Jade. Red slit eyes. A mouth full of bone-white shark teeth and nails curled back into claws. A second later Rinko does the same and charges at the hit man Candy has pinned to the floor. Another hit man screams as a glass vial breaks against the side of his head, and then another. The first potion Vidocq threw didn’t do anything. It’s the second potion mixing with the first that has the hit man screaming as his mask and skin melt down the side of his face, burning into his neck.
One of the hit men gets a bead on me but the Incredible Melting Man falls on him, screaming for help. I grab the na’at from inside my coat and snap it out like a whip, hitting him in the eye. With a twist, spines open at the na’at’s tip, digging into his skull. Twist the other way and his neck snaps. Unfortunately in all the fun I missed hit man four. He’s off to my side. I know because his rifle crackles and the air feels like a thousand needles as the lightning comes at me.
There’s another small earthquake. Something snaps and the next thing I know I’m flat on my back looking up at the ceiling from a hole in the floor. I get up covered in dirt and broken tiles and climb out.
Three of the four hit men are gone. The only one left is the dead loser Candy and Rinko worked over. The bar patrons are piling out the doors. I run over to Candy. She’s wiping the blood off her face with her T-shirt and rubbing her nails on her pants leg to get out pieces of the hit man’s bones. Rinko is licking blood from her fingers like a kid with an ice-cream cone.
It’s not fun to look at but I’m grateful for the backup.
“Thanks for the help.”
Rinko won’t look at me.
“I didn’t do it for you,” she says.
Vidocq, Allegra, and Traven are behind the bar. Carlos is down. His shoulder and one arm are badly burned. He has a .44 Magnum in his other hand. He must have been trying to pop off a shot when he got hit. I pick up the gun.
“Who the fuck told you to turn Wyatt Earp?”
He smiles then winces as Allegra pulls scorched bits of his shirt from around the wound.
“It got boring watching you fight all the time. I thought I’d get in on it. I hope you don’t mind if I never do it again. This shit hurts.”
“You’re lucky to be alive, you fucking idiot. Those fuckers were pros.”
“At least now I know you’re you and not your
“I told you, he’s not my brother.”
Allegra says, “This is too severe to treat here. We need to get him to the clinic.”
“Can you and Vidocq take him? I need to check out the dead man.”
“Which one?” says Vidocq.
“Not the one the little girl got.”
“Do you know who she was?” asks Traven.
“I don’t care right now. I want to know who sent the boys in black.”
“What should we do about the other dead man?”
“Leave him. Someone’s probably already called 911. It’s better to give the cops a body than have them asking why there isn’t one.”
