Kill City Blues: A Sandman Slim Novel (24 page)

Delon gets up without saying anything and walks away.

My head has stopped spinning and things are starting to fall together.

“Where did you find those Grays?” I say.

“Is that what they’re called? Hattie knew where to find them,” says Candy.

“Sub Rosa kids told stories about them. I didn’t know there were any left. They’re supposed to be from England or maybe Scotland or Ireland. Somewhere with bad teeth. Ancient fuckers. Old, old magic. I don’t know their real name, but don’t call them fairies or goblins or trolls or any of that Peter Pan shit. They’re real sensitive about it, especially around Americans.”

“Hattie made a deal with them. She said there was a great wizard who would owe them a favor.”

“Great. Where is she?”

“She took off before we headed back. I don’t think she cared who won the fight as long as someone hurt the Shoggots.”

“Christ.”

“All this bullshit is because of Aelita. It’s made me think. Tell me something. Why don’t you ever ask me anything about Doc?”

“Doc Kinski is dead. Why would I?”

“He was your father.”

“That was just a technicality.”

Doc Kinski’s real name was Uriel. He was an archangel and the winged bastard that fucked with my mother, left her lonely and with a kid she didn’t really want. And Aelita murdered him.

“Don’t talk about him that way. And you’re lying. You want to know but you never ask.”

“Like I said. He’s dead. Deader than either of us will ever be. When an angel dies there’s nothing left. It’s like he was never there.”

Candy looks away at the others. Brigitte looks a little past the sell-by date, though not as bad as me. Vidocq has bandaged both of her arms and her left hand. Traven has his arm around her. She leans against him.

“Doc cared about you. He never said it because you’re both idiots, but he worried about you.”

“Can we do family therapy later? I’m busy hemorrhaging.”

Candy doesn’t say anything for a minute.

I say, “I should have brought some Aqua Regia with me.”

“Yeah, you need booze with a cut-up belly. You could have died back there.”

“But I didn’t. You Robin Hooded me.”

She looks down at her hands.

“What’s going to happen when we die? Am I going to go to Hell? I’ve killed people. Not like today. When I was feeding.”

“You’re not human. I don’t know that the laws are the same for you.”

“Did you see any Lurkers in Hell?”

“Some.”

“Then maybe they do. Besides, you’re not exactly human and you’re always saying you’re going to Hell.”

“I’m human enough. Half of me is. I figure that’s enough for a ticket Downtown.”

She holds the torn halves of my shirt together like maybe they’ll heal like skin. They don’t.

“Thanks for showing me a little bit of Hell,” she says. “I’m not as afraid of it anymore.”

“What’s this all about?”

She takes a breath.

“What’s going to happen to us when we die?”

“I don’t know. I never saw any Jades in Hell and no one knows what happens to nephilim.”

“Hmm,” she says like she’s thinking.

I say, “What you really want to know is that after we die, are we ever going to see each other again.”

“Hell didn’t look so bad.”

“Look, I’m just speculating. I don’t even know if either of us has a regular soul.”

“I think if one of us dies and leaves the other alone, that’s fucked.”

I pull her head down onto my shoulder.

“Then let’s not die. Dying’s for losers.”

“Sorry to tell you, tough guy, but I think that includes us.”

I shrug and let her go.

“I don’t have any answers. We’ll have to figure things out as we go along, just like every other asshole on the planet.”

“Okay. But when this is over we’re going to talk about Doc.”

“Oh, good. Something to live for.”

One of the Grays comes over. He’s a little taller and looks a little older than the rest. His hair and short beard are streaked with silver.

“Would you give us a few moments alone, lass?”

Candy kisses my bruised knuckles and goes to sit with Vidocq.

The little man sits down across from me. In the crap light it looks like he’s eating chunks of venison or something. Then I see that he’s cutting up one of Vidocq’s Power Bars with a folding knife.

“Is that good?”

“Passable,” he says. “The priest gave it to me. He’s a funny one. Not as much of a stick up his arse as most of the pope’s curs.”

“He was excommunicated.”

“Ah. I like him better already,” he says. “So you’re the great wizard.”

“I’m Stark. Just Stark.”

