Takeshi Westwood stood outside the Midnight Saloon ring, waiting for a man who had not promised to come. He wore pink and black, like always, and black paint rimmed his eyes. He was a sumo wrestler who wanted one thing: to be made a full member of the C.C.C. He had helped kill the crystal-skinned thing that left bodies around this ring. He had hoped that would be enough. It was not. The C.C.C. clears debts and tracks demons. They do not hand out membership to men who just show up. Takeshi had no trial, no proof, nothing but his word that he mattered. Cesar Crowley came in through the big saloon doors. He wrestles as The Carnival, a huge man in clown paint, and he ran the whole C.C.C. on his own savings. Takeshi had watched him turn fighters away for less than this. Crowley stopped at the foot of the ring and looked Takeshi up and down. "You want a trial," he said. Not a question. "I earned one," Takeshi said. "The crystal killer. I was there." "Lots of men were there." Crowley crossed his arms. "The killer had a partner. He's loose. He's staging bodies right now to blame us." He pointed at the ring. "Bring him in. Alive. Then we talk." A figure slid out from the shadows behind the ring posts. Vitrius Morphael. His skin was patterned like stained glass, purple and pink, and his face sat wrong, like a mask pushed slightly off. He was a shapeshifter who could not always hold one shape. "I've seen the partner," Vitrius said. "He wears a dead man's face. I wore faces too long. I know the trick." "You'll help me?" Takeshi asked. "You're big and slow," Vitrius said. "He'll run from a chaser. He won't run from bait." He looked at the Midnight Saloon ring. "Fight here tonight. Loud. He stages bodies where crowds gather. He'll come to watch." Takeshi did not love the plan. He loved that it was a plan. He climbed into the ring and fought the ugliest beast the saloon had, a purple-and-black brute with a clown's grin and matted fur. The Nightclown Brute hit like a falling wall. Takeshi lowered his weight, drove forward, and shoved the thing out over the ropes. The crowd roared. Vitrius spotted the partner at the back, a man whose face began to slide the moment the cheering peaked. Takeshi dropped off the ring apron and moved through the crowd like a flood. The man turned to run. Takeshi caught him in both arms and held. Vitrius pressed close and made the stolen face crack and fall away. Crowley watched from the doors as Takeshi dragged the partner forward. He looked at the caught man. He looked at Takeshi. "The C.C.C. will give you a trial," Crowley said. "One. You fail, you're done." Takeshi nodded. He had the trial now. He had everything to lose.