Page 27 (1/1)

I shifted into drive again and pulled onto the side street

"You lead a complicated life," Jessica said

"Tell me about it" I screeched to a stop in front of an abandoned mental asylum, the kind you see in horror ht of it "Is this the demon’s lair?"

"Nope This is a friend of mine’s lair I just have toor not Next stop is the de Very discreet But I’ve heard that those pristine plaster walls were painted with the blood of virgins Or a terra cotta latex from Sears Not sure which"

"You’re evil," she said

"Tellmy stepmother didn’t yell in ht out of the backseat, got out of Misery, and foundthe asyluate as well as the rest of the fence was topped with razor wire, a nice but superfluous touch In this neighborhood, the residents would see the razor wire as e than a deterrent, but Reyes had felt the securityHe knehat Rocket and his sisterand the land around it to preserve it so Rocket would always have his hoe man-child who’d died in the ’50s in this verywho knew every name on earth – and he could tell me if a person was still alive or had already passed I took advantage of that more often than I probably should While his sister – who’d died of dust pneue of five – also lived at the asylu’s ear and painfully shy

So here I was again, trying to break into an asylu the fence was out of the question I didn’t know the security code Reyes had yet to give it to me, and I wasn’t about to call him and alert him to the fact that I’d ditched him I should have stopped at the Daeva’s house first and convinced hi with me He would be a measure of protection, one that would tamp Reyes’s wrath once he found out what I’d done Wouldn’t taht that counts

I wasn’t amyself at risk I knew if one of the Twelve showed up, I could summon Reyes instantly He could still be my protector incorporeally, since the hellhounds would be in the same state – incorporeal – but he’d bemy actions as reckless and iainst my abdomen I really did haveto prophecy, the bun was a lot more important than I would ever be, any day of the week But I still had a job to do and bills to pay I could hardly expect Reyes to follow me around for the rest of ht

I walked up to the gate and decided to try my luck I punched in Reyes’s birthday, to no avail Then les, I punched in another date and stood stunned when a dot on the display flashed green and the gate unlocked I paused, surprised he’d remeht I saw Earl Walker beating hiot into even more hot water than I could handle

But the ordeal had been worth it Every , as heartbreaking as it was, had changed my life

I strolled up to the ain At least his security measures would keep out the riffraff Mostly partiers anted to destroy the place once their alcohol levels reached the size of their IQs This place was historic, fascinating, and to many, creepy as hell It esome

But even for Reyes, these were a lot of security precautions for a run-down building that had been abandoned in the ’50s Thankfully, there was no alarm system, but even without one, I had to question all the other electronics Unless he was storing weapons of mass destruction down here, I had no idea e’d need this much protection

I stepped inside the lobby and continued down a darkened corridor

"Rocket?" I said, h dirt and debris left by partiers Much of the surface had been tagged, but Rocket’s etchingspieces of ancient abstract art

The last ti my name into one of the walls He wrote only the naBut that was before I knew about the bun This was a whole new gahter had to be born Her birth was prophesied according to souy way back when, before the invention of sliced bread Rocket rong, however – and this wouldn’t be the first ti yet He’d prophesied Reyes’s death, and Reyes did die for a few seconds before I brought hi to my affianced, anyway So I had to believe that Rocket’s record was yet untainted, but was about to be If there’s one thing I’d learned as a supernatural being thus far, it’s that there’s always a loophole No as I going to die noould lie, cheat, and steal tohappened to the bun And I needed info to assure my survival