“I’m sleepy. I don’t want to talk anymore.”
“Are you going to kill more people?”
She curls up on the ground in her party dress.
“Oh yes. Lots. The sky will be all sorts of funny colors.”
Along the edge of the crater are the gangs of murdered kids. They’re cut up but they’re not scared of Lamia. Whatever happened to them, she didn’t do it.
Cherry is waiting when I climb back up to the street. She runs over and grabs my arm. I keep walking.
“You didn’t kill her. Why not?”
“I’m not ready. I know a part of what’s going on but not enough. Until I do, I’m not killing the only thing that might be able to give me answers.”
“And what about us? What happens when she comes for us?”
“Has she ever attacked you personally?”
“No.”
“Then you’re safe.”
“How do you know?”
“ ’Cause ghosts like you aren’t on her hit list and it’ll be a while before you are. Long enough for you to wise up and move on.”
“How do you know?”
“Drop it.”
Cherry gets in my way.
“How do you know?”
“Because you’re not one of His, which means you’re one of mine. That means you’re definitely damned. And she’s not after the damned yet.”
Cherry takes a couple of steps back. Puts a hand over her mouth.
“You bastard.”
“You don’t have to wait around for her. Get out of here and save yourself.”
She leans against the ruins of the Chinatown arch, resting her ridiculous cartoon face in her hands.
“Go away, James. You let me down again. You’re no better than Parker.”
“Take care of yourself. Think about what I said.”
I head back to Tenebrae Station. The crowd follows me to the stairs but none of them follows me down.
“Any of you can leave too. You don’t have to live like this.”
I climb down into the tunnel and walk back into the dark.
And open my eyes, flat on my back in my room in the Chateau. Kasabian limps away from the circle with my shirt in his hand. There’s a smeared spot on the tile where he broke the bloody circle.
I sit up. There are clots of blood on my arms and in my hair. I stink from sweat. But there’s one nice surprise. The wound the Imp gave me is completely closed. There isn’t even a scar.