Raiden leaned over and sniffed the shot. "Uh, that one's got blood in it," he said, and took it away from Arden and downed it for himself. Look, maybe she was into that kind of thing, he didn't know, some humans were, but the more for him the merrier.

He snagged a glass from a passing waiter and, after giving it the ol' test sniff, handed it off to Arden. "This one is human-friendly."

He was a helper! He was helping.

Konnar gave Arden another closed-mouth smile and a nod, and silently took his leave. Running this three-ring circus took a lot of work, after all. And if he gave Gray a What did you bring into my club? look on his way past, well, that was between him and Gray.