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“No good deed goes unpunished. You should know that by now.”

“I don’t do good deeds. I do pragmatic.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

We just smoke for a minute while I think. How could things be even worse than before? There was a civil war in Heaven, and Hell was coming apart faster than a gelatin Harley.

“Who do you think could have put Death in a body?”

“No angel is that stupid. Even Hellions. It had to be a human magician.”

“What about all the ­people who are half dead?”

Samael checks his watch.

“They’re not going anywhere until Death can lead their souls away again.”

“A guy I know almost died. He said instead of Death he saw something else. Any ideas what that might be?”

“Possibly. There’s something moving on the outskirts of the Tenebrae. A shadow. Imagine an immense dust devil made of lightning and emptiness. Whatever it is, it’s trying to will itself into being, but it doesn’t have the strength yet. That’s why no one is dying. The shadow is struggling. If it’s trying to take Death’s place it’s doing a piss-­poor job. I don’t think it knows what it’s doing.”

“That’s good.”

Samael waggles his hand.

“Not really. It has all eternity to figure out how things work. If it got this far, it isn’t stupid.”

“Angels die as easy as ­people if you know what you’re doing. You and the other halo polishers have a dog in this fight.”

He raises his eyebrows.

“Very much. Once it figures out how to dispose of human souls, there’s no reason to think it will stop there.”

“It could go after Muninn.”

“It’s possible.”

“And you don’t have any ideas on how to stop it?”

Samael blows smoke rings.

“I don’t even know what it is yet.”

“You’ll let me know when you do?”

“Of course,” he says. “How is it these days, not being able to walk between worlds?”

“Hell. So to speak.”

“Do you regret what you did?”

I look up and down the street, wondering why he checked his watch.

“No. I just wish I was smart enough to figure out a way that didn’t cost me the Room.”

“There wasn’t any other way. As I said, no good deed etcetera etcetera.”

“Yeah, but how can you keep getting your teeth kicked in when you don’t have any teeth left?”