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The first wave of dragon fire hits, tries to tear the na’at out of les, and teeth along the weapon’s body spreads the fire out and overhappens The one I’ve been worried about

The Daisy explodes The roo under the Allied planes It’s Rome while Nero fiddled and pissed on the panicked oing off at once in my room It’s all I can do to hold the na’at in place and channel the supernova on the other side of the bed anywhere but on top ofThe Daisy has sed the remains of the fire The roo is down The junk on the bootleg table is scattered around the rooone

I pick up the charred bed and push it out of the way Kasabian is lying under it Considering how he looked before the explosion, he’s not looking that bad right now His right arone The Daisy took that off when it blew And his head has fallen off I get down on my knees and push random junk out of the way I spot it a oddaht now I kind of don’tafter et ues for a ot at least a little of his own back before heMason Kasabian was an idiot, but he wasn’t stupid He must have known that Mason hated him at best Considered hioing to happen when he pulled that trigger? Or did he want to go out in a sexy murder-suicide that would et it all wrong They’d think it was an insurance sca Or that ere cluo with the sexiest choice, a lovers’ quarrel gone nuclear It’s more than an even bet that he wanted to kill us both At least then, one person would know that he’d done soottenI could do about it

I stand very quietly for afor sirens If I had time and a clear head, I could probably come up with a spell to keep everyone away or send the to happen I wait

The sirens don’t coone so fast that while the Daisy wrecked the place, it’s sparing uns, the video bootlegging gear and me Who am I? Also technically dead, thanks Just ask Hooes off It’s notI pat down Kasabian’s body Pull his phone from a coat pocket It’s one of the cheap prepaid models I flip it open and wait

"Well," someone says "What the hell, man? Is it done?"

"Who is this?"

There’s a pause Then a low laugh

"Stark? Is that you? Oh ive Kasabian a flamethrower and a bomb and he still can’t kill you Where is he?"

"All over the place He’s in pieces"

"One thing went right tonight, at least You ht now, huh? Pretty proud of yourself You kicked a headless guy’s ass Thank you, ns of strain or stress in his voice I wish I could see his eyes Or catch a whiff of his sweat But on the crap phone, Parker sounds thin, distant, and far away Like he’s calling from the Marianas Trench

"You’re the one who sent a half-dead guy to killto happen?"

"I expected you to die, Mr Bond," he says in a bad Gerht Kasabian ht one time He told the fat uess I won that bet"

"What happens now? You going to send uns? Grandmas in wheelchairs with chain saws? What’s your next brilliant et your pitiful excuse for an assassin blown up and yourself shot in the back How did that feel, by the way? Were you ahen you fell? I’ain"

"Cal all worked up Trustto see each other again Not here Not now But it’ll be soon Cross my heart"

"I can’t wait"

"You don’t have to Mason is sending you a late Christmas present Don’t worry No ht Just a token of his andHow did you stay alive down there, by the way? Did you suck deet weekends and holidays off?"

"Pucker up, tough guy You’ll know all about it soon enough"

The line goes dead I toss the phone into the corner of the roo now Parker took Kasabian to wherever Mason is hiding He ith both of theht have even heard theht Kasabian was an idiot and knew that one way or another, he was going to be dead tonight Why not talk in front of him? Make him feel like he’s part of the plan If Mason convinced Kasabian that he’d been pro boys, Kas wouldn’t have asked any questions, but would have run along like a dog to please hiet to hi foot Don I need to get to him before he hops the ferry

I only know one way to do it and it’s really going to suck

The Daisy has savedtable I just push it up against the wall so it’s out of the way I kick broken, powdery lath, boxes of DVDs, dirty clothes, cigarette butts, and Jack Daniel’s bottles out of the way until I clear an area about six by six on the floor Aside froht It’s easy to sift through until I find soavethirteen circles, six on the outside, and six on the inside, and one in the center Take the lead and, at the outer top circle, draw a line across to the farthest Then draw lines to the other circles on the outer ri with the other five outer circles Wash, rinse, repeat on the inner circles until you have seventy-eight lines that connect all thirteen circles Ladies and gentlelyphs The soul of the angel Metatron, the voice of God Good for keeping away i zombies, and ants at a picnic It slices It dices It has a thousand and one uses A thousand and two if you draw it on a brick and throw it through the windshield of your ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend’s car

Kasabian’s head is still under the bed I pull it out and set it on his chest, then grab his body by the ankles and drag his, set Kas’s head back on its shoulders, and generally try toand less like a big pile of loser jerky

Under one of the s are the re bundle Medea, the Inquisitor, left for me at Vidocq’s place I leave the wolf teeth All I need are the crow feathers Pretty much any part of a crow is useful Especially when you’re dealing with the dead Crows are psychopouide the dead from this world to the next There are quicker, h to dead souls, but crow’s feathers are the so if you don’t want so and pluck your soul out of your body while you’re distracted, waiting on line one for dead Aunt Lily to pick up

I rip open Kasabian’s shirt, dip the feathers in his blood, and paint a smaller version of Metatron’s Cube on his chest Then I open his er into his blood and, with it, paint a circle overunopened, unbroken bottle of Jack is under the uns I crack it open and have a couple of long drinks Whatever I thought of Kasabian, whatever I thought that Ihi soenda One more drink and I’m ready to hit the road

I lie down in the Cube next to Kasabian so that our shoulders and feet are touching I use the black blade to cut one of , but not so deep that I lose control of my hands I upend the bottle for one e, and then slice the other wrist

Nice and relaxed now War their job I’ll be unconscious soon Just before I lose consciousness, I put the second crow feather betweenon the floor of an e There’s a shaft of light at the horizon, but it never moves It’s always just before sunrise or just after sunset Take your pick The air is thick and hard to breathe The light is a watery blue green

Kasabian is standing a few yards aearing the sa the night he shot me