Kill the Dead (Sandman Slim 2)

Jan comes in after her with Kasabian’s bowling bag.

I gesture to him with the gun.

“Go over to the table and let him out. Then sit down next to your wife.”

Jan unzips the bag and puts Kasabian on the table. Jan sits down at the far end of the sofa, as far from Koralin as he can.

“Fuck you, you Kraut shit.”

I set Candy in a chair by the desk.

“You all right, Kasabian?”

“No thanks to these pricks. That bitch stood there while that crazy-ass angel stabbed Kinski.”

“Sit tight and keep quiet. This will be over with soon.”

“Excuse me,” says Koralin. “You have your friends. Please put the pistol down.”

I look at Aki and then at her and set the gun on the table.

“We’re going to do this slowly and carefully so there aren’t any misunderstandings, all right?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Koralin, stand up with your hands where I can see them. Come down to the end of the table with me. I’ll take the Druj from my pocket and hand it to you.”

I stand up while Koralin comes around, put my hand in my pocket, and take out the Druj. I exaggerate my arm and hand movements so she can see what I’m doing. When it’s out, I show her the Druj and that I’m not holding anything else.

“Put out your hands.”

She does and I set the Druj there. I step back as Koralin smiles and holds it up so Aki can see.

“We have it, darling. It’s ours.”

She turns to me, all motherly and full of aristocratic outrage.

“You’re all dead. I’ll call every golem in the city down on you. They’ll each get one shallow bite. It will take days for you to die.”

Koralin really wants Drifters by her side, so they come to her. The ones I brought in from the hall and lobby stashed around the edges of the room earlier are drawn to her and the Druj. When she sees them she laughs with delight. She’s amused just long enough for me to grab the na’at and whip the end of it into her chest like a dagger. There’s no time to aim well, but I do all right.

The end slips between her ribs and into her heart. Another flick and the na’at retracts. Koralin falls to the floor grunting like an animal in shock and pain. Her milk-pale skin crawls with patches of red. Her lips fade from deep blue to bright crimson as she draws her first choked and agonized breath since birth.

“Did you know that the cure for a zombie bite is a Savant’s blood? I learned that when Johnny Thunders gave me some of his. I used some to help out Brigitte and I put the rest on the na’at. Johnny must have been right because it looks to me like you’re breathing again. How does it feel to be alive after all these years? Just another pathetic mortal lowlife. Weird, I bet. Don’t worry. You won’t feel it for long.”

I pick up the Druj from where she dropped it, pull Candy from the sofa, and hand her Kasabian.

The Drifters crowd around Koralin. They move in slowly, a little uncertain of who or what she is. She was one of them a moment ago, but she must be starting to smell human. I wonder what her body temperature has to be before they know she’s food.

“If you want to go, you can go,” I tell Jan.

He stands there.

“I can’t leave her to this.”

“I’m giving you a break because of Eleanor.”

“Please.”