Page 154
“Your death and obliteration from the universe.”
I wave a hand at her.
“Please. I hear that every time I get day-old pork buns from the Lucky Phoenix.”
Her voice turns sad.
“You sent Chris away.”
“It was that or kill him for good. I didn’t get the feeling that’s what you wanted.”
“No. I didn’t. I suppose I owe you that much.”
“You know what bugs me? It’s not that you’re wearing those earrings or that you’re here to kill me. It’s that I should have figured all this out days ago.”
“What should you have figured out?”
I point at her.
“You were so good at covering your tracks for forty years that you got sloppy. You said something to me that very first time we met. It’s been sitting in the back of my head ever since.”
“Please tell me. What was it?”
“The story you told about Brendan Mullen talking to you at the Masque. The club closed in ’78. If you’d been there back then you’d be in your sixties. But it didn’t all come together until I saw your photo.”
“So, Danny Gentry, Avani Chanchala, and Lisa Thivierge all died because of you.”
“Because of you actually, but maybe if I was smarter I could have done something to stop you sooner.”
“But you weren’t. So, you didn’t.”
I look at her, trying to find some trace of the thing that once loved Chris Stein.
“What was in the rest of the note you sent Stein? The ‘forever yours, forever mine’ one.”
She blinks once.
“That’s private.”
“You really loved him, didn’t you?”
“Do you doubt it?”
“No. Not since I figured out what exactly happened between you and Chris. The last thing he said to me in Little Cairo was ‘Heaven.’ Lisa Thivierge told me his secret love wanted something from him he didn’t want or couldn’t give. You wanted him to die, didn’t you? You’re the Opener of the Ways. You told him you could get him into Heaven and you could be together forever. But he wasn’t ready to go. You lost your temper and killed him anyway. You sent him straight to Hell, where he’s been looking for you ever since.”
She gets that haughty look again.
“You really think you’re so much better than me, Abomination?”
“Yeah, I do. People can do all kinds of fucked-up things for love. I get that. But what you did . . . What happened to twist you up so much?”
“Nothing. I’m proud of what I was and what I am.”
I take out one of my few remaining Maledictions and light it. I figure I can at least bother her with its Hellion goodness. After a couple of puffs she coughs. It’s delightful.
“Come on. Mr. Muninn made you Opener of the Ways, but you ran off to watch Behind the Green Door for the next few decades. That’s a little pathological.”
She looks away like she’s remembering something.
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
- 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 (Reading here)
- 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