The Getaway God (Sandman Slim 6)

Chaya rubs his cheek, glaring at Muninn. If looks could kill, the Angra would have once less piece of God to deal with.

Muninn says, “Stark has had more than ample opportunity to turn on us and he hasn’t done so.”

“He’s a killer.”

“He’s my friend.”

“Don’t talk like that. It’s disgusting and demeans us all.”

Muninn comes over and helps me get on my feet.

“Are you all right?”

“I could use a drink.”

Muninn pours me something from a decanter on the coffee table. I sniff the stuff. It smells good. Muninn must have snuck back to Earth and raided the cavern with all his hidden treasures. I can’t blame him for being homesick. That’s Hell all over. I swallow the drink. It tastes like good whiskey and honey and burns like an August wildfire all the way down my mangled throat.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Samael comes in wearing a silk bathrobe, like Cary Grant looking for Katharine Hepburn.

“I heard noise. Did I miss anything fun?”

I give him the finger. He looks at me slumped on the couch and Chaya’s red face.

“I did. Damn.”

“Shut your mouth, child,” says Chaya to Samael. “You never did know your place.”

“My place? I’m quite comfortable in Hell, Father. You’re the one who looks like a peacock in the Sahara.”

“Enough, you two,” says Muninn.

He takes the empty glass from my hand and sits down across from me.

“Why are you here, James?”

I cough a ­couple of times, trying to get my voice back.

“The Angra are on their way. Mason did the summoning ritual. I stopped it before he was done, but something still got through.”

Muninn turns and looks out the window.

“It had to happen. It was just a matter of time. Still, if we had a little longer maybe there’s something else . . . I don’t know. We’d be so much stronger if we could reunite with Ruach.”

“He’d rather die and see us dead first,” says Chaya.

I set down my glass.

“I might have a way to beat them, but it’s going to cost someone big.”

“What’s your idea?” Muninn says.

“The Angra want you dead and they want the Room. I can give them the second thing. Herd them in and seal it forever. The trick is getting them inside.”

“How will you do that?”