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We’re falling Or things are swirling past us I can’t tell which I catch glimpses of the Room of Thirteen Doors Every time Mason tries to rip the key from my chest, the roo the universe

Time flows like lava Mason pulls on the key and the pain lasts a er than the whole universe One door A dozen Azoetrope as doors open, close, appear, and disappear

We’re crushed to the size of atoms We expand to fill the Milky Way I jerk the blade froh the center of a star Slash the white-hot blade through the thin fabric that separates the Kissi’s chaos realht floods inside They try to patch the holes, but I keep slashing new ones The Kissi’s bubble of nothingness swells and explodes, scattering their burning bodies away froe of the universe

The next tih Mason’s arm His screams shake the nearby planets I pull his severed hand froe of the Door of Shadows and pull ood hand I have to drag him inside with et tohis severed arh with blood I’ve been looking forward to killing Mason for so long and now he’s spoiling it In ant Mason But this little guy on the floor, shivering like a goldfish that’s fallen out of its bowl, isn’t the , but I can’t hear hiain, but still too low to hear I lean ain It’s Kissi I can’t understand the word, but there’s a crunch that I heard enough in the arena to know that it’s either the sound of a bone breaking or beingMason, of course, it’s a bit of both, with so white and larvalike protrudes froht arm used to be Sounds colass A final crunch and Mason’s ares to take its place Mason’s eyes pop open Suddenly he’s back to being theHowever, there’s so about this new Mason that makes every cell in my body decide simultaneously that it would like to be at least a continent away from him

Mason sits up and smiles He knows exactly where he is The space is too s his new arhters in the arena, "A retreat is a good as an advance, especially if your opponent just grew an angel’s ar I hear Mason behind me a second later There’s a sort of town square up ahead I keep running, knocking people out of my way At the far side of the square is a ia I julasses in their faces A Hellion infantryes at me with his spear I sidestep him and snap it in tith the black blade Thanks, man Anyone asn’t sure who I was before, just saw Azazel’s knife and nos for certain

"Hello you shit-sucking sulfur uessed, I’m Sandman Slim and I crawled back down to perdition’s ball sac for just a moment of your time And if you don’t believe I’m Sandman Slim, step up closer and I’ll take a lot more than a moment from you

"Now, I knohat a lot of you would like to do to ht be the est bastard in existence, but that’s your real eneht there The man who followed me here Look at his ara Kissi army down here to turn you into the slaves you refused to be in Heaven I didn’t bring his ar hiift from Sandman Slim"

By now, most of the crowd is fixated on Mason and his arm He transforms it to look human, but that just pisses them off even more They press in on Mason from every direction, but no one wants to s and, just when I feel a wave of tension pass through the crowd, sical about the sound of breaking glass Especially around a mob It works for both humans and Hellions If you want to start a riot, throw a bottle

The es forward, banshee-howling, crushing Mason at its center

Hellion gendaruarantees a full-scale devil’s night party riot I duck, stay low, and move from table to table until I’ for the Door of Fire

I h and just about have the door closed when sorabs it from the other side

A skinny Hellion adolescent in a uniforets as close to the door as he can

"You killed et to your world soe him"

"Why don’t you come out here and tell me all about it, sweetheart? Oh, wait You can’t coure out how to get yourself on the other side of this door, be sure to look me up Until then, stay in school Say your prayers And just before you fall asleep tonight, pucker up and kiss my ass"

I pull the Door of Fire closed I know I probably ought to be worried, but I can’t get worked up about one uts

I step out of the roora is on her knees, sorting broken potion bottles fro coffee They both look at ht have just saved the world twice in one night"

"And Mason?" asks Vidocq

"Last I saw, he was being torn lihly ra

"My chest hurts, but I’ll be great as soon as I get a cigarette, a drink, and a lobotomy"

A FEW DAYS later

It’s sunny out, a tourist postcard LA afternoon at Donut Universe I’ attention to dates, but I know it’s a Sunday A perfect day for a date with an angel

I push the tissue paper at her

"Have an apple fritter A friend told me this place has the best in town"

"Thank you"

Aelita looks at the fritter like I just passed her a dog turd

"The food’s better at the Bamboo House of Dolls, but you didn’t want to meet there"

"I don’t drink"

"We didn’t have to drink"

"I don’t like the smell of liquor"

"What about all the wine in the Church’s holy ic shows?"

"Wine isn’t liquor It’s the blood of our Lord"

I take a sip of coffee It’s hot and good, but good coffee in restaurants kind of depresses arette flavor for places where you can’t srees, otherwise teenyboppers would ask me to buy stuff for them at twenty-four-hour blood stores"

"This is exactly the kind of talk I’d expect froet you a thesaurus next Christs are beyond redeh the Pearly Gates if they repented"

"No Not everyone"

"Maybe I should take back hs and looks out theShe’d rather be having lunch in a volcano than sitting here within existence has a purpose and a use Even the abhorrent Given that, I’ve cohteous cause of the Golden Vigil?"

"When you ask so nicely, it makes me feel all nonabhorrent"

"This is your chance to redeem yourself, if only just a little"

"Sure I’ll work for the Vigil But on a freelance basis And I want to be paid In cash and in advance I don’t exactly trust holy rollers"

"You wantGod’s work?"

"Yes A lot of money You practically have Area 51 tucked away in your warehouse You can afford it"