Kill the Dead (Sandman Slim 2)

“Rainier was a good boy and I took care of him.”

“But he was still too stupid to live. Even with all your torture, I think Eleanor and Dad got the best of that deal.”

“My new Rainier will be born properly and become the new head of the family.”

She waves to him.

“I love you, dear. Hold on just a little longer. Daddy is on the way.”

“You just said you have to be Death Born at birth. Aki is at least twenty-five.”

“There are ways around that. Sorcerers who can remove his spirit and put it into the body of a newborn. I’ll personally make the child Der Todes Geboren and Rainier will be reborn.”

“But he’ll still be Aki. You keep choosing fuckups for sons.”

She leans forward on her seat.

“Now tell me about your real father.”

“I don’t know him that well. He’s a doctor, but it’s a second career. He used to be an archangel.”

“Kinski? How funny. And you only just discovered this?”

“If Lucifer was telling the truth. I think he was. It’s more fun for him to kill you with the truth than with a lie.”

“I wish I’d been there to see your face.”

“It wasn’t all that dramatic.”

“Seeing you in any amount of pain would be a joy.”

“I cut my arm on a piece of glass earlier.”

“Did it hurt?”

“It stung.”

“Good.”

The phone rings. Koralin goes to the desk and exchanges a few words with the caller.

“Jan is here.”

“Tell him to take the elevator to three.”

I pick up my gun and go to the door.

“Our deal is still on, but if you get near Aki while I let them in, I’ll blow his head off.”

I push open the door just as the elevator arrives.

“In here.”

Candy comes through first. She throws her arms around me and holds on tight.

“He’s dead. Doc is dead,” she says. “That angel bitch Aelita killed him.”

“I know. It’s all right. We’ll get through this.”