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“Pal, if you needed to know about Wormwood, trust me, they’d make sure you did.”
“What if I broke your arms and legs and burned down your house if you don’t tell me more?”
He laughs again.
“You’re not going to do that. You’re dumb, but not that dumb.”
“What makes you think that?”
“You want something. Killing me won’t get it, but maybe I can be useful when you find it. But I can’t be if I’m dead. Plus, the Augur wouldn’t like it.”
I think for a minute.
Tamerlan takes a new cigar from a wooden humidor by his chair.
“Your problem is that you’ve got a Jesse James complex. You’re an outlaw. That’s how you think and that’s how you think everybody else thinks. You don’t think like a businessman. In business, the trick is maximizing profit and longevity. I go playing with baleful magic and talking out of school about Wormwood, I’m going against both of those principles.”
“Let’s try something else. A business deal.”
“I’m listening.”
“Someone bound Death in a human body and he can’t get out.”
“If you say so.”
“I want to hire you to do an exorcism. You can do those, right? I want you to pull Death out of the body of this Townsend guy so he can be himself again.”
Tamerlan shakes his head.
“This human body you’re talking about, was this Townsend still in it when someone corked Death inside?”
“No. They killed Townsend and bound Death to the body.”
Tamerlan holds up his hands.
“Then you’re shit out of luck. Exorcisms only work when a spirit takes hold of an inhabited body. Your body was empty when Death entered it. He’s the animus now. The life force. You don’t exorcize that.”
Fucking hell. I don’t know enough about death magic to make any headway with this guy and he knows it. I should have studied up. This whole thing is like an anxiety dream where you show up without pants for a final exam in a class you never went to.
Then I get it.
“I know you’re involved.”
“How?”
“Because there’s a brand on the body Death’s inhabiting. It’s a necromancer’s mark.”
“Bullshit. You got a picture?”
I take out my phone and show him the photo.
Tamerlan bursts out laughing, hands me the phone.
“Oh my God, you’re so much stupider than I thought. How do you remember to zip your fly, you fucking idiot?”
“You’re saying that’s not a Dead Head mark?”
“No, asshole. It’s the logo for a talent agency.”
