Total pages in book: 209
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Cade comes around the desk, rushes to the chief’s side. “It’s a lot to take in, I know,” she says, “but please, stay calm, think it through. We all keep to ourselves here. Nothing will happen.”
“Nothing will happen …?” The chief’s eyes blaze with fury and disbelief as he turns upon Cade. “You’re just … You’re just as deluded as Kyle here.”
Cade steps back, hurt. “Juan.”
The chief turns his glare back onto Kyle. “You did this to our town, you remember that when all kinds of bad descend on us for sport. Can you even trust this Dracula fuck? He’ll pick us all off one by one until no mouths are left to spill any secrets. We’re fucking dead. No,” he says when Cade tries to reach for his arm. “Go ahead, have your party, celebrate my son’s final birthday.” He points a finger in Kyle’s face. “No one else here seems to want to hold you accountable for shit, let alone the lazy mayor himself, but I will. I will hold you to blame until my last breath.”
With that, Chief Rojas departs the office, for a moment letting in the sound of buoyant laughter and celebration as the door opens, then cutting it off with a slam.
Kyle stares at the door, heavyhearted. Despite everything he might say in his own defense, what if the chief is right? Was the deal with Lord Markadian doomed from the start? Is he still caught in a game the Lord of Vegasyn is playing with his life and all the lives of Nowhere hanging in the balance?
Has Kyle been lying to himself?
“I swear,” mutters Cade flippantly. “He was fine with you last week, and now he’s your enemy again. Can the man make up his mind on whether he hates you or not? Hey, let’s forget this and grab a slice of pizza before the kids gobble it up.” She adds: “In truth, I got the Canadian bacon for myself.”
A moment later, Kyle is standing in a crowd of joyful faces, Elias by his side with a beer in hand, Jeremy and Layna sitting in front of a brightly decorated tray of cupcakes, half-snuggled together, Leland and Becks singing badly by the jukebox, an air of warm conversation and laughter filling the room. No one seems to have a heavy thought on their minds. They certainly don’t have heavy feelings in their hearts, Kyle senses. He is among his only family and friends in the world.
The only heaviness existing in the room is in his own heart. His own mind. All of these joyful faces … is this temporary? Is his presence here a constant threat to these innocent people he has come to love and care for?
“Want some dipping sauce for that last bit of crust?” offers Jeremy, sliding a tiny container in front of Kyle.
“Nah, too much garlic,” says Kyle with a shake of his head.
Everyone draws silent and looks his way.
Kyle blinks. “Uh, no, not like that. I just don’t like garlic.”
The silence persists a moment too long.
Then: “Me neither,” admits Cade with a scowl. Everyone laughs, relieved. The party resumes. Kyle stares down at the sliver of dry crust hanging from his greasy fingers.
3.
To Owe a Debt to Death.
—∙—
The first thing to know about Mance is, he’s the fucking worst.
Raya steps over a crack in the floor with disgust, footsteps echoing all around the cramped, musky underground hall from her spike heels. “Tell me ‘Mance’ isn’t his real name.”
Most of the … practitioners of preternatural arts, we’ll call them … never use their birth names.
“Why don’t we call him what he is? Necromancer, isn’t it?”
He despises labels unless they suit him in conversation. Also, that term is outdated, as well as deeply controversial to other practitioners of more … respectable arts, we’ll say … who believe the term is—
“Why are we going through all this trouble at all? Cannot our ever-so-talented Lord of Vegasyn simply create an illusion of this dead mortal Brock to convince the humans he’s alive?”
Alas, even Markadian’s gift has its limits. An illusion of a person that is both convincing and sustainable is not possible. One tiny error, and the whole illusion falls apart. Also, Markadian is lazy.
“You could have just led with the lazy bit.”
When Tristan and Raya turn the corner, the hall opens to a corridor with large tanks, pipes, and electrical conduits along the walls. The two continue onward as quickly as they can manage.
“Are we nearly there, Tristan? I didn’t realize we would be skittering like sewer rats through this revolting maze of tunnels no one has touched in years. My heels are becoming sticky.”
Commuting through the underbelly of Las Vegas is a necessary evil. Tristan then proceeds with his warnings. When we meet him, you must resist your urge to talk back to him, even though you will deeply desire to. He is quite temperamental and easily annoyed.