Dennis’s face flushed. “Look—”

“No,” Albert barked. “You look. I’m sure you especially understand why we can’t trust you under these circumstances to just go on your merry way, so don’t insult us by trying to manipulate me.” Albert stared pointedly at Dennis and put up a hand, thumb and forefinger millimeters apart. “You were this close to not getting the offer. And I am this close to revoking it. This isn’t a case where trust is the default and yours to lose. It’s yours to earn.”

The color drained from Dennis’s face. Maybe he finally got it and understood the seriousness of his situation.

Neil stiffened beside Albert and hung his head for a few beats. When he looked up again, he peered at Cameron. “I’m so sorry I screwed up when I ran into you. It was my very first day out on my own, and…well, there’s no good excuse.”

Cameron bit his lip, and his head faintly bobbed. He didn’t speak, wisely holding back whatever he might have wanted to say. Dennis held in his words, too, but let out what could best be described as an under-his-breath snort.

Albert clenched a fist. “What’s the matter, Dennis? You think your situation is so awful that a sincere apology for the minor misstep Neil made that you snowballed into this predicament isn’t good enough? Uh-uh.” Albert shook his head. “Let me tell you a story…two millennia ago, before I’d ever seriously considered vampires truly existed, when I was human and a Roman soldier”—Albert ignored Dennis’s gasp and continued without pausing—“my best friend couldn’t take the horror and cruelty of the battles anymore. He went AWOL. He was captured. Do you know what happened to Roman soldiers in my division who tried to escape?”

Albert paused, staring at Dennis until the man managed a terse shake of his head.

“No? Do you further know what would’ve happened to me if I’d refused to carry out the order to crucify him? There would’ve been two of us hanging there instead of one.” Albert silently counted to five while the humans in front of him quaked at the visual he’d presented. Neil stood statue-still beside him. Albert had once mentioned to Neil that he had regrets from that time in his life, but he hadn’t yet confessed the unbearable details. Other than those three, everyone else in the room had heard the story.

“That…” Albert continued, “was a sputtered apology that didn’t cut it. Didn’t begin to cut it. You feeling sorry for yourself because you’ve put us in the position of having to force you to choose between a really sweet life as an immortal and painless sudden death? That’s just pathetic.”