Ballistic Kiss (Sandman Slim 11)

Allegra grabs a big wad of gauze and holds it near the knife.

She says, “When I tell you, pull the blade straight out. I’ll pack the wound.”

“Got it.”

She takes a breath.

“Now.”

I yank the phurba out of his back and drop it on the floor.

Vidocq doesn’t bleed. His blood pools in the wound and doesn’t run, but oozes from the wound, thick and oily. Green on top, like algae scum on a dying lake.

“Oh god,” she says.

“Do you know what it is?”

She ignores me and says, “Everybody get out of the way.”

From a set of shelves in the last cabinet, she pulls out dusty pots and jars—some of Doc Kinski’s old supplies. You don’t fuck around with antibiotics with a hoodoo wound like this. You go straight for the heavy stuff.

Allegra packs more gauze in the oily blood and rubs a purple salve on the skin around the entry point. From a cabinet near the floor, she takes out a globe wrapped in silk. Two shattered pieces of divine light glass—the stuff Mr. Muninn used to make the first stars. Some fell to Earth long ago and started life on this rock. Doc Kinski used the glass on me more than once. It began life and it can save it. Allegra lays the pieces on Vidocq’s back and gently sets a hand on his head. After a moment, she checks his pulse. Pulls his eyelids open and shines a small flashlight into them.

Me, Janet, and Mike stand there feeling thick and useless. Allegra massages the cracked glass into Vidocq’s back. After a couple of minutes, she checks his vitals again.

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His body moves slightly. I hear a feeble, rasping breath. Another minute and Vidocq’s eyes flutter open.

He smiles when he sees Allegra.

“Hello, my love.”

She puts her hand on the back of his head.

“Hey, you. For a minute there I thought we’d lost you.”

“Never. In this world and whatever comes next, I am eternally yours.”

She runs a hand through his hair.

“Don’t talk like that. You’re the one who lives forever, remember?”

He closes his eyes.

“I care nothing about forever. I care about you.”

“We have you stabilized now, so don’t worry about anything.”

When he opens his eyes, he has a faraway look.

“Do you remember when we first met?”

“Yes. Stark brought me to meet the great alchemist who lived in a magic apartment that no one could see.”

He smiles faintly.

“We were happy there together for a time, weren’t we?”