Page 101
An earthquake? Is it just my flying saucer or is it the whole city? The shaking goes on and on, getting worse by the second. The refrigerator slides away from the wall. Appliances jitter to the edges of shelves. Glasses and plates fly out of cabinets. And the earthquake just gets worse. To keep from falling I have to lean on the counter and hold the knife with both hands, hauling back on it with all my weight. Finally it pops out and I slam down onto my back, cracking my head on the marble floor.
Once the shaking stops I haul myself to my feet. The kitchen is a disaster, but there’s a knot on the back of my head and I’m too dizzy to do anything about the mess. There’s a scorch mark shaped like an obscure Hellion death hex in the center of the cracked kitchen counter. I grab the bourbon and kick my way through the debris to the living room. I have to turn the sofa upright to sit down.
All in all, it’s been a delightful twenty-four hours. Janet got bitten by a snake. I saw an intestine monster eat some people, then get cooked like bad brisket. I got my ass kicked by some third-rate spooks and now my nice kitchen looks like a drunk brontosaurus tried to fuck the dishwasher. If tomorrow is this much fun I might have to pack it in and go back to Hell. At least there all the houses come pre-wrecked and I won’t feel guilty about breaking this place.
I wake up a few hours later. Still feeling guilty about the kitchen and whatever cleaner elves come by every day, I find a dustpan and shovel as much of the broken plates as I can out one of the windows, followed by the broken appliances. Someone told me it’s what Martha Stewart does with her burned quiches, so I’m feeling pretty good about myself.
Candy calls about getting together and we decide to go to the Devil’s Door drive-in.
I steal a T-Bird convertible from a vintage car lot in Beverly Hills and pick her up a little before eight. We speed over to Flicker’s and find a space good and close to the screen. It’s a strange feeling being out with people so many times these last few days. I’ve become so used to being alone that the feeling is a combi
nation of relief and tension. At least with Flicker we were fighting monsters. And with Janet, we were trying not to die in the desert. But with Candy right now, it’s just the two of us. No missions. No big agendas. Just us learning to be around each other again.
Flicker changed the movies and tonight it’s a triple feature, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and Son of Frankenstein. I’ve always felt bad that Frankenstein is my least favorite of the three, but tonight it’s helpful because it gives me and Candy time to talk.
When I get the top down on the T-Bird Candy says, “How’s the spook business?”
I light a Malediction.
“Better, I suppose. Flicker came along and showed me some of her tricks for dealing with the Stay Belows.”
“She teach you to call them that too?”
“Yeah. She knew a lot more about the situation than I did, so I just played passenger while she did all the work.”
“What did you learn?”
“That our dead pal had a girl, and I think she might be the one who killed him.”
“Any idea who it was?”
“An angel named Zadkiel. But I don’t know why. If it was a simple angel problem, I could probably fix it. But it’s not. There’s someone else he’s connected to. I’m sure of it. Someone secret. Someone with money. Maybe a thief or an ex-thief. I need to figure out who it is.”
“Oooh. Catwoman!” says Candy playfully.
“I’m ready to believe anyone right now. Anyway, I’m tracking down more leads. Abbot is getting me an address.”
She sits up, looking more serious.
“Is he going to help Brigitte?”
“He’s trying. But it’s bad timing with the Feds being so deportation happy right now.”
“Fuck. You know, I’d like to find out who got her into this mess.”
“Me too.”
“If you find out, tell me so I can pay him a visit.”
“We can go together.”
“Hell yeah. Like old times.”
“Like old times.”
She brightens and says, “You should come by the store on Friday. Alessa’s and my band are playing a little gig.”
“I guess I haven’t heard you play guitar since I came back.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101 (Reading here)
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169