Lula slaps him hard enough to leave a mark.
“You don’t touch this one.”
Traven says, “How do you control something as powerful as the girl? You barely seem to be able to control yourself.”
Lula hits him in the back of the neck with the gun butt.
Teddy goes to a table where a child’s skull sits under a bell jar.
“Isn’t she beautiful? The angel bought me the Imp’s cemetery for safekeeping. As payment, she gave me the skull. There was hardly any flesh left on her and it was as dry as paper. I soaked it in toddler fat and fried it brown and crispy. The Imp was exquisite. And after I said the words the angel gave me, her ghost was mine to command.”
“That’s it,” says Lula. “They’ve heard enough to know they’ve been fucked all along. Especially this one.”
She kicks me in my injured side. Teddy laughs.
“He pulled a gun on me, you know.”
Lula rolls her eyes.
“Yes, I know. You’ve told me at least twenty times.”
“I was being polite and he pulled a gun.”
She nods.
“Go play with yours and leave mine alone.”
“I want to watch,” he says.
“Then get out of my way.”
Lula disappears and comes back with a big jerry can. I can smell the gasoline from here. She kicks Traven.
“Turn him over on his back and drag him outside on the canvas. We don’t want to break the circle. I want plenty of room to see him squirm while he burns.”
Teddy smiles down at me.
“Burn yours if you want. I’m eating mine raw.”
Fish and stones fall outside. Traven looks scared. He doesn’t want to help Lula kill me or go out into the supernatural rain. I know the look on his face. He’s vapor-locked. His brain can’t process the choices. He’s a good man and good men shouldn’t be in places like this having to do these things.
I feel a tiny earthquake. Teddy screams and drops the Imp’s skull. Tries to turn and falls backward into a hole.
All I can see is the top of the hole. Teddy’s hands scrabble around the edges trying to pull himself out while Cherry’s bony arms pull him back down. Lula points the gun at Traven and sidles up to the hole.
“What the fuck?”
She’s disgusted. The dead are misbehaving. You have no idea, lady.
Lula points the pistol into the hole and fires shot after shot. She doesn’t see Traven. He picks up the Imp’s skull and hits Lula from behind. She drops the pistol into the hole and falls to her knees. Traven hits her again and knocks her against the wall. He pushes Lula upright and pins her arms.
“Do you want to go to Hell, young lady?”
“Fuck you.”
She spits at him. Traven leans in like he’s going to kiss her. Black vapor and dust stream from his mouth into hers. I watch with Lucifer’s eyes, as her skin, already stained black with sin signs, turns wet and sloppy like she’s been dipped in hot tar. Her body sags. Traven has