I put out my hand. He takes it in his surprisingly large, callused mitt and shakes.

“I’m Arawn. Leader of this lost, buggered band.”

“Thanks for getting me out of there. Did you leave any Shoggots standing?”

“A few. Though not enough to trouble a church mouse, much less a grand wizard such as yourself.”

He can barely get it out without laughing.

“Fuck them. No one is going to miss them.”

He points to my midsection with his knife.

“You’re recovering well from your wounds.”

“I heal fast.”

“That’s good. Not always, though, is it? I heard of a vampire back in the old country. They’re fast healers too, you know. This parish father got ahold of one, don’t know how, but he did. Kept it in the basement of the church for weeks. Tortured it horribly. Said he was trying to understand the beast so he could conquer them for God. I think he was just having fun. Just goes to show you that healing fast isn’t always a good thing. Torture him all night. Let him heal all day and then start again. I think that’s what your friend back there had in mind for you.”

“Interesting story. A little bird told me that you Grays don’t like vampires.”

He cuts off and swallows another piece of the Power Bar.

“Just the ones that make bargains they don’t keep.”

I’ll have to ask Tykho about that sometime. Assuming she didn’t send whoever is following us. Then I’ll probably have to kill her.

I feel around for my coat.

“So, you’re satisfied with our services?” says Arawn.

“Yeah. I think I owe you a favor now.”

I take out a Malediction and light it. Instantly I feel better.

“Indeed you do.”

“What do you want?”

“What can you do?”

I take a long drag off the smoke. Wonder if the smoke is going to leak out through damaged lungs and fill my gut. I guess we’ll know if I start farting smoke rings.

“To tell you the truth, most of the hoodoo I’ve done over the last few years has been about killing or stealing things. I’m rusty at pretty much everything else, but I’m willing to give it a try.”

“That’s not what I was hoping to hear.”

“Sorry. Let’s try it this way. Tell me the first thing that comes into your head. The first thing you want.”

He sets down the knife and Power Bar.

“I’d like this century and the Sub Rosa that rose up in it to disappear like dust on the wind.”

“We brought you here, didn’t we?”

“Aye. You did. And forgot us when things didn’t go just the way you wanted.”

“What happened? How did you end up in Kill City?”

He looks away, into the lens of the flashlight, like he’s staring into a campfire.

“We come from ancient magic. Powerful stuff back home, but it’s weak in this new godforsaken land. We could still fight and scare the other families, but we were only half the warriors our patrons counted on and they never let us forget it.”

“So they ditched you.”

“Ditched. Buried. Forgotten.”

“I’m not going to be able to help you turn back time or nuke L.A. Anything else you want?”

“Revenge on the house that brought us here and left us, disgraced and abandoned.”

“Which house is it?”

“The Blackburns. Have you heard of them?”

What a fucking surprise.

“Everyone’s heard of the Blackburns. They run the California Sub Rosa here these days.”

Arawn nods. Looks at my cigarette. I hand it to him. He takes a pull and nods. Starts to hand it back.

“Keep it. I have more.”

He smokes contently for a minute.

He says, “The family was strong-willed and the Sub Rosa so full of themselves. I’m not surprised that the kingdom is theirs.”

“It isn’t exactly a kingdom. And it’s in kind of a mess right now. But they have a lovely Victorian with indoor plumbing and everything.”

“You know, we weren’t going to come at first, but then Hattie said it was you who rescued poor Teyrnon.”

“He was the kid in gray? I don’t like three against one. It upsets my delicate sensibilities.”

“I took from that that you were a man of honor, but you refuse my simplest requests.”

“What I’m telling you is that you and me together, my friends, your mariachis, and Patton’s Seventh Army couldn’t take down the Blackburns. The entire hoodoo population of California would come after us.”

He throws down the cigarette.

“Powerful wizard. You’re all talk. Typical Sub Rosa. Damn the lot of you.”

“Why don’t you just go home?”

“Our kind can’t cross the open water. We’d perish.”

“How did you get here?”

“Magic, you dolt.”

I offer him another Malediction. He hesitates and then takes it. I light it for him.

“Okay. That’s something I can do. I can take you home without going over the ocean.”

“How would you go about that?”

