Casino Infernale

The name’s Bond. Shaman Bond. The very secret agent.

They all know my name, in the back streets of London, in the shadowy places where shadowy people do all the things the everyday world isn’t supposed to lust after. Shaman Bond is a face on the scene—a character, a chancer, always au fait with the very latest in sin and diversion. Always up for a little deviltry, with a taste for the illegal and the unnatural. Shaman Bond can turn up anywhere, and no one will ever be surprised. Because his type are ten a penny in the hidden life, the secret world. Not a bad man, necessarily, but always around when the bad stuff is kicking off. Sometimes he does good things, when he thinks no one’s noticing. Sometimes he’ll help out in a con or a sting, especially if they’re designed to show the real Bad Guys the error of their ways. But really, he’s just . . . around. A part of the scene. He hangs out at all the right places, with all the wrong people, smiling his crocodile smile.

The name is Eddie Drood, and only the older members of my family call me Edwin.

My family exists to stand between Humanity and all the hidden horrors that threaten it. We fight the monsters so you don’t have to know they really exist. We’ve been doing it for centuries, and I’ve been trained to the work since I was a child. I’m a Drood field agent, searching out the nastier secrets of the clandestine world, and doing whatever it takes to keep the lid on. To keep the everyday world safe. I’m an agent, not an assassin. Though I have killed more than my fair share in my time. They all needed killing, but in the early hours of the morning, when the dawn seems farthest away . . . that doesn’t help. When I’m out working in the field, my name is Shaman Bond. A pleasant and personable mask for me to hide behind. So people will tell him all the things Eddie Drood needs to know.

He’s a nice enough guy. Just a shame he isn’t real. Merely a cover story. So why do I feel so much realer being him than I do when I have to be me?

When I’m with my family, I’m Eddie Drood. When I’m out in the world, I’m Shaman Bond. But now that I’ve left my family because they told me one lie too many, and gone to work for the Department of the Uncanny, who am I now?

Who am I, really?