“Hello, Carlos,” I said, stripping him of his gun. “You waiting for Douglas?”
“He’s going to fuck you up, freak,” Carlos snarled. “When he gets here, you’ll see.”
He started laughing and for a brief moment, I pitied him. He had drunk the Kool-Aid and bought into Douglas’ line of human superiority. Together, they were going to cleanse the world of all non-humans and create a utopia where Douglas would rule, and all who didn’t fall in line would be eliminated, or cast out.
“You are truly too clueless to live.”
“Douglas is going to end you, old man,” Carlos said in between the laughter. “You are so dead.”
“You first,” I said, putting a round through his temple and ending his life.
I picked up his lifeless body and placed it in the trailer. I moved back what I thought was a safe distance and focused.
“Ignisvitae,” I whispered, sending a beam of violet energy at the trailer.
The beam widened as it crossed the esplanade until it was two feet wide. It punched into the side of the trailer, detonating the ordnance inside. A massive fireball bloomed into the sky. I stepped back and sent two more beams of energy at the trailer, making sure nothing was left except molten slag.
A few minutes later, I heard the helicopter and walked away, staying under the FDR overpass until I was several blocks away. Sirens filled the night and my phone rang.
I looked at the screen and saw Ramirez’s number. I let it go to voicemail. I would explain it to Angel in a few days. Right now, all I wanted was a strong cup of coffee and my bed.
I made my way over to 1st Avenue and hailed a taxi. I took my life into my hands and stepped into the first one that stopped.
“Out late tonight,” the driver said with an infectious smile. “Where to?”
From his accent, I could tell he was from Southeast Asia. The Randy Rump would be an unwise choice right now, so I opted for my fallback coffee shop.
“Last Gasp,” I said. “Do you know it?”
The driver nodded. I read his identification tag on the dash and saw his name was Raj Chandran. His picture was next to his name. The same infectious smile beamed at me. At least he enjoyed his job.
“Best coffee in the city,” Raj said with a chuckle. “Crutch keeps it open 24/7 now. All the cabbies drink there after the night shift. Before, too; all the time, actually.”
“Perfect,” I said, resting my head back and closing my eyes as the sun peeked over the horizon. “Coffee is what I need right now. That, and about a week of sleep. Raj, I’ll double the meter if you get me there in one piece.”
“No guarantees,” Raj said with a head wobble, laughing as he floored the gas. “Hold on.”
I held on.
THE END
Author Notes
Thank you for reading this story and jumping back into the Monty & Strong World.
Disclaimer: The Author Notes are written at the very end of the process. This section is not seen by the ART or my amazing Jeditor—Audrey. Any typos or errors following this disclaimer are mine and mine alone.
Here we are…13 books in and counting! WOW!
Thank you for joining me in this incredible adventure. If you had asked me when I first started writing Monty & Strong how many books long the series would be, I would have answered, this is going to be a trilogy.
No more.
Obviously MS&P had other ideas. Those of you who are in the MoB Family know of my trials and tribulations keeping my stories to a predetermined length. In the case of M&S, I never thought it would go this long back when I started Tombyards & Butterflies. That quickly changed.
REQUIEM was a nice departure from the usual M&S story. We uncovered some of Simon’s past (Monty’s too) and dealt with the subject of our present being formed by the choices of our past. This will come up in future books. Badb Catha will not forget the terms.
The next few books will deal with themes that have been interwoven in the previous 13 books. There will be much upheaval, danger, death, and explosions—or what M&S call Friday. The next book, DIVINE INTERVENTION, will touch on some deities crashing into Monty & Simon’s lives. Some we know, others, not so much. All of them will have their own agendas, with some of them wishing harm on the Terrible Trio.
Simon will get to experience firsthand what it means to be the ‘Marked of Kali’. It promises to be dangerous and fun, well, maybe not so much fun for him. Monty still has to deal with the effects of his schism and increase in power, plus there is the small matter of owing Badb Catha a favor. I think Dex may have a few (loud) words to say about that conversation.
I didn’t forget SEPIA BLUE. Her last book DEMON will be out sometime this year as well as the next Night Warden story NOCTURNE MELODY, which promises to be a fun, if dark book, which is the usual for Grey & Co. It’s possible Simon makes a cameo in that one. It’s way past time he and Frank had a ‘conversation’ about Frank’s influence on a certain hellhound.
As I have always said, out of the several series I have the privilege of writing(quite a few at this point), this one is by far one of the easiest for me. The stories flow freely and it’s usually a matter of my trying to keep up with the story as it unfolds in my head.
As I write these author notes, it gets harder and harder to share what’s coming without revealing spoilers. I can only say that the next batch of books in the M&S series will be a blast and I hope that you join me on that adventure. I will also be focusing on closing some
