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Mike came over and gently pushed Crow and Val aside. He knelt down in front of Eddie.
“Careful, kid,” said LaMastra, then to Eddie he said, “And you behave. ”
Mike laid his shotgun down. “Mr. Oswald…when you were in the store the other day you came looking for me, didn’t you? You thought it was me, but then you came and met me and I could tell that you weren’t sure. Well, I have to tell you that I don’t give a rat’s ass if you live or die. I really don’t. You’ve been trying to kill me for a month now, and I didn’t do anything to you to deserve it. Everything in my life is shit. Everything. My mom’s a vampire and my dad…well, my dad is the kind of guy you should be going after. If you were really on some kind of holy mission to rid the world of evil, then you should be standing with us rather than against us. ” He leaned closer. “I could kill you. They’d let me. They’d do it for me if I asked. ”
“Damn skippy,” agreed LaMastra.
“Our friends have been dying. My best friend, Brandon, tried to kill me just five minutes ago. I’m probably going to die sometime tonight; and if not tonight, then sometime soon. So, I don’t have a lot to lose. ”
Eddie’s eyes kept trying to meet the stare of Mike’s gold-rimmed red-blue eyes, and each time they fell away.
“Look at me,” Mike said.
Eddie looked at the floor.
“I said look at me. ”
It took visible effort, but Eddie finally raised his eyes to meet—and hold—Mike’s stare.
“I have every reason to kill you. No one will say ‘boo. ’ I have every reason to kill you, but one. ”
Eddie licked his lips. “Wh—what’s that?”
“Because I’m not who you think I am. ”
“You’re not a little boy. You’re not—”
“Human? No, I think I left that kind of thing behind. I’m born from monsters, Eddie, but I’m not a monster. Look me in the eyes. ”
Eddie looked for as long as he could.
Mike leaned over, stretched and picked Eddie’s pistol off the floor. He offered it butt first to the big man.
“Hey, kid, what the hell you doing?” LaMastra barked, but Mike shook his head.
“Put the gun down,” he said to the detective. “Please, just put it down. I want Mr. Oswald to see that he’s free to make up his own mind. ”
LaMastra looked at Crow, who hesitated and then nodded; LaMastra moved the barrel away and down, but he didn’t like doing it.
“Mr. Oswald,” Mike said, “I’m giving you a chance here to do the right thing. We’re fighting against these monsters. We could use your help. ”
Tow-Truck Eddie stared at him, wide-eyed for what seemed like an eternity, and everyone could see the warring emotions as they passed like clouds across his face. His eyes were watery, his lips trembled.
“I…I’m sorry,” he said weakly. Mike smiled at him. “I’m so sorry!”
And he whipped his pistol up toward Mike and fired.
It was Willard Fowler Newton who saved Mike’s life. Why him and not the others was a question none of the survivors could ever adequately explain. It was as if an invisible hand shoved him hard from behind and he lurched into Mike and knocked him out of the way even as Oswald was pulling the trigger.
Then the world exploded as LaMastra, Crow, and Val all fired simultaneously, each from point-blank range, all of them shooting to kill. Oswald’s body was plucked off the ground and torn to red rags.
Then everyone was crowded around Mike, who lay half inside Weinstock’s room.
“Mike!” Crow saw blood on him and started pulling at Mike’s shirt, looking for the wound. But there was nothing.
“I’m okay,” he said, pushing himself up to a sitting position. “He missed. ”
“Thank God!” Val turned to Newton, who had fallen down and was sitting against the wall. “You saved his life!”
