Dying Is My Business

“Gargoyles have a centuries-long lifespan,” he said. “Jibril-khan told you he was alive back when Stryge was king, right? Which means he was probably at the battle where Willem Van Lente defeated Stryge.”

“Along with who knows how many other gargoyles still alive today,” I said. “That’s how the Black Knight knows where Stryge’s body is. Oh shit, it just occurred to me. I bet that’s how Reve Azrael knows, too. She probably killed an older gargoyle and plundered its memories for the location.”

“Did Jibril-khan say anything about where the battle was or what happened to Stryge’s body? Think back. Anything could be a clue. Anything at all.”

“I didn’t exactly have time to ask,” I said. “Wait, there was something. Jibril-khan mentioned oracles, and a prophecy about an immortal storm. Gregor said the same thing. That can’t be a coincidence, can it?”

“I don’t know what an immortal storm is,” Isaac said, “but the oracles…” He paused. I could practically hear him stroking his beard in thought.

“They must know something. So where do we find them?”

“Whoa, hold on,” Philip interrupted. “I’m not going anywhere near the damn oracles!”

“Philip’s right, I can’t let you do this,” Isaac said. “If it’s going to be anyone, it should be me.”

“Forget it.” I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “It’s just after six a.m. We have five hours until the equinox. Five hours before Stryge wakes up and everyone dies. You need to stay where you are and keep looking through those books. Leave the oracles to us.”

“Oh, hell no,” Philip said, shaking his head adamantly. “You want to see the oracles, you’re on your own.”

“Fine,” I said. “Just point the way.”

“Trent, listen to me,” Isaac said. “The oracles aren’t human, not even remotely.”

“So what are they?”

“They’re…” He paused, trying to find the right word. “They’re unknowable. They’re beyond our understanding. They have their own ways of doing things, their own rules about who they’ll see and who they won’t—”

“Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I don’t give a damn about rules,” I said. “Like it or not I’m going, and one way or another I’ll get an answer out of them.”

“Trent, you’ll be in way over your head—” I heard a muffled voice interrupt him on the other end of the line. Isaac sighed and said, “Fine, here, maybe you can talk some sense into him.” He passed the phone to someone, and then Bethany’s voice came on the line.

“I thought I heard someone being stubborn and exasperating. I should have known it was you. So, are you still in one piece?”

I smiled at the sound of her voice. I couldn’t help it. It was an involuntary reaction. Philip caught me smiling, shook his head, and groaned.

“I hate to disappoint you, but I’m not that easy to get rid of,” I said.

“The day’s still young,” she replied.

Philip rolled his eyes and muttered, “Get a damn room.”

“Philip, can you hear me?” Bethany asked.

“Unfortunately.”

“Meet me on Second Avenue, between Second and Third Street. You know the spot.”

Philip blanched. For a vampire who was already quite pale, it was a remarkable feat. “You can’t be serious, Bethany.”

“What’s on Second Avenue?” I asked.

“I can’t allow this,” I heard Isaac say.

Bethany said, “Look, Isaac, the oracles may be the only chance we’ve got left, and Trent shouldn’t go alone. Someone needs to go with him, but it can’t be Philip, and you and Gabrielle need to keep looking through those books. That leaves me as the obvious choice.”

I looked at Philip. “What does she mean, it can’t be you?”

“Bethany, you can’t ask me to do this,” Philip said, ignoring me. He almost sounded frightened.

“I don’t like this,” Isaac said.

“I think we’re all going to like being dead a lot less,” she replied.

Isaac sighed. “You have a point. Okay, do it, but be careful, both of you.”

“This is crazy,” Philip said.

Bethany said, “Philip, if you get there first, keep Trent in the car. Trent, no running off on your own again. I’m coming with you. I mean it. No arguments this time.”

“No arguments,” I said, and ended the call.

Philip shook his head. “Taking you to see the oracles. I must be out of my damn mind.”

He turned off the Henry Hudson Parkway onto Ninety-Sixth Street, heading east into the city. As we drove down the canyon of concrete and glass, a ball of fire burned before us on the horizon, dimmed to a shimmering egg yolk by the Escalade’s heavily tinted windows.

The sun, rising on what, if we failed, would be the last day of New York City.

Thirty-four

Philip pulled the Escalade up to the curb on Second Avenue between Second and Third, just as Bethany had instructed. She was there already, leaning against one of the supporting poles of an awning, the faded words PROVENZANO LANZA FUNERAL HOME emblazoned above her head. With her bulky cargo vest and the morning sun on her face, she looked like a five-foot-tall jungle explorer waiting to enter the bush. All she was missing was a machete and a pith helmet. I opened the passenger door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Bethany looked up at me with a half-smile. I’d thought of her eyes as sky-blue before, but now, seeing the way they sparkled in the sun, I realized just how apt that description was.

“For someone who spent most of the night in a gargoyle cage, you don’t look any worse for wear,” she said. “Pity. You could stand to be taken down a peg.”

“I’ve spent the night in worse places,” I said. I turned back to the Escalade, where Philip watched us from behind the wheel. “You coming?”

He shook his head. “I told you, you’re on your own. Vampires aren’t welcome here.”

“You’re going to let that stop you?”

He looked up through the tinted windshield at the morning sky. “Even if I wanted to come with you, I couldn’t. Not everything you’ve heard about vampires is a lie. We have … issues with the sun.”

“Like the gargoyles,” I said.

“We are nothing like those mindless vermin,” he snarled, turning to me angrily.

“They’re not all like that,” I reminded him. “Besides, you were outside yesterday during the day. I saw you.”

He sighed and seemed to relax. “That was different. Storm clouds covered the sun yesterday. I won’t be so lucky today. But it doesn’t matter. Vampires can’t enter. I’ll wait for you here.” I nodded and started to close the passenger door, but he stopped me. “Be careful, Trent. If I were you, I wouldn’t trust a word the oracles say.”

“I don’t believe in prophecies. I don’t think the world works that way,” I told him. “But if they know anything that can help us, I’ll get it out of them.”

I closed the door and turned back to Bethany. She stooped to pick up a metal birdcage I hadn’t noticed down by her feet. Inside, two small starlings sat on the perch. They let out a few chirps as she lifted the cage, then sat quietly again.

“What’s with the birds?” I asked.

“Payment,” she said. “The oracles don’t work for free.”