Page 88
“Now you’re saving elves and fairies?” says Carlos. “Go and kick that necromancer’s ass into gear.”
“I will, but think about this. We’re talking about mystical beings. Some of them are going to know heavy magic. Maybe one of them can help me.”
“That’s bullshit. You’re doing your hero thing when you should be looking out for number one.”
“Trust me, I am.”
Ray gives me a piece of paper with a couple of long, complicated names on it in black pen. He holds out the scroll and I put it in my pocket.
“Where are you headed?” he says.
“First to Thomas Abbot’s place.”
Carlos says, “You need a ride?”
“No thanks. I’ve got my own way.”
Before I go I say, “This is probably going to look weird.”
“What?” says Ray.
I step into a shadow.
AND COME OUT by the ocean in Marina del Rey.
But I’m too late.
Abbot’s boat is already on fire. The idiot lives on a yacht in the harbor. It’s surrounded by locked fences and bodyguards, but I’m sure it’s a tempting target because instead of being a normal home where normal people might be able to run away, you can fucking sink this one and kill everybody without even hitting them.
The yacht is only a few yards out from the dock. The fact Abbot didn’t just sail off means the engines must be down. But someone must be alive inside. As the faction killers shoot and throw curses at the boat, people on board are doing the same right back at them.
I step into a shadow at the edge of the dock …
… and come out on the burning deck. I’d intended to slip out in the main cabin, but I don’t know this boat that well, and anyway, the damned thing keeps moving, rocked by the currents and blasts from the curses.
I dive into a kind of fancy sitting area away from the fire and the shooting. The interior is mostly kindling, but there’s carpet inside. When I start to get up, I’m face-to-face with one of Abbot’s bodyguards, and he has a very nice, new Kimber pistol pointed at my forehead. I don’t have any choice. Before he can fire, I punch the dummy on the side of the head and kick him off when he goes limp. I didn’t knock him out or anything, but he’ll be seeing stars and chirping birds for a while. As I go farther into the boat, I drag the guard behind me out of range of the fire.
There are bodies on the floor of the main cabin. Some shot and others fried by curses. Six, maybe eight bodyguards fire back at shore through shattered windows. I leave the punch-drunk guard in a corner and look around for Abbot. He’s at the far end of the place, throwing big balls of white-hot plasma back at the dock. He looks scared and I’m not sure he’s thinking things through. Burning plasma will back off most sensible people, but one, the people outside are Wormwood, so we can rule out sensible, and two, if he keeps throwing hoodoo at the dock, he’s going to set it on fire, and it’s the main escape route for him and his people. Wanting very much not to get shot by the faction or a guard, I hunch over like a damn fiddler crab and run as fast as I can down the length of the room. I don’t get shot, but splinters and shrapnel tear through my coat into my left shoulder and side. When I’m near enough to Abbot, I throw myself onto the floor and crawl up beside him.
“Hell of a night, huh?”
He spins in my direction and raises a hand to start a curse. Then he recognizes me. Freezes for a second. Starts to lower the hand. Changes his mind and raises it up again. I slap it out of the way and grab him.
“Asshole, if I was with them I could have killed all of you and raided the fridge by now.”
“How are you here?” he yells over the sounds of gunfire and hoodoo.
“You mean, how come I’m not dead?”
“Yes. Where have you been?”
“Dead.”
“What?”
I can see that he’s reconsidering feeding me a plasma blast so I say, “It’s a long story and I’ll tell you later. Aren’t you more concerned about not dying?”
“Very much.”
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 (Reading here)
- 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
- 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
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182