The power from Nathaniel faltered as if magic could trip over its own feet.

   The door opened without a knock. It was Damian. “What are you doing in here?”

   It was while Nathaniel and I looked at the door that Bobby Lee proved that he was as fast as Nicky had been in practice. He went from standing still to being up against Nathaniel with a naked blade against his neck.

   We all froze, because any movement could make things worse, so best to think carefully before you act. Honestly, I froze because it was just so damned unexpected that I didn’t know what to do. Bobby Lee wasn’t a bad guy. He wasn’t even one of the guards who were a pain in my ass. Until this moment I’d have trusted him damn near implicitly.

   His voice came low and careful. “Power is like strength. It means nothing if you don’t know what to do with it.”

   “You’ve made your point, Bobby Lee,” I said.

   Damian started walking farther into the room.

   “Have I made my point, Nathaniel?”

   Nathaniel spoke carefully with the blade against his neck. “Powers down.”

   “You powered down because I startled you, not on purpose. It takes time to learn how to use magic, just like muscles.” He started to ease the knife back from Nathaniel, then pushed it in tighter.

   “Bobby Lee,” I said.

   “Tell your other man to back off.”

   I looked at Damian, and he was behind the wererat with a blade in his hand. I’d never seen Damian carry a knife; a sword, but not a knife. “What the hell are you doing?”

   “Defending us.”

   “I’m not the enemy,” Bobby Lee said.

   “You have a knife at my friend’s neck.”

   “I’m teaching a lesson.”

   “What lesson?” Damian asked.

   “The next person he throws that kind of power at won’t be teaching, or playing; they’ll just kill him.”

   “We get it; now everyone back down,” I said.

   “Tell your vampire to back off first.”

   “Damian.”

   “Tell him to take the blade away from Nathaniel’s neck.”

   “Bobby Lee.”

   “He backs up first.”

   “Damian, put the knife up,” I ordered. He should have just done what I said, but for the first time ever he didn’t. What the hell was happening? I tried again. “Damian, put up your knife, now!”

   “I don’t seem to have to.” He sounded puzzled, as if he wasn’t sure what to do with the fact.

   The door opened; I had a glimpse of black-and-white curls and knew it was Domino. He held his hands up to show that he meant no harm. His voice sounded more than just regular normal—it was that false cheerful voice you use when trying to de-escalate, rather than push things further. “Who’s throwing all the magic around?” he asked.

   “Nathaniel,” I said.

   He didn’t look surprised, just took it in stride. “What’s up, Bobby Lee?”

   “Nothing much. You?” His voice sounded perfectly ordinary, as if he weren’t holding a blade to the neck of someone he was supposed to be protecting.

   “You know that Nathaniel wouldn’t really hurt you. He’s just a little drunk on the new magic,” Domino said.

   “He doesn’t know how to use it as an offensive weapon yet.”

   “Then why are you holding a knife to him?”

   “To prove to him that power won’t keep him safe from a trained attacker.”

   “I think you’ve made your point,” Domino said; he was walking farther into the room as he talked. He was close enough now that I could see his guns clearly against the black-on-black clothing. Some of the guards carried knives; he didn’t like blades, but I knew he had a collapsible baton, an ASP, on him somewhere. I could see his fire-colored eyes; of all the clan tigers, the black and red had the most inhuman-looking eyes. He was part black tiger and his eyes and black curls showed that. The white tiger part of his mixed heritage only showed in the few white curls scattered through the black.

   “Now I’m doing it because his friend’s behind me with a knife.”

   “Damian, would you really stab him?” Domino asked.

   “If he hurts Nathaniel, yes.”

   “Are you really going to hurt Nathaniel, Bobby Lee?”

   “I guess not.”

   “Then everyone put their knives up,” Domino said.

   “Yeah, what he said,” I said, because I had no idea how things had gotten so out of hand. Normally I’d have picked someone to take out and de-escalate without needing help, but it was Nathaniel and Bobby Lee. One I didn’t want to hurt, and the other one I didn’t want to throw down on, because I wasn’t sure I’d win. They were usually two of my most dependable and reasonable people. Damian was usually reasonable, too, and usually had to obey any direct order I gave him. What the hell was wrong with all of them?

   “If Damian puts his knife up, I’ll be happy to,” Bobby Lee said.

   Domino was standing nearly beside the vampire as he said, “How about it, Damian?”

   He stared down at the knife in his hand, as if he’d just seen it. “I don’t know why I did that.”

   Nathaniel’s voice was very careful, and suddenly I could feel the press of the blade against his throat as if it were mine. “I think it was my fault.”

   “First, Damian puts his knife away, and then Bobby Lee is going to take the knife away from Nathaniel’s throat, and then we’re going to talk about what just happened and try to figure out why,” I said; my voice wasn’t as steady as Domino’s, but it was clear and understandable.

   “I don’t have to obey you anymore,” Damian said, and he sounded almost befuddled, not himself.

   “I’m not telling you as your master vampire. I’m telling you to put the knife up as your queen, your boss, or your boss’s wife. I don’t care, but I know that I have more authority in this room than anybody else, and we are not going to be this stupid. Put the fucking knife up, now!” My anger came fresh and hot and my beasts coiled around it as if they were warming their hands on it. They threw little bits of their own frustration, trying to make it blaze higher. Trapped. We’re trapped. We need out. How dare they threaten our mate? How dare they threaten us? How dare they . . .

   I must have lost a few minutes fighting for control, because when I could “see” the room again Nathaniel and Bobby Lee were standing beside each other, not fighting. Damian must have handed his blade over to Domino, because he was holding a naked blade, and he had a gun still nicely holstered and visible.