Ballistic Kiss (Sandman Slim 11)

“How much time do we have?”

“They come an hour after sunset, so soon now.”

“That’s plenty of time for what we have to do.”

“Set up an ambush?”

“No,” she says. “Prepare the ground for whatever’s going to happen. You prepare the ground right and it can help you.”

“What does ‘prepare the ground’ mean?”

“I’m a geomancer. A child of the King Below. Just as you’re a child of the Hum. And a Black Lane Walker, too.”

“Can you say that in English?”

Flicker points a finger toward the sky.

“Look up. What do you see?”

“Power lines.”

“And if it was comp

letely dark?”

“Stars?”

“I still think you’d still see the power lines. You’re a child of the Hum. And a powerful one. A lord of the city, electricity, and human creation.”

“I guess that makes sense. What’s a Black Lane Walker?”

She chuckles.

“Your life, Stark. I mean, look at it. You live with one hand in this world and the other one grasping the next. Black Lane Walkers don’t have an easy time of it.”

“I can’t argue with that part. But come on. The King Below. Child of the Hum. That’s not L.A. That’s fairy-tale stuff.”

“Nothing in L.A. is just a tale. It’s just the past remembered differently.”

She touches the pavement.

“Nothing yet.”

“Is that good?”

She shrugs.

“It’s not anything.”

I start to light a Malediction. Flicker takes it from my hand and puts it back in the pack.

“No fire. That will pull them right to you.”

“Thanks. So, who’s the King Below?”

“Someone with whom I have an understanding.”

“Wait. You’re not talking about Lucifer, are you?”