“I know you’re Mr. Self-Control, but did Candy do anything to piss them off?” “When the shooting started she went into full Jade mode and, no, it wasn’t easy holding her back. She took down a couple of them before I could stop her. All I wanted was to get both of us out of there while we were still on our feet. The longer we were in there the more civilians were going to be collateral damage.” “Are you safe where you are?” “We’re safe for now because we keep moving. This is a throwaway cell, but I’m still not wild about talking even this long.” “Why did you call?” “To tell you to get out of there. That city is about to be hit by the shit storm of the century. I can feel it. The dead have wandered out before and the Sub Rosa have always taken care of them, but this feels different. I don’t know that they can cork the bottle this time.” “How is it different? What do you know?” “This isn’t going to be a few zeds and Lacunas wandering out of some abandoned mine shaft. This is going to be big. I never felt anything like it before. It’s a damn sight too big for you to handle by yourself and don’t tell me you’re not going to try ’cause that’s exactly the kind of thing you do.” “Thanks for the warning, but I have things to do here. There’s that hurt girl, remember?” “Dammit, boy. This isn’t the time to be bullheaded. I’m telling you to get Eugene and Allegra and get out of L.A. Bring the other girl along if you need to.” “I’ll tell them what you said, but I’m going to stick around.” “You saved the city once already. You don’t have to make a habit of it at the expense of dying.” “Trust me, I know. But I’m staying anyway. See, I was bumming a smoke off a zed tonight and got bitten.” There’s a long silence this time. “That when the girl got hurt?” “Yeah. Her name is Brigitte. She got bitten, too. Vidocq’s planted her in the Winter Garden. I got the feeling it wasn’t safe to be dragging her around in that condition.” “Okay, but getting bit doesn’t necessarily mean anything for someone like you,” he says. He says it quietly. I can barely hear him over the noise on the line. “I was just explaining that to someone. But the truth is I don’t want to risk it. And even if nephilim don’t start seeing everyone as finger food, I’m feeling sick and not very good company right now. It’ll be better for everyone if I stay.” “Maybe Candy and me ought to come back.” “Yeah, the two of you getting shot will fix everything.” “I’m not going to just leave you there.” “Stay the hell out of L.A., doc. This isn’t your town anymore. It’s mine and I’ll burn it to the ground if I have to. You take care of yourself and Candy. Thanks for calling and thanks for the offer. Tell Candy hi for me.” I hang up before he can say something else stupid about coming back. I’m not afraid. I should be, but my head is a little funny, so I’m not. My head is clear, not clear like before the drinking got out of hand. Clear for the first time in my life. I feel like a blind man who traded up for new and better eyes. The world has never looked like this before. Like deep, bottom-of-the-ocean fish. They’re so far down there isn’t any light and their skin is transparent. You can see the fish and through the fish at the same time. That’s the way the world looks to me. I can see it, but see inside and through it, too. This is how the world looks to angels. Real, but only as real as the souls of the almost-dead waiting to be the completely dead. We’re a world of ghosts to them. That’s how angels can turn cities to salt and rivers to blood. To them, we’re already 90% corpse and the part that’s alive is made of glass. And glass is meant to break. When Stark is gone the angel is all that will be left. Check me out now, boys and girls. I am become Death. The destroyer of worlds.
Вы читаете Kill the Dead
