Kill City Blues (Sandman Slim 5)

“I don’t know what else to say. I’m sorry I had to do what I did the way I did it, but I’m not letting Traven go back to Hell.”

“And you think that’s your decision?” says Mr. Muninn.

“As long as he’s in the Room it is.”

Mr. Muninn crosses his legs. Laces his fingers together.

“What I meant,” say Samael, “is that perhaps you’d state your reasons why you took Father Traven in the first place.”

I try to put the whole thing together in my head before saying anything.

“It’s not fair,” I say. “The father published a book. Big deal. Your book’s gotten a lot of people in trouble over the years. Do you deserve to be damned for that?”

“You forget, Stark. I am in Hell. You sent me there.”

“And you agreed to it.”

“More fool me. I thought I could trust you. You’re a great disappointment.”

“What do you want? I’m an Abomination.”>I know the voice. It’s U.S. Marshal Larson Wells, late of the now-defunct Golden Vigil, the outfit he ran with Aelita. If the drawl didn’t give him away, the way he said “pixie” would. Just the way a redneck says “faggot.”

“How’s tricks, kid? Been keeping busy?”

“I have a feeling you know that.”

“Some. You’ve been making friends with the best of the best. I hear you had high tea with Norris Quay.”

“I ran away from some gunmen into Quay’s arms, if that’s what you mean. The guy was a real piece of work.”

“Isn’t he just? That’s the privilege of being a billionaire.”

“Don’t tell me you’re mixed up with the guy.”

“Not mixed up. He’s just a concerned citizen who wants to do right by his state and his country.”

“Was.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s dead.”

“How?”

“He followed me into Kill City and thought he could buy off all the crazies inside.”

“Damn. He was going to be quite an asset.”

“For what?”

“For the new project. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. I want you to come work for me again.”

“ ’Cause it worked out so well the first time?”

“I seem to remember you bringing in your share of rogue magicians and miscreant pixies.”

It’s true. I did some bounty-hunter work for the Golden Vigil a while back. I was at loose ends after killing most of the people involved in Alice’s murder and sending Mason Faim to Hell. I was still pretty full of unfocused rage and needed something to vent it on. Hoodoo fuckups seemed like a good idea at the time. It was while working for Wells that I killed the young vampire Eleanor Vance. Just a dumb teenybopper. Yeah, she tried to burn me with a flamethrower, but in the end, she was just as screwed up as I was.

I say, “Are you going to recruit Aelita for the dream team?”