enemy, and I don’t like giving enemies any more intelligence than I have to. Besides, knowing I wasn’t likely to die in an accident of Nicolette’s devising would only depress her, and she was hard enough to deal with when she was cheerful.
I tore the cover off the cage. “Will you stop squawking?” I moved the cage to the edge of the table so Nicolette could see Andrew. “He just tried to murder me, but he did a terrible job.”
Andrew looked up at the severed head in the cage grinning down at him, then shrieked like a little kid in a haunted house.
“Ahhh,” Nicolette said. “Delicious screaming. There’s a lot of blood on that axe. You sure he didn’t hit you, Marla?”
“He might have nicked me on the back,” I said, reaching around and touching the tear in my coat. Damn it. I liked that coat. I hoped the hole wasn’t too big. “Okay, big boy, up on the table.”
I grabbed him by the hair and one arm and dragged him upright. He hopped on his good foot as I shoved him onto the picnic table on his back. “Nice altar you’ve got here.” I knelt and picked up one of the bicycle locks, opening it up. Andrew tried to roll away, but I smacked him in the forehead with the heavy end of the lock and he groaned and lay still. I slid the prongs of the lock over his throat, and as I’d expected, the sides of the U-bold slid easily into the holes drilled into the table. “Guess you knocked them out before you put them on the table, huh? You don’t seem like you’re tough enough to lock down a victim who’s struggling.” I ducked under the table, fitted the bottom of the lock over the ends of the U protruding from the underside of the table, and turned the key. Now Andrew was fastened to the table by his neck, and he wouldn’t be going anywhere. I didn’t bother locking his legs, as he’d done with his victims – I wasn’t all that worried about getting kicked.
Andrew stared at me, eyes slit, the black bar of the lock pressing against his meaty throat, but not tight enough to cut off his air, unless he struggled. “So,” I said. “What’s the deal? Human sacrifice is fuel for big magic, especially if you sacrifice the ones you love – or was that stuff about your wife and kid bullshit? Somebody sure died on this table, though. What’s the sorcery you’re working? Immortality?”
He laughed, and it was a horrible sound. “Immortality? I’m just trying to say alive . There is a monster, and it did eat my family, and the others who lived here. Or... I don’t know if it ate them, it tore them apart, it seemed to get something out of that, from their pain, or maybe it sucked out their souls or something, I don’t know , but I had to bury the pieces, bury what was left of them – can you imagine how hard that was for me?”
“Harder than strapping your friends and family down on this table as sacrifices?”
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, as well as he could with the lock pressing against his throat.
“Open your eyes, Andrew. We’re not done talking.” I sat on the redwood bench and put my dagger on the table, spinning it around. When it stopped, the point aimed at his cheek. “Did you really crack open a seal and let something out, or was that bullshit?”
“After we found the pit, I... started having these dreams . I saw shapes, the shapes I carved into the table later. And I dreamed about coming back here, to this place. I resisted, for a long time, but I came anyway, I’d go to sleep and wake up hours later in my car, parked here. So when I lost my job, I just... gave in. I listened. I came. And the thing, the taker, it , spoke to me, and told me it had marked me when I looked down into its pit, when I pointed a light into its darkness, and made it hide. The thing said it was going to consume me... unless I made myself useful, instead. It promised...” He closed his eyes, and tears leaked down his face.
“Fed his wife and kid to a monster to save himself,”
I tore the cover off the cage. “Will you stop squawking?” I moved the cage to the edge of the table so Nicolette could see Andrew. “He just tried to murder me, but he did a terrible job.”
Andrew looked up at the severed head in the cage grinning down at him, then shrieked like a little kid in a haunted house.
“Ahhh,” Nicolette said. “Delicious screaming. There’s a lot of blood on that axe. You sure he didn’t hit you, Marla?”
“He might have nicked me on the back,” I said, reaching around and touching the tear in my coat. Damn it. I liked that coat. I hoped the hole wasn’t too big. “Okay, big boy, up on the table.”
I grabbed him by the hair and one arm and dragged him upright. He hopped on his good foot as I shoved him onto the picnic table on his back. “Nice altar you’ve got here.” I knelt and picked up one of the bicycle locks, opening it up. Andrew tried to roll away, but I smacked him in the forehead with the heavy end of the lock and he groaned and lay still. I slid the prongs of the lock over his throat, and as I’d expected, the sides of the U-bold slid easily into the holes drilled into the table. “Guess you knocked them out before you put them on the table, huh? You don’t seem like you’re tough enough to lock down a victim who’s struggling.” I ducked under the table, fitted the bottom of the lock over the ends of the U protruding from the underside of the table, and turned the key. Now Andrew was fastened to the table by his neck, and he wouldn’t be going anywhere. I didn’t bother locking his legs, as he’d done with his victims – I wasn’t all that worried about getting kicked.
Andrew stared at me, eyes slit, the black bar of the lock pressing against his meaty throat, but not tight enough to cut off his air, unless he struggled. “So,” I said. “What’s the deal? Human sacrifice is fuel for big magic, especially if you sacrifice the ones you love – or was that stuff about your wife and kid bullshit? Somebody sure died on this table, though. What’s the sorcery you’re working? Immortality?”
He laughed, and it was a horrible sound. “Immortality? I’m just trying to say alive . There is a monster, and it did eat my family, and the others who lived here. Or... I don’t know if it ate them, it tore them apart, it seemed to get something out of that, from their pain, or maybe it sucked out their souls or something, I don’t know , but I had to bury the pieces, bury what was left of them – can you imagine how hard that was for me?”
“Harder than strapping your friends and family down on this table as sacrifices?”
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, as well as he could with the lock pressing against his throat.
“Open your eyes, Andrew. We’re not done talking.” I sat on the redwood bench and put my dagger on the table, spinning it around. When it stopped, the point aimed at his cheek. “Did you really crack open a seal and let something out, or was that bullshit?”
“After we found the pit, I... started having these dreams . I saw shapes, the shapes I carved into the table later. And I dreamed about coming back here, to this place. I resisted, for a long time, but I came anyway, I’d go to sleep and wake up hours later in my car, parked here. So when I lost my job, I just... gave in. I listened. I came. And the thing, the taker, it , spoke to me, and told me it had marked me when I looked down into its pit, when I pointed a light into its darkness, and made it hide. The thing said it was going to consume me... unless I made myself useful, instead. It promised...” He closed his eyes, and tears leaked down his face.
“Fed his wife and kid to a monster to save himself,”
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