by J. L. Murray
“How would you know about humanity,” Gage said. His face had changed suddenly. I'd seen Gage mad before. But this wasn't anger, this was rage. He took a step toward Kane, closing the distance. “You killed them,” he growled. “You showed no mercy. You crushed my son's head in front of her and then you killed her too.” Spit was flying out of Gage's mouth with every syllable. I had never seen his eyes this wild. His body was rigid and tense as he reached out a gigantic hand and wrapped his fingers around Kane's throat. With the other hand he took the knife and touched the point on Kane's now-panting abdomen.
“I showed her mercy,” hissed Kane, his windpipe being lightly crushed by Bobby's fingers. “I broke her neck. It was a mercy. I wouldn't let Boshta do it. He did the boy, and I'm sorry, but I killed her myself. For you, Paul. It was for you. You made me, I had no choice.”
“Everyone has a choice,” said Gage. “You should have killed me instead.”
“I could never kill you,” rasped Kane. “You're like a son to me.”
“I ain't your son, you piece of shit.”
Kane flinched. Gage put pressure on the knife, but instead of the reaction I expected, Kane laughed.
“You'll never do it,” he said. “You never could stand the blood. You can't kill me, Paul. You never will. Strangling will hurt, but you'll really have to put some heart into it to kill me. And you never did have the heart.”
“You took my heart, you son of a bitch,” Gage said, his voice low and quiet. “Seems only right I should take yours.” Kane screamed as Gage thrust the knife, twisting it up. Black blood poured out of Kane, his guts sliding out of the long gash Bobby made. He pulled back, his hand covered in vile black blood. I thought he was done when he dropped the knife. It clattered dully on the stone. But with a scream of his own, Gage reached into Kane's abdomen and thrust his arm in up to his elbow. I felt Kane's body shudder as Gage pulled out his arm with a wet sucking sound, covered in black, his hand grasping an organ about the size of his fist. Kane's heart gave one feeble beat before stopping forever. Gage threw it as hard as he could against the door to Sheol. It thudded to the ground, leaving black blood on the door, dripping down over the eye.
I felt the soul I was holding dissipate under my fingers. Kane's body went limp as he fell from my fingers onto the ground, passing through my hand like I was a ghost. Gage turned away from me, breathing loud and fast.
“Bobby?” I said softly.
He put up a hand and I took a step back. Then Gage leaned over and vomited with a splashing sound. He retched for a long time. And when he was finished, leaning against the slimy wall with his shoulder, he stood there with his back to me, panting. After a while, he held his hand in front of him, looking at the black blood that covered his arm and hand. All the strength seemed to go out of him then. He slid down the wall and put his face between his knees. I saw his body start to shudder.
“Bobby?” I said. I went over and crouched next to him. I put a hand on his shoulder.
He looked up at me. He wasn't crying, he was laughing. I frowned.
He wiped his eyes with the hand that wasn't covered in blood. “Shit, Slobodian. Don't look at me like that. I haven't gone batshit.”
“I expected a different reaction,” I said.
“Do you know how long I've been thinking about killing that son of a bitch? How many nights I stayed up wishing I wasn't such a lightweight about the blood? How many nightmares I've had where I'm watching him kill my family and I can't fight back?”
“Three?” I said.
“Three hundred thousand!” he laughed. “And now it's over. I did it. I killed the bastard. And nothing I've ever done in my life has ever felt so wrong and so goddamn good at the same time.” He stopped laughing and looked at me. Tears welled up in his eyes. “I can finally let her go, Nik. I can let her rest. I can let Robbie rest. It's over.” His eyes went wide and he shuddered. This time it wasn't from laughter. “Oh, Jesus. It's finally over.” The sobs wracked his body and I caught him as he leaned against me. “It's finally over,” he said again, his body shaking with relief and sorrow and everything in between.
“It's okay, Bobby,” I said. “You did real good. It's over.”
When he was finished, he sat up, wiping his face. He looked at me, embarrassed. “Sorry about that, sis. Got a little overwhelmed.” He looked at Kane's body. “What should we do with him?”
I looked at the corpse. It was starting to stink already. I thought of all the families dead at the hands of Kane, for the money. Because Lord Grazial wanted power. Because Boshta came back broken.
“Leave him there,” I said.
“Really?” said Gage.
“This was his regular meeting-place,” I said. “Leave him here, to be seen by everyone who ever worked with him.”
“Damn, you're a cold woman,” he said.
“I didn't rip his heart out,” I said. Gage glared at me. “Too soon?” I said.
We started up the stairs, careful where we stepped. The mold had grown thicker and more disgusting than the last time I had been here. This was where Sam had first kissed me, just after I had seen my mother, just after I had met Lucifer at his craziest. The memory didn't make me miss Sam. It just made me feel sad.
“You okay, sis?” Gage said, looking at me with concern.
“I will be,” I said.
“You know,” said Gage, “I'm unemployed now.”
“No, you're not,” I said.
“How do you figure?”
“You work for Death,” I said. “I'm sure I can figure something for you to do.”
Gage shook his head. “I dunno about that. Think I might have lost my taste for this stuff. No offense or anything. I think you'd be a great boss. You already boss me around.”
I smacked him on the chest.
“Careful!” he said. “I'll slip on these things and break my neck.”
“So you're looking for honest work?” I said.
“Yeah. Seems that way. Weird, huh?”
“I can see it,” I said.
“Yeah? Think I can make an honest living after all these years?”
“Bobby, how would you feel about running an apartment building?”
“Come again,” he said, looking at me sideways.
“Remember Olivia Bradley?”
“Rocker chick? Married to the devil?” He smiled. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah,” I said. “She bought my apartment building. And then she gave it to me.”
Gage stopped on the stairs and looked at me. “Why?”
I shrugged. “She said she wanted to do something nice for me. Did you know she was dating Lou Craig?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Damn. Lucky guy. She's a peach. Probably loaded by now, too.”
“So, what do you say?” I said.
“About what?”
“Dammit, Gage. Do you want to manage the building? You can keep all the rent money.”
“Set my own hours?”
“Well, I imagine the plumbing problems won't work around your schedule. But for the most part, yeah.”
He shrugged and we started back up the stairs. “Worth a try,” said Gage. “What could possibly go wrong?”
“You really haven't learned anything in this lifetime, have you?” I said, stepping carefully over an especially slippery clump of mold.
“You're gonna need a new bar,” he said. “Death's gotta drink somewhere.”
“You've got a point,” I said. “But maybe we could just find one we like and, you know, pay for our drinks.”
“Now who's crazy?” Gage said. Looking at me seriously, Gage cleared his throat. “Thank you,” he said. “For everything.”
“What are friends for, if not to help each other act out our revenge fantasies?”
“I mean it, Niki. I'm trying to thank you.”
“Bobby?”
“Yeah?”
“You ever disappear again and I will kill you.”
“I believe you,” he said. �
��Buy you a drink?”
“Sounds peachy.”
Also by J.L. Murray
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
The Devil Is A Gentleman
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
The Niki Slobodian Omnibus (The Niki Slobodian Novels: Books 1-3)
After The Fire
The Other Side of the Desert
For more, please visit the J.L. Murray author page.
