“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah.”
Smoke streamed out of St. George’s nostrils. “Is that your excuse for siding with this thing? For betraying all of us? You’re scared of what it could do to you?”
Max shoved the dagger into his belt and walked up to the bound hero. Cairax moved out of his way with one step of its long legs. The move was graceful and unnatural all at once. “Yeah,” he snapped, “I am scared.”
“You used to be a hero.”
“I used to be a paperboy, too. So what?” He shook his head. “Let me tell you something, George. I know what Hell’s like. I’ve seen it. I’ve felt it. And you know what?” He waved his arm over his shoulder, back in the direction of the Big Wall. “I will sacrifice anything not to go through that again. You, Stealth, Barry, Danielle, my parents, every girl I ever loved, every single person in the Mount—Cairax can have all of your immortal souls as long as it means I don’t go to Hell.”
St. George took in a long, slow breath. “You’re a coward.”
“No,” Max shook his head, “I’m a realist. There’s only so many ways this can go down, and they all involve a lot of people dying. I just made the choice not to be one of them. Like I told Stealth, I chose to survive.”
“And that’s the way it is?”
“Yeah,” said Max. “That’s the way it is.”
“Then I don’t feel too bad about this.”
St. George exhaled hard, spraying fire down at the sorcerer. It was a good-sized cone, enough to cover the man from head to toe. The blast exploded over Max, and splashed out across the pavement. The flames lit up the street for a block in either direction. They burned for a few seconds and then sputtered out.
Cairax Murrain’s hand stretched out in front of the sorcerer. The fingers spread wide in front of Max’s face. A last few licks of fire danced on the knuckles and talons, like flies caught in a spiderweb. The demon closed its hand into a fist and the flames were crushed.
Max wasn’t even singed.
The demon snorted and pulled its impossibly long arm back. It strode halfway across the street and snatched up an ex through the barrier. It spun the dead thing in its claws, plucking off arms and legs and then the head.
“That was foolish,” said Max. “Even if Cairax wasn’t here, I’ve got two different fire wards on me.”
“Maybe I don’t give up as easily as you.”
“I didn’t give up,” said Max. “I made a deal.”
“Come on,” St. George said. “Do you think that thing’s going to hold up its side of the bargain? After everything you’ve told us about it? What’s going to stop it from killing you?”
“Well,” said the sorcerer, “one is the contract. I’ve offered it a lot of prime souls in exchange for its leniency. A bunch of heroes. And a deal’s a deal.”
St. George glared at him.
“Two is that I’m going to be a lot harder to kill in about twenty minutes or so.”
He wrinkled his brow at the sorcerer. “How so?”
Cairax Murrain picked up another ex, a dead woman, and tossed it from hand to hand. A chuckle slithered up out of the demon’s throat. It caught the ex and scissored the woman in half with its talons.
Max waved a hand at his chest. “Stealth was right. This isn’t much of a cheat. Jarvis was in pretty good shape, but in five or ten years I’ll just need another body. Unless I found a better one sooner than that. One that was strong, almost completely invulnerable, and would last a hundred years or so with no problem.”
He gestured at the circle and symbols he’d been scratching into the pavement, then looked the bound hero in the eye.
“That’s where you come into the deal, George.”
ON A GUESS, said Zzzap, maybe over there?
He pointed to the southwest. Even in the unlit night, the clouds piled up black over that part of the city. They flickered with sparks of light. Distant thunder echoed across the city.
Zzzap hung in the air above the corner of the Big Wall, just south of the After Death church. Stealth, Freedom, and Madelyn were on the platform below with half a dozen guards and First Sergeant Kennedy. Cerberus stood in the street behind them.
“I estimate it is centered over La Brea Avenue,” said Stealth. “Somewhere between Third and Wilshire.”
Looks like your boyfriend lives in the corner penthouse of spook central, if you ask me.
Captain Freedom cinched the strap of his glove around his wrist. He’d shrugged off the leather duster in favor of his full combat gear. “Are you sure about this, ma’am? The rest of the Unbreakables are on alert and ready to go. We can have them assembled here in five minutes.”
Stealth’s head shook inside her cloak. “A small group gives us our best chance of success while still leaving the Mount protected. The Unbreakables shall stay behind with Cerberus.”
The armored titan made a noise that might have been a grumble, but nodded.
Freedom nodded down at Madelyn. “And she’s coming because …?”
“The exes do not sense Madelyn because of her unique nature,” said Stealth. “This invisibility extends to items she is wearing or carrying. From what Maxwell has—”
“Corpse Girl,” said Madelyn. She pulled her mouth into a tight line. “I’m the Corpse Girl now.”
“From what Maxwell has said,” continued Stealth, “Cairax Murrain’s senses are similarly tuned to living things. Corpse Girl’s trip to North Hollywood supports the premise that her invisibility also includes the demon, which means there is a good chance it does not know we have the sword. She will carry the sword and perhaps give us an element of surprise. At the least, she will still be able to help control the exes in the area.”
Madelyn gave a sharp nod. She pulled her camo cap from her coat pocket and tugged
