feet.
“How did you get in here?”
He looks at me like I’ve gone insane and stupid all at the same time.
“The door was open.”
“Not the goddamn bedroom. My apartment.”
His eyes go to the gun and then back to me.
“I have another key. Are you going to kill me for doing my job?”
Glass breaks in the bathroom. Something hits the wall. Over and over. Someone is going nuts in there.
I shove Brimborion over to the corner of the room. He’s not going anywhere until I know if contestant number two is someone he sent. If he’s looking for some payback because of his finger, he’s going to be disappointed.
The bathroom door swings open slowly and a Hellion walks out. You could mistake the guy for human if his arms and legs weren’t half again as long as they should be. And if his skin wasn’t the color of a dead fish on the ocean floor. He’s wet too. I hear running water. Sounds like he ripped the sink out of the wall.
“Lahash?” says Brimborion. “What are you doing here?”
Lahash takes a couple of uncertain steps out of the bathroom. He looks up but barely registers us. I’m liking Lahash less and less. The guy is on some major drugs or some heavy hoodoo. The bedroom is huge by normal non–Lord of the Underworld standards, but if it was the size of a zeppelin hangar, I still wouldn’t want to be in it with this guy.
“Lahash. I’m talking to you,” says Brimborion. “How did you get in here?”
I shove Brimborion back against the wall.
“Shut up. There’s something wrong with him.”
Lahash stiffens. Turns his milky-white eyes in my direction. He recognizes my voice. No point in playing church mouse now.
“Who sent you here, Lahash? Are you looking for me or something in here?”
He swings his head to the other side of the room like he’s trying to remember where he is. There’s a brain working somewhere in his skull but it looks like the wiring is a little frayed.
Brimborion makes a break for the door. I sweep his feet, cutting him down at the ankles so he falls on his face. Lahash shrieks like a banshee in a blender and throws himself across the bed, crawling toward us.
There’s a good twenty feet between Lahash and me. I shove Brimborion back in the corner with one hand and pull the Glock’s trigger with the other. The bullet hits Lahash above his left eye. He freezes, arms stiff. Like I caught him in mid-push-up. A second later his eyes lock back on me and he’s crawling again. Faster this time.
I put two more shots into his head. He doesn’t slow. He stands on the bed, knees bent like he’s going to jump. I put five shots into his chest dead center.
I should have stuck with head shots.
Lahash doesn’t fall. He falls apart. His bones seem to crack and separate under his skin. Holes in his chest sag into slits and open like a plastic sandwich bag, only it’s not egg salad on wheat inside. It’s bugs. Lots and lots of bugs.
Behind me Brimborion alternates between hyperventilating and doing a passable impression of Little Richard’s falsetto.
