve sort of missed, let’s be honest.

“I hope you haven’t been getting into trouble without me,” he says, his chin resting against your hair.

You pull away to say, “Would I?”

He laughs, and you reach up to pull one of your hairs out of his beard.

“I’ll leave you to it.” Uriel squeezes your arm. “Thanks for all your help.”

You and Pride watch him push through the double doors ahead, a stilted silence crashing over you both.

Finally, you say, “Cascade didn’t arrest you, after all?”

He grins. “No. I pulled my trump card.”

You smile softly. “I saw.”

“I guess you know what I am now,” he says, looking peculiarly vulnerable for a god.

“Sure, I do.” You link your arm through his and make your way to the doors Pride just came through. “You’re my adventure buddy.”

He laughs, but once again, you don’t make it to the doors before someone comes through.

They come to a halt, wide eyed, the faint waft of bubblegum and leather coming off them. “Nobody’s supposed to see me yet,” they say. “I’m not here yet.”

You frown. “But—”

“No.” They slash their hand through the air. “No buts.”

“But we can see you,” you tell them. “You’re right there. One hundred percent visible.”

“But the timeline…” they whine.

“Nice tattoos,” you say, to get them off the topic of the timeline.

“No, no. Don’t look at the tattoos. They’re spoilers.” They pull on a scaly green coat. “I’m leaving before I ruin everything.”

“Wow! Love the coat.” It matches their snakeskin boots.

“Don’t look at the coat!” They run their hands through their platinum hair, which flops to the side to reveal a severe undercut. “No looking at the coat.”

You jolt in alarm, shuffling back a few steps, and dragging Pride with you. “Er… I think there’s a snake trying to escape from the sleeve.”

“Don’t—”

“Don’t look at the snake?” you predict as they charm the snake back into their sleeve. You cover your eyes. “There. You and your tattoos, and your coat, and your snake are invisible.”

Pride leans sideways to mutter, “Snakes, plural.”

“No. No more talking,” says the snake charmer.

“Charming,” Pride grumbles.

“What are you doing here anyway? And why have you brought a civilian?”

“Not a civilian,” Pride says. “This is my adventure buddy. Is Tabby back yet?”

“She’s upstairs in the bar. Just… don’t touch anything, alright, adventurer?”

You nod vigorously, your eyes still covered. When they’re gone, you ask, “Who the hell was that?”

Pride looks down at you with a sigh. “I’d better not say.”

“So, what is this place?” you ask as you finally reach the door.

He holds the door open for you. “It’s a blood club.”