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“When you see him, just be your usual charming self.”
I nod, thinking it over. I toss the rest of my Malediction in Merihim’s black blood.
“Do you mind if I do something with the body?”
“It might make more of an impression if we do it together.”
Samael unlocks Merihim’s chains and we drag his body through the kennel and out into the rain. The hellhounds follow us, fanning out in a protective ring. The legions guarding the palace watch us silently as we two ex-Lucifers hoist Merihim’s carcass into a gibbet and lock him in. Samael gives it a push and the cage swings back and forth like the pendulum in a grandfather clock. And I think about time again. But not for very long.
I have to shout to be heard over the downpour.
“Anyone who touches this body gets to be his roommate in Tartarus.”
Samael goes back into the palace with the hellhounds and I step through a shadow.
Right into Mason’s cell, where’s he’s asleep. I bark some hoodoo that should blow out all the surveillance cameras in the Vigil compound. Grab a fistful of Mason’s jailbird jumpsuit and toss him across the cell into the steel door. That wakes him up in time for me to grab him again and toss him into a wall. Not too hard, just hard enough to keep him interested in the situation. I pull the black blade and hold it to his scarred throat.
“Prove to me that you’ll teach me about the 8 Ball.”
Mason looks up at me. What else is he going to do? I’m kneeling on his chest.
“What is it you want?” he wheezes, trying to get a breath.
I pull a quarter from my pocket.
“Call it in the air.”
I toss the coin.
“Tails,” he says.
I catch it and check. Show him the coin. It’s heads.
I get up off his chest. He takes in a big lungful of air and I grab his hand. Bend his pinkie back, holding the blade tight against the top knuckle.
“Tell me something right now. Every time you lie I get to hurt you.”
Mason looks at me calmly.
“The Qomrama is alive. You want to give it orders. But that’s not how it functions. You have to work together.”
“How does a summoning work?”
“You’ve practically done it yourself. A summoning and using it as a weapon are almost the same thing. You’re not summoning the Gods or using the Qomrama as a shotgun. What you’re summoning is power. It’s how you direct the power that’s the key.”
I drag the blade across Mason’s fingers, drawing a bead of blood. He winces.
“It can’t be that simple or either Deumos or Merihim would have done it already.”
“You’re right. It isn’t. But you’ll have to play me and you’ll have to win to find out more.”
“Why the hell are you doing this?”
Mason pulls his hand away from me and I let him.
“Spend some time in Tartarus and you’ll do all sorts of funny things. You’ll make deals with anyone to get out. You’ll kill anyone. And you’ll die before you’ll go back. Maybe along the way, you’ll get to prove to a smug Robin Hood who’s the better magician.”
Electronic beeps come through the door. Someone is using the keypad to get into Mason’s cell. I bark some Hellion. It twists the door hinges just enough that it will take whoever is outside a minute to get the door open.
