Comeback Tour

down at the cockfights and took mysteriously sick, all his facial features (and other features too) dropping off with a rot that none of the smart boys in the BioDiv had been able to diagnose. And there were people who suggested that Homely Harvey, Dollman's best friend, was only married to a fox like Bonnie the Boom-Boom because of a charm posset the conjure man had put together. Homely Harvey suffered from curvature of the spine, while Bonnie, a dancer at the Hi-Hat Club, benefited from curvature of everything else.

'That's a mighty pretty toy, Elvis,' said Gandy. 'What are you going to do with it?'

'I reckon I might hang it up in my car where I can see it when I'm driving.'

Gandy smiled. 'Hang it up?'

'Yeah. I can make a little noose of string, give the little feller a necktie. Then, it'll hang neat as you please, right?'

'It surely will.'

'Bye, Elvis.'

'Bye,bros.'

Gandy and his gang drifted away, back to the Studebaker. Chamberlain looked dangerously at Elvis.

'It won't go easy with you, Presley. It ain't just me you've got to worry about. Harbottle isn't as understanding as me. And he's connected so high you'd need an oxygen mask to get into the office. You understand?'

Elvis nodded, and gave the wax head in his hand a squeeze.

Sweat stood out on Chamberlain's forehead.

'You look peaked, Robert E. Lee. Have you got a migraine coming on?'

Chamberlain rubbed his temples. Elvis didn't know if the voodoo was working, but something was certainly getting to the Good Ole Boy.

'Can I get you an aspirin?'

Chamberlain clamped his hat on his head and stumped out of the garage, leaving nine inches of cigar behind him.

Elvis stamped on it, grinding the tobacco tube into the asphalt.

VIII

'Old man, can you hear me?'

“…”

'Old Man?'

'Yes?'

'It's me.Krokodil.'

'I know.'

'Of course. I'll kill you, you know?'

'All must die.'

'But you haven't. Not so far.'

'No.'

'How long has it been?'

'I know not.'

'Hundreds of years? Thousands?'

'Longer.'

'I feel very close to you, old man.'

'You are part of me, just as I am part of you.'

'Was it the shades?'

“…”

'Well?'

'Yes. It was the spectacles.'

'I saw things through them. Things that weren't there.'

'The lesser entities. Yes.'

'Lesser than what?'

“…”

'You might as well tell me. I won't go away. Lesser than what?'

'The Dark Ones.'

'Like the creature at Santa de Nogueira?'

'The Jibbenainosay. Yes, like that. There are many more like the Jibbenainosay.'

'Where do they come from?'

'The Outer Darkness.'

'That tells me a lot.'

'You would not understand.'

'Try me. We have all night to talk..'

'The Outer Darkness lies beyond the lip of the universe.'

'Old man?'

'Yes?'

'The thing inside me, is it a Dark One?'

'No.'

'Then what is it. What makes Jessamyn into Krokodil?'

'You are host to the Ancient Adversary, the Pawn of the Nullifiers.'

'Why are you telling me all this? You know I'll kill you.'

'It does me no harm. You cannot understand. It would take centuries to make you understand. Even the creature inside you cannot make you understand.'

'Centuries? You've had centuries, haven't you? Do I have centuries? Will I live forever with this Ancient Thing in me?'

'You could, but you won't.'

'Why not?'

'There are no more centuries, Krokodil. Not after this one. There are none left. The Dark Ones will descend. It will all come to an end.'

'You're looking forward to that?'

“…”

'Well?'

'Yes…I look forward to the Nothing.'

'I'll see what I can do for you.'

'Believe me, Krokodil, I would thank you for it. But there are things that must be done, and I am here to do them. I am the Summoner.'

'You're to blow the last trump? You don't seem like Gabriel to me.'

'That is just a story, little girl. One of many. All the stories distort the truth, but contain a little of it.'

'Why me?'

'It was just an accident. You took the spectacles. You became a channel to the Outer Darkness.'

'Like you?'

'Yes, like me.'

'And this thing, the Ancient Adversary, came into me because of that? Just because I took your shades?'

'Yes. That is so.'

'But that's insane. I was just a panzergirl. A kid, for freak's sake. How could I know?'