Chapter 42
Chapter
Forty-Two
After arranging for Ginny’s relocation, Kate decided to wander down and check on the Boys. To her surprise, the documents were gone, the scanners were gone. The Boys themselves were gone, except for Slim, who looked as if he were waiting for her.
“I’d hoped you would make it,” he said, sounding relieved.
“Your work contract’s closed, huh?” Kate asked.
Slim looked at his feet, his hands in his pockets. “We found all the names,” he said. “A lot of the others were getting antsy, anyway, with all the...” He gestured toward the ceiling.
“What? All the building?”
“All the souls, Kate,” Slim said gently. “It’s like putting a bunch of thieves just a few doors away from an open vault. The temptation to just reach out and grab a little is overwhelming, even though it’s nearly impossible to possess someone from a constructed body.”
“But not tempting for you,” she noted.
“No. Not for me.” He smiled. “I’m on this plane quite a bit, though, so it makes it a little easier.”
“Here. A going-away present.” She reached in her pocket, pulled out a Lindor truffle. He popped it in his mouth, then smiled.
“It’s good,” he said. “Though I still think Ho Ho’s are my favorite. If I could bring them with me, I would probably rule a small corner of Hell.”
“Don’t I know it,” she said ruefully. “So everybody else is gone?”
“I’m the last one,” he said.
“How do you get home?” she asked. Nobody had given her any details, and she was curious. Did they just open a portal? Do some kind of arcane ritual with robes and candles, the whole nine yards?
He shook his head. “No. They just remove me from the…vessel. You know. Disconnect the construct, that’s all.”
“How does that work?” she asked, bewildered.
He shrugged. “You can watch, if you like. But I understand it can be a bit unsettling.”
She’d seen pretty gross things, but it couldn’t be worse than anything she’d suffered at Victor’s. She shuddered at that memory, shoving it aside. “Well, maybe we can work together again sometime,” she said, then impulsively gave him a hug.
He froze, his body completely wooden. Then, awkwardly, he patted her on the back. He was still smiling.
“You are different,” he said. “I don’t think you should watch me leave. It would upset you, and I find I don’t want you upset. But I am glad we got to say good-bye.”
“All right,” she said.
“I think I will look for contracts near here. I hope we get to work together at some point, as well,” he said, and to her surprise, he bowed to her, a small, oddly formal bow. “I will...miss you, Kate O’Hara.”
“I’ll miss you, too, Slim.”
“This is grotesquely touching,” Al said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he entered the room. “But it’s this one’s time to go.”
“Good grief, Al, is that—”
Before she could say anything more, Al took a surprisingly quick step forward—and stabbed Slim in the chest.
Kate screamed.
Slim stiffened, then glared at Al.
“That was unnecessary,” he reprimanded, his voice slow and hoarse, and then he looked at Kate. “Don’t worry. It only...hurts...for a second.”
Then he took a step back—and exploded into flames.
She screamed again, until she no longer noticed it. Until her throat was raw from it.
Slim was right. It was like that magic flash paper, just a quick burst of flame, and he disappeared, in a poof of smoke and ash.
“Hmph. That takes care of that job,” Al said. “Would you stop screaming? I can hear fine, don’t let the wrinkles fool you.”
She finally stopped screaming, mostly because she didn’t have any scream left. Tears were flooding down her cheeks.
“It was a demon,” Al said impatiently. “No one cries for demons, you twit.”
Her hand shot out, slapping the old man across the face.
“He was my friend, you asshole!”
Al took a step toward her, knife still in his hand.
“What are you gonna do?” She didn’t back down, too angry and too hurt to give him the satisfaction of cowing her. “You gonna kill me, too?”
For a split second, his eyes looked blood-thirsty—and tempted. Finally, he took a deep breath.
“I didn’t kill him,” Al said through gritted teeth. “I sent him back. That wasn’t a real body. It was a construct, from a spell.”
“A fake body?”
He gave her an exaggerated nod. “Yes, a fake body. It’s just a container for the demon.”
She looked at the pile of ash where Slim was a second ago. “You’d think they’d be a little sturdier.”
“You are a fool,” he muttered. “They only burn like that when there’s a demon in it. Otherwise, they just seem like bodies.” He muttered a few more derogatory things, but she was too distracted to hear them.
“So you gave him a loaner body,” she said, finally getting a grasp on the concept. “Does that mean—could you bring him back?”
“Of course I could!” he snapped.
“So why don’t you?” she snapped back.
“Because I don’t need it anymore.” He rolled his eyes, then turned his back. “Asinine woman!”
He shuffled off, leaving Kate standing there, eyes red, throat sore.
She stood in the empty, cavernous basement for long minutes, until the very feeling of barren hollowness freaked her out and she fled for the elevator.
Stepping out into the lobby, ignoring the stares of people walking through, she ducked into Marco’s café and pulled out her cell phone, dialing by memory.
Please, pick up. Please, pick up.
To her amazement, she heard Prue’s tentative voice. “Hello?”
“Prue,” she said, in an almost whisper. “Can we talk? I am having a hard time, and I could really use a friend.”
“I’m sorry, Kate. But I just can’t.”
“Is that it, then?” Kate’s voice was strangled. “You’re just not talking to me?”
“It’s complicated.” Prue’s sigh was ragged. “I…listen, I never told you about my family, about my, well, legacy. But trust me. I’m not supposed to get involved with oni. You know. Demons,” she translated.
“But I’m not a demon!”
“You’re signed,” Prue pointed out. “That’s close enough.”
“Only because I was dying!”
“I’m still trying to sort this out,” Prue said, and to her credit, she sounded miserable. “I miss you, sweetie, but until I figure out how I can do this, I really can’t talk to you.”
“Prue?”
But Prue had already hung up. Kate stared at the phone for a minute, stunned tears popping up and trickling down her cheeks. She grabbed a paper napkin, quickly dabbing them away.
Her cell phone rang, and thinking it was Prue, she quickly answered it.
“Kate?” It was Thomas’s voice instead. “Are you still at work?”
It had to be around six or seven. “Yeah. I was just leaving.” She suddenly realized the last place she wanted to be was home, though.
She couldn’t see Prue, and going to the pool hall or a bar by herself sounded unappealing.
That didn’t leave her with a whole lot of options, now that she thought about it.
“I need you to come over to The Havens, my condo complex.” His voice sounded strained. “I’ve got some work here that I need you to do.”
“Work? You need me to work? There?” she echoed. At his home? After hours? “Now?”
“Is it a problem?”
“No,” she said slowly.
“Have security call the car service. Then have the manager bring you to see me.” He hung up before she could ask anything else.
She growled at her cell phone. So he was going to just snap his fingers and expect her to come running like a dog?
“Just because you signed my soul doesn’t mean you own my life, asshole,” she muttered to herself, stomping toward the lobby doors. After seeing what happened to Slim, after her brief conversation with Prue, she felt rage bubbling up through her like lava.
I think it’s past time that we had a little talk…boss.