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“Much.”
“And this is your patch. Who’s going to cause trouble here?”
“I seem to remember a certain almost-dead man and his friends starting a bonfire.”
“We had your permission for that.”
“True. I’d never seen anybody stroll in and out of a fire like that before.”
“Thanks again. I owe you for that and I won’t forget.”
She shrugs and eats some popcorn. “I know,” she says. “Besides, it was a pretty neat trick to watch. It gave me a few new ideas on how to use land.”
The movie ends. Vincent Price pays for his evil deeds and all is right with the world.
Flicker’s void friend gets up and stretches.
“Same time next week?” she says. The void nods and gives her a little bow. It bows to me and softens into kind of a liquid state and flows into the darkness behind the sofa.
“Neat trick.”
“I wish they would teach it to me,” she says. “I have a family reunion next week that I’m not looking forward to.”
“My condolences.”
“I’ll live. So, what brings you around tonight? I haven’t seen much of you recently.”
“I’ve been kind of hiding out.”
“Birth’s not easy on anyone and rebirth is worse.”
“Maybe it’s that. The whole world seems out of whack.”
“The movie outside is almost over. You should stick around for the next one. Blood for Dracula, the old Andy Warhol monster flick.”
I hold up a hand.
“Thanks, but I’ve had enough of vampires for one night.”
She picks up some cigarettes from the desk and we go outside to smoke.
I light her up, then my Malediction. She takes a big puff and blows a smoke ring.
“You’re not here for the movies and you look very much alive. What can I help you with?”
“It’s not for me. This time it’s for the whole city. Including you.”
“Go on.”
“There are some ghosts in town who won’t stay put. Ghosts with a violent streak. They’re trapped in Little Cairo right now, but the wards won’t keep them there forever. Even if you lock down the Devil’s Door, they’ll sure as hell get your customers. I don’t think you want to spend forever sitting here watching movies with your void pal.”
“That doesn’t sound fun at all.”
“Then you’ll check out the ghosts with me?”
“Of course. If the city locked down and I couldn’t get to Burrito King every now and then I’d go mad. When and where do you want to meet?”
“Sunset tomorrow. I’ll pick you up.”
