The short man came over with a pronounced limp. When they shook hands, it was obvious that he was trying to put some extra squeeze in there. 'Lance Talon. Good to meet you, Sullivan.' Sullivan squeezed back. Both of them were too strong to hurt the other. Finally Lance grinned at him and let go. 'Welcome to the Grimnoir. The General's looking forward to seeing you.'
'Wait… Talon? The famous hunter? I read your book about Africa.' Sullivan didn't admit it, but he'd thought the whole thing had been fabricated. Lance Talon just sounded like too much of a radio serial hero's name to actually be a real person.
'Glad somebody read it.' Lance turned back toward the porch as the doors opened. 'And here are the others that are staying with us. I believe you know Delilah?'
She was standing there in the doorway, watching him carefully, wearing a short grey dress with her hands resting on her hips. She was just as beautiful as the day they'd met. As pretty as the night he'd tried to arrest her… he lowered his eyes, uncomfortable. When he looked up, she was still smirking at him, and he had no idea what to say.
Faye was walking through the house with Delilah. The others had been alerted to something by their rings, and had gathered at the front. Apparently somebody Faye didn't know was arriving. She was excited to meet these new Grimnoir, as everyone else she had met had been very nice.
Delilah had been talking about fighting, and Faye had only been half paying attention. She knew that she should be trying to learn more, because Delilah was like an encyclopedia of ways to hurt people, but she'd learned so much over the last few days that she felt like her brain was full. She was exhausted, and just wanted to take a nap. It was true what they said: a Healer could fix you, but you still felt the pain for a while after, and every single part of her body hurt from the training.
So she was distracted when Delilah opened the front door. She was saying something about how she was nervous, because one of these new arrivals and her used to be real close, but Faye was too tired to care.
When she looked past Delilah's shoulder, the world came to a screeching halt. He was there, the thing from her nightmares. Faye froze, suddenly choking on her own terror.
His face was down, covered by a black fedora, but she recognized him anyway, the way he stood, the way he moved. He was huge, his chest wide as two men, arms like tree trunks, and when he looked up toward Delilah, she saw the square profile of the left side of his face.
It was him!
The right side of his face would be a hideous scar and one gleaming white eyeball and Mr. Browning and Lance were standing right next to him, unaware of the evil they'd invited into their house, and she just knew that when that bad eye came around he was going to kill all her new friends just like he'd killed her Grandpa.
Madi!
She began to shake uncontrollably.
Delilah said something to him, and he actually smiled, friendly as could be. His voice was exactly the same, deep and dark as a well, and he even used the exact same slow words as when she'd first met him, when she'd been staring down the barrel of the gun that had killed Grandpa. 'Hey, girl.'
'No reason for any more killin' today. I'm looking for something. That's all,' he'd said. Faye screamed and the paralysis was gone.
I have to save them. She forced herself to move, reaching into her pocket and grasping the little.32 as she focused, sending her thoughts ahead, discovering that the space right behind Madi was empty, and she Traveled.
Sullivan had tried to think about what he would say to Delilah on the ride here, but he couldn't think of anything. Words had always failed him when he needed them most. He knew that he needed to apologize, to try to explain, to hope that maybe it could be like it was once before…
Delilah finally spoke first. 'Hey, big boy.' It was exactly how she had woken him every morning in New Orleans.
'Hey, girl…' He smiled. Maybe the two of us will be all rig- Then a terrible pain pierced his back. He stumbled. Confused. The others looked past him in shock. He reached up, trying to feel what had struck him, and something felt like it was stuck, burning, between his shoulder blades. His hand came back covered in blood. A terrible buzzing filled his ears. Delilah leapt off the steps screaming something that he couldn't understand as he fell toward the soft grass.
Faye jabbed her little gun forward, jerking the heavy trigger. She aimed right for where his heart should be. There was a pop and a puff of smoke. She kept shooting, pulling the trigger as Madi lurched, not even hearing the noise anymore.
The others were shouting. Delilah charged off the porch, obviously burning at full Power. She'd recognize Madi too. She'd help. But instead of tearing Madi's head off, Delilah caught him as he fell, lowering the giant to the ground.
His head rolled around. His other eye was brown… Not white. His hat fell off. There was no scar.
And she looked up, confused, to see a young man with a blond goatee raise a skinny black pistol toward her. She started to speak, to explain that something was horribly wrong, but the gun barked and he shot her squarely in the chest.
Chapter 12
Man found that he was faced with the acceptance of 'magical' forces, that is to say such forces as cannot be comprehended by the sciences, and yet having undoubted, even extremely strong, effects. The false idea of some comprehensive, unexplainable 'power' was thus born in the collective unconscious… Now that the realm of magic had opened for man, our greatest neuroses are laid bare, so we explain them away with imaginary things.
– Sigmund Freud,
Letter composed just prior to his death by cocaine overdose, 1925 San Francisco, California Madi had not wanted to contact the Chairman again so soon. He liked being the one who took care of business on his own and came back with results. Having to cry to the boss all the time struck him as a habit for weaklings, but this opportunity was too good to pass up, and as he stood before Yutaka's shimmering portal, he could barely contain his excitement. The Edo Court came into focus, clear as day, despite being an ocean away, and there stood the Chairman.
He bowed deeply.
'What is it, my son?'
Madi liked that. Son. The Chairman didn't say that to any of the other Iron Guards as far as he knew. A smile split his scar. 'Chairman Tokugawa. We spotted Grimnoir in Utah.'
'I assume you eliminated them?'
'No, my lord. Better.' He finally looked up from his bow. 'I had Yutaka dispatch a demon to follow them. We found one of their hideouts. The Summoned couldn't enter the property because of the warding spells, but we know about where they are… It is only a few miles from where we burned out their last nest in California.'
'Pershing…' the Chairman muttered to himself. 'Excellent. He may have the last piece of the Tesla device. If it is present, retrieve it. If it is not, try to discover its location.' Eradicating every last Grimmy went without saying, obviously.
Excitement was building in the pit of his stomach. It felt good to feel something. 'I would like permission to call up all our reserves.'
The Chairman's expression didn't change, but his words indicated his displeasure. 'The fiercest warrior strikes and holds nothing back, assuring an enemy's demise with a single blow, yet wastes all his strength for the rest of the battle. The wise warrior strikes with skill, retaining his strength to fight again.'
Madi bowed in submission. He'd gone out of his lane. It wasn't his place to jeopardize the Imperium's many secret operations inside the United States. Madi had only the slightest idea of the number of agents they had in the military, government, media, and industry. America was riddled with corruption, and when the time came, it would fall. 'My apologies, Chairman Tokugawa.'
The Chairman appeared deep in thought. 'But for Pershing… I'll make an exception. Activate as many cells as