“Ever heard of the Room of Thirteen Doors?”

“A child’s tale.”

“I have the key. We step into a shadow and I can take you anywhere you want. Where are you from?”

“Cambria.”

“Okay. I might have to look that one up on a map.”

His eyes narrow.

“If you truly have the key to the Room, why are you wandering down here?”

“I have to have some idea where I’m going before I know which door to open,” I say, and nod toward Delon. “And I don’t want that one to know that I can do it.”

Arawn turns and looks at Delon, who’s coming back inside. With luck, he’s been scouting for ways to the baths.

“There is something not right about him.”

“He’s not a man. A Tick-Tock Man made him. He’s something like a familiar, only mostly machine.”

Arawn looks at me.

“And you let such a thing lead you?”

“I don’t have a choice. He knows the way and we don’t.”

He picks up his knife.

“With a blade in your hand there’s always a choice.”

“What do you say? Do you want to go home?”

He shakes his head slowly.

“No. We won’t return as paupers and fools. We came here as magicians and warriors, and that’s how we’ll return.”

“I don’t know what else I can give you.”

He looks over his shoulder.

“The lass, the one with the short hair in the hide jacket who stays so close to you . . .”

“What about her?”

“Before she turned into a beast—and an impressive one she was—she used an equally impressive knife. Black and sharp as a crow’s gaze. She said you had one just like it.”

I take the black blade from my coat. The weight in my hand feels so natural and perfect. Like it’s an extension of my arm. I’ve had it since the arena. It’s one of my favorite weapons and the key to every car and bike in L.A.

“You sure you want this old thing? I bet Paul has a lot of other toys in his bag.”

“If that’s what I asked for, that’s what I want. Or can’t you honor that request either?”

I hand Arawn the knife.

“It’s yours. It’ll cut through anything made in this world.”

“Will it, now?”

“You can start cars with it too. Do you have your learner’s permit?”

Arawn walks to a pile of rubble and swings the blade. Cuts a section of concrete taller than he is cleanly in half. He goes to the wall and slices a piece out of an I-beam. He holds up the blade to check it and nods at what he sees.

He comes back over and sits next to me on the blanket.

“Yes. This will do nicely.”

“We’re square, then?”

“This little blade for your life? What do you think?”

“I see your point. The offer still stands. Once I find what I’m after, I can take you home.”

“When we’re ready we’ll find you.”

“If you’re looking to make your fortune, make it quick. The world might be ending soon.”

He stands and picks up his folding knife and the remains of the Power Bar.

“The world is always ending. A fiefdom rises. A fiefdom falls. It’s the way of things.”

“This time is different. If it happens, all the fiefdoms that ever were or will ever be are right down the toilet.”

He cocks his head.

“Well, that’s different.”

“A little bit.”

“Thanks for the warning. We’ll see about making our way in the world a wee bit faster.”

He starts away and I call after him, “Have you heard of a ghost people call the old Roman?”

Arawn stops.

“Remember when you asked if we dislike vampires?”

“Yes.”

“We like ghosts even less.”

His men get up and stand around him.

“Do you know how to get there?”

“Not a clue. Thanks again for the knife. Ta.”

He starts up the stairs and his men follow. The Grays don’t make a sound as they go. They march into the dark and in a few seconds it’s like they were never there.

“I think I found something,” says Delon.

He’s squatting, leaning against the wall and drinking water from a bottle that’s three quarters empty. How long have we been in Kill City? It seems like a couple of days, but it can’t be more than a few hours.

“We turn right at the end of the hall, past a collapsed ceiling, and there’s a door that leads down.”

Vidocq stands and hefts his pack onto his shoulder.

“One of the Gray men told me about a door nearby. That must be it,” he says.

“Saddle up, everyone. The sooner we get downstairs, the sooner we’re out of Tombstone,” I say. Big talker. I try to stand up and it feels like my head is spinning around like Linda Blair’s. Candy comes over and helps me to my feet.

Everyone gathers up their gear and heads out. Traven takes a minute to change the batteries in his flashlight, then starts up the stairs with the rest of us. Good-bye, Shoggot country. Good riddance. If Hattie doesn’t poison your water supply, I’ll be very surprised.