“I have a responsibility to my people, Domino.”
“I get that. I even understand you need to expand your territory. I knew that right from the start. I wish you the best, Oberon, I really do. Near as I can tell, you’re no worse than any other politician we got pretending to run the show. But we’re supposed to be allies. We help each other because it’s in our best interests. If a demon crashes your party, I help put it down. I don’t pause to work out a payment plan with you first. You say you owe me for it, I say whatever makes you happy. But then, if my city is turning into zombieland you don’t work me over for the best deal you can get. You give me a hug and go drop as many fucking zombies as you can. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
“You’re asking me to trust you, Domino. It is not an easy thing to trust a human sorcerer.”
“Well, then, frankly we’re all fucked, King. We can’t do this shit the gangster way. It’s too big. This act is just getting warmed up and already I’m a couple days away from losing Greater L.A. Seventeen million people. And once the city is dead you’ll be too busy picking demons out of your underwear drawer to worry about expanding your territory. Oberon, Titania, I need you to line up with me on this.”
Titania reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “Oberon and Titania are your friends, Domino,” she said. “And I will not betray that friendship by lying to you now. The king and queen of the Seelie Court can never be your friends. They can only be your allies, in this battle and those to come. They are strong and powerful allies, but they will always pursue the interests of their kingdom and they will always seek advantage. This is their duty. Make use of them, Domino, and align your interests with theirs where you can.
But you must not ever trust them.”
I suddenly remembered the story Adan had told me about his first hunt as a child. I pictured Oberon sitting astride his horse, watching as the boy fought for his life. And I pitied Oberon-actually, I despised the king and pitied the man. I pitied Titania and all of the sidhe. I thought I finally understood what it meant to be without a soul.
“I’m sorry, Domino,” Titania said quietly.
I nodded and took another drink. “You can have South Central,” I said. “Terrence was barely holding it before-even if he survives this thing, he’s not going to have enough of an outfit to hold those streets. With Hollywood, Mobley’s turf in South L.A. and Terrence’s in South Central, you’ll be the second biggest player in town.”
“Agreed,” said Oberon. “That will be sufficient to bring in thousands more, Domino. We are at your service for the duration of this conflict.”
“Good, because I need a lot of service.” I filled him in on the details of my plan. It took a while. “I need you to open your doors, too, King. Every juice box you got, you bring in civilians and keep them safe.”
“Of course,” said Oberon. “We’ve built up our infra structure substantially since we arrived. Our doors are open to you.”
“I also need the banshees. Can we tie them into a divination ritual? I need them to give Chavez the locations of heavy Zed concentrations. Chavez can deploy the troops, coordinate our efforts. I want them to loop me in, too. I want to know where every dead motherfucker in the city is, in real-time.” The only ones I wouldn’t be able to coordinate were the Xolos, but I was pretty sure they knew their business better than I did.
Oberon nodded. “This is easily done.”
“Good. I also still need you with me on the demons. What do you know about a cat named Valafar?”
“He was a low-ranking general of the Fomoire,” the king said. “Is he involved in his?”
“Looks that way. He was a big player in La Calavera’s dogfights. I figured he was just another spirit-he didn’t look anything like the giant we fought here in the club, or like the spider-squid he sicced on us after we set the Xolos free.”
“Did he have the body of a man and the head of a lion?” Titania asked.
I shook my head. “He was wearing a lionskin cloak over his suit. I thought it was a little over the top, even for the Between.”
“The Fomoire take many forms,” Oberon said. “The fire giant we faced is one form, the shock troops of the legions. More powerful demons have some measure of control over their appearance. The lionskin cloak may have been Valafar’s best effort to disguise his true nature in the spirit world.”
“Yeah, he had a forked tongue, but it didn’t seem all that unusual in a place where everybody’s on fire or wearing someone else’s face.”
“If Valafar was involved in the games, it may be he knew the effect the abduction of the Xolos would have on the mortal world.”
I nodded. “And maybe he knew the dead walking would make it easier for him to bring his demons across.” I shrugged. “Or maybe he was just a whale with exotic tastes in sports betting. La Calavera needed a lot of juice and she definitely catered to her high rollers.”
“Perhaps,” said the king, “but such a coincidence would seem improbable. Valafar’s involvement also explains how this Francis Mobley was able to summon demons to his cause.”
“Yeah, the demon convinced Mobley to open the gate for them, but Valafar brought them through and they’re under his command. We can deal with Mobley whenever we get a little spare time, but we won’t solve the demon problem until we put Valafar down. I’m not sure what kind of juice he’s got, but I’m guessing I’ll need you with me for that, too.”
“We’ll be there, Domino,” Oberon said. “This is an enemy we share. It shall always be our honor and our privilege to stand with you against the Fomoire.”
“This is remarkable, Domino,” said Titania. “To be perfectly frank, we have been doing everything we can to contain the zombies, but we believed it was over. What you’ve managed to put together…it’s extraordinary.”
“We haven’t done anything yet. We have a hundred thousand zombies in the city. By the time the weekend rolls around, all us poor mortals could be lining up for the brains buffet.” twelve
Terrence was running his war out of an old motel he owned on Manchester in Inglewood. It had a vertical, multicolored sign advertising air-conditioned rooms and color TV, and one of those decorative concrete fences they stopped building in the early sixties. The fence and the motel itself were white with baby-blue trim, which didn’t exactly complement the red-tiled roof. The paint looked like it hadn’t been touched up in a few decades. I drove through the covered entrance and pulled into the small interior parking lot.
The place was crawling with soldiers. There were six of them out in front of the office, and I saw several more standing in the open doorways of motel rooms. I got out of the Lincoln and walked to the office. One of the soldiers was a white guy…more or less. I recognized him. It was Anton.
His skin had gone a kind of yellowish-brown, almost like we were in the Between, but otherwise he didn’t look too bad. He was wearing shades, so I couldn’t see his eyes. He had a revolver tucked into the front waistband of his track suit and he was holding a machete. His head turned slowly and he watched me approach.
“Anton, I didn’t expect to see you here.” I couldn’t help myself-I pulled him into a quick hug. Under the track suit, his skin felt hard and stiff, like wet leather that had been left out in the sun to dry. I heard his teeth grinding, and he groaned. I released him and stepped back. “Jesus, Anton, are you keeping it together?”
“It is fucking sun, Domino,” he said. His voice was dry and cracked. “It is baking me, like fucking mummy.”
“Yeah, I can see that, but that’s not what I meant.”
“I’m sorry, Domino. You are soft and warm. It is hard for me.”
“No, you’re doing real good, Anton. I’m just glad you’re still you.” He didn’t even really smell-well, he smelled like cheap cologne, but that was better than the alternative.
“Heavy Chevy’s a motherfucking rock,” said the soldier standing next to him. I didn’t recognize the guy, but he was alive and he didn’t seem to object to Anton’s company. “He ain’t even tried to bite nobody.”
“I keep all my guys in line, Domino,” said Anton. “Like you do it. We fight Mobley’s crews only, and we don’t hurt the people.”
“I’m proud of you, Anton. I’m going to give you a medal when this is all over.”
He tried to smile but his withered lips wouldn’t really cooperate. “I do not need medal, Domino. I want the nice funeral, with flowers and the good coffin with little pillows inside.”
I nodded and smiled, and then I put my head down and hurried to the office door.
Terrence was in a room behind the front desk, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Softly glowing globes the size of basketballs floated in the air around him, images of the gang war flickering within them like crystal balls. Terrence shifted the spectral globes with his hands, repositioning them and studying each one. He curled his hands
