Page 100 of Secondhand Soul

Lazarus smothers a groan and rakes his hand through his hair. “You keep proving how stupid you are every time you open your mouth,” he singsongs. “You act like people don’t know your business. People here know more than you can imagine. I’m bored of this shit. Do you want her? Free, for the price of my freedom.”

“Yes.” The answer is instant, and Lazarus sags back against the wall.

“Midnight at the Mountain View Cemetery. Don’t worry, I’ll leave a light on for you. My lady and I’ll enjoy ringing in the new year at the unused crypt by the big oak, about fifteen rows in.”

“Mountain View... What town is that?”

“C’mon, Pazzy. Like you don’t know? I know you’re already over here. Already in New York. You could be here in two hours, but you won’t be, or I’ll be mad and turn my toy against you instead of having her gift-wrapped and ready to go.”

Pazcuso’s hiss of annoyance is audible across the room. “Damn it, Lazarus. I really hate to see you leave my organization. You’re showing all the talents, son. How about it? Keep the girl, and you command her. Come back as my lieutenant. You’ve got the right style, all the muscle, but somehow, some way, there’s a good brain in that cracked skull of yours.”

“No. My offer is final. Fair trade, one monster for one monster. Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it. See you at midnight.”

Lazarus hangs up, triple-checks that the phone is no longer on the call, and hustles to hug me and wrap me in my coat. “You should have put that on ten minutes ago,” he scolds. “You’ll get pneumonia!”

“If he wanted you to go to a video call and show proof, I wanted to be ready,” I admit through chattering teeth. “Come on.”

“You have your stuff?”

“Already in the pick-up. I’m glad you finally got all the parts in and got it running.” I cling to Lazarus’ hand, and he clings to me. “You were convincing. Too convincing.”

“I know. It was too easy to think like the men who made me. You know... You know, I don’t know about this, but you know how Emily was your ticket out? She changed your way of thinking, and when you lost her, it changed you?”

I nod, climbing into the newly waxed old black Ford with white stripes down the body.

“You’re my Emily, in a way. If anything happens to you, I won’t be anything like a human anymore. Just a beast that destroys. When I’m with you, I feel like a whole different person. When I’m in that dark space, where I remember how they ‘trained’ me to be, I think about getting done with that and soaking up your presence.”

“Oh, honey. It’s not very good. It’s a dark, messy space to be in, too.”

“It’s like sunshine and clouds. I love it. You know... Hey, you know, sometimes, when the sun hits the gray clouds just right, there are these tiny rainbow patches. Like spots of a prism. That’s you, Vic. My little patches of brightness.”

I take his hand as he starts the truck. “You’re the same for me. Um. Do we know who’s helping? What we’re doing?”

I know.

He knows.

We run it again.

“Graham, Genesis—he’s a gargoyle—and Mr. Minegold—he’s a vampire—will be there, in the very back of the cemetery, in position by eleven. They don’t feel the cold as much as others, so they’ve all said they’ll be fine. Graham can turn into a literal dragon. The kind that’s the size of a bus and blowing out fire? He’s the nuclear option. We try to handle everything at the crypt first. Take ‘em in, kill ‘em off. A perfect kill zone, with no exits.”

“I open the door, and you’re already in there.”

“You slip right behind it, let the thick stone of the door protect you, okay?” Lazarus says sternly, as though he’s afraid I’ll forget the plan we’ve hatched and gone over ten times already.

“And I start shooting right away, neat and close range.”

“I’m not going to wait to see if the bullets work, honey. I’m just tearing out throats as soon as I can reach them.”

“They’re going to shoot back.”

“I know. I don’t mind a few new holes and a couple extra stitches.”

“Bodies?”

“Cremated via dragonfire.”