seen this.'
Luke. Baby baby baby. Stabbing. Toby. A different child. The runaway. Running in his mind. Splitting off.
I nodded. So deeply it felt like a bow.
'The poison-masters leave a spoor. It is their track. The dead sheep tells us its killer by the marks on its body— a man kills differently than a wolf. The hunter knows.'
'I know who. Not where.'
'Take this,' she said. Handing me a leather thong, long glossy feathers attached to it. Black and white. 'Wrap the strap around your wrist, hold it like this.' Her forearm straight out, fingers pointing to me.
Ki.
The feathers hung limp. The tips of our fingers touched.
'They know each other, the vampire and the werewolf. But know this too, hunter. They are not brothers.'
Electricity in my fingers, in my wrist. The feathers fluttered in the candlelight but the flames held steady. I couldn't feel the breeze.
Her hand moved, covered mine. Untied the thong from my wrist. Leather and feathers disappeared somewhere behind her throne.
She closed her eyes, tilted her chin up. I could see the long muscles in her throat. Her eyes opened, held mine.
'Come here,' she said.
I stood up. She made a gesture. I bent toward her. Her face was close enough to kiss. Her arms went around my neck. Something there, soft.
I stepped back. A tiny muslin bag bounced against my chest, thin silken strap around my neck.
'Wear it against your body until your hunt is done. Wear it inside their cave— it will protect you.'
I bowed.
'Take your son. And go now.'
151
I parked the Plymouth right in front of the building across the street. Got out, sat on the hood, lit a cigarette. The window shade in the front room flickered. The kid had a lot to learn. I waved my arm in a 'come on down' gesture. Waited.
Clarence came out the front door, suitcase in one hand, his pistol an the other.
'It's okay,' I told him, opening the trunk for the suitcase, lifting the panel next to the fuel cell so it would disappear even if some cop wanted to play Probable Cause on the way back.
He climbed in the front seat. 'How'd you know, mahn?'
'Never mind. Where's your car?'
'My car?' he said, looking across at me like I was on lithium. 'I wouldn't bring my ride to this place, mahn. Where would I park it? I took the bus.'
152
I rode the BQE toward Brooklyn. The Plymouth's independent rear suspension absorbed the potholes in the middle lane, just a touch under the speed limit.
'You should've told me you were working backup, Clarence.'
'I figure, I tell you, you have an attitude, mahn. Give it away.'
'It's not professional, surprise your partner, okay? I didn't know it was you in that window, might've been the first thing I took out, I made it to the street. Specially if I saw that curtain move. What'd you figure…you were gonna lay down some cover for me, spray their house with the rifle?'
'Something like that.' Paying attention, sullen.
'You had the high ground, that was good. Probably got a couple of extra clips for the piece too.'
He nodded.
'That's not the way, kid. You'd never get out of there alive. That's cowboy shit. Kamikaze. You send a partner into a meeting, you want to get out, not get even, understand?'
'How would you do it, mahn?'
I reached in my jacket pocket, feeling the Queen's amulet against my chest. Handed him a palm-sized black plastic box, tiny toggle switch on the top.
'What's this, mahn?'
'Throw the switch, Clarence.'
He flicked his finger. A tiny red LED light came on. He looked over at me.
'My car is parked in their backyard, okay? There's trouble, I take out this little box. Show it to them. Flick the switch. The light comes on, just like it did with you. I tell them my partner's close by…maybe circling in another car. The red light, that's his signal. I don't drive the car out of there in ten minutes, my partner's gonna push a switch of his own. In the trunk of my car, there's enough
