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"Sit," he barked

I did as he said, half wondering as going on, and half dreading finding out I didn’t want to have to kill this rief he’d caused me over the years I’d worked for the MLE as a bounty hunter

"You have a terrible poker face unless you’re actively trying to keep so down at his desk "After Garret firebombed the threat, it was clear you believed, without a doubt, that he had not saved your life--even after I explained how an aswang transfers its power You aren’t one to blow snant and deny the obvious truth"

"I just admitted that Garret did save--"

He held up his hand "You also didn’t use any sort of experiic That bullshit lie was obvious The fire didn’t burn your skin That’s not possible, that I know of Not just that, but the way you handled that aswang speaks of a coical person than I typically employ You’re not like the suspected that, but now I’ve seen it with an Somerset, but I know it’s more than a leather-clad woroaned "For the last time, it is a pouch, not a fanny pack How come no one sees the difference?"

"There is no difference That’s why no one can see it Anye’ll table the issue of your unique powers for now" He pushed forward the red card "You knohat this is, and why you’re getting it"

"Because I punched my hero in the nose, yeah Soht Garret is a twerp ardless, it was completely out of line As you know, I’ve raised your tally to five red cards Most people only get three"

"Yep"

"Usually, we allow an employee to lose a red card after a clean year of service You’ve received all five in two months"

"But it’s been three weeks since the last one I’d say that’s progress"

"Are you trying to talk yourself back into the job?"

"Nope" I shookout otten three in the six years he’s worked here The first was in his first year for hot-dogging The second--"

"Let ht there to express how much I honestly do not care"

His eyes twinkled and the corner of his mouth tweaked into a half-smile "Be that as it hest red card holder, and that is largely because of you"

"I’ like that, yes" The captain picked up the red card "Despite your affinity for collecting these, most people don’t cross the hard lines easily It takes willful disobedience I, myself, collected four in my tenure on that side of the desk" He pointed at the chair I was sitting in "That was in four years I was great at what I did, but I was unruly"

"I hope this doesn’t turn into a job offer"

He shook his head and flung the red card across the desk so that it landed right in front of me "Eventually, it probably will" He tapped the white sheet of paper "This is a pardon for all five red cards A full pardon Not increasing your nuether This comes from my superior"

I felt the knot work into my brow "Why?"

"Because you have extremely powerful friends" He pushed the sheet across the desk "I’ll need your signature on both You kno it goes"

"So…wait" I grabbed the piece of paper "In addition to not losing et to start over?"

"I doubt I’ll ever be able to fire you, no matter how often you punch Garret As I said, you have some powerful friends"

"That’s absurd I don’t have any frie--" The words dried up as it hit me "Darius"

"Mr Darius Durant An extremely influential elder vampire" The captain nodded slowly "Since you were hired, he’s made this office his project He has no real affiliation with us, but his donations and business sense give him the ear of our board He’s actually helped out in restructuring, which has saved the organization a lot ofwritten down, it has cos he wants is your happiness That translates into: what Reagan wants, Reagan gets" The captain held up a hand "That wasn’t written anywhere, as I said, but that’s what the board has unofficially decreed"