“No.”
“Get her out of here.”
Traven nods. Picks Candy up in his arms and runs with her through the cursed rain.
I go to the hole and look inside. Lula plugged Teddy five or six times. There are lots of bone fragments in the dirt. She hit Cherry too.
I shouldn’t do what I’m doing but I’m still doing it. I pick up the Imp’s skull and throw it on the floor as hard as I can. The marble cracks and the skull explodes into a thousand pieces, destroying Lamia’s connection to this world. I don’t have to kill her. She was never really responsible for what she did. She was a slave killing for a sick bastard. I did plenty of that in Hell. With any luck, she’ll be just another ghost in the Tenebrae now. Maybe she’ll be strong enough to squeeze out whatever hole she came through and go home to the Angra. Who knows, maybe freeing her will buy humanity some brownie points when the Angra come back to eat our lunch. They can keep us around like sea monkeys and teach us tricks. Why not? One God fucked with us at the beginning of time. What’s one more?
I pick up the jerry can and spread gasoline all over the floor. Before I light it, I find the kitchen and rip all the gas hoses out of the walls. I go outside and light a Malediction, letting the house fill with fumes. When I’m halfway through the smoke, I open the front door and toss it inside. The house catches. Windows blow out, sending burning debris onto the perfect lawn. Traven starts the car. The flames light our way down the long hill.
Good-bye, Teddy. So long, Lula. I hope Lamia and the ghosts of those kids don’t let your souls get to the afterlife too quick. I hope they give you a good long tour of the Tenebrae. Welcome to the Hell you made, assholes.
By the time we hit Hollywood, the sky has stopped puking ocean down on our heads. The streets are choked with dying fish and colorful stones. I don’t think there’s a car windshield or store window left intact anywhere in Southern California. Traven steers around the worst of it as well as he can with a cracked windshield, heading for Allegra’s clinic.
“I thought you had a falling-out with the woman who runs the clinic.”
“Allegra might be pissed but she won’t let anything happen to Candy.”
Traven carries her out of the car while I pound on the clinic door until they open it. Fairuza looks out and lets Traven inside. I stay in the parking lot.
Traven comes out a few minutes later.
“They say it’s a common drug. She’ll be fine,” he says.
“Thanks.”
“What happens now?”
“You mean what does a person do after car chases, arson, and their first kill?”
Traven looks out into the street. Some of the fish are still alive, gasping for breath on the sidewalk. He’d like to save every one of them.
“Even if you’re in the right, how do you cope with it?”
I shrug. It hurts.
“Drinking helps.”
He looks at himself in the clinic windows. I know the move. He’s checking to see if he’s still him.
“You jumped on a flying saucer today, Father. You’re on a whole other planet now.”
“That’s exactly how it feels.”
“There’s no going back. You know that, don’t you? You can’t unsee or unknow any of this.”
“I wouldn’t if I could. I didn’t just translate books because I had an aptitude for it. I did it hoping that one or two might reveal some deeper truth. That somehow my work would benefit people. These last few days . . .”
“I know. Truth can kick your ass. You know the Greek word for ‘revelation,’ right?”
“Apokálypsis.”
“Apocalypse. The truth shall set you free, but not before blowing your brain to Rice Krispie Treats.”
“Would you like to get a drink?”
“Yeah. But tomorrow. I have one more stop to make before this thing is over.”