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“I am the cops. Local sheriff. Anyway, I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“We got ’im.”
“Thank you—what did you say your name was?”
“Vinnie Sanguerossa.” As V ended the call, he glanced over at his sister. “You shouldn’t be fucking around with this. I’m telling you.”
When she glanced over at him, he was pretty sure the look on her face was what people saw on his own when he was telling them to butt-the-fuck-out.
“Mr. McTierney?” she said as she refocused on the human.
“Yes, honey?”
“You’re going to be a mess,” V muttered as he checked the time. “You do this and it costs you.”
“Close your eyes for me, will you?” Payne stepped in closer. “That’s right. This isn’t going to hurt, I promise.”
“Not him, it ain’t.” V took out a hand-rolled and put it between his front teeth. “I’ll be outside while you’re saving the world. ’Cuz I’m not allowed to fucking smoke in here.”
Walking through the partially open rear door, he took a deep breath of the night and then lit up. As he leaned back against the brick building, he looked across a farm field and then along the rear entries to the other stores in the row.
Behind him, in the pharmacy, Payne was talking to the old man, murmuring so quietly V could only hear the rhythm of the syllables, and then there was a gasp, a sharp inhale. Hard to know which one of them it came from—
A flare of light pierced out between the door and the jamb, and he braced himself for what was coming next. Three… two… one…
The release of energy fully opened the door, the nuclear-bright illumination turning the empty parking lot to daylight for a split second. And then the panel closed with a clap.
Vishous shook his head and flexed his gloved hand. Underneath the black leather, there was a weave of lead, and without it, anything his glowing curse came into contact with would be destroyed—people, places, things.
Just another gift from hismahmen.
In contrast, Payne’s inheritance was not destruction, but regeneration. It was not free, however. Balance had been the Scribe Virgin’s watchword, except for as it applied to herself, and accordingly, there was a price and a payment that came out of Payne’s hide every time she used her “gift.”
As for why she would waste it on a human? That was her choice. Just like she had chosen to heal herhellren’s racehorse, and decided to keep George, the King’s service dog, alive and well for the next couple hundred years.
Which was a public service. Who the hell wanted to live with Wrath if anything happened to that golden.
Jesus, Armageddon would be a better time—
A gold and brown municipal SUV with bubbler lights on the top came steaming down the back road, its tires squealing as it angled into the parking lot and slammed to a halt in front of V. What got out was a taller, thinner, younger version of Mr. McTierney, and V pulled a quick glance behind him to see whether wiping out the memory of a brilliant, mystical light was going to be on the night’s hit parade.
Nope. It had faded.
“Vinnie?” the guy said.
“Yeah, hey, Ernie.” V exhaled and offered his gloved hand to the guy. “How you doin’.”
“Doing good. How you doin’.”
Well, weren’t they all Soprano-tastic.
They shook, and the guy started in with the he-does-this’s again. And fucking hell, not that V tended to give a shit about anybody else except for his short list of besties in the mansion, but you had to feel for the son. He looked frickin’ exhausted, like not only was he getting a regular diet of these nocturnal wanderings, but the waking hours weren’t much better when it came to Dad-management.
“Thank God you came along when you did. Couple of nights ago, he walked in on the burglary.”
“The place does look a little torn up.”
“I don’t think we’re going to find ’em. I should have put up cameras in the back a long time ago, but things like break-ins don’t happen in Leczo Falls. Not usually, at any rate. We were lucky he wasn’t hurt. I guess they were on their way out when he got here. He knew enough to call me, though—he took out the laminated card you found in his pocket and dialed my number. It was a miracle. Lately, he doesn’t even recognize me.”
